Stacey McGill... Matchmaker? Page 8

  That sounded true to me. Too true. I decided to call Mom when I returned to Dad’s. That made me remember that I’d intended to call John. Oh, well, there was no sense warning him now. The deed might already have been done. Besides, I owed Mom my loyalty more than I owed it to John.

  On Saturday night Claudia showed up at the Brooke house to sit for Joni and Ewan. Unfortunately, she was the only one who still thought Mom and John had a date that night.

  “You must be Claudia. Oh, wow! I’m sorry,” is how John greeted her at the door.

  Claudia was flustered. “Wasn’t it tonight?” she asked.

  “No, no, come in,” he said. “It’s entirely my fault. Something … uh … came up and we had to … change plans.”

  “No problem. I can go,” Claudia said.

  “Don’t. I need to work. It’s actually good that you’re here. I’ll introduce you to the kids. They’re in the basement.”

  Claudia followed him downstairs. Joni was stretched out on the couch, flipping through a comic book. Ewan had built a block tower. Claudia arrived just in time to see him intentionally knock it down. “This is Claudia, kids,” John told them.

  They looked up glumly. “Hi,” Joni grunted. Ewan gave her a wave.

  “Joni and Ewan are feeling a little low tonight,” John explained. “But they’ll behave for you.” He turned to them. “Right, kids?”

  “Sure,” Joni replied. Suddenly, she sat up and seemed to brighten. “Hey, I thought you weren’t going out,” she said. “Are you going now?”

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m only working.”

  Joni slumped down again. “Oh.”

  John left, leaving Claudia there with the kids. She wasn’t sure if she should ask what was wrong. I hadn’t spoken to her since Thanksgiving, so she had no clue. But the fact that Mom and John weren’t going out made her suspect the truth. “Anybody want to play a board game or something?” she said cheerfully.

  “We have Candy Land,” Ewan said.

  “Want to play, Joni?” Claudia asked.

  “No.”

  Ewan took the game from a toy chest. “She’s sad because she ruined Dad’s life,” he explained.

  “No!” Claudia cried, taken aback. “I’m sure she didn’t.”

  “It’s true,” Joni told her sadly. “I did.”

  “I don’t think that’s true. What happened?”

  “I was a supercreep to Mrs. McGill, so she doesn’t want to see Dad anymore. She told him so last night.”

  “Did she say it was because of you?” Claudia asked.

  “No, but I know it was. She liked him until she met me. I sent Mom away too. I was such a big pain that she couldn’t take it anymore.” Claudia saw that she was struggling not to cry.

  “Hey,” Claudia said softly, “grown-ups are weird. Don’t you know that by now? They do all sorts of odd things. And it’s usually not because of kids. You don’t seem like a pain to me. Did your mom ever say you were a pain?”

  Joni shook her head. “She wrote me a card and said she needed this time to start her career and then she’d be our mom again.”

  “I didn’t hear the word pain in that. Not once,” Claudia pointed out. “And you know what else? Mrs. McGill loves kids who are a pain. She loves Stacey.”

  “Stacey’s not a pain,” Ewan objected.

  “Sure she is. Sometimes,” said Claudia. “So am I. I’m a real pain.”

  “You are?” Joni asked, interested.

  “Oh, yeah. I drive my parents crazy. I read Nancy Drew books, which they don’t think I should waste my time on. I don’t do well in school. I’m always getting paint and ink and stuff on furniture. And I eat junk food all the time, which they hate. In fact, I have some with me.” She dug into the canvas bag that was still slung over her shoulder and pulled out three packs of Hostess cupcakes, one for each of them.

  She also pulled out three white T-shirts and a case of fabric markers. “Hey, do you want to decorate these?” she suggested.

  “Yeah,” Joni said.

  They went to the kitchen and spread out the T-shirts on the table. Claudia dumped the fabric pens in the middle. “Can we draw whatever we want?” Joni asked.

  “Absolutely,” Claudia assured her. “For the next few hours, we’re in an adult-free zone.”

  Joni smiled and picked up a pen. “That’s a relief.”

  “Sometimes it really is,” Claudia agreed, uncapping her pen.

  Joni plunged into the project with intense concentration, while Ewan sat and considered what to do for five or so minutes before marking his shirt. It wasn’t long before Joni’s design became clear. In the middle, a girl with brown hair and green eyes smiled as she flexed her arm muscles. A vivid yellow sun blazed above her. Below the figure Joni wrote No Pain, No Gain.

  Claudia grinned. Something told her Joni was going to be all right.

  “Where were you all weekend?” I cried when Mom picked me up at the Stoneybrook train station on Sunday. “I called and called but you didn’t answer. The answering machine wasn’t even on.” I was more relieved to see her than I was truly angry. I’d started to worry when I couldn’t get in touch with her.

  “John kept calling me, and after a couple of conversations I just didn’t want to talk to him anymore,” she explained as I slid into the car beside her.

  “Isn’t that a little immature?” I observed.

  “Probably. But I couldn’t discuss the breakup with him one more time.”

  “So you did it,” I said. “How did it go?”

  “It was fairly unpleasant. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not discuss it. It’s over, and that’s that.”

  Mom didn’t look happy, but if she didn’t want to talk, what could I do? I remembered what Ethan had said about being supportive. I decided I needed to do what she wanted right now.

  I talked about Ethan and about the exhibition Dad and I had seen at the museum.

  “Are you ready for our reading group?” Mom asked as we walked into the house.

  I’d completely forgotten, but I had finished the book. “Sure,” I said. “Just let me get the book from my suitcase.”

  We sat together in the living room. “Mr. Darcy is really an adorable guy,” I began.

  “But he has his faults,” Mom pointed out.

  “So does Elizabeth Bennett. She’s incredibly self-protective, don’t you think? She’s so worried about her pride and her independence that she almost loses the perfect husband.”

  “Maybe,” Mom said. “But I thought initially you gave her credit for not doing the easy, conventional thing. It would have been so much simpler for her to be agreeable to him just because it would have been socially and economically convenient.”

  “You’re right, I did say that,” I had to admit. I’d almost forgotten. “I guess as I read further I began getting frustrated with her stubbornness. There was this great guy right in front of her and she wouldn’t see it. I began to like Elizabeth a lot and I wanted her to be happy.”

  “Yes, but Elizabeth wanted a real marriage, a love marriage. Nothing else would be acceptable. She wouldn’t marry a man just because he was well thought of or handsome. She needed a meeting of souls. Until she found that, she couldn’t accept less.”

  Mom’s words struck me silent. Sure, they were true of Pride and Prejudice, but they were true of her as well.

  The cordless phone on the table rang. I snapped it up. Claudia was on the other end. “Do you mind if I talk to her a minute?” I asked Mom.

  “Go ahead. I want to finish the last chapter anyway.”

  I took the phone into the kitchen. Claudia filled me in on her sitting job. “Joni seemed a lot better by the time I left,” she said. “She’s still sad, though. She told me she didn’t blame you if you hated her. You better talk to her.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “I will. ’Bye.”

  I returned to the living room. “Mom, could we finish this later?” I said. “Claudia says Joni thinks I hate her. I’d like to go
see her.”

  “Sure,” Mom agreed. “Want a ride?”

  “I’ll take my bike.” I was pretty sure Mom didn’t want to go there, not even to the curb. I opened my suitcase and dug out the fan and the dragon. Then I put on my jacket and hopped on my bike.

  John looked shocked when I turned up on his front doorstep. “Did your mom send you?” he asked hopefully.

  “Sorry. I bought some things for Joni and Ewan that I’d like to give them.”

  “Oh.” John let me in. “In the kitchen,” he said. I found them sitting at the table eating bowls of chicken noodle soup.

  “Stacey!” Ewan greeted me.

  “Hi, pal,” I said, pulling up a chair next to Joni. “Hi, Joni.”

  She gave me a cautious smile. “Hi.”

  I handed her the fan and slid the dragon across the table to Ewan. “Cool!” he cried. “Thank you!”

  “They’re from Chinatown,” I told the kids.

  “You went to China?” Ewan cried.

  “No, not exactly.” I explained to him that Chinatown was a part of New York City.

  “This is so beautiful,” Joni said, spreading the fan in front of her. “You really bought this for me?”

  “Sure I did.”

  “Do you know what happened?” she asked me.

  I nodded. “It’s not your fault, you know. My mom just isn’t sure she’s in love with your dad.”

  “You mean, it’s his fault, not mine?”

  “It’s not even his fault. Mom thinks he’s a great guy but maybe not the one for her.”

  “It would have been nice to be sisters,” she said.

  I put my hand on hers. “We still could be,” I said.

  “No we can’t. They broke up.”

  “Yeah, but we didn’t,” I said. “If you ever feel that you need a big sister to talk to — call me. You too, Ewan. I could be your honorary big sister. What do you say?”

  “Yay!” Ewan cried.

  Joni leaned over and hugged me. Nothing could have made me happier.

  So, maybe I hadn’t gained a stepfamily. I now had an honorary little brother and sister. That sure was something worth having.

  * * *

  Dear Reader,

  In Stacey McGill … Matchmaker? Stacey’s personal life conflicts with her baby-sitting and puts her in a difficult position. Stacey feels caught between her troubled charges and their father, and has to decide if she can talk to Mr. Brooke without betraying the kids. Complicating matters further is the issue of Stacey’s mother, who has been dating Mr. Brooke.

  Baby-sitting is full of surprises. You never know what kind of situation will arise. It’s important to be on your toes. Just remember that when you’re responsible for younger children, safety always comes first. Stacey knows that her mom’s feelings and her mom’s relationship with Mr. Brooke are important, but when Joni storms off, Stacey realizes that Joni’s safety comes first, no matter what. When you’re baby-sitting, be prepared to think on your feet — and be creative!

  Happy reading,

  * * *

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Suzanne Weyn

  for her help in

  preparing this manuscript.

  About the Author

  ANN MATTHEWS MARTIN was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.

  There are currently over 176 million copies of The Baby-sitters Club in print. (If you stacked all of these books up, the pile would be 21,245 miles high.)In addition to The Baby-sitters Club, Ann is the author of two other series, Main Street and Family Tree. Her novels include Belle Teal, A Corner of the Universe (a Newbery Honor book), Here Today, A Dog’s Life, On Christmas Eve, Everything for a Dog, Ten Rules for Living with My Sister, and Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far). She is also the coauthor, with Laura Godwin, of the Doll People series.

  Ann lives in upstate New York with her dog and her cats.

  Copyright © 1998 by Ann M. Martin

  Cover art by Hodges Soileau

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  First edition, November 1998

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-87465-6