Now I'll Tell You Everything (Alice) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Read Free Book Online Page A

of straws when he was waiting forme to finish lunch—have them talk to each other, describing the inside of my mouth, maybe. Or I’d just catch him watching me, smiling, ever ready to get a napkin for me, open a door, share his coat—a mixture of humor and consideration. Maybe Dave had outgrown kid stuff by now. But then, maybe Patrick had too. It had been almost a year since I’d seen him.
    We walked all around campus that evening and just talked. Walked, talked, sat on a stone bench under a budding cherry tree as petals rained down on us, and talked some more. When we finally got up to go back to my dorm, we passed under an arch of branches that gave off a sweet scent—linden trees—and Dave leaned over and kissed me. I wouldn’t call it passionate, but it was more than just friendly. And I realized that I might be having some of the same kinds of feelings for him that I’d had for Patrick. Was this possible?
    *  *  *
    Lester and Stacy got engaged in May. Even after predicting to Sylvia that Stacy was the one, I was still in shock.
    “I can’t believe it!” I cried when he told us. He’d made a quick trip home to celebrate my nineteenth birthday, and at my request we had all my favorite dishes for dinner. When else could you have tortellini with vodka sauce and chicken Alfredo both at the same meal?
    “Why?” he asked.
    “You’ve only known her since Thanksgiving!”
    “ You’ve only known her since Thanksgiving. I’ve known her a little longer than that.” Lester stared quizzically down atthe two dishes of pasta before him, then shrugged and took a spoonful of each. Sylvia tried to hide a smile as she passed him a huge spinach and strawberry salad to go with it, my one healthful suggestion for the meal.
    “I just didn’t think . . . I thought you’d be old and gray by the time you settled down,” I said.
    Les tipped his head in my direction and pointed to his hair. “A couple there already.”
    “Well, I think it’s exciting, Les, and I really like Stacy,” Sylvia said.
    “So do I, and I’m happy for you,” said Dad. “When’s the wedding?”
    “We haven’t set a date yet. She’s still debating whether or not to go for her master’s, because the job prospects might be a lot better if she had one. I think she needs to make up her mind about that first.” He turned to me. “Would you please stop staring at me bug-eyed and eat?”
    I obliged. “Well, I’m happy for you too, Les,” I said. “ Really. So that makes three of us.”
    “Good. So what do you want for your birthday? I didn’t have time to get you anything. But I will.”
    “I want to bring some friends to the wedding,” I said, giving him a wide, determined smile.
    He grinned. “I think that can be arranged,” he said.
    *  *  *
    I took Dave’s advice and signed up with a temp agency for the summer. On the days when I didn’t get called in, I helped outat Dad’s music store, but by the end of July, I was sick of temp work. Probably half the time I didn’t get called at all, and when they did send me out on a job, it was hideously boring—file clerk, receptionist, stock girl, shampoo girl.
    I really wanted to be outdoors. Where were the dog-walking jobs, playground supervisors, car washers? Taken, taken, taken, they told me, if there were any at all.
    And then on a Monday night, I got a call. A construction company on an emergency road repair needed a flag person for one day—their flagman was sick. Only one day, low pay, did I want it?
    The following morning I was up at four and putting on my raggedy jeans for ventilation, a thin cotton shirt over a tank top, and a blue bandana around my head. I slathered myself with sunscreen, made a sandwich, filled a thermos, grabbed my sunglasses, and was off. I drove Dad’s car to a two-lane road north of Gaithersburg, slowing down when I saw a few cars parked on the shoulder near a bulldozer.
    It may have been a two-lane road, but it was a busy one, and it curved