Chapter Nine
Cass returned with another pink envelope. “Good luck,” she said, and handed it to Mia.
They left, taking their culinary creation with them. Colin put it in the backseat, leaving Mia to read their next clue. “Okay, what does it say?” he asked as he started the engine.
“‘What’s sweet and flat and round? For your next clue, go where it’s found,’” Mia read. She tapped her chin. “Sweet and flat and round?”
“Elephant ears,” Colin said. “Except you can only get those at the street dance or on the Fourth of July.”
“Sweet and round, sweet and round,” she mused. This wasn’t that hard a clue. Was her brain getting worn out?
“Pancakes,” Colin said suddenly.
“Of course.” It stood to reason that one of their clues would be at Pancake Haus. Mia had worked there part-time when she was in high school, and once she and Colin got together, he’d come in every Saturday for breakfast.
He shook his head. “Trust Gram to send us there.”
Mia blushed.
“Not one of your finer moments,” he teased, making her face burn even hotter.
Her behavior had been a little out of character. Okay, a lot. But darn it all, she’d been provoked.
* * *
Mia was now a junior. The ugliness with Adrian Malk was behind her, and she and Colin were an item. The new school year was starting off great. She and Colin went to football games, ate lunch together in the cafeteria and did their homework together. In some ways nothing had changed since they still hung out like they always had. In other ways, everything had changed because now there was also the sweet thrill of holding hands and sharing kisses. Come December there’d be the Christmas Ball, then Colin’s senior prom. The rest of her life was good, too. She liked all her classes at school and she especially enjoyed the self-defense class she was taking through the Icicle Falls Parks and Recreation Department. She was in the high school equivalent of the Garden of Eden.
Then the snake arrived. Emily Green was new to Icicle Falls High. She was cute and dressed like a fashion model. And she was a flirt. Every boy in school was hot for her but who did she set her greedy little eyes on? Colin.
It seemed as if every time Mia turned around, there was Emily, flirting with him—in the lunch line, in the hall between classes, at the football games. Mia found herself wishing that Colin played football instead of baseball. At least he would’ve been out on the field where Emily couldn’t get her hooks into him, instead of sitting in the bleachers. No matter where they sat at the games, she always seemed to find them, plunking her designer-jeans-clad bottom down on his other side and then playing dumb and asking him to explain every play to her.
“Colin, you’re so smart,” she’d coo, and of course he ate it up.
“You know, she’s out to get him,” Bailey Sterling said to Mia when some of the girls gathered in Mia’s room for an impromptu slumber party.
“She’s out to get every boy in town,” Christie Ortega added bitterly. And Christie would know, since her breakup with Eddie Schultz was directly connected to a certain under-the-bleachers tête-à-tête between Emily and Eddie.
Eddie had dumped Christie, and then been seen at Herman’s slurping milk shakes with Emily. It had been short-lived and now Eddie was moping his way down the halls to his classes, and Emily was batting her extended eyelashes at Colin.
“I think she likes taking other girls’ guys,” Bailey said.
“It’s a power trip,” Christie said. “Watch out, Mia, because the cuter the guy...”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence. Colin was one of the cutest guys in school.
“She’d better not come after Colin,” Mia said. Except she already had.
“Or what? You’ll beat her up? Everyone knows you don’t have a mean bone in your body,” Christie said.
“Then we’ll beat her up for you,” Bailey said, which made both girls laugh.
“You might break a nail,” Christie teased.
“I can be tough,” Bailey insisted, and the other two laughed.
“That’s the problem. We’re all too nice,” Christie said with a sigh.
“There’s nothing wrong with being nice,” Mia scolded her. “I believe in the Golden Rule, and I think in the end we all get exactly what we deserve.”
Christie frowned. “I didn’t deserve to get my boyfriend stolen.”
“No. You deserve better than a guy who’ll dump you just because some other girl comes along and flirts with him.”
“And what are you going to do if Colin dumps you?” Christie asked.
“He won’t. We’re like Cathy and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights.”
“And you know how that turned out,” Bailey said with a shake of her head. “I never did get that book.”
“It’s about undying love,” Mia explained.
“Yeah, but she married someone else,” Bailey protested.
“Okay, then, we’re like Buttercup and Westley in The Princess Bride,” Mia amended. And they were. Colin had proved that when he rescued her from Adrian Malk.
“Or Leonardo and Rosamunde in Forever Love,” Christie suggested. “I loved that book,” she said. “But then I love all of Vanessa Valentine’s books. Those heroes never go off and sleep with other women.”
“You don’t really think Emily did it under the bleachers with Eddie, do you?” Bailey asked, wide-eyed. “I mean, I know they were under there for a while but still... It was cold out. And people were all around.”
“There weren’t any people under the bleachers,” Christie said with a scowl. “Anyway, I don’t know and I don’t care. All I’m saying,” she said to Mia, “is you’d better watch your back.”
“I think you need to tell Emily what’s what,” said Bailey. “Be...” She scrunched up her face, looking for the right word.
“Proactive?” Mia guessed.
“Yep, that’s it.”
“I agree with Bailey. We should beat her up. Let’s grab her in the locker room after PE,” Christie said, obviously relishing the thought.
“We’re not going to beat anyone up,” Mia said firmly.
“Well, you should at least threaten her,” Christie advised.
“I don’t need to. I trust Colin.”
“Yeah, well, I trusted Eddie and look where it got me,” Christie said resentfully.
Good point. Mia decided it couldn’t hurt to have a little talk with the newcomer. Maybe they did things differently in Portland where Emily came from, but here in Icicle Falls, girls didn’t poach.
Mia finally worked up the nerve when they were walking out of the locker room after PE. She started out with a diplomatic, “So, how are you liking it here?”
“It’s okay, I guess,” Emily said. “You guys need a mall.”
Everyone was doing fine shopping in the local stores or going to nearby Wenatchee. “We kind of like it the way it is.”
Emily shrugged. “I guess. The boys are cute,” she added, and gave Mia a superior smirk.
“Um, about that. We have sort of an unwritten rule about boys.”
Emily’s only answer was to cock an eyebrow.
“We, um, well, if someone’s with someone, we don’t go after that guy.”
“If someone’s with someone, he doesn’t go after another girl,” Emily shot back with a toss of her blond hair. “And I’m new here, so I don’t know who’s with who.”
“Well, Colin’s with me. Now you know.”
For such a pretty girl, Emily sure had an ugly smile. “Yeah? Then how come he flirts with me?”
Mia blinked. Colin didn’t flirt with her, did he? “I think you’re the one doing all the flirting.”
“Am I? Well, if he’s really into you, yo
u don’t have anything to worry about, do you?” Emily retorted and turned down the hall to go to her next class, leaving Mia standing in the stream of students, gaping after her.
She chewed on Emily’s words for the rest of the school day, barely paying attention in geometry or US history. And the next Friday night at the football game, she watched carefully as Colin explained yet again the concept of first, second, third and fourth downs to Emily. Didn’t they have football in Oregon?
“What’s wrong?” he asked later as they drove to Herman’s for postgame burgers with the gang.
“Nothing.” He shouldn’t have to ask. If he had to ask, she certainly wasn’t going to tell him.
“Well, something’s wrong.”
Okay, she would tell him. “Emily. You were flirting with Emily.”
“You’re jealous?”
“No. I don’t think you should pay so much attention to her when you’re with me, that’s all.”
“I wasn’t paying attention. I was just being polite.”
“Do you have to be so polite?”
He grinned. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Sure you’re not,” he said and tugged on a lock of her hair.
Well, okay, so what if she was? Colin was special and she didn’t want to share.
It seemed as though ever since their talk, Emily was even more determined to steal him, and the Saturday morning she showed up at Pancake Haus for breakfast, Mia was convinced she was stalking him. Colin and Andy Forrester and Billy Williams always came in for breakfast before heading off to their Saturday jobs—Andy to Mountain Escape Books, Bill Will to the nearby guest ranch where he mucked out stalls and took city slickers on trail rides, and Colin to Swede’s garage, where he did oil changes on cars and rang up gas purchases. The three of them always took a booth together, but today here was Emily, squeezed in on the end, right next to Colin. What was she doing here?
“Emily, you’re up early,” she greeted the interloper as she handed out menus.
“The boys told me you guys have really good pancakes,” Emily replied and smiled at Colin.
Mia frowned and Colin looked uncomfortable. Andy and Bill Will just sat there, clueless and grinning.
“So, the usual for you guys?” Mia asked.
“Yep,” Bill Will replied.
“What will you have, Emily?” Mia asked Emily. A punch in the nose?
“Should I have the pancakes?” Mia asked Colin. What, she couldn’t make up her own mind?
“I don’t know. Get what you like,” he said.
“Get the pancakes,” urged Andy.
“Okay,” she said. “And could you warm the syrup? I like warm syrup on my pancakes.” Then she turned her back on Mia as if she was some lowly serving wench and asked Colin what he was doing after work.
Mia stormed off to the kitchen to put in the order. She served two other tables and wrote up the bill for a third. Finally, she fetched the order for Colin’s table.
“Where’s my warm syrup?” Emily asked.
“It’s coming,” Mia said through gritted teeth.
She snagged a little glass pitcher from another table and gave it a quick zap in the microwave then started to put its metal lid on. Inspiration stopped her. She wouldn’t be needing the lid.
“What took you so long?” Emily said when she returned. “I had to get it just right,” Mia replied. “I hope this is warm enough.” And she tipped the pitcher over Emily’s head.
Emily let out a shriek and jumped from the booth, syrup dripping down her hair.
“Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Mia said as the boys laughed uproariously.
Emily glared at her. “You did that on purpose!”
Well, duh. “Maybe I did. Just like you’ve been running around stealing other girls’ boyfriends on purpose. I already told you we don’t do that here and if you want to have a single friend in this town, you’d better stop.” Whoa, had she just said all that? And in a public place? She was suddenly aware of several pairs of eyes on her. She wanted to run away.
So did Emily. She burst into tears and rushed from the restaurant.
Oh, boy, here came Dot Morrison, the owner. And she wasn’t smiling. “Mia, can I see you in my office?”
It wasn’t a request. Mia followed her, feeling like a prisoner on the way to her trial. This would be her last day of work, not only here but anywhere. Dot would certainly never give her a reference. Don’t hire Mia. She assaults customers. Syrup is her weapon of choice, but she’s probably equally good with a snow globe or a can of peas.
They went into the little office off one corner of the kitchen and Dot shut the door. “Sit down,” she said, and pulled a cigarette out of the half-used pack sitting on her desk.
Mia squirmed in her seat while Dot lit her cigarette, inhaled and blew out a cloud of smoke.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” Dot took another drag on her cigarette and studied Mia through the haze of smoke.
Mia bit her lip.
“Never mind. I can guess. You have a rival.”
“She’s stealing everyone’s boyfriends,” Mia blurted.
“Breaking the girlfriend code.”
She understood. Mia nodded, relieved.
“And your boyfriend was next on the list.”
“I told her we were together.”
“Obviously, she needed to be taught a lesson.”
Exactly. Mia nodded again.
Dot’s eyes narrowed. “But not in my restaurant. There’s another code you may not be aware of, Mia, and that’s the good-employee code.”
Mia’s face burned and she felt sick. Dot was definitely going to fire her.
“You made quite a scene out there.”
Now Mia was close to tears. She hung her head. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Morrison.”
“You should be. Not for teaching that little stinker a lesson, but for wasting quality syrup on her. Don’t you be doing that again. Next time you have a problem, tell me. I’ll take the kid outside and give her what for. But let’s save the syrup for the pancakes. Okay?”
Mia stared at her. “You’re not going to fire me?”
“Only if you pull a stunt like that again.”
Relief washed over Mia. “I won’t. I promise.”
Dot stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray brimming with butts. “See that you don’t. Now, get out there and keep my customers happy.”
Mia practically bolted for the door.
“And Mia.”
She stopped with her hand on the doorknob and turned.
“Good for you,” Dot said with a wink. “Don’t take any crap from anybody and you’ll be fine. One more thing. You don’t have to worry about Colin. I’ve seen the way that boy looks at you. He’s yours, heart and soul.”
Until Arthur had come along. Then everything had blown up. And she’d let it blow. How stupid they’d both been!
April 22, 2003
Dear Emmaline,
Another Easter has come and gone in a blink! Where does the time go? Our day was lovely and the Easter treasure hunt kept Colin and Mia busy for a good hour. Bethie and I made this one as hard as we could, sending them back and forth between our houses and the orchard. We probably won’t have many more in the future, as the children will soon be moving on with their lives. In fact, I need to stop referring to them as children, don’t I? Colin will graduate this year, and next year Mia will be done with high school.
It’s been a joy to watch them grow up into such fine young people. Colin is so good with his hands. He loves working on cars and he’s a big help to Gerald in the orchard. He’s always reading up on ways we can improve the quality of our fruit and increase our harvest. He’s a smart bo
y, but he’d rather be outdoors fishing or working on his car than inside doing schoolwork. His father is insisting he get a college education, but we all know he won’t be following in Dylan’s footsteps. Colin wants to work the land like his grandfather. Mia is our little schoolbook smartie. She’s doing so well in school, getting straight As.
As for the rest of the family, Dylan’s practice continues to grow. Bethie is up to her neck in tulle and satin, working on wedding gowns for three June brides, and Mark is thinking of running for the city council come fall. Goodness, what a bunch of overachievers we have in this family!
I should bring this letter to a close. I’m making split pea soup with my leftover ham bone and I need to get started.
Don’t you and Joey worry about J.J. I’m sure he’ll find another job soon.
Love,
Justine
Chapter Ten
“I wonder what ever happened to Emily,” Colin said as he and Mia walked into Pancake Haus.
“She moved to Wenatchee. Christie heard that her husband left her for another woman.” In a way, Mia felt sorry for Emily. She was probably reaping exactly what she’d sowed all those years she lived in Icicle Falls, but heartbreak was a crummy crop, even when you deserved it.
“Leave it to the women to have all the dirt,” Colin said.
“You asked.”
“It was just an idle comment. I don’t really care what happened to her. I’ve stayed in touch with everyone I wanted to.” Almost everyone. He’d started to call Mia countless times after they split, only to abort the attempt.
The breakfast crowd was long gone. A few people lingered over late brunches and the small selection of lunch items Dot kept on the menu. They walked past a booth where a couple of women sat enjoying lattes and Belgian waffles, and made their way to the counter, where Dot herself was filling plastic tubs with clean coffee cups, a carrot stick dangling from her mouth. Been There, Done That, Don’t Ask, said the slogan on her sweatshirt under a picture of the cartoon character Maxine, to whom Dot bore a strong resemblance.
“About time you two got here,” she said after they’d exchanged greetings. “I’ve been expecting you for hours. Justine must really be putting you kids through your paces.”
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