My Life as the Ugly Stepsister (3 page)

Caroline rubbed some sunscreen into her tan calves. “It’s cool, though. He was obsessed with gaming. He didn’t even answer his phone when I called sometimes.”

“Jerk,” I said because it seemed required.

“Tell me about it,” she said, finishing up with the sunscreen and laying back in her chair.

I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the sunshine. Maybe if I pretended I was alone on a desert island. Yeah. That helped.

Later, I was hanging out with Caroline in her Moroccan-themed room when this horrid thudding sound started. At first, I ignored it, but then it started grating on my nerves.

“What is that?” I asked looking up from my magazine.

Caroline shrugged and turned another page, sending a cloud of fragrance in my direction. “It’s just Jonathan playing basketball.”

Was he in the house with us?

“Oh,” Caroline said, her eyes lighting with mischief. She tossed aside her jeweled pillow. “You haven’t met Jonathan yet. Have you?” Caroline didn’t wait for an answer. She grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door.

“No,” I said, adding quickly, “but that’s okay. I’m sure I’ll meet him later.” I knew who he was, of course. I’d seen him next door a couple of times. He was cute. Way too cute to talk to. Well, I thought, glancing at my vivacious stepsister as she led me across the porch, way too cute for me to talk to.

Caroline could talk to anyone, anytime. Even my dad called her charming. And she was already off the porch calling to Jonathan.

“Hey,” she said in her deep Georgia drawl that was much more Southern and sultry than my North Carolina accent.

A wide grin lit up the guy’s face as he walked over. He tucked the basketball under his arm. “Hey, Caroline. I thought you were gone.”

“Just got back. I heard you out here shooting baskets, and I wanted you to meet my stepsister. Ally will be living here for a few months.”

“Hi,” I said, feeling like an idiot.

Caroline knew how awkward I was with boys. She was too polite to mention it, but I sensed she was on a mission to help me.

“Are you transferring to our school?” He swiped at his messy brown hair.

“No. I go to St. Mary’s.” The perfect way to kill a conversation—admit you go to Catholic school.

“Oh,” he said. His hottiness just starting to hit me full force as he gave me a crooked smile. “Well I’ll be seeing you anyway since I’m watching your dog.”

Huh? “You’re what?”

He gave Caroline a nervous look. “Uh, yeah. I’m keeping your dog at my house, with my, um, dog, while you’re at Diane’s.”

“My dog,” I glared past him at Caroline, “isn’t staying with me?”

Caroline raised her arms in the don’t-blame-me gesture. “I didn’t know. No one told me.”

Jonathan was antsy. He started eyeing the basketball goal. We’d clearly made him nervous. “I thought you guys knew. Diane and my mom worked it out.”

“No freakin’ way!” I yelled, knowing it would ruin the unspoken truce I had with Caroline if I said what I really wanted to say. That witch!

“I’m sure she was going to talk to you about it,” Caroline said.

Her words didn’t ring true, as if even she didn’t believe them.

“When did they decide this?” I asked Jonathan in a not-so-nice tone.

He shrugged. “A couple of days ago.”

I turned and ran for the house, determined to confront my stepmother before I calmed down and caved in. I’d never put up a fight over anything Dad and Diane did. It just seemed easier to, well, take it. But this was different. This was Mojo and Mojo was not going to be happy staying at some stranger’s house. Who knew how they’d treat him or what they’d feed him. Mojo belonged with me. He slept at the foot of my bed and not on the floor. Or, God forbid, outside!

Caroline whizzed past me before I reached the porch. I’d never been a fast runner. I was too tall to be a sprinter.

By the time I burst into the kitchen, Caroline was saying, “Mom! Why didn’t you tell Ally about her dog! And why can’t it just stay here!”

“Caro,” Diane said, looking for all the world like a cornered rabbit. “You know I’m allergic.” She pulled the plastic off the top of the frozen casserole and set it on the pan.

“Mother!”

“Ally.” Diane cut off her daughter with a sharp glance. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But I promise you’ll see Momo—”

“Mojo!” I snapped.

“Mojo,” she corrected with a slight eye roll, “as much as you want. He’ll be much happier in a fenced yard.”

“He has to stay over there all the time?” I couldn’t believe she was doing this.

“Yes. I’m sure he’ll be happier there than tied to the tree in the back yard.”

Tied to a tree? My blood boiled in outrage.

“Can’t he sleep with me? I’ll keep him out of your way. He’ll be lonely over there at night.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m just too allergic. All that dog hair—”

Hair. I could get rid of hair. “I’ll wash my sheets every night and do my own laundry. And vacuum every morning before school.”

“No. I’m sorry,” she said again, but she didn’t look the slightest bit sorry. “Jonathan is a nice kid. I’m sure he’ll take good care of, um, it.”

“I see him out playing with his dog all of the time,” Caroline said, trying to be helpful.

“He has a dog?” Uh-oh. “Mojo has to live with another dog?” Mojo did not have social skills.

“He’ll have a friend,” Diane said, swiping at her eye and smudging her eyeliner.

“Mojo has never gotten along with other dogs. He just barks at them.” Or bites them, but I didn’t feel like sharing that tidbit.

“Your father thinks he’ll adjust pretty quickly. He had dogs growing up, too.”

That’s right. I’d forgotten that my father was part of this evil scheme. “I guess I’m lucky you guys are letting me sleep in the house.” With that bit of satisfying melodrama, I stomped down the hall to my room and locked the door. I hated Diane, and I hated my dad. But most of all I hated my mother for making me come here in the first place.

Chapter Three

When you start off your day in a paper gown, you don’t have the strength left for another crisis. —Ally’s Brutal Teen Truths

By the time my dad pulled in from the airport at eight, I’d calmed down enough to eat some surprisingly tasty casserole with Diane and Caroline. Dad had been in Phoenix doing an installation since last Sunday. We’d talked on the phone briefly but hadn’t really said much of anything. I ran for the front door when I heard the car in the drive.

Diane had been standing at the easel in the living room, and she easily beat me to the door. Caroline was out with friends. So I stood at the top of the stairs and waited for my shot at my dad.

The door opened and Dad gave Diane a kiss on the lips. Uggh. Then he smiled up at me. “Well, this is a nice welcome,” he said. “How are my girls?”

I wouldn’t be grinning if I were coming home to Diane. Even my mother was prettier. I thought men were supposed to leave their wives for babes, not slightly less attractive women of the same age.

“Are you all settled in?” he asked, climbing the stairs and giving me a hug.

“Yeah,” I said. “Dad, we need to talk.”

He nodded. “I know, hon. Let me unpack and eat some dinner. You and I can have a little chat.”

Then, he turned to Diane and angled his head toward the painting of the blue tulip. “This is new, isn’t it? I like it.”

Diane beamed. “I painted that in a day. I’m getting faster.”

Oh, God.

My father just smiled.

I hoped her painting supplies weren’t sucking up my college fund.

“I think I hear my phone,” I said, even though I didn’t. I ran down the hall to my room and shut the door. I’d done some research on dogs and allergies this afternoon. With any luck, I’d convince my father to let Mojo in the house. Honestly, what did he see in that woman anyway?

I outlined my argument on my laptop. There wasn’t any reason to fool around. I was going to be prepared. Dad would hear me out. He always had been good at listening to both sides before he made a decision. I printed my argument on the cheap color printer I’d dragged from home. I’d used bullets and large print. I was ready for battle.

Dad rapped on my door about an hour later. He didn’t try the knob but waited for me to open it. I grabbed the paper.

“Hi, hon,” he said, his large form taking up most of the hall. “You ready for our talk. I thought we’d talk in my office. We’ll have privacy there.”

Uh oh. I’d seen enough television to know this was a power play. Meeting on his turf. Unfortunately, the whole house was his. At least the office didn’t have any signs of Diane. I’d probably be more comfortable there than anywhere else in this overdecorated house. “Sure,” I said and led the way down the hall. Dad was already six four and really fit. The power play on the meeting place was so not necessary.

I jogged down the stairs and through the family room to the office in the back corner. The door was always kept closed to protect his electronics. I turned the knob and entered.

“Have a seat,” Dad said, motioning to one of the black leather chairs. Dad’s office was mostly black and white. He liked things crisp and clean.

The place even smelled different from the rest of the house. Dad must not allow the perfumed air freshener in here. I sat and he went around the long clear desk to his chair. A counter ran around three walls of the room and held various computers.

Dad gave me a little smile. “So, how’s it going so far?”

“Well,” I said, unfolding my notes. “Everything’s fine except for Mojo. I—”

Dad held up his hands. “Ally, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about that right away. That was wrong of me. But the fact is that Diane is very allergic to dogs. We were able to make satisfactory arrangements with the neighbor. I know that you’re upset, and,” he glanced down at my paper, “you’ve obviously come prepared for this discussion, but I’m afraid there’s no wiggle room on this one.”

I just stared, open-mouthed. He wasn’t even going to listen to me? When I was five, he’d listened to my argument about why I could probably fly off the back deck with an umbrella. And he wouldn’t take the time to listen to this? Maybe I should have worn a power suit instead of shorts and a faded t-shirt.

Stand up for yourself, my brain urged. Do it now!

Before I could determine whether or not my body would have listened, my dad started in on this long story about Diane and her allergies. They’d called the vet, and he thought the situation would be fine for the dog as long as I spent time over there with him. Diane had asthma symptoms and they simply couldn’t take a chance.

“But Dad—”

He didn’t let me talk. He started spitting out words like health insurance, deductibles, allergy shots, and co-pays. It all boiled down to the bottom line with Dad.

Dad leaned back in his chair. “Now that we’ve got that cleared up,” he said.

As if!

“We can talk about this situation with your mother.”

He wanted to talk about Mom? He’d carefully avoided any discussion of my mother since the day he’d asked for a divorce and moved out. “We can?” He’d totally distracted me from Mojo.

Dad cleared his throat. “I’m thrilled to have you stay with us here for a few months. I’m not so thrilled about the idea of Karen taking you to Seattle.”

Well that made two of us.

Giving me his serious look, he said, “Ally, I’m not sure what I’ll do if your mother decides to make this move permanent.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to be that far away from you.” He spread his hands on the table. “I know we don’t see all that much of each other, but the time we have together is very important to me. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to miss your high school years.”

We actually agreed about something. “So you’re hoping Mom will decide to come back?”

“It’s more than just that, Ally. If I wanted to, I could keep her from taking you out of the state.”

Well, that was news to me. Could he actually save me from this catastrophic move? “You can?”

He nodded. “I can, but I haven’t decided if I will. You could always choose to stay here with me.”

I didn’t really want to head down this road. He knew some of the reasons I’d probably say no to living with him. “Would Mom agree?”

“I don’t know.” His serious expression indicated he’d put a lot of thought into this. “I do know that it wouldn’t solve your problem entirely. You’d be thousands of miles away from one of your parents either way. And I don’t expect you to make this decision yet. As I said, I haven’t even decided what I am going to do.” Dad shook his head. “I guess I’m just hoping that this doesn’t work out and Karen comes back here.”

How much did he know about Mom and her plans? “Did Mom tell you that she had him investigated?”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I insisted on a copy of the report.” He stood up and went over to one of the tall filing cabinets. He opened a drawer and pulled out a file folder. “He looks like an average guy, and I think your mother has enough sense to keep out of trouble.”

That surprised me. I didn’t think he’d admit to Mom having a brain. “So you think she’s safe out there?”

Dad sighed. “I think so. Relationships are hard, though. She may decide to come back to Charlotte.”

I hadn’t expected my father to have a file on Mom’s boyfriend. And I hadn’t really thought he’d care if I moved across the country. I didn’t see very much of him.

Dad put the file back in the drawer. “I’m exhausted. How about you put on ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and I grab a beer?”

“Works for me,” I said, relieved to have the tension level drop. I wasn’t giving up on the Mojo situation, but I knew there would be no point angering him until I had a new strategy. “Let me grab my phone and a coke.”

“Ask Diane if she wants to join us,” Dad said. “Where’s Caroline off to tonight?”

I shrugged. “Out with her friends. I think one of them was having a sleepover.” Actually, I think she just wanted out of the house. I didn’t blame her.

When your mother decides to ruin your life, she goes all out. When Mom called the Monday morning and told me to shower and put on fresh clothes, I should have known I was in trouble. Even though she is a mom, she usually doesn’t remind me to put on clean underwear. I pulled a blue miniskirt and striped top out of the closet and dressed. Maybe she was taking me somewhere really cool.