Jeff tucks Nev against him. “Is it still okay for next weekend, Jade?”
Nev’s not wearing her pink baseball cap, but her hair’s combed forward, obscuring most of her face. She peeks at me, and although her eyes are gray brown like her father’s and her pale face is splashed with freckles, I see a lot of Mona in her.
“Of course,” Mom says, all smiley.
“What’s going on next weekend?” I ask, my voice a little shrill.
“Nev will be staying with us, because Jeff and Ten are going out of town.”
Was she planning on telling me about our surprise houseguest?
Ten lowers his phone. “Or you can just come with us, Nev.”
“Don’t be silly, Ten,” Mom says. “I’ve got a girls’ weekend all planned out.”
Nev’s lips quirk into a smile, but then her gaze snags on me, and the smile slips away. She interprets my surprise as reticence and flattens herself against her father’s side.
Well, crap. Now I feel bad. “Mom plans the most fun stuff,” I say, even though I have no clue what Mom intends to do.
A sliver of space appears between Jeff’s and Nev’s bodies.
I add a smile. Nev might be a Dylan, but she enjoys singing. If she enjoys singing, she can’t possibly hate her mother, can she?
“Oh, Jade, I had time to look over those rug samples,” Jeff says. “I have them in the car. Let me give them to you now, because I have an early meeting tomorrow and I don’t think I’ll have time to discuss anything before I leave.” He lets go of Nev, then tips his head toward a gleaming navy sports car parked down the street. It’s a little evil of me, but I can’t help wondering if it was paid for out of Mona’s alimony.According toPeoplemagazine, she has to pay him spousal support since she’s the more successful of the two.
Mom follows Jeff to his car, leaving me alone with the siblings.
“A diorama, huh?” Ten says, the second our parents are out of earshot.
Nev frowns at him, then at me. “What’s a diorama?”
“A three-dimensional model,” I answer.
“Oh, that’s cool,” she says. “I’ve never made one.”
“Maybe Angie’ll have another one to make next weekend,” Ten mutters.
“We’ll be doing way more fun stuff than that,” I lob back.
Ten’s expression becomes as stiff as the geometric wolf face on his mustard-yellow T-shirt.
“Jade told us this is the best Chinese food in town,” Nev says.
“It’s our favorite, but I don’t know if it’s the best.” Mom and Jeff are standing by his trunk, heads bent over a thick binder. “You guys are probably used to better ones in New York.”
Nev toes an old cigarette butt with her gray Converse. “You really don’t have time to stay and eat?”
She seems so frail and delicate, but maybe it’s because she’s dressed in wide cargo pants and an oversized Henley. Her choice of clothes makes me wonder if she’s not allowed to wear anything but Ten’s hand-me-downs. Then again, I did cross paths with her at the mall. Maybe she has lots of girlie stuff but is forbidden to wear it out of the house or something.
“I really need to get home,” I say.
The door of the restaurant opens as diners exit trailing the scent of vinegary shrimp dumplings and deep-fried spring rolls. My stomach emits a ravenous growl.
Nev pushes some hair out of her eyes. “Was that your stomach?”
I rest my palm on my abdomen, which is still gurgling with hunger. “Yeah. I’m always hungry. Plus we just went to yoga.”
“I’ve never done yoga.”
