“Dog, are you okay?” says Miguel, kneeling beside me. “You look like you need to rest.”
That’s an understatement, but I just stick my tongue out farther and wait for him to appreciate the ambience.
“Since I’m downtown, I do need to run over to the accountant really quick,” he tells Dane. “Do you mind watching Harold? Just call me if he seems like he’s struggling.”
He’s leaving so soon? But he just got here! And yet again, my plans have failed.
“On it, chief,” says Dane.
“Thanks. By the way, I fed him before we left, so don’t let him trick you into giving him more food.”
Food? I’m still so winded that eating sounds as fun as licking sand. So, I go find my usual spot in the sun on the braided rug. I’m about to doze off when I hear someone whispering.
“Shhh! Harry, over here!”
Dare I trust my ears? Actually, I don’t have to—because my nose has just picked up on a now-familiar shampoo scent.
Itworked!
My conjuring worked, and Amelia Mae is here, in Michigan, in our bookstore! I leap to my feet, ignoring the fact that my hips are on fire, and rush to the reading nook.
She’s slouched in the yellow chair, holding a book in front of her face. She lowers the book when she sees me. “Harry, I’ve been waiting for you! Not too long, though, so thanks for that.”
Buthow?
“I hopped on the train right after Fiona dropped me off for camp,” she explains. “Union Station’s not far from the drama center, and turns out they’ll sell a ticket to anyone with a note written in careful cursive. Anyways, it was a fast ride, and I sat next to a nice old woman who gave me part of her cookie. Course, we’re not going to tell that to Fiona, who’ll worry I got poisoned. But I could tell that the woman was just lonely and wanted to make her feel a little better. She said I should read Shirley Jackson sometime.”
I’m so excited that I’ve begun pacing back and forth in front of her without even realizingit.
“You’re sweet, Harry. You know why I’m here, right?”
I cock my head and wait for her to explain.
“Obviously, I’m lonely and I missed you. That’s reason enough—but also, Fiona’s beenmiserable.She’s stopped journaling in her zillion notebooks, and she got in another huge argument with Uncle Jon. They’re always on the same page, so this is bad news. I told her we needed to come to Michigan, and she said no, not right now. Between us, I think this is about more than Uncle Jon—though she does hate the highway. I’m positive she’s lonely and Miguel made her realize that, deep down. Now we just gotta bring it to the surface.”
Fiona’s lonely, too? I don’t want to be pleased about that, but I can’t help it. Not when she might just need Miguel as much as he needs her.
She continues, “I had to take matters into my own hands.The minute Fiona learns I’m here, she’ll come running. Er, driving. Which is good for her, since she needs to work on her hang-up about highways. And then we’ll let these two imbeciles take it from there.” She pats the ground in front of me, and I sit at her feet. “Perfect,” she says. “Let me read to you for a while until they figure out what we’re up to.”
She begins, but she hasn’t made it through the chapter when I hear Riley call me, and I leap back onto my paws. Oh, good—Riley’s a rule follower, and certain to rat onus.
“Hello there,” says Amelia Mae, glancing up from her book. “You must be Riley; Miguel told my mom about you. Great bookstore you have here. At least as good as the couple near me in Chicago. Maybe even better.”
“Thank you…” Riley says cautiously as she examines her. “Is your mom here with you now?”
“Nope. But according to the states of Michigan and Illinois, it’s perfectly acceptable for a person of my age to be alone for reasonable amounts of time. And in case you’re wondering, I’m almost twelve, and they don’t define ‘reasonable.’ ”
Riley’s eyebrows shoot up. “That may be, but does your mom know you’re readingThe Dark Half?”
Amelia Mae lifts her chin to challenge her. “She doesn’t need to. We Fosters don’t believe in literary limitations. What you make of a book is aboutyou—not whether it’s ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ ” she says, making air quotes.
“You’re precocious!”
“No,” she says sternly. “I’m not precocious, and I’m not gifted, either. I just read a lot.”
Riley laughs. “Your point.”
“Thank you!” Her smile fades. “Sometimes I annoy the kids at school. But Harry actually likes to listen to me. That’swhy I just took a train around the lake to get to this place. I’m Amelia Mae, by the way.”
