The Snowball Effect (25 page)

I led Lenard into the kitchen and got him a glass of
water. “I'll go get Vallery,” I said.

“I appreciate it,” he said, and sipped his water.

I found Vallery in her room, digging through boxes in the closet. Probably looking for Mom's notebooks one more time before she called Deborah.

“Vallery, I have to tell you something. You're probably going to be mad.”

She sighed. “You let Len into the house, didn't you?”

I dropped my book bag on the floor.

“I'm not doing your laundry,” she said.

I unzipped it. She leaned over and looked inside.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

“All of Mom's notebooks.”

“Let's not talk about where you found them. Or how long you've had them.”

“No, let's not. Anyway, you can sell them to Deborah, but I want to read them first. I know it's probably just a bunch of clichéd nonsense, but still.”

Vallery shrugged. “Sounds like a plan. This will pay off all the credit cards. It'll pay for Florida. And then some.” Vallery laughed. “So I guess Mom kind of did take us to Disney World after all.”

“Hey, Vallery,” I said. “There's something else.”

She sighed. “You
did
let Lenard in, didn't you?”

“He's in the kitchen. Listen, you need to set things right with him. I've been apologizing to people all day. It's fun. He may be a loser, but he deserves an explanation, you know? And he doesn't want your stupid car.
He's just hurt. Give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Vallery sighed. “Fine.” She shoved a handful of papers back into the box.

As Vallery walked away, I realized that for the first time in years, I was intentionally following and repeating my mother's advice.

 

Riley came over after work. “That weird guy I told you about is sitting in your kitchen,” he said as he walked into my room.

“That's Vallery's ex-boyfriend. The reason why we ran off to Orlando.”

“I see.” He pulled something out of his back pocket and handed it to me. “I got you some pens. For the journaling. They're acid free.”

“Acid free?”

“Yeah. That means they won't damage the pictures. You know. Over time. If the ink had acid, it would eat away at the pictures.”

“You got really hard-core about this scrapbooking stuff, didn't you?”

Riley sat down on the bed beside me. “You haven't registered for fall classes yet, have you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Things were so crazy. I didn't know what the plan was anymore.”

“The plan is whatever you want the plan to be.”

“Well, I'm sure everything is full, so I'll be left with whatever no one else wanted to take. That's my plan.”

He grinned. “At least you have a plan. Did you guys eat yet, or has Vallery just been sitting in the kitchen talking?”

“Talking.”

“Mind if I go start something?”

“Of course not. I'll be down in a few minutes. I have to make a call.”

Riley raised an eyebrow. “Checking in with your other boyfriend?”

I couldn't tell if he was being serious. “No. I broke up with him this morning.”

“Good.”

“Did you break up with your other girlfriend?”

“You mean that girl who talked on her cell phone all night whenever we hung out?”

“Yeah. Her.”

“Yeah, I dumped her.”

“Good. Anyway, I actually have to call my dad.”

“Didn't you talk to him yesterday?”

“I didn't. It's a long story.”

Riley shrugged. “All right. See you in a few.” He kissed me and then walked out into the hallway.

The only reason I had my dad's number programmed into my cell phone was so I'd know not to answer the phone when he called. How mature, right? So when I hit “send” on the phone, it was probably the first time I'd called him in years.

Just lunch,
I told myself.
We'll just have lunch
.
And if
he breaks any promises, then oh well, at least I tried.

And you never know until you try, right?

“Hello?” my father answered.

I heard Collin shrieking and laughing. I pictured Riley tickling him mercilessly. I pictured Vallery in the kitchen, still talking to poor Lenard Fry Jr. hours after I'd let him into the house.

“Hey, Dad? It's Lainey.”

I could keep holding a grudge for all the things he'd done wrong. Or I could let him make it right. He didn't deserve an infinite number of chances, but it couldn't hurt to give him one more.

Jacket art © 2010 by OJO Images Photography/Veer

Jacket design by Jennifer Rozbruch