Wherever Grace Is Needed by Elizabeth Bass Page A

Aunt Jeannie had sent you for your eighth birthday, and what grade you’d gotten in Social Studies when you were eleven, even if you hadn’t shown her your report card, which of course you would never do in a million years. Lily knew. She was a ferret in Keds.
    “I spent that money,” Jordan confessed.
    Her sister’s jaw dropped. “How could you spend a summer’s worth of money in one month?”
    “I got my hair done. And I bought some stuff.”
    “What kind of stuff?”
    “None of your business.”
    Lily’s eyes narrowed and she turned back to her encyclopedia, but Jordan could tell she wasn’t really reading by the way her right foot was jangling. “I bet it had something to do with why Granny Kate and Pop Pop kicked you out,” Lily said.
    “You don’t know anything, so shut up.”
    The front door opened and slammed shut and Dominic came in. His face registered surprise to see the two of them sitting together in the same room.
    “Where were you?” Jordan asked him.
    “Next door,” Lily and Dominic answered, in unison.
    “With the woman who bought my picture?” Jordan asked him.
    “Egbert wasn’t your picture,” Lily said, as if she were actually supposed to be part of this conversation, which she wasn’t. “You gave the picture to Nina, remember?”
    “Yeah, I do remember that.”
    Lily glared at her. “Sometimes I wonder. She doesn’t exist here anymore, thanks to you.”
    Jordan froze. “What do you mean by that?”
    “You sold all her stuff!”
    Jordan leapt up. “That’s not what you meant by thanks to me, though, was it?”
    Lily stared back up at her, her lips turned down at the corners in that really irritating way she had. The girl was a natural-born hemorrhoid. Jordan considered wringing her skinny little neck, but the last thing she needed now was to get into more trouble.
    She spun around and practically dove onto the couch. “I never should have come back here,” she moaned, only slightly comforted when Dominic sat down next to her.
    “As if you had any choice,” Lily scoffed. “The only reason you’re here is because Granny Kate and Pop Pop wouldn’t have you. Now we’re stuck with you.”
    “Believe me, if I had anywhere else to go, I’d be there by now.”
    “What did you do?” Lily asked.
    “I’m not going to tell you, so quit asking.”
    “I know,” Dominic piped up. “You painted a room.”
    Jordan lifted her head. “Who told you that?”
    Dominic shrugged. “Dad.” He squinted at her. “It’s true, isn’t it?”
    She nodded.
    Lily’s eyes were like two full moons. “ What? They sent you back here for painting a room? That’s insane!”
    “Tell me about it,” Jordan muttered.
    “There had to be more to it than that,” Lily insisted.
    “She painted the spare bedroom at Granny Kate and Pop Pop’s without permission. And she wrote ‘happy little tree’ on a wall.” Dominic looked to Jordan for confirmation. “That was it, wasn’t it?”
    Jordan nodded again.
    “ ‘ Happy little tree?’ ” Lily repeated. “What does that mean?”
    “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “Would I?” Dominic asked.
    Jordan smiled and nudged him with her knee. “Maybe.”
    Lily looked like she was about to explode. “There had to be something else. Granny Kate wouldn’t kick you out of her house just for writing ‘happy little tree’ on a wall.”
    “Sorry to burst your Granny bubble, Lils, but that’s the way it went down.”
    “You’re a liar.”
    Dominic shook his head. “Dad said. He told me Granny Kate said she had painted the room black and painted ‘happy little tree’ on a wall.”
    “Black!” The word brought Lily out of her chair. Her forehead wrinkled. “Why black?”
    “Granny Kate told Dad it was on account of she had been listening to satanic music,” Dominic said.
    Jordan squinted at him. “Dad didn’t tell you that. ”
    He ducked his head. “Well . . . I kinda sorta listened in on the phone when Dad was talking to Pop Pop.