She frowned and looked down in thought. "It"s really weird. Like I said, my memories are hazy, but the part about William stands out really clearly-that"s partly why I don"t trust it now. It"s almost like I imagined it."
She looked up at me. "Maybe it was just my dislike of William bubbling up to the surface. I did tell the police that I saw someone. But I didn"t I.D. William-I didn"t think it was fair to malign him when I couldn"t be sure."
She held out a warning finger. "I don"t want you to think I like him now. I don"t. And I"m still not entirely sure he"s not guilty. But I couldn"t really come up with a motive for him-he certainly wasn"t dating my mom."
Relief flooded through me. "You don"t have to like him. I"ll settle for your not having him thrown in jail."
"So are we friends again?"
"We were always friends," I said.
Charisse smiled. She looked relieved, too.
"Do you have any plans this weekend?" she asked conversationally.
"No, not really," I admitted. "GM hasn"t really let me go anywhere since the incident at your house."
I didn"t mention that GM had forbidden me to see William after what Charisse had said at the hospital. It seemed ungenerous since she was starting to thaw a bit, and at any rate, it didn"t really matter now that he had disappeared. At the moment there was no need for GM to forbid anything.
"My mom won"t really let me go anywhere, either," Charisse said. "But on the plus side, she does seem to be back to normal. She"s taking everything seriously again and not brushing off work. Of course, she"s coming home a lot earlier now to keep an eye on me. So she brings home a huge stack of papers, and we both sit together working-she does her stuff, and I do my homework. It"s only been two days, but it"s driving me slightly crazy."
"What about your dad?" I asked. "Have you heard from him?"
Charisse shrugged. "He called, but I think he thinks my mom is being melodramatic and is exaggerating the danger we were in. I don"t think he actually thinks it was a big deal. He told her to be more careful about the men she dates."
She shook her head wearily. "You know, my dad seemed really distracted when I talked to him. I think something"s up with him. I just hope it"s not something as bad as what was up with my mom. Parents are a lot of trouble sometimes."
There was a polite cough behind me, and I turned to see Bryony standing nearby. She gave me a smile and tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Hi," she said.
I wondered how long she had been standing nearby before she had worked up the nerve to speak.
"Hi, Bryony," I said.
She handed me a small, square envelope. She gave one to Charisse too.
"They"re invitations to my birthday party," she said in her soft voice. "It"s tomorrow, out in the Old Grove. Sorry for the short notice, but we only just got the permits we needed. Annamaria will be there too. She"s out of the hospital now."
"The Old Grove?" I asked. "Won"t that be cold?"
"It will be a bit cold, but we"ve booked a gazebo, and we"ll have fires and portable heaters. That"s what we needed the permits for. I just really wanted to have a cookout. I love cookouts."
"I"d like to come," I said. "I"m just not sure if I"ll be allowed to."
"I"m not sure if I can go either," Charisse said.
Bryony looked deeply disappointed, and I had a feeling she thought we were brushing her off.
"I"ll come if I can," I said quickly. "I really will. I just have to make sure it"s okay with my grandmother. I"ll send you a text tonight to let you know."
"Same here," said Charisse. "My mom hasn"t let me go anywhere lately."
Bryony brightened up and gave us her number.
Then she gave us a thoughtful look. "Things must have been pretty hard for both of you this past week. My parents will be there if that helps. And you can bring your friends Simon and Branden, if you want."
"Thanks," I said.
A dark-haired girl pa.s.sed by, and I glanced up, thinking that Irina-who had continued to stalk me during the week-had found us and was about to pounce. I relaxed when I realized it was actually someone else.
I turned back to Bryony. "I"m sure you invited Irina too. Will she mind if I"m there?"
A distant, defiant light went on in Bryony"s eyes. "Irina is my friend. And I"d like to be friends with both of you. Even if Irina doesn"t approve."
I smiled then. "Okay. I hope we both can go."
Bryony smiled her thanks and left us.
"Would you like a ride home?" Charisse asked.
"Thanks, but I don"t think I can accept. I"d better let GM pick me up-especially if I want to go to Bryony"s party tomorrow. I think it"ll make her feel more secure."
"With any luck I"ll see you tomorrow, then," Charisse said. "Send me a text to let me know."
"I will."
Charisse turned to go off to the student parking lot, and I headed toward the front of the school. As I stepped out into the schoolyard, I called GM.
I made a point of not looking for William.
As I waited in the cold December air, I realized-almost against my better judgment-that if I was able to go to Bryony"s party that I would also have an opportunity to search the Old Grove for William"s house. I didn"t know what it looked like, but maybe someone at the party would know.
I wondered, if I succeeded in finding William"s house-would I find him at home.
And if he was, in fact, home-what would he say when he saw me?
I realized that I was afraid of how he would react.
But I had to know.
GM"s red sports car soon glided to a graceful stop in front of the school, and I hurried over to it. I settled into the warm interior of the car, and GM took off at an unholy pace like she always did. It never failed to amaze me how she could drive as swiftly and expertly as she did, racing up to red light and stop signs, and then braking so smoothly that you barely felt the deceleration. And on country roads she really flew, negotiating hilly roads and tight turns with remarkable ease.
Of course, not everyone appreciated her driving skills-she had a desk drawer full of speeding tickets at home.
I decided not to tackle GM on the subject of Bryony"s party right away. I figured I would wait until the right moment presented itself. In the meantime, I was content to ride along with GM in silence.
As GM drove, I glanced at her profile. It struck me that I hadn"t told her about the things that Irina had said earlier in the week-that our family had injured hers and that GM in particular had done something terrible. There was probably nothing in it, but I did want to ask GM about it. I hadn"t even realized that our families had known each other back in Russia, but "Neverov" was a Russian name, and I supposed an acquaintance wasn"t impossible.
I would have to wait for the right time to ask about that too.
After dinner that night, GM seemed to be in a good mood, and I decided to broach the topic of Bryony"s party. I ran up to my room and grabbed the invitation. Then I ran back down and handed it to GM in the kitchen.
I watched anxiously as GM opened the envelope and read it.
She looked up at me. "You would like to attend this party, Katie?"
"Yes, I would."
"I suppose there will be a lot of other people?"
I nodded. "Bryony invited Charisse, Simon, and Branden along with all of her other friends. She also said her parents will be there."
"I imagine you will be safe enough, then, Solnyshko. You may go."
I was relieved.
"Thanks, GM."
"But call me when you want to come home."
"I will, GM."
"I hope you will have fun at the party," GM said. "There have been too many terrible things lately. It is time you had some good things too."
GM turned back to the dishes she had been clearing away, and I sensed that Bryony"s invitation had in no way dampened her good mood. I decided to risk bringing up the other topic I was interested in.
"GM, I have kind of a strange question to ask you."
"What is it?"
"It has to do with something Irina Neverov said a few days ago."
GM looked around with a good-natured smile. "How is Irina? It seems like I haven"t seen her in a while."
"GM, what Irina said actually wasn"t very pleasant. She that our families knew each other back in Russia, and that our family has always been trouble. She said that she knew all about what you had done."
GM"s eyebrows rose in shock. "Irina said that?"
"Yes, she did."
"I cannot understand it. The two of you have been friends since you were children. Is she angry with you for some reason?"
"Yes, she is-it"s a bit complicated. Did our families really know each other in Russia?"
"Yes," GM replied. "Both families once lived in Krov."
I was startled. "We did? Why didn"t you tell me this before?"
GM shrugged. "It didn"t really seem important to tell you. And you two have always been such good friends that it seemed likely that you would find out on your own."
She frowned. "What"s wrong between you and Irina?"
I didn"t want to lose sight of my real objective, which was to find out about our relationship with the Neverovs, but it seemed best to go along with GM"s questions for the moment. Maybe I could get my questions in without her noticing.
"Like I said, it"s complicated," I replied. "But at the moment, the problem is that she likes Simon."
GM drew in her breath sharply and put a hand to her mouth.
"So, she thinks you have stolen him from her."
"I suppose so," I said. "Though that"s kind of a strange way of putting it. He was my friend for years before she ever paid any attention to him."
"That would explain it," she said softly, but she was speaking more to herself than to me.
GM lapsed into silence. After a moment she seemed to shake off her reverie. "How about dessert, Solnyshko? Would you like dessert?"
"GM, what about what Irina said? She seems to think that our families are enemies. And she seemed to be accusing you of doing something terrible."
GM waved a careless hand. "Irina is a young girl. Young girls often say things they don"t mean-no offense to you, Solnyshko. I am sure the two of you will be friends again very soon. I will go get dessert."
GM walked around me, and I was resigned to the fact that-for the moment, at least-she wasn"t going to tell me anything more about our past with the Neverovs.
But I was relieved that I would be able to go to Bryony"s party. At least I had managed that. After GM and I had both had dessert, which was actually just fruit-GM didn"t approve of sweets-I ran up to my room and threw myself on my bed. I texted both Bryony and Charisse to let them know I was going to the party. And then I texted Simon to let him know about the party too.
He called me immediately.
"Hey, Katie."
"Hey, Simon."
"So there"s a party for Bryony tomorrow?"
"Yes. I"m sorry about the short notice. It"s in the afternoon, so I hope it won"t interfere with any plans you have for Sat.u.r.day night."
"No, it"s no problem," Simon said. "I"d love to go."
He paused. "Is he going?"
"You mean William?"
"Yes."
I felt a sharp stab of pain. "No, William"s not going."
"Oh, okay."
I could hear relief in Simon"s voice.