“Just got back. I heard you out here shooting baskets, and I wanted you to meet my stepsister. Ally will be living here for a few months.”

“Hi,” I said, feeling like an idiot.

Caroline knew how awkward I was with boys. She was too polite to mention it, but I sensed she was on a mission to help me.

“Are you transferring to our school?” He swiped at his messy brown hair.

“No. I go to St. Mary’s.” The perfect way to kill a conversation—admit you go to Catholic school.

“Oh,” he said. His hottiness just starting to hit me full force as he gave me a crooked smile. “Well I’ll be seeing you anyway since I’m watching your dog.”

Huh? “You’re what?”

He gave Caroline a nervous look. “Uh, yeah. I’m keeping your dog at my house, with my, um, dog, while you’re at Diane’s.”

“My dog,” I glared past him at Caroline, “isn’t staying with me?”

Caroline raised her arms in the don’t-blame-me gesture. “I didn’t know. No one told me.”

Jonathan was antsy. He started eyeing the basketball goal. We’d clearly made him nervous. “I thought you guys knew. Diane and my mom worked it out.”

“No freakin’ way!” I yelled, knowing it would ruin the unspoken truce I had with Caroline if I said what I really wanted to say. That witch!

“I’m sure she was going to talk to you about it,” Caroline said.

Her words didn’t ring true, as if even she didn’t believe them.

“When did they decide this?” I asked Jonathan in a not-so-nice tone.

He shrugged. “A couple of days ago.”

I turned and ran for the house, determined to confront my stepmother before I calmed down and caved in. I’d never put up a fight over anything Dad and Diane did. It just seemed easier to, well, take it. But this was different. This was Mojo and Mojo was not going to be happy staying at some stranger’s house. Who knew how they’d treat him or what they’d feed him. Mojo belonged with me. He slept at the foot of my bed and not on the floor. Or, God forbid, outside!

Caroline whizzed past me before I reached the porch. I’d never been a fast runner. I was too tall to be a sprinter.

By the time I burst into the kitchen, Caroline was saying, “Mom! Why didn’t you tell Ally about her dog! And why can’t it just stay here!”

“Caro,” Diane said, looking for all the world like a cornered rabbit. “You know I’m allergic.” She pulled the plastic off the top of the frozen casserole and set it on the pan.

“Mother!”

“Ally.” Diane cut off her daughter with a sharp glance. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. But I promise you’ll see Momo—”

“Mojo!” I snapped.

“Mojo,” she corrected with a slight eye roll, “as much as you want. He’ll be much happier in a fenced yard.”

“He has to stay over there all the time?” I couldn’t believe she was doing this.

“Yes. I’m sure he’ll be happier there than tied to the tree in the back yard.”

Tied to a tree? My blood boiled in outrage.

“Can’t he sleep with me? I’ll keep him out of your way. He’ll be lonely over there at night.”

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m just too allergic. All that dog hair—”

Hair. I could get rid of hair. “I’ll wash my sheets every night and do my own laundry. And vacuum every morning before school.”

“No. I’m sorry,” she said again, but she didn’t look the slightest bit sorry. “Jonathan is a nice kid. I’m sure he’ll take good care of, um, it.”

“I see him out playing with his dog all of the time,” Caroline said, trying to be helpful.

“He has a dog?” Uh-oh. “Mojo has to live with another dog?” Mojo did not have social skills.

“He’ll have a friend,” Diane said, swiping at her eye and smudging her eyeliner.

“Mojo has never gotten along with other dogs. He just barks at them.” Or bites them, but I didn’t feel like sharing that tidbit.

“Your father thinks he’ll adjust pretty quickly. He had dogs growing up, too.”

That’s right. I’d forgotten that my father was part of this evil scheme. “I g

uess I’m lucky you guys are letting me sleep in the house.” With that bit of satisfying melodrama, I stomped down the hall to my room and locked the door. I hated Diane, and I hated my dad. But most of all I hated my mother for making me come here in the first place.

Chapter Three

When you start off your day in a paper gown, you don’t have the strength left for another crisis. —Ally’s Brutal Teen Truths

By the time my dad pulled in from the airport at eight, I’d calmed down enough to eat some surprisingly tasty casserole with Diane and Caroline. Dad had been in Phoenix doing an installation since last Sunday. We’d talked on the phone briefly but hadn’t really said much of anything. I ran for the front door when I heard the car in the drive.

Diane had been standing at the easel in the living room, and she easily beat me to the door. Caroline was out with friends. So I stood at the top of the stairs and waited for my shot at my dad.

The door opened and Dad gave Diane a kiss on the lips. Uggh. Then he smiled up at me. “Well, this is a nice welcome,” he said. “How are my girls?”

I wouldn’t be grinning if I were coming home to Diane. Even my mother was prettier. I thought men were supposed to leave their wives for babes, not slightly less attractive women of the same age.

“Are you all settled in?” he asked, climbing the stairs and giving me a hug.

“Yeah,” I said. “Dad, we need to talk.”

He nodded. “I know, hon. Let me unpack and eat some dinner. You and I can have a little chat.”

Then, he turned to Diane and angled his head toward the painting of the blue tulip. “This is new, isn’t it? I like it.”

Diane beamed. “I painted that in a day. I’m getting faster.”

Oh, God.

My father just smiled.

I hoped her painting supplies weren’t sucking up my college fund.

“I think I hear my phone,” I said, even though I didn’t. I ran down the hall to my room and shut the door. I’d done some research on dogs and allergies this afternoon. With any luck, I’d convince my father to let Mojo in the house. Honestly, what did he see in that woman anyway?

Tags: Juli Alexander
Source: readsnovelonline.net