Cheers, Chocolate and Other Disasters

by Mikki Sadil

I told Amberley about the note, how my library book proved that Celine was lying, and that she wasn’t the captain anymore. I didn’t tell her what Cooper had found out. I couldn’t even explain it to myself, but I didn’t feel right about being the one responsible for the whole world finding out about Celine’s parents. And then, of course, there was that bit about my dad. How did he get involved with a Mob trial, anyway?

  As we were talking about Celine, I looked around Amberley’s room more closely. I saw an easel with a painting sitting on it in the other bay window and a cabinet with tube paints. I walked over to the painting and realized it was of Sunni.

  “Amberley, what’s this? I didn’t know you could paint like this! It’s wonderful!”

  She smiled shyly. “I hope you don’t mind my painting Sunni. I’ll be finished with it soon, and then you can have it.”

  “Mind? Are you kidding? It’s beautiful and it looks just like her.” I was enthralled with the painting. It looked like Sunni could just step off the canvas and start running. “But how did you get her to look like this? You’ve never seen her except since she’s been sick.”

  “I don’t know, AJ. Somehow, I knew this is what she would look like when she’s able to run again. I’ve been painting since I was a little girl, and all I have to do is see something in my mind and I can put it down on the canvas. I looked at Sunni, and in my mind, I saw her running free in the hills.”

  I remembered all the paintings I had seen in the living room. “Then all those paintings in the front are yours? All the landscapes and seascapes?”

  “Yes, they’re mine. I’ve never seen the ocean, but when I read about it, I can see it in my mind, and it just trans…translates…into…”

  Amberley’s face turned into a white mask so fast I thought she had died. She was gasping for breath as she stumbled across the room, grabbed the oxygen mask, and fell backward onto her bed.

  “Amberley? Oh my gosh, Amberley what can I do? Should I call 911?” I was panicking.

  Her eyes were shut, but she managed to shake her head, just as I heard the front door open and close. Her grandmother must be home. I ran down the hall straight into a tall, slender woman with short, graying black hair and a deeply lined face. She smiled, one of those that didn’t reach her brown eyes. “Well, hello. You must be AJ!”

  I grabbed her hand. “Amberley’s in trouble, she can hardly breathe.”

  She put the grocery sack she was carrying down on the dining room table and hurried into Amberley’s room. She went over to the bed and checked the oxygen level in the tank. “How are you doing, sweetie? Do we need to go to the hospital?”

  Amberley took off the mask. “No, Nani, I’ll be… be okay. I…I’m having a little trouble…breathing. I’m really tired.”

  Her grandmother turned to me. “AJ, I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask you to leave. Amberley needs to rest now. It was so nice of you to come and visit her, please come again.”

  I looked over at Amberley but her eyes were closed and the mask was on her face again. I walked down the hall with her grandmother. “Mrs. Baker, is she going to be okay? She told me about the myasthenia gravis. I’m scared for her.”

  Her grandmother took my hand and led me to a chair in the living room. Her face was sad, and her dark eyes filled with tears. “We don’t know what will happen. She’s been having these attacks where it’s hard for her to breathe more and more lately. Myasthenia is a strange disease and seems to affect people, particularly young people, very differently. The doctors do everything they can for her. But there is just so much that can be done, then it’s a matter of ‘wait and see.’ Some people go into a remission. We’re hoping that happens.”

  “But Mrs. Baker…”

  She interrupted me. “AJ, I am Amberley’s maternal grandmother. My name isn’t Baker, it is Mehta. I am Hindu, and my name is Janaki Mehta.”

  I stared at her in astonishment. “Hindu? Then…Amberley’s from India?” That would explain her almost black hair, dark eyes, and faint lilt to her voice.

  “No, Amberley was born in the U.S., but my daughter, her mother, was born and raised in India. When we came to the U.S., my daughter met and married an American named Baker. You heard Amberley call me Nani? It’s not ‘Nanny’ like you say here, it’s pronounced ‘NaNee.’ Amberley speaks the Hindu language, but only here at home.”

  “Wow, she never told us that. Uh, Mrs. Mehta, can I ask you something? It’s pretty personal.”

  She smiled at me. “Of course. What is it?”

  I took a deep breath. I knew I probably shouldn’t ask, but I just couldn’t imagine Amberley being as sick as she was and her parents not being there with her. “Well, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but why aren’t Amberley’s mom and dad home with her? She told me they were in the entertainment business, but with her being so sick and all, how come they aren’t here?”

  Mrs. Mehta’s face tightened and her eyes blazed. I thought, Oh great, you’ve way overstepped those boundaries Mom is always talking about.

  “Amberley’s parents are geographical movie producers, and they go all over the world to do their movies. I’m sorry to say that my daughter and her husband care more for their careers than for their daughter, and I have raised her since she was two years old. She barely knows her parents.”

  Mrs. Mehta and I talked for a little longer before I left. As I walked out the door, she said, “Thanks for coming over, AJ. Amberley needs a good friend like you right now.”

  Good friend? I haven’t been nearly as good a friend as I’m going to be.

  When I got home, I called Lisa and told her about Amberley’s illness and why she lived with her grandmother. I felt very protective of Amberley, especially now that I knew about her ‘missing’ parents. Aaghh!

  Lisa didn’t say much, but I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was upset because Amberley had confided in me and not her.

  In the mail I found a letter from Dad with a round trip ticket to San Francisco for the next afternoon. I was so excited! A little scared, too, because I’d never been on an airplane before and now I was going to be flying all by myself. That nasty little voice said, What about Amberley? What if she dies while you’re gone? Just shut up! Amberley is going to be fine.

  The next morning after breakfast I hugged the twins and told them and Andrew goodbye. They all said they would take care of Sunni for me, but they didn’t say one word about me going to see Dad. Maybe it was true that I was the only one who still cared about him.

  Mom met me after school to drive me to the airport in Denver. On the way, she gave me instructions about how to act on the plane, not to go anywhere with strangers at the airport while I was waiting to transfer and lots of other stuff. The plane flew into Los Angeles and I had to transfer to another plane to San Francisco. That was a little scary, but I really didn’t need a lecture from Mom about how to act. I guess she forgets sometimes that I am almost fourteen and not a little kid.

  Soon it was time to hug her goodbye and board the plane. The flight attendant showed me where my seat was and I realized it was in First Class. Oh wow, this was so cool. Big, comfy chairs that went into all kinds of positions, a large tabletop that came up from the floor in front of me, and my own private TV screen. It was super deluxe! I settled down in the big seat, pushed a button and headphones, a remote control, and a list of shows to watch opened up in a side pocket. Wow! I wouldn’t mind being here for hours.

  All too soon, though, we touched down in LA. Mom’s warnings about what I should and shouldn’t do were a waste of time, because I barely had time to get from the gate where we came in to the gate where I had to board the next plane to San Francisco. I was again in First Class, but the trip was so short I didn’t even get to watch a whole TV program. Then I was walking through the gate, and there was my dad.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Reconciliation?

  I forgot I was almost fourteen and nearly grown up. I ran and threw myself into my dad’s a
rms like I did when I was little. Dad must have been thinking the same thing, because he picked me up and swung me around like he used to do. He hugged me until I couldn’t breathe and then set me down carefully.

  “AJ, I’m so glad to see you! How is your ankle? I’m glad to see that you’re walking on it now. How was your flight, did you enjoy being in First Class? Since it was your very first time on an airplane, I wanted it to be special for you.”

  Dad was talking so fast I could barely keep up with him, but at least I knew he was as glad to see me as I was him. We headed out to the car, and before long were in the middle of a typical San Francisco traffic jam. Cars were packed on the freeway like someone had painted them on a canvas, and they were moving about as fast, too. It took over an hour before we reached his apartment, and when we got there, I could only stare in amazement. It was in one of the old Victorian houses they call the Painted Ladies, and it was beautiful. This Painted Lady was at the top of a hill, and from the porch you could see the Pacific Ocean beginning to look silver and black because the moon had just come up.

  The air was full of scents we didn’t have in West Haven — the nip of salt spray from the ocean, and the spicy-sour aroma of both fresh and cooked fish that had laid all day on open tables at the docks’ Fish Markets. It made me realize how much I missed all of this. These were the smells I loved. All I could smell in West Haven were pine trees and dusty ole’ dirt roads. I stood there taking it all in, until finally Dad said, smiling, “AJ, do you want to come in, or are you going to spend the night out here?”

  As I walked through the apartment, I noticed all the rooms were the same with high, curved ceilings, what my mom called ‘crown moldings’ and archways instead of doorways. It was totally awesome, and I was surprised that my dad had picked something like this. I thought his apartment would be all glass and stainless steel in a downtown high-rise.

  My bedroom was in the front, with a white and gold Victorian iron bed, pale yellow ruffled curtains, and soft white carpet that accented the lavender walls. He hadn’t forgotten my favorite colors.

  I had eaten dinner on the plane, but when Dad took me into the kitchen and I smelled the aroma of freshly baked cookies, I realized I was still hungry.

  “Dad, are you really into baking cookies these days?”

  Dad smiled, but he had a kind of embarrassed look on his face when he said, “Well, no. Actually, Katherine baked them for you. I, uh, guess your mom told you about Katherine?” He placed a big mug of hot chocolate in front of me.

  Suddenly I didn’t feel very hungry. I squirmed a little on the chair, wishing that he hadn’t brought her up so quickly. I turned the mug around and around.

  “Um…yeah. Mom said you had met somebody. Dad, are you really going to get married again so soon? You’re not even divorced yet.”

  “Honey, I’m not getting married until after the divorce is final. Of course not. And it really isn’t ‘so soon.’ Katherine and I have known each other for a long time, and…”

  “A long time?” I interrupted him. “You mean, you’ve had a—a girlfriend while you were still married to Mom?” I could feel my face burning, and my feet began to twitch under the table.

  Dad sighed. “No, AJ, it’s not like that at all. You don’t understand, sweetie…”

  I slammed my mug down on the table, sending drips of chocolate flying. I pushed the plate of cookies away, almost over the table’s edge. “Then maybe you’d better make me understand, Dad. I’m not a little kid anymore, you know. Andrew and the twins and I just found out about the divorce a few days ago and then we’re told we’re going to have a stepmother. That’s pretty fast, if you ask me.”

  Dad reached over to take my hand, but I pulled it away from him. “I just want to know what happened. I think you owe me, all of us kids, that much.”

  “I guess you’re right. I met Katherine about two years ago during a trial. She’s an attorney, too. She was opposing me, but we had to meet a lot to get things cleared up for the client. We just became friends at first, that’s all. You know, AJ, it is possible for a man and a woman to be friends without…without anything else going on.”

  Yeah, sure. I’ve seen enough movies to know that’s not true.

  Dad went on with his story. “Katherine and I went for a long period of time not seeing each other before I found out she had come to work for my firm. Your mom and I weren’t happy, AJ. We just grew apart. It happens sometimes, even if you don’t want it to.”

  “So because you weren’t happy, you started seeing Katherine? You were always gone, Dad, how could you and Mom be happy together when you were never together? Why didn’t you just come home and work things out?”

  Dad heaved another big sigh. “Honey, coming home wouldn’t have made any difference. Our marriage was over and we both knew it. We kept it from you kids, and now I realize we probably shouldn’t have. But we thought we were doing the right thing. And, well, your mom has known about Katherine for a long time.”

  “I think you should’ve tried harder. You could have come home more, or something.”

  He frowned, and he didn’t have that ‘I’m sorry’ look anymore. “Look, honey, this business is between your mother and me. There’s nothing anyone can do or say about it now. I want this weekend to be about fun things with you and me, not a rehash of family problems. Let’s have this weekend just for us, okay?”

  I was angry and hurt. The divorce wasn’t just between him and Mom, we were involved, too. But I loved my dad so much, and I needed to talk to him about the problems with my life, not with his. I needed him to put his arms around me and tell me my life was going to get better and everything with the J’s and Celine and Amberley would work out. Right then I decided I didn’t want to hear any more about the divorce or Katherine. Especially Katherine.

  I finished my hot chocolate, but refused to eat any cookies. They smelled delicious, and I was still hungry, but Katherine had made them and I didn’t want any part of them. Maybe I would raid the refrigerator after Dad went to sleep.

  We went into the living room, and Dad asked about the horses. I told him about Sunni and about not paying attention to how hard I was riding her because I was thinking about the divorce.

  He kind of shook his head at that part, but he said he was proud of the way I had taken care of her myself. The best part was that he didn’t say one word about me selling her.

  The next morning at breakfast, I spent a long time telling Dad all about what was happening with me — I started with the J’s and Celine, how I ended up with Lisa and Amberley. I told him about Celine and the note, and about how scared I was about Amberley. When he asked about Amberley, I said, “It’s really strange, Dad. I didn’t like her and Lisa at first, but now I like them both. And Amberley…I don’t know, there’s just something about her. She’s so brave. I can’t stand the thought that maybe she could die. She’s like…well, she’s my best friend now. But the J’s and Celine…I don’t know what to do about them.”

  The look on his face was serious. “Honey, you’ve really had a bad year, and I’m sorry your mother and I have just added to it. One thing, though…you’re growing up, AJ, and I’m not going to tell you what to do. But you’ve been friends with Julie and Jaime ever since we moved to Colorado, and I think, well, maybe you should consider how to get back on friendly terms with them.”

  “I want to, Dad, I just don’t know how. Celine practically runs their lives now. They do everything she tells them to. They think Celine is some kind of…I don’t know…princess or something, but she’s really the Queen of Mean. Oh! But wait ’til I tell you what I found out about her!”

  I told him what Cooper had found out about her family. When I got to the part about her parents going to prison for working with the mob, his face paled. The frown lines deepened on his forehead, his lips thinned, and he squinted his eyes. Dad never squints his eyes unless he’s upset about something. I knew something was wrong, but before I could ask anything, he said, “Uh, AJ, ho
w did this Cooper get this information? And who is Cooper?”

  Aaghh! How could I answer that without breaking my word to Cooper? I tried to get around it. “Well, Cooper is this cute boy in my math class. He’s been really nice to me, especially since the J’s and Celine have been so nasty.”

  He smiled a little, but his face was still strained. “Oh, I see. ‘The cute boy from your math class.’ Now I know who Cooper is. Suppose you answer my first question, which was how did he come by this information?”

  Oh, great. I wasn’t going to get out of it, after all. Well, Cooper didn’t have to know that I told my dad, did he? I sort of mumbled, “Um, he went into his dad’s computer.”

  “Really? Why did he do that? Why would his father’s computer have information that his own computer didn’t have?”

  Aaghh! Why is it that parents can never leave anything alone? They always have to have all the facts.

  I sighed loudly. “Well, his dad is a detective, and his computer has police files on it. Cooper isn’t supposed to go into that computer but he was only trying to help me out, Dad. He wasn’t doing anything bad. Besides, he said that Celine’s parents’ trials would be public record and anyone could read about them.”

  “That’s really not the point, AJ. Cooper snooped into his father’s private files for information that he shouldn’t have. But the damage is done, now. So what are you two going to do with this information?”

  “I made Cooper promise not to say anything about it to anyone. But…he thinks I should tell the J’s about everything. I mean, Celine has been horrible to me, Dad, and she broke up my friendship with Julie and Jaime. So why should I keep all this stuff a secret?”

  “Well, first of all, you have information that you should not have. If you try to spread it around, people are going to ask where you got it, and this Celine has a right to know. That means Cooper will get into trouble, and probably, so will you.”

  He gave me that sideways look he does when he’s waiting for me to answer him, but I didn’t say anything.