Conrad, who I thought hadn’t even been listening, said, “You guys are lying. That wasn’t the craziest thing you ever did.”
Susannah put her hands up, like,I surrender. “Mothers get to have secrets too,” she said. “I don’t ask you boys about your secrets, now, do I?”
“Yes, you do,” said Jeremiah. He pointed his fork at her. “You ask all the time. If I had a journal, you would read it.”
“No, I wouldn’t,” she protested.
My mother said, “Yes, you would.”
Susannah glared at my mother. “I would never.” Then she looked at Conrad and Jeremiah sitting next to each other. “Fine, I might, but only Conrad’s. He’s so good at keeping everything locked inside, I never know what he’s thinking. But not you, Jeremiah. You, my baby boy, wear your heart right here.” She reached over and touched his sweatshirt sleeve.
“No, I don’t,” he protested, stabbing a scallop on his plate. “I have secrets.”
That’s when Taylor said, “Sure you do, Jeremy,” in this really sickeningly flirtatious way.
He grinned at her, which made me want to choke on my asparagus.
That’s whenIsaid, “Taylor and I are going to go to the boardwalk tonight. Will one of you guys drop us off?”
Before my mother or Susannah could answer, Jeremiah said, “Ooh, the boardwalk. I think we should go to the boardwalk too.” Turning to Conrad and Steven, he added, “Right, guys?” Normally I would have been thrilled that any of them wanted to go somewhere I was going, but not this time. I knew it wasn’t for me.
I looked at Taylor, who was suddenly busy cutting up her scallops into tiny bite-size pieces. She knew it was for her too.
“The boardwalk sucks,” said Steven.
Conrad said, “Not interested.”
“Who invited you guys anyway?” I said.
Steven rolled his eyes. “No one invites anyone to the boardwalk. You just go. It’s a free country.”
“Is it a free country?” my mother mused. “I want you to really think about that statement, Steven. What about our civil liberties? Are we really free if—”
“Laurel, please,” Susannah said, shaking her head. “Let’s not talk politics at the dinner table.”
“I don’t know of a better time for political discourse,” my mother said calmly. Then she looked at me. I mouthed,Please stop, and she sighed. It was better to stop her right away before she really got going. “Okay, fine. Fine. No more politics. I’m going to the bookstore downtown. I’ll drop you guys off on the way.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said. “It’ll be just Taylor and me.”
Jeremiah ignored me and turned to Steven and Conrad. “Come on, guys,” he said. “It’ll beamazing.” Taylor had been calling everything amazing all day.
“Fine, but I’m going to the arcade,” said Steven.
“Con?” Jeremiah looked at Conrad, who shook his head.
“Come on,Con,” Taylor said, poking at him with her fork. “Come with us.”
He shook his head, and Taylor made a face. “Fine. We’ll be sure to have lots of fun without you.”
Jeremiah said, “Don’t worry about him. He’s gonna have lots of fun here, reading the Encyclopaedia Britannica.” Conrad ignored this, but Taylor giggled and tucked her hair behind her ears, which is when I knew that she liked Jeremiah now.
Then Susannah said, “Don’t leave without some money for ice cream.” I could tell she was happy we were all hanging out, except for Conrad, who seemed to prefer hanging out by himself this summer. Nothing made Susannah happier than thinking up activities for us kids to do. I think that she would have made a really good camp director.
In the car we waited for my mother and the boys to come out, and I whispered, “I thought you liked Conrad.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Blah. He’s boring. I think I’ll like Jeremy instead.”
“His name is Jeremiah,” I said sourly.
