big hits as croissant fillers.
Still in her early thirties, Kate was creative and intelligent. When
shed partnered up with Jerry she revamped the back of the News
Store and turned it into a haven for the islands artists and writers,
somehow managing to do it without turning up the snob factor.
Kate was careful to make sure that anyone who loved baked goods
and real coffeefrom suits to poets, working-class townies to corporate
raiderswould feel comfortable sitting down at her counter
and reading a newspaper. She had a way of making everyone feel
welcome. Helen adored her.
When Helen got to work the next day, Kate was trying to stock a
delivery of flour and sugar. It was pathetic.
Lennie! Thank god youre early. Do you think you could help
me . . . ? Kate gestured toward the forty-pound sacks.
I got it. No, dont tug the corner like that, youll hurt your back,
Helen warned, rushing to stop Kates ineffectual pulling. Why
didnt Louis do this for you? Wasnt he working this morning?
Helen asked, referring to one of the other workers on the schedule.
The delivery came after Louis left. I tried to stall until you got
here, but a customer nearly tripped and I had to at least pretend I
was going to move the blasted thing, Kate said.
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Ill take care of the flour if you fix me a snack, Helen said cajolingly
as she stooped to pick up the sack.
Deal, Kate replied gratefully, and bustled off with a smile.
Helen waited until Kates back was turned, lifted the sack of flour
easily on her shoulder, and sauntered toward the workstation,
where she opened the sack and poured some flour into the smaller
plastic container Kate used in the kitchen. While Helen neatly
stacked the rest of the delivery in the storeroom, Kate poured her a
bubbly pink lemonade, the kind that Helen loved, from France, one
of the many foreign places she was dying to visit.
Its not that youre so freakishly strong for someone so thin that
bothers me. What really pisses me off, Kate said as she sliced
some cherries and cheese for Helen to snack on, is that you never
get winded. Not even in this heat.
I get winded, Helen lied.
You sigh. Big difference.
Ive just got bigger lungs than you.
But since youre taller, youd need more oxygen, wouldnt you?
They clinked glasses and sipped their lemonade, calling it even.
Kate was a bit shorter and plumper than Helen, but that didnt
make her either short or fat. Helen always thought of the word
zaftig when she saw Kate, which she had a notion meant sexy
curvy. She never used it, though, in case Kate took it the wrong
way.
Is the book club on tonight? Helen asked.
Uh-huh. But I doubt anyone will want to talk about Kundera,
Kate said with a smirk, jingling the ice cubes in her glass.
Why? Hot gossip?
Smokin hot. This crazy-big family just moved to the island.
The place in Sconset? Helen asked. At Kates nod, she rolled
her eyes.
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Oh-ho! Too good to dish with the rest of us? Kate teased, flicking
the condensed water from the side of her glass in Helens
direction.
Helen play-shrieked, and then had to leave Kate for a moment to
ring up a few customers. As soon as she finished the transactions,
she came back and continued the conversation.
No. I just dont think its that strange for a big family to buy a
big property. Especially if theyre going to live in it year-round. It
makes more sense than some old wealthy couple buying a summer
home thats so huge they get lost on the way to the mailbox.
True, Kate conceded. But I really thought youd be more interested
in the Delos family. Youll be graduating with a few of them.
Helen stood there as Delos ran around her head. The name
meant nothing to her. How could it? But some echoey part of her
brain kept repeating Delos over and over.
Lennie? Whered you go? Kate asked. She was interrupted by
the first members of the book club coming early, wound-up and
already in the throes of wild speculation.
Kates prediction was right. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
was no match for the arrival of new year-rounders, especially since
the rumor mill had revealed that they were moving here from
Spain. Apparently, they were Boston natives who had moved to
Europe three years ago in order to be closer to their extended family,
but now, suddenly, theyd decided to move back. It was the
suddenly part that everyone spent the most time discussing. The
school secretary had hinted to a few of the book club members that
the kids had been enrolled so far past the normal date that the parents
had practically had to bribe their way in, and all sorts of special
agreements had to be made to ship their furniture over in time
for their arrival. It seemed like the Delos family had left Spain in a
hurry, and the book club agreed that there must have been some
kind of falling-out with their cousins.
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The one thing Helen could confidently gather from all the chatter
was that the Delos family was rather unconventional. There were
two fathers who were brothers, their younger sister, one mother
(one of the fathers was a widower), and five kids, all living together
on the property. The entire family was supposed to be unbelievably
smart and beautiful and wealthy. Helen rolled her eyes when she
heard the parts of the gossip that elevated the Delos family to
mythic proportions. In fact, she could barely stand it.
Helen tried to stay behind the register and ignore the excited
whispering, but it was impossible. Every time she heard one of the
members of the Delos family mentioned by name, it drew her attention
as if it had been shouted, irritating her. She left the register
and went over to the magazine rack, straightening the shelves just
to give her hands something to do. Even so, she couldnt help but
hear how scandalized the book club was to find out that Cassandra
Delos, who was thirteen, had skipped a grade and was going to be
attending high school. She was supposed to be exceptionally
bright, but on the whole, the book club disapproved of children
skipping grades, probably because none of their children had ever
managed it.
They dont like to be separated, Helen thought. Its safer if they
stick together. Thats the real reason why Cassandra skipped a
grade.
Helen had no idea where the thought had come from, but she
knew it was true. She also knew she had to get as far away from the
gossip as she could or she was going to start yelling at Kates
friends. She needed to make herself as busy as possible.
As she wiped down the shelves and stocked the candy jars, she
mentally ticked the kids off in her head. Hector is a year older
than Jason and Ariadne, who are twins. Lucas and Cassandra
are brother and sister, cousins to the other three.
She changed the water for the flowers and rang up a few customers.
Hector wouldnt be there the first day of school because he
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was still in Spain with his aunt Pandora, though no one in town
knew why.
Helen pulled on a pair of shoulder-length rubber gloves, a long
apron, and dug through the garbage for stray recycling items. Lucas,
Jason, and Ariadne are all going to be in my grade. So Im
surrounded.
She went to the back kitchen and put a load in the industrial
dishwasher. She mopped the floors and started counting the
money. Lucas is such a stupid name. Its all wrong. It sticks out
like a sore thumb.
Lennie?
What! Dad! Cant you see Im counting? Helen said, slamming
her hands down on the counter so hard she made a stack of quarters
jump. Jerry held up his hands in a placating gesture.
Its the first day of school tomorrow, he reminded her in his
most reasonable voice.
I know, she responded blankly, still unaccountably irritable but
trying not to take it out on her father.
Its almost eleven, honey, he said. Kate came out from the back
to check on the noise.
Youre still here? Im really sorry, Jerry, she said, looking perplexed.
Helen, I told you to lock the front and go home at nine.
They both stared at Helen, who had arranged every bill and every
coin in neat stacks.
I got sidetracked, Helen said lamely.
After sharing a worried glance with Jerry, Kate took over counting
the change and sent them home. Still in a daze, Helen gave
Kate a kiss good-bye and tried to figure out how she had missed
out on the last three hours of her life.
Jerry put Helens bike on the back of the Pig and started the engine
without a word. He glanced over at her a few times as they
drove home, but he didnt say anything until they parked in the
driveway.
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Did you eat? he asked softly, raising his eyebrows.
I dont . . . yes? Helen had no idea what or when shed last
eaten. She vaguely remembered Kate cutting her some cherries.
Are you nervous about the first day of school? Junior years a big
one.
I guess I must be, she said absentmindedly. Jerry glanced over
at her and bit his lower lip. He exhaled before speaking.
Ive been thinking maybe you should talk to Dr. Cunningham
about those phobia pills. You know, the kind for people who have a
hard time in crowds? Agoraphobia! Thats what its called, he
burst out, remembering. Do you think that could help you?
Helen smiled and ran the charm of her necklace along its chain.
I dont think so, Dad. Im not afraid of strangers, Im just shy.
She knew she was lying. It wasnt just that she was shy. Any time
she extended herself and attracted attention, even accidentally, her
stomach hurt so badly it felt almost like the stomach flu or menstrual
crampsreally bad menstrual crampsbut shed sooner
light her hair on fire than tell her father that.
And youre okay with that? I know youd never ask, but do you
want help? Because I think this is holding you back. . . . Jerry said,
starting in on one of their oldest fights.
Helen cut him off at the pass. Im fine! Really. I dont want to
talk to Dr. Cunningham, I dont want drugs. I just want to go inside
and eat, she said in a rush. She got out of the Jeep.
Her father watched her with a small smile as she plucked her
heavy, old-fashioned bike off the rack on the back of the Jeep and
placed it on the ground. She rang the bell on her handlebar jauntily
and gave her dad a grin.
See, Im just peachy, she said.
If you knew how hard what you just did would be for an average
girl your age, youd get what Im saying. You arent average, Helen.
You try to come off that way, but youre not. Youre like her, he
said, his voice drifting off.
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For the thousandth time Helen cursed the mother she didnt remember
for breaking her fathers sweet heart. How could anyone
leave such a good guy without so much as a good-bye? Without so
much as a photo to remember her by?
You win! Im not average, Im specialjust like everyone else,
Helen teased, anxious to cheer him up. She nudged him with her
hip as she walked past him, wheeling her bike into the garage.
Now, what is there to eat? Im starving, and its your week to be
kitchen slave.
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UNCORRECTED E-PROOFNOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
.....................................................................
Chapter Two
Still without her own car, Helen had to ride her bike to
school the next morning. Normally at a quarter to eight, it
would be cool out, even a little chilly with the wind blowing
off the water, but as soon as she woke up, Helen could
feel the hot, humid air lying on her body like a wet fur coat.
She had kicked her sheets off in the middle of the night, wriggled
out of her T-shirt, drank the entire glass of water on her nightstand,
and still she woke up exhausted by the heat. It was very unisland
weather, and Helen absolutely did not want to get up and go
to school.
She pedaled slowly in an attempt to avoid spending the rest of
the day smelling like phys ed. She didnt usually sweat much, but
shed woken up so lethargic that morning she couldnt remember if
she had put on deodorant. She flapped her elbows like chicken
wings trying to catch a whiff of herself as she rode, and was relieved
to smell the fruity-powdery scent of some kind of protection.
It was faint, so she must have put it on yesterday, but it only
needed to hold on until track practice after school. Which would be
a miracle, but oh well.
As she cruised down Surfside Road she could feel the baby hairs
around her face pulling loose in the wind and sticking to her
cheeks and forehead. It was a short ride from her house to school,
but in the humidity, her carefully arranged first-day-of-school
hairdo was a big old mess by the time she locked her crummy bike