Save the Date (5 page)

Madison’s stomach did a major flip-flop.

She hit the power key and watched the screen turn black with a sizzle.

T
UESDAY AFTERNOON FIONA HAD
soccer practice and Aimee had a private dance lesson, so Madison came home alone after school. Mom wasn’t home again, but Billy was back working on the roof and chimney. Madison ignored him.

After a quick snack, Madison logged on to TweenBlurt.com. She was very surprised to find Bigwheels online again in the middle of the day.

: Hi. I’m at home today.


: U ok?


: I have the flu


: Yuck-o. Sorry


: No fun being sick


: So start at the beginning and tell me EXACTLY what happened w/ your BFF


: Lainie and I are not speaking we had a major fight


: but what happened? she’s ur BFF!!


Madison Finn blinked at the flashing computer screen. Bigwheels was slow in responding. Was her online keypal having a BFF mini-meltdown?

: yeah Lainie WAS my BFF but now she’s acting like a supersnob


: How?


: yesterday she said she was too busy to hang out after school & then I saw her talking to this OTHER girl after school and all I can say is that she is SUCH a major liar and TLGO and O and O


: bummer


: she’s acting all weird, and secretive


: you’ll prob make up sooner than soon


: thanks I hope so but I don’t know she is being so different than b4 we NEVER had n e secrets w/each other


: I think maybe my mom is keeping a big secret from me and she NEVER keeps secrets from me, either


: no way—what?


: well I think she’s dating again


: WOW


: what am I supposed 2 do?


Bigwheels was slow in responding again.

: BIGWHEELS r u there?


: AFK


: What’s wrong?


: My mom was yelling 4 me and I have to go to the doctor now—I’ll send u an e-mail later—write back


Madison logged off. She was disappointed that she and her keypal were cut off before she could get some good advice. Even worse, now that Madison had brought up the subject, she couldn’t get
Date-O-Magic
out of her mind.

“Wanna go
o-u-t
?” she cried to Phinnie. She held out his leash.

It was almost four o’clock, and a walk outside would clear her head. Maybe Aimee was home from dance class? If she was, Aimee and Madison could walk their dogs together. Phin loved Aimee’s basset hound, Blossom. It would be the perfect distraction.

She left a note for Mom on the front door saying that she went to Aimee’s house.

When Madison arrived at the Gillespies’ house, however, Madison found her BFF’s mom instead of her BFF.

“Oh, Maddie, I’m sorry,” Mrs. Gillespie said when she opened the front door. “Aimee’s still at her ballet lesson.”

Madison shifted from foot to foot. “Bummer,” she mumbled. “Well, see ya.”

Mrs. Gillespie opened the screen door wider. “Do you want a snack?” she asked. “I just made some homemade granola.”

Aimee’s mother was a health nut. She made almost every recipe in her kitchen with wheat germ or tofu. Madison wasn’t a
huge
fan of health-food cooking, however. She made a sour face.

“Whoopsie! I forgot.” Mrs. Gillespie chuckled to herself. “You don’t like that all-natural stuff.”

“But it was really nice of you to ask,” Madison said. “I just came over to take Phin for a walk with Blossom and Aimee, but it can wait for another—”

“Why don’t
we
go together?” Mrs. Gillespie interrupted. “Let me grab Blossom’s leash.”

Before Madison could even respond, Mrs. Gillespie had disappeared to find Blossom. Madison sat down on their front steps. Phin was sniffing everything he could sniff. He smelled hound.

Often, when Mom was out of town, Madison would stay overnight for a day or longer with the Gillespies. Mrs. Gillespie knew how to say all the right things if Madison was feeling blue. Maybe she’d know what to say today?

As they walked the dogs around Blueberry Street and Ridge Road, Madison tried to get up the courage to ask a few questions about what she’d discovered on her mom’s computer. Mrs. Gillespie would know why Mom was on that Web site, wouldn’t she?

“Mrs. Gillespie, have you ever heard of Date-O-Magic?” Madison blurted.

Aimee’s mother barely blinked an eye. “Date-O-
what
?” she asked.

“Date-O-MAGIC,” Madison repeated, a little louder for emphasis. “It’s some kind of Web site.”

“Never heard of it,” Mrs. Gillespie said. “Doesn’t sound like something a seventh grader should really be looking at, though—”

“No, I wasn’t,” Madison said. “I think Mom was.”

Mrs. Gillespie put her hand gently on Madison’s shoulder. “Isn’t that her business?” she asked.

“I guess. But I found out by accident, and now I know what’s going to happen. My mom is going to start dating, just like my dad,” Madison said. “She’s going to start dating some strange guy from the Internet and then—”

“Hold on,” Mrs. Gillespie said calmly. “She wouldn’t date anyone without telling you about it. You know that.”

Madison sighed. “But what if she
is
dating someone?” she asked.

“You know, Maddie,” Mrs. Gillespie said. “I think maybe the person you should be talking to about this is your—”

“Mom,” Madison grumbled. “Yeah, I know.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Gillespie said. “You should talk to your mom
and
your dad about these feelings. Especially about the dating. I know it can’t be easy dealing with everything that’s happened since last year. We’ve discussed this before.”

They had talked a lot about dealing with change. Sometimes when Madison slept over at Aimee’s house, she’d spend as much time talking to Aimee’s mother as she spent talking to Aimee. Mrs. Gillespie couldn’t help but be supportive 24/7.

From the sidewalk, they watched Phin and Blossom sneak behind some bushes. Mrs. Gillespie turned to Madison and chuckled. “The real question here is, ‘How do we feel about
them
dating?’”

Madison giggled. Phin was chasing Blossom around so much, their leashes got tangled together. Mrs. Gillespie leaned over to give Madison a hug, and Madison couldn’t help but squeeze back—hard.

When they arrived back at the Gillespie house, Aimee was inside. They hung out together in Aimee’s room so Phin could have some extra playtime with Blossom. Aimee showed Madison the picture she’d finally selected for the ballet programs.

Around five o’clock, Mom called the Gillespies’ and asked Madison to hurry home. Dad was back from Boston. He was coming by to pick Madison up for dinner.

On the way out, Madison waved to Aimee’s brother Roger, who was standing in the driveway to fix something under his car’s hood. Roger was the nicest guy on the planet. If she were just a little bit older, Madison thought, maybe she could go out on a date with
him.

Whereas Aimee thought Roger was perpetually annoying, Madison thought he was smart, cute,
and
funny—not the traits of most boys at Far Hills Junior High these days. Especially not Hart Jones.

Madison paced by the front door, watching as the sun began its slow drop down in the sky. Dad and Stephanie were on their way over to pick Madison up for dinner.

“He’s
late
again?” Mom called out from the kitchen.

It was now six-twenty.

Madison strolled into the kitchen. “Quit picking on him, Mom. He isn’t
always
late,” Madison rushed to Dad’s defense. “He’s just superbusy.”

“Aren’t we all?” Mom laughed.

Madison shrugged. “Can we just change the subject, please?”

She collapsed onto a kitchen chair and rested her head on the table.

“Honey bear, did you use my computer last night?” Mom asked.

“Huh?” Madison nodded, lifting her head. “Yeah. Why?”

Was Mom able to see that Madison had surfed to Date-O-Magic?

“Well, you left the printer on,” Mom said. “Next time be careful, okay?”

Madison wanted to blurt, “Why don’t
you
tell me what’s going on with Date-O-Magic, huh?” But she didn’t. She wasn’t ready to bring up that subject with her mom yet.

The reality of Dad and Mom
both
seeing other people made Madison a little dizzy. Somewhere in her heart, she still harbored the teeniest of hopes that maybe (just maybe) her parents would reunite.

Dad showed up when Madison and Mom were still talking. He punched the doorbell three times in a row. Madison kissed her mom good-bye.

On the way to the car. Dad gave Madison a giant squeeze. Stephanie was waiting for them in the front seat.

“Hiya, Maddie,” she said as Madison climbed into the backseat. “What’s going on?”

Madison had grown to like Dad’s girlfriend a lot, except at certain times like now, when she had to ride in the backseat. Madison felt like a third wheel. She watched the scenery flash by and only answered with one-or two-syllable responses.

“Yuh.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yep.”

They didn’t go to Dad’s loft for dinner, which was a huge disappointment for Madison. Dad used to cook all the time, but since he’d been dating Stephanie, he had all but stopped cooking for Madison’s visits. And even on the rare occasions when he
did
cook, Dad’s most special recipes (namely, the ones Madison adored) weren’t on the main menu.

They went to an Italian bistro, a new restaurant on the border of Far Hills and another town along the river called Burkeville. Dad stopped to let a valet park the car as everyone hopped out. It was a super-fancy place. Their table had a view of the waterfront.

Madison gazed at the reflection of different-colored lights, with a rainbow of blues, yellows, whites, and pinks glimmering off the water and the sides of boats. She was in a faraway fog.

“How’s school?” Dad asked Madison in the middle of salad, trying to pull her back into the table’s conversation.

“School’s cool,” Madison said with a mouthful of lettuce. “Except for science class. We have this field trip coming up tomorrow, and I don’t really know what to expect.”

Stephanie asked a string of questions about where they were going and what they’d be seeing. She couldn’t believe they’d be competing boys versus girls.

“That’s outrageous, Jeff,” Stephanie said. “You really should talk to the principal. Isn’t that sexism or something like that?”

Madison grinned at Stephanie’s enthusiasm. “Well, the trip’s tomorrow, so it’s too late to change anything.”

Dad chuckled. “I say, ‘You go, girl!’”

“Oh, Dad.” Madison groaned. “How embarrassing.”

Stephanie laughed. “Well, beat the boys, then,” she whispered to Madison.

Dad gave Stephanie a kiss after she said that.

The spaghetti came to the table late, and the evening seemed to drag on. By the time they had paid the check and got into the car heading home, Madison felt her eyes getting heavy. Today had been overly busy just like all the rest of the days of the week.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

No sooner had Madison dozed off than Dad leaned into the backseat to help her out of his car. “C’mon, sweetie,” he said. Stephanie whispered her good-byes, too.

A groggy Madison grunted hello to Mom when she walked inside. From her office, Mom could only manage a limp hello herself. She looked drained, too. Mom obviously had spent the entire evening at her computer, compiling editing data and fact checking for one of her film documentaries. There was a half-eaten TV dinner on Mom’s work desk.

“You look beat, Mom,” Madison said.

“Mmmm. How was dinner?” Mom asked. “
You
look beat, too.”

Madison shrugged. She
was
tired—too tired to talk. Kissing Mom’s head, she dashed away for the makeshift bedroom in the den. Madison’s real room was still off-limits for sleeping.

In the den, Madison found her laptop computer lying open on the sofa, still plugged in and fully charged. She clicked the space bar, and the screen lit up.

As the computer buzzed on, Madison felt her own inner batteries recharge, too. And so she and her second wind headed immediately into her private files.

Dating


I’m having a crisis, and it has to do with a four-letter word that I’m beginning to detest:


D-a-t-e.


I wish I could say the crisis about the word
date
is because three different boys want to ask me out. HA HA HA LOL—that isn’t even close.


It’s Mom and Date-O-Magic that has me in knots.


AND I can’t talk to Dad about it because he’ll just back up Mom like he always does.


AND Dad is being so sweet to Stephanie these days (I think he
loves
her, but let’s save that for another file) and I feel weird talking about Mom in front of Stephanie. Does it hurt her feelings? She acts all normal when I talk about Mom, but I know what she’s
really
thinking….


I totally can’t talk to my friends about any of this, either, because it would be way, way too embarrassing. They just don’t get it. Aimee’s and Fiona’s parents have both been married forever. They think I’m a super-worrywart. Fiona even says I’m
lucky
since one day I’ll probably have four parents instead of two. Lucky?


Rude Awakening:
Life with parents who go on dates is like watching a baseball game. You heed to watch out for curveballs—and you definitely need to keep score.