Page 3 (1/2)
God-the box, Jenny thought Michael was the sort ould potter around the roo your drawers in an absentminded way Insatiably curious She followed hiht of it, pristine and rectangular and glea on her mother’s solid ponderosa pine coffee table Jenny’s mother had worked very hard with a very expensive decorator toroom looked "natural and inevitable and not at all arty" There were Navajo weavings and Hopi baskets on the walls, Zuni pots on the floor, and a Chi above the fireplace Jenny wasn’t allowed to touch any of them
Cal the white box was strangely difficult She picked it up and realized that her palh to stick to it
Thru of so increased
Oh, hell! I’ll just throw the thing away, Jenny thought, surprised at the relief the idea brought We’ll play canasta
Michael,her with interest
"What’s that? A present?"
"No-just a gaet rid of it Michael, do you kno to play canasta?"
"Nope So where’s the sun bunny?"
"Not here yet-oh, that’s probably her Would you get the door?"
Michael just looked vaguely at the plate in his one hand and the roll in his other Jenny ran to the hallway, still holding the box
Summer Parker-Pearson was tiny, with thistledown hair and di a china blue shirtdress and shivering
"It’s freezing out here How’re we going to go swiently
"Oh Then why did I bringsuit? Here’s my present" She piled a shirt box wrapped in , added a s roos on the coffee table, then pulled the white box fro hello to Mike and Zach and Dee
"Look," Jenny said, "if you guys will excuse me for a second-" She was cut off by the doorbell This tiet it"
Toood Of course, he always looked good to Jenny, but tonight he was especially handso, with his dark brown hair neat and short and his suys, but somehoore them differently He could make a pair of Basic Jeans look as if they’d been tailored for hi a teal T-shirt under a button-down shirt that was simply a beautiful blue, an intense color that re
"Hi," Jenny said
He grinned rakishly and held out an arly, as always, but she hung on to the box "To I want to talk to you about, alone It’s hard to explain-"
"Oh, no, I’ ’Dear Johnned’ onher down the hallway to the living room
"Quit it," Jenny said, exasperated "Can you please be serious for a minute?"
Tom was clearly in noroo and talking He ignored her protests, which were growing fainter anyway Tom always made Jenny feel better, and it was hard to stay worried with hi boxes seemed faraway and childish
Still, she felt a prickle of unease as he took the box fro, "What’s this? For a very o of it, apparently"
"I understand why," Tom said as he shook the box to hear the rattle Jenny looked at hi, or at least no more than usual, but how could you say that about a blank white box? Why should Toerly?
There is so her mouth to speak But just then heran earring and wafting perfuain
Mrs Thornton had been blond like Jenny when
she was young, but over the years her hair had darkened to a golden brown, honey-in-shadow tone She smiled at everyone and said happy birthday to Tom "Now, let me see," she said to Jenny, "Joey’s out of the way at the Stensons’, and we’ll be back late Sunday, so everything should be ready for you"
Then, as Jenny’s father appeared behind her with a small suitcase, she added earnestly, "Dear one, I know you’re going to break so Just don’t let it be the R C Gorht? It cost fifteen hundred dollars, and your father is deeply attached to it Otherwise, clean up whatever you destroy and try to keep the roof on"
"If it comes off, we’ll nail it back," Jenny promised, then kissed her mother’s smooth Shalimar-scented cheek without embarrassment
"Krazy Glue in the kitchen drawer," Jenny’s father muttered in her ear as she kissed him in turn "But watch out for the R C Goro near it," Jenny said
"And no " Her fatherat Toht hat peoplelike that at Tom lately
"Daddy!"
"You knohat I ht?"
"Of course"
"Right" Her father pushed his wire-fraher on his nose, squared his shoulders, and looked at herroom one last time-as if to remember it-and then, like a pair of fatalistic soldiers, they turned and marched out the door
"Don’t haveafter them
"It’s the first time I’ve had a party while they’ve been away for the weekend," said Jenny "That they know about," she added thoughtfully
When she looked back, Tom had the box open
"Oh-" Jenny said And that was all she said Because Toboard, printed in colors so vibrant they glowed Jenny saw doors and s, a porch, a turret Shingles
"It’s a dollhouse," said Suet in the big flat books and cut out A paper house"
Not a gaerous Just a kids’ toy She felt a wave of relaxation soften her, and when Audrey called from the kitchen that the food was ready, she went almost dreamily
Tom was suitably surprised and impressed at the Chinese dinner, and the fact that Audrey was responsible for it
"You can cook!"
"Of course I can cook Why is it that everyone assumes I’m a mere social ornament?" She looked at him from under spiky lashes and s eye contact Audrey kept flirting as she served hiers to touch his as she handed hinificant glance at Jenny You see? that glance said
Jenny returned the look benevolently Toirls, and it didn’t bother her It didn’tvery pleased with the world as they all filled their plates and went back to the living roo They all sat around the coffee table, some on leather footstools, some directly on the Mexican paved tiles Jenny was surprised that the white box with the sheets of tagboard wasn’t already put aside
"You got some scissors?" asked Zach "Actually, an X-Acto knife would be better And a lue"
Jenny stared at hi to ood led
"You’ve got to be kidding," Jenny said "A paper house " She looked around for support
"It’s a game," Dee said "See, there are instructions on the back of the lid Scary instructions" She shot a barbaric smile around the roo roll hanging out of his aain as she saw the way To, persuasive, and tragic It was all a put-on, but Jenny could never resist "Oh, all right, you big baby," she said "If you really want it I should have gotten you a rattle and a pacifier, too" Shaking her head, she went off to fetch the scissors