global warming.
Lea, in her quiet voice, said, âWhat does âa littleâ mean?â
Audrey just smiled and stirred Sweetân Low into her tea.
C.C. leaned forward and said, âDoes âa littleâ mean a little too much?â
A light, surprised laugh escaped Audrey. âI donât think so, no.â
The girls all took bites of their bagels.
âOkay,â C.C. said carefully. âHow did it make you feel?â
Audrey smiled and blinked slowly. Sheâd awoken this morning thinking of a legend theyâd learned at the Tate School, the one in which the young, brave, and handsome Tristan is sent to Ireland to escort the beautiful Iseult to Britain so that she can join her intended husband, the vengeful and ignoble King Mark, who is also Tristanâs uncle. Tristan is sent with a magic potion for Iseult to drink so that she might fall eternally in love with the elderly uncle, but on the way Tristan and Iseult mistakenly drink the potion and fall eternally in love with each other instead.
Audrey said, âI felt as if for the first time in my life I could imagine what Tristan and Iseult felt after theyâd drunk the love potion.â This seemed to go too far, so she added, âExcept I didnât feel like Iâd drunk the whole potion or anything. It was more like a single droplet.â
Lea and C.C. had stopped chewing while she talked.
Now, after a long moment, they resumed.
Audrey said, âAlmost the weirdest thing happened after I came home.â She was about to describe the money talk with her father when she noticed someone entering the restaurant, and stopped short.
âUh-oh,â she said in a small voice.
It was Theo Driggs with about five of his enormous, slouching friends. They sauntered down the next aisle.
Audrey wanted to avert her eyes, but couldnâtâa mistake, it turned out. When Theo noticed her, he silently, exaggeratedly mouthed two words, and Audrey could read his plump lips loud and clear.
Do list.
Audrey looked away.
Mucker,
she thought.
Mucker, mucker,
mucker. She glanced at C.C. and Lea. âVacate, vacate, vacate,â she said, and they all got up.
Outside, in the warm sunshine, C.C. suggested tennis.
âIn November?â Audrey said.
C.C. spread her arms and gestured at the blue sky. âAudrey, honey, everything I see says June.â
So they agreed on tennis at C.C.âs, but not until after lunch, because Audrey said she needed to run an errand for her father.
âWhat kind of errand?â C.C. said.
âThe boring kind,â Audrey said, to deflect any interest in their tagging along. âSee you guys after lunch.â
Chapter 26
The Return of the Spaghetti-Strap Dress
âReason for return?â
Audrey was returning the spaghetti-strap dress, along with the shoes and sweater. âThe fit wasnâtââ Audrey began, but stopped. She didnât want to lie; she didnât know what to say; sheâd never done this before.
The clerk, a thin, fortyish woman with a clamped-tight face, lowered her chin and peered over her reading glasses. âYou didnât try them on before you bought them?â It was more an accusation than a question.
âI did, butââ She glanced away, searching the aisles and hoping nobody she knew was in the store.
âWas there something wrong with the garments?â
Audrey turned. âNo. Itâs just that . . . my father didnât like them.â
The clerk brought the dress close to her face and sniffed it. âI think itâs been worn,â she said, and again peered down at Audrey. âHas it been worn?â
Audrey lowered her eyes and nodded. Outside, it was the most beautiful, sunny November day ever, and here she was, standing inside a shop, doing this. She wanted to say,
Itâs
okay, Iâll just go ahead and keep it,
but her father had looked so worried that she said nothing and waited.
The
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