Sink or Swim (14 page)

“Hey, you,” Mom said. “How’s Fiona? Have they finished painting the house yet?”

Madison shook her head. “She was calling about the barbecue today,” Madison said. “She wanted to know if I could come over earlier. Like now.”

“Sure!” Mom said. “To tell you the truth, Maddie, I think I might need to lie down and have a nap. I’m beat.”

“So it’s okay if I go now? You can come over later and grab some food with us,” Madison said. “Mrs. Waters wanted all the moms and dads to stop by for hot dogs and hamburgers…well, in your case maybe just some salad.”

Mom laughed. “I’ll walk over after my nap. I’ll call Fiona’s mom to see when they light up the grill, okay?”

“Perfect!” Madison said. Normally Mom wouldn’t be a cool addition to an event like this, but right now Madison could think of nothing she’d like more than to have her friends and her mom in one place.

Madison raced back upstairs and pulled on a pair of overall linen shorts, a blue shirt, and her wedge sandals. She tied back her hair in a blue ribbon with little beads on the end and applied lip gloss to make her lips shine. It tasted like berries.

Fiona had told Madison that Hart won the junior lifeguard swim-off after all. Madison wanted to look good when she waltzed right up to congratulate him on his victory.

The Waters house was in total disarray. The painting job was in full swing, and the mess of paint cans and rollers and tarps was all over the place. Madison nearly tripped on a ladder when she went up the front steps.

The paint colors were beautiful. Madison stared and stared. Mr. and Mrs. Waters wanted to restore the shingles, trim around the windows, finials, and porch rails to the original Victorian colors. They’d picked out a deep blue and a pale yellow. It was starting to look like frosted cake.

“Hey, I did the porch,” Chet announced as he opened the door. “Pretty good work, right?”

“By yourself?” Madison asked suspiciously.

Chet put his hands on his hips and squinted. “Duh, of course.”

“GET AWAY FROM THE DOOR!” Fiona yelled. She pushed her brother out of the way and pulled Madison inside. “Come in! It’s so hot outside!”

“Your house looks great,” Madison said.

Fiona rolled her eyes. “That’s because my dad and his friends were working on it. Chet washed paintbrushes or something. Loser.”

“I did more than that!” Chet yelled. “Who are you calling a loser?”

“Oh, shut up,” Fiona grumbled. “Come on, Maddie. Aimee’s upstairs.”

Fiona’s room had been reorganized since Madison’s last visit. Fiona still had the same Beanie Baby collection (even though those were collecting some serious dust) and her own personal purple phone, but the bed and tables were in a different place. Everything was moved to the outer walls of the room to leave a wide-open space in the center of the room for hanging out.

“Maddie!” Aimee squealed when Madison entered the room. “Welcome to Fiona’s Beauty Spa and Nail Salon.”

There was no air conditioner on in Fiona’s room, but the windows were open wide and a mild breeze wafted inside. Madison plopped down on one of Fiona’s giant pillows on the floor.

“I love your lip gloss!” Aimee said, waving her hands in the air to dry the coat of polish she’d already applied.

“Oh no! I forgot my nail polish,” Madison said.

“No problem! We can just pick from these colors,” Fiona said. She produced a plastic tray of polish in assorted colors. On top was the package of adhesive decals.

“So who’s coming to the barbecue?” Madison said. She was hoping to hear one
H
name on the top of the list.

“All my brother’s friends, including Egg, of course,” Fiona said, grinning. “I think he might be coming over early, too.”

“Is
Ben
coming?” Madison said, smirking.

Aimee swatted at her with the hand that was dry. “Cut it out! Why do you have to tease me about him? I don’t like him that much. And I can live through one barbecue without him.”

“Well, he’s coming,” Fiona said.

“What?” Aimee gasped. “GET OUT!”

Madison giggled.

“You never told me he was coming! When did you invite him? What am I going to do when he gets here? Fiona, I could kill you!”

Fiona was giggling now, too.

“Aim, you look great, quit worrying,” Madison said. “I bet he’s more nervous than you are.”

Aimee started hopping and spinning around the room like some electronic toy gone berserk.

“Sit down and finish painting your nails,” Fiona said. “No one will be here for an hour, anyway.”

Madison picked out a plum color and started to apply it. “Is this too dark?” she asked her friends.

“It’s perfect,” Fiona said. “And you can put a little silver star on the tip, too.”

Madison decided at the last minute that the plum color on her nails was way too dark and didn’t match her linen shorts, so she switched manicure colors to a pale peach. The girls’ nails were done and dried by the time the first guests arrived and the barbecue crowd started to appear.

Fiona and Chet had invited their friends from Far Hills Junior High, but the party also included parents, neighbors, and friends of theirs from church. In just a short time the yard and porch began to fill up with people mingling with their drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Mr. Waters and Chet had moved the ladders and paint cans into the garage.

Aimee looked out the window in Fiona’s bedroom. “I see Drew! Wait! I see Egg.”

“And Señora Diaz is with him,” Madison said, squishing in beside Aimee at the window.

Fiona came over to see, too. “Señora Diaz and my mom have been talking lately.”

“Are they talking about you and Egg or what?” Aimee asked.

“No,” Fiona said, making a face. “They’re just on the same parent-teacher committee at school.”

The three friends ran downstairs.

“Look,” Fiona cried. “Lindsay’s here.” Lindsay Frost was another friend from school who sometimes made a foursome out of their trio of best friends. Lindsay had been away in Europe with her family since school had been dismissed for the summer.

“You all have tans!” Lindsay cried. She gave Madison, Fiona, and Aimee big hugs.

“You look so good,” Madison said. “You got your hair cut.”

“I can’t believe we haven’t seen you in two weeks!” Aimee cried. “The summer is going by so fast already.”

Mrs. Waters waded through the crowd of people in the parlor and hallway of the house, passing out stuffed mushrooms and telling guests where to find the punch and other drinks.

“This isn’t the kind of barbecue I expected,” Madison said. “It’s like a real party.”

“Yeah.” Fiona shrugged. “It started out like a BBQ for Chet’s friends and my friends, but then it just grew. My mom’s excited to show off the house.”

“Speaking of moms,” Aimee said. “There’s your mom, Maddie.”

Madison excused herself and rushed over to say hello to Mom, who came into the party armed with flowers and a bottle of wine.

“Happy house!” Mom said cheerily as she greeted Mr. and Mrs. Waters.

Normally, Madison would have waved hello and then scooted off to be with her friends, but right now Madison was staying close to Mom’s side. She stuck her arm inside Mom’s arm and led her over to the table with nachos and chips.

“This place looks fantastic!” Mom said. “Hey, Maddie, maybe we should paint our house, too. What do you think?”

“I like ours the way it is,” Madison said.

“Yeah, me too,” Mom agreed.

“Hey, Finnster,” Hart said, walking right up to Madison and Mom.

Madison jumped when she heard Hart’s voice.

“Hart!” she said, feeling her cheeks blush as usual. “Um…this is my mom …I think you met before…. Maybe not…”

“Hi, Mrs. Finn,” Hart said.

Mom grinned. “Hello.”

Hart smiled. Then he walked off in the direction of Chet, Egg, Drew, Dan, and some other boys. They were headed outside for a game of football or Frisbee. Madison wasn’t sure which. Of course, Fiona wanted to follow them outside so she could keep an eye on Egg. Aimee was frantically searching the crowd for Ben, who still hadn’t arrived.

Madison decided to stay inside for a while longer with Mom. They shared a big plate of nibbles together, and Mom talked about her trip to Australia with some other neighbors, including Aimee’s mom and dad, who arrived late.

The barbecue continued for hours. Madison eventually found her way outside to her friends and Hart and the rest of the boys. By now, the sports games had concluded and they were trying to start up a game of charades. Chet was making a big deal about playing flashlight tag, too, but no one could do that until it got darker outside.

Many of the parents and neighbors were leaving and the barbecue was turning into a kids-only affair. Madison’s mom waved to her from the driveway. “See you at home!” she said.

Madison couldn’t believe she’d survived a week of no Mom and time without friends. Today she was making up for
all
of it.

Now she just had to figure out a way to get Eliot on her side before Monday rolled around and she started work again at the Reed house.

M
ADISON SPENT ALL OF
Sunday with Mom in the garden. They went to the Far Hills nursery together in the morning to pick out perennials for planting. It was late in the season, but they still managed to find some colorful flowers for the side yard. Of course all Madison could think about when she was digging her fingers into the dirt was Eliot. She imagined him sitting beside her, playing with the mud the way he played with his toy boat.

Her brain was whizzing with new ideas about how to entertain Eliot and keep him happy for the rest of the summer. So what, Madison tried to tell herself, if he doesn’t ever warm up to me completely?

Sunday night, Madison reopened her files and logged online.

Eliot

Rude Awakening:
A mother’s helper’s work is never done. Even when I’m not baby-sitting, I’m THINKING about baby-sitting.

New ideas for Eliot and me this week: hide-and-seek? Build the highest Lego building? Go to the small playground down the street? I want to try everything I can so Eliot has a good time. And make Mrs. Reed happy, too!

While Madison was writing in her files, her e-mailbox beeped. She had new mail all the way from Bigwheels and horse camp.

From: Bigwheels

To: MadFinn

Subject: How’s Babyspitting?

Date: Sun 29 June 7:31 PM

Everyone hogs the computers @ camp at night when we have free time!!! Sorry I haven’t written in a while. Our days are packed with trail riding and even some gymkhana like having a rodeo. Mostly I just do my best to stay on my horse (LOL), but a guide helps me out.

Tonight was our first big Sunday, so they had a chuck-wagon dinner for everyone. I think I’ve already found someone to like, too. Yeah! A guy in my trail group was talking to me @ dinner and he had the coolest green eyes. He lives in Idaho, so I guess we’ll just be friends while we’re here unless he becomes my keypal just like u!

Of course no one is like YOU!!! :>)

Thanx for sending ur e-mails about the job. It’s important. I’m sad u didn’t get to see Hart swim this week, but I’m sure you’ll see more of him this summer. He prob. understands y u missed it. BTW: Take a picture of u & Eliot and send it 2 me @ camp, ok? I want to see what he looks like. Write back soon, babyspitter! LOL.

Yours till the trail mixes,

Vicki, aka Bigwheels

Madison realized after reading Bigwheels’ e-mail that she didn’t have any photos of herself and Eliot. She would bring the digital camera and ask Mrs. Reed to take a picture. Then she could share it online, and send Dad and Gramma Helen a copy, too.

Monday morning, Madison packed the camera in with her towel and bathing suit in case the Reeds went to the Lake Dora pool again. Unfortunately, the sky looked kind of ominous, so she wasn’t sure that swimming would be in the plans. But Madison wasn’t going to let this rainy day get her down like she had before.

Madison ate breakfast with Mom and then left the house, skipping along the street up to the Reed house. It wasn’t raining yet! Madison lived so close to Eliot—and the walk there was so easy. She could probably even bring Phin over for a visit sometime.

The front screen door at the Reeds’ house was open when Madison arrived. She walked right in.

“Hello?” Madison called out.

“Madison! Good morning!” Mrs. Reed called back from another room. “I’m in here with Becka. I think Eliot’s upstairs waiting for you.”

Madison yelled, “Good morning,” put down her bag, and looked up the stairs.

“Eliot?” Madison said. “Are you up there?”

She heard nothing. Peanut Butter and Jelly scooted down the stairs, chasing after each other. Madison climbed up.

“Eliot?” Madison asked again.

“HIYA!” Eliot screamed, popping out from behind a corner.

Madison nearly jumped out of her skin. She clutched at her chest.

Eliot roared with laughter. He swatted at her leg.