The Summer I Saved the World ... in 65 Days (22 page)

“I'm coming! Stay there!”

Mom and Mrs. Cantaloni are at the bottom of the
ladder, looking up. Mom steadies the ladder. “Nina, be careful!”

My hands are sweaty. Legs wobbly.

Finally I wrap my arms around him. He's safe. We're safe.

His bottom lip is trembling. “I was going to get the bad guys.”

“Thomas. You've been getting them all summer.” Me too.

He smiles.

I let out a breath. “Let's go down together, okay?”

Rung by rung, little by little, me holding him, him holding me. Eli and Mrs. Bennett are watching us.

Mrs. Bennett grabs Thomas in a tight hug. “Don't ever do something like that again.”

“What were you thinking, Tom?” Eli kneels next to him.

I find the sword in the grass and hand it to Thomas. I'm shaking. Sixty-one.

Mom puts her arm around my shoulders.

Thomas looks at me. One superhero to another. It's not an easy job.

The paranormal guys are still walking around the Dixon house with flashlights, and I see their shadows. Or the ghosts. Who knows anymore?

Mrs. Cantaloni clutches Mrs. Bennett. “Oh my God. My water broke.”

M
om rushes to Mrs. Cantaloni's side, and she and Mrs. Bennett help her walk. “We'll drive you to the hospital,” Mom says.

“I don't know if there's time.” Mrs. Cantaloni grimaces, taking a couple of steps. “This baby's coming fast.”

“Let's get you inside,” Mrs. Bennett says calmly. And to Mom, “Call the paramedics.” Mom's peering at her phone, punching in numbers. Dad runs over with a flashlight and shines it on Mom's phone.

“Jim's on his way from the city,” Mrs. Cantaloni
says. “I've had contractions all day, but they were far apart. I thought I'd make it.”

“This'll be interesting in the dark,” Mrs. Bennett says. “We need more flashlights, everyone.”

Mr. Millman rushes over with the headlamp on. “I'll be your labor coach!” He takes Mrs. Cantaloni's arm. “Now breathe!” They all help Mrs. Cantaloni into the house.

“Oh, Stan.” Mrs. Millman puts a hand over her heart. “Fathers weren't allowed in the delivery room when we had our boy,” she says to the rest of us.

I didn't even know they had a son.

“He lives in Boston,” she tells Mrs. Chung, who's holding a huge flashlight. “We're going to visit him in the fall.”

The Cantaloni boys are skipping across their lawn. “We're having a baby!” Jordan shouts.

“It better be a boy!” Jack says. “Girls are yucky!”

“I like girls!” Jeremy says, and his brothers tackle him. Thomas jumps in too.

Jorie comes out with a pink flashlight. Her mom has pulled two chairs to the end of their driveway. She sits on one and pats the seat of the other. Jorie sits next to her. I notice that her mom has lit the aromatherapy candle I put in their mailbox weeks ago. It gives a soft glow to both of their faces. Her mom turns the chair and says something. Jorie is listening.

Eli comes up next to me.

“I need to ask you something,” he says.

My heart jumps.

“What's this ring you've been wearing? Did Grady Brunson give it to you?”

“What?”

“Are you going to homecoming with him?”

“Grady?”

“Jorie kind of hinted that you were.”

“Me and Grady? No.”

“You're not going to homecoming with him.”

“No!”

“Really?”

“I swear. I've barely ever talked to the guy. He thinks my name is Gina.”

Eli smiles and picks up my hand. “So who gave you the ring?”

“It was my grandma's wedding band.”

He nods.

An ambulance, fire truck, and police car pull up. Sirens blaring. A Com Ed truck is right behind them. Two paramedics leap out of the ambulance and run into the Cantalonis'.

“Nina. I do remember that night we ruined Mr. D.'s flowers. But what I remember most is hiding in back of Mrs. Chung's. With you.”

“I remember it too.”

“So.”

“So.”

“Don't go anywhere.” He runs into his house and comes back with a pen.

“Are you going to take notes?” I say.

“Shut up.” He smiles and takes my hand again, the one with Grandma's ring. And he writes:
HC?

The other girl?

It was me.

It was always me.

E
li and I sit on the curb at the circle of grass in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Thomas skips in front of us, laughing. “Eli and Nina, sittin' in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
!”

“Well,” Eli says, grinning, “if Thomas says so.”

He kisses me, and I kiss him back.

Eli nods. “You've convinced me.”

“About?”

“That there are more good people in the world than bad.”

I take his hand. “I knew you had it in you.”

Sixty-two. Almost there.

Jorie shines the flashlight in our direction. Her mom gently lowers Jorie's hand.

I look down. “All this time, I thought you were going to homecoming with Jorie.”

He looks uncomfortable. “I liked her in the beginning of the summer, but then it wasn't working. It wasn't right. I didn't know what to do. She's so …”

“Hard to say no to.”

He laughs. “Yeah.”

Mom comes out of the Cantalonis'. She walks toward Matt and Dad, standing by our garage. Their voices are low, so I can't hear exactly what they're saying, but from the looks on Mom's and Dad's faces, Matt is telling them what happened at the Dixon house.

Dad doesn't seem to be freaking out, and Mom isn't lecturing. They're just talking and listening.

This is a such good thing. Sixty-three. I'm not even doing them anymore; other people are. They're just happening.

That little flame inside my heart has jumped out and is making its way around the sidewalk, lighting the circle of houses.

J
orie leaps from her chair and walks over. Eli jumps up, goes over to Thomas, and starts tossing a ball with him and the Cantaloni boys just as their dad drives up and rushes into the house.

Did she tell Eli that I was going with Grady so Eli would go with her? If so, then she did something bad too. But I guess it doesn't matter anymore.

I bite my lip. “Hi.”

“This is crazy.” She waves her hand.

“I know.”

She scratches her cheek. “My mom said I should come and talk to you.”

“You're here because your mom said?”

“Yeah.” She sinks down next to me. “No. This is all such a mess, I don't even know where to start. I liked him so much, and you really hurt me … but I think I always knew … he liked you.”

I nod. “Thanks for saying that.”

“Anyway.” She shakes her hair. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Grades asked me!” She holds up her phone, shows me a text:
Hey, wanna go?

I laugh. Grady
would
ask in a text. “I thought he liked
you
,” I say.

“I know! I don't know why I didn't see it before. So really, I need your advice.
Which dress?
Mom said I can't have both.”

“Jorie. You are one of a kind.”

“So are you, Neen.”

“Red!” I shout.

She hugs her knees. “Okay!”

I call to Eli. “Help me with something?”

“Another flood?” he shouts.

“No. C'mon.” I get up. “Jorie, you too.”

She hesitates but then follows me and Eli to my patio. I put the cushion on the love seat, and the three
of us carry it to the end of my driveway. Then we go back for the chairs.

Jorie is doing that corner-of-her-lip smile. “You're so weird, Nina.”

“I know. This guy from my art class, Chase, told me to ‘Stay weird.' ”

Jorie and I lift a chair. Our eyes meet as we set it down beside the love seat. She breaks the connection first, pushes her hair off her forehead, steps back.

A police officer is sitting in his car. I think he's the one who came that day Mrs. Millman called, suspicious over the Hershey's Kiss and penny in her mailbox.

“Looks like you're having a party,” he says.

Mrs. Chung is bringing over a chair. “Why not?”

Jorie's mom drags her chairs to our driveway. Then Mrs. Millman carries one over too. She has Beanie on a leash. Mom, Dad, and Matt are there. Mom sits on the love seat, looks my way, and pats the cushion next to her. A place for me.

Jorie curls on the ground by her parents. Eli pulls Thomas onto his lap.

The candle is flickering by Jorie's house. A dozen flashlights. A million stars. It's amazing.

“This is something,” Mom says.

Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Millman are still inside with Mr. and Mrs. C. and the paramedics. Flashlights shine
from their windows. The Cantaloni boys are running bases on their lawn.

I've almost forgotten about the IPIT guys until they come out and start loading equipment into their truck. One walks over. “Well,” he says. “It's gone.”

Mrs. Millman's mouth is hanging open. “What was it? What did you see? An orb? A poltergeist?”

“We're not exactly sure, but I can assure you the spirit has left that house.”

Everyone looks stunned.

Except Mrs. Millman. She's ecstatic. She picks up Beanie and cuddles her. “You're safe again, darling.”

“You saw a ghost?” Dad says.

“Yep. See 'em all the time,” the guy says.

“All the time?” Jorie's dad repeats.

The guy nods. “Oh, they're out there. You have to believe.”

Matt grins at me. “Some things you just have to accept.”

I grin back. “Right.”

“Anyway, we'll send you a bill,” the guy says to Mrs. Millman. “Sorry about the power outage. Where's your husband, by the way?”

She waves toward the Cantalonis'. “He's in labor and delivery.”

“What a crazy neighborhood,” the guy says.

“It must be the heat,” Mom says, and smiles at me.