Dream Keeper (Dream Team 4)

“Juno, honey, listen to me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You did what you could do. Now, I need to do a few things. Keep checking your phone. I’ll text you if we need to talk. But leave this to me for now. All right?”

“You’re going to do a few things?”

“Yes.”

“What things?”

“Just leave those to me. Okay?”

She thought about it.

He’d said he was all in and he’d gotten her a phone and everything, which totally proved he was.

And she liked him a whole lot.

When they were at Fortnum’s, he’d looked into her eyes when she talked, and he nodded a lot to make sure she knew he heard her, and he had a really nice smile.

So she said, “Okay.”

“Okay.”

She didn’t want to ask.

But now she was getting that desperate times thing.

So she had to ask.

“Should I, um…listen to Mom more and then tell you what I hear?”

“No, sweetheart,” he said real fast. “You just be normal with your mom. I’ll take it from here.”

When he said that, that thing inside that had gotten tight again after she saw her mom crying in the parking lot and Auggie walking away looking all mad, then got tighter when she got home and had to lie, and then even tighter when she heard her grandma was sick and her dad was going to ruin everything, got loose again.

“Thanks, Mr. Cisco.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Juno. Good people deserve to be happy. And anyway, I owe your mom one.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Now, sleep good, all right?”

“You too, Mr. Cisco. And I promise, I’ll check my phone as often as I can. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Juno.”

She hung up and then shoved the phone under her nightstand.

Then she jumped up and left the room to go to the hall bathroom, which was hers and she never had to share it even though they had a guest room. It was just that no one ever stayed over anymore, mostly because Aunt Saffron was no fun (so it was mean, but Juno was glad she didn’t come and stay like Auntie Ryn used to do on girls’ nights). And now Auntie Ryn had Boone so she never stayed over either.

Juno was done with her teeth and hair and in her pajamas and lying on her stomach on the bed with her big box of Prismacolors and the coloring book (that was not a kids’ coloring book, it had a lot of tricky flower pictures in it and Mom colored in it too) when Mom came in.

“Right, kiddo. You good to go?” she asked.

It was nearly time for her mom to leave for work, which meant Flossy, Juno’s sitter, would be there soon.

Juno liked Flossy, even though she didn’t get to see her much because she was asleep most of the time Flossy was there. And Juno probably wouldn’t be able to talk to her much even if she wasn’t asleep because Flossy was in college and she hung out at their house to be there for Juno, but most of the time, she was studying because she was going to be a doctor.

Her real name was Florence, and Juno liked Flossy, but everyone knew Florence was better because of Florence + The Machine.

But it wasn’t her name so she didn’t get a say.

“I’m good to go,” Juno replied. But she put her pencil down and sat up on a hip and asked, “You okay, Momma?”

Her mom sat on the bed with her, answering, “Sure, Dollface. Why do you ask?”

Juno looked away.

“I don’t know,” she mumbled.

Liar, liar, liar! her mind yelled.

Mom shoved some hair off Juno’s shoulder and Juno looked back at her.

She was the prettiest mom of any of the kids in her class. By far.

And Juno had the best house of all her friends, even Megan, whose parents were loaded.

And Juno’s room was awesome.

Her favorite bits were the big pillow that said FOLLOW YOUR HEART and the stenciling on the wall just to the side of her bed that said SLEEP TIGHT KNOWING I LOVE YOU.

Her mom was the best decorator in the world. Their whole house and the whole outside of it proved it.

But Juno’s room was best of all.

“Are you okay?” Mom asked, looking at Juno too closely.

“I’m good. I just think maybe I did wrong asking Auggie to talk to the class. The thing is, I love Dad, but he doesn’t have that interesting of a job. You know?”

Mom smiled. “I know, baby. And you didn’t do wrong, even if you didn’t go about it completely right. It seemed like the kids got a lot out of what Auggie had to say. Though, tomorrow, you should call your dad and explain things to him. He needs to hear from you why Auggie was there.”

That wasn’t something she wanted to do.

But her mom told her life was full of somethings you don’t want to do.