"It"s not important?" Lena echoed faintly.
Carmen looked at Lena knowingly. "That obviously means it is."
"Who"s Eugene?"
Lena let it drop quietly between dinner and dessert as her mother loaded the plates into the dishwasher. Lena was clearing the table. It was just the two of them in the kitchen. Effie was at a friend"s, and their dad was reading the newspaper in the dining room.
"What?" Ari turned around.
"Who"s Eugene?"
Right away Lena knew she was causing a disturbance.
"Why are you asking me that?" Her mother was holding a plate in each hand.
"I just ... want to know."
"Who told you about him?"
"n.o.body," Lena said. If her mother wasn"t giving any information, then she didn"t feel like giving any either. Besides, she didn"t want to get Carmen"s mom in trouble.
Ari"s face took on a frustrated, unpolished look. She seemed to be calculating in a hurry. "Well, I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Then why are you whispering?"
Lena hadn"t meant to torture her mother, but that was how it was working out.
"I"m not," she said, also in a whisper.
Lena stopped. This was feeling a little out of control. She wanted information, badly. The harder it was to get it, the more critical it seemed. On the other hand, the look on her mother"s face scared her a little.
Lena"s dad ambled into the kitchen. "How about some cheesecake?" he asked agreeably.
Lena"s mother cast her a look that said, in no uncertain terms, Do not open your mouth or I will ground you until you are an old woman.
"I"m going upstairs," Lena informed the granite countertop.
"Nothing sweet?" her dad asked. They had a common love of dessert.
"Not tonight," she said.
"Do you think Mom had a boyfriend before Dad?" she asked Effie when she appeared in Lena"s room awhile later.
"No. n.o.body important."
"What makes you so sure?" Lena asked.
"Because she would"ve told us about it," Effie reasoned.
"Maybe not. She doesn"t tell us everything."
Effie rolled her eyes. "Mom has a very boring life. Maybe there isn"t anything to tell."
Lena thought for a while. "I think Mom had a boyfriend named Eugene. I think she lived here and he lived in Greece, and I think she might have really loved him."
Effie raised her eyebrows. "You do, do you?"
Lena nodded.
"Well, I think you should stick with your own tragic love story."
"David wants to take us both out to dinner," Christina announced that evening, as though Ed McMahon had just arrived with the giant novelty check.
"Why?"
"Carmen!" Christina was too happy to be mad. "Because he wants to meet you!"
Christina had the Weight Watchers cookbook open on the counter and onions sizzling in a pan.
"When?"
"Tomorrow night?" Christina suggested.
"I"m going to the movies with Lena."
"Thursday?"
"Baby-sitting."
"Friday?"
Carmen studied her mother in annoyance. Usually a person got the hint by the third try. "I"m ... going out with Porter," she said, satisfied with her answer even though it was a lie. Her mother wasn"t the only one in the world with a boyfriend.
Christina"s eyes turned from disappointed to pleased. "Bring him! We"ll go out, all four of us!"
"David wants to take us out to dinner," Carmen announced into the phone an hour later. Her tone was somewhat different than her mother"s had been.
Tibby exhaled. "It sounds like it"s getting serious. You know, time to meet the parents. Except the other way around."
"I told her I was going out with Porter, and she wants him to come too."
"A double date with your mother?" Tibby said, at least partly enjoying the absurdity of it.
"I know," Carmen moaned. "It might be better this way, though. I"ll have something else to pay attention to. And maybe the guys can talk about tire irons or something."
"Maybe." Tibby sounded doubtful.
"The only thing is, I don"t actually have a plan to go out with Porter. I made that up."
"Oh, Carmen."
"Yeah, so now I have to ask him."
Tibby laughed, but Car men could tell it was appreciative. "Do you like him?" she asked.
"Who?"
"Porter!"
"Oh. Uh, I guess so."
"You guess so?"
"He"s really good-looking. Don"t you think?"
"He looks fine," Tibby said a little impatiently. "But Carmen, you shouldn"t ask him out if you don"t like him. It kind of sends the wrong message."
"Who said I didn"t like him? Maybe I do like him," Carmen snapped.
"Gosh. You make it sound so romantic."
Carmen laughed. She bit at a loose piece of skin next to her thumbnail. "Did I tell you my mom put us on a diet?"
"No."
"Yes."
"Poor you."
"Except I walked to Giant and bought three flavors of Ben & Jerry"s."
Tibby laughed again. "Atta girl."
Hey Bee Bee,
I am a big fat loser, but what else is new? The big event on my social calendar is a double date with my mother. I am totally serious.
How did this happen? A week ago my mom"s big plans were a dentist appointment. Now she"s doing something with David like every other night.
Don"t say you"re happy for her. You said that last time. You"re not the one eating the frozen pizza.
Last night she went out wearing this cropped shirt. I swear you could see her belly b.u.t.ton. Not pretty, Bee.
This morning I called her at the office to see if I could go to a ten o"clock movie and she said, "Use your judgment." !!!! How come my judgment was never good enough to use before David came along?
Am I just being a selfish brat? Be honest.
But not too honest.
Write soon and tell me everything about Gilda Tomko. I miss you so much.
Love,
Carmen "the Brat" Lowell
"Meet us for breakfast if you want," Maura called later that night as the elevator door closed. "We"re walking down the highway to IHOP."
"All right," Tibby said through the door. Being New Yorkers, Maura and Alex liked to joke about how other places didn"t have sidewalks, only highways. Tibby nodded along like she was a New Yorker too, not a product of pure suburbia.
The pulsing sleep light of her iBook greeted her. "Hi," she said to her computer.
"Hi," it said back.