The Steps by Rachel Cohn Page A

Granny Nell’s. I nodded. I thought, I’ll be okay so long as I get to see you again! I closed my eyes halfway in case he wanted to kiss me. He didn’t.
    â€œSee ya, Whoops.”
    I opened my eyes back all the way to see Ben sprinting back toward the oval.

Chapter 20
    Lucy came back into the shed we were cleaning with a pitcher of lemonade.
    â€œGuess who’s coming to dinner?” Lucy asked.
    â€œJenny?” I assumed.
    â€œNo, Jenny’s coming to lunch. Patrick and Ben are coming to dinner. Patrick called and invited us over, but then Granny Nell asked them over instead. She loves to cook for people.”
    Ben was coming to dinner? I looked at my watch. That gave me only about seven hours to figure out what to wear.
    â€œI thought your grandmother didn’t get along with Ben’s father,” I said.
    â€œNot so,” Lucy said. “She just didn’t like Mum marrying him barely a year after our dad died. She likes Patrick just fine. They live right down the street.” I understood. Bubbe liked Jack just fine as my dad, but not as Angelina’s “partner.”
    â€œGuess what else?” Lucy said. The shed was pretty dark, but I could tell she was smirking.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWell, Whoops, seems that our Ben has got a thing for . . . you!”
    â€œHe told you that?” That Ben had told Lucy my secret nickname didn’t matter at all if he was crushing on me.
    â€œNot exactly. He asked to talk to me after Patrick finished on the phone with Granny Nell. He said, ‘Tell Whoops I said hi.’ ” Lucy paused. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. Jack told us about your middle name when we watched Sister Act. You should feel lucky. Whoopi is a much cooler middle name than mine. Adelaide. Lucy Adelaide Crosswell. Dumb! Guess what else?” Lucy was having way too much fun with this.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œBen said you’re the prettiest American girl he’s ever seen besides Julia Roberts! He luuuvs your American accent.”
    â€œBen’s seen Julia Roberts?”
    â€œNo, silly!” Lucy said. “He lives in Melbourne! But if he had . . . then you’d be like, next prettiest.”
    Whoa! I thought my heart might jump out of my chest. I was twelve years old and facing massive punishment the next day, and still my life was this good.
    It was hard to gloat about this new piece of information. Lucy was trying hard not to be sad. The shed we were cleaning was filled with old possessions of her dad’s: old surfboards, woodworking equipment, microscopes, and tools. Lucy told me Penny had stored the stuff at Granny Nell’s because she couldn’t bear to look at her husband’s things after he had died so suddenly, so young.
    â€œAre you okay?” I asked. I poured her a lemonade.
    â€œThis whole week has been so intense,” she said. “I want to cry seeing all his stuff. But it’s like I’m out of tears. Remember how you said you were mad because Angus and I call Jack ‘Dad’?” I nodded. Lucy continued, “Well, sometimes I wonder if my real dad is mad about it too.”
    â€œHe’s not,” I told Lucy.
    â€œHow do you know?”
    â€œBecause if I can learn to deal with it, so could your real dad. Your dad would be glad that you and Jack found each other, like I am.” If anybody had told me a week earlier that I would have admitted that, I would have wanted to spit in their face.
    â€œAngus will probably end up being a marine biologist just like our real dad was,” Lucy said. “Let’s polish this equipment, and then we’ll wrap the stuff and store it so we can keep it in good shape for when Angus grows up and wants it.”
    The last of Lucy’s tears dried as she proceeded to work.

Chapter 21
    Ben and his dad were really close. I thought that was really cool. Most of the boys I knew at school were