Be Mine (10 page)

Bonnie studied the chocolates, squishing three of them before finding the one she wanted. She started sucking on it when Claudia returned wearing her first dress. It was an off-the-shoulder sheath the color of pink cotton candy. Bonnie's eyes widened with glee when she saw it.

“What do you think?” Claudia asked, twirling around.

“It's nice,” Natalie said.

“Can I try it on?” Bonnie asked. “Pleeeease?”

“It's too big for you,” Natalie said as Claudia disappeared to change into her second dress.

Seven dresses later Claudia still hadn't picked one to wear for the dance.

She plopped on the couch next to Natalie. “I like all of them, but I don't
love
any of them.”

“You're pretty,” Bonnie said, wrapping her arms around Claudia's neck and giving her a kiss on the cheek, leaving behind a chocolate lipstick mark.

“Is she always so sticky?” Claudia asked, touching her cheek.

“She's a little girl! She's allowed to be messy. She doesn't have to be all perfect the way we do.” Natalie lifted Bonnie off the couch. “Let's go wash your hands and face.”

“I'm hardly perfect,” Claudia said as she followed after them. “But I will be the night of the Valentine's Day dance.”

Natalie squirted Bonnie's hands with liquid soap. Then she turned on the water, adjusting the knobs until it was warm. “Start scrubbing,” she told her. Bonnie instantly began lathering up.

“Have you bought a dress for the dance yet?” Claudia asked.

Natalie shook her head.

“What are you going to wear?”

Natalie wet a washcloth and gently wiped it over a squirming Bonnie's face. “I'm sure I'll find something in my closet.”

“Tom won't like that. I'm sure he's expecting you to buy a new dress.”

Natalie dried Bonnie's face off with a towel, then handed it to her to use on her hands. “Too bad.”

Natalie wasn't going to discuss it with Claudia, but Tom had the habit of pointing out what other girls were wearing and then suggesting she wear the same thing. His taste ran to short skirts and tops with low necklines, which wasn't her style at all. And when she wore something that he didn't like, he made a point of mentioning it. That really bugged her.

“I ran into him at the mall. Remember the dress Tanya Mooreland wore to the Secret Santa dance?”

“What about it?”

“He told me to tell you he thought you'd look hot in a dress like that.”

Natalie made a face. “That dress was strapless and low cut! If Tom wants a girl wearing a dress like that, he should ask Tanya to the dance.”

“Tom doesn't like Tanya. He likes you.”

Does he?
Natalie felt like asking. Because lately she'd been wondering.

“Can you unzip me?” Claudia asked, turning her back around to Natalie. “I'm going to take these dresses back to the mall.”

“We'll go with you,” Natalie said. “Bonnie's been such a good girl today that I promised to take her sledding in the park.”

“Sledding! Yay!” Bonnie shrieked, running off to find her snow boots.

Natalie watched Bonnie disappear, wondering what it would be like to be that young again and not have to worry about life in high school.

At the park, Bonnie insisted on giving Claudia a kiss good-bye. Natalie watched with amusement as Bonnie gave Claudia a bunch of extra wet, extra slobbery kisses all over her face. Even though Claudia tried not to cringe, she did, and Natalie laughed.

“Stop acting like a baby!” Natalie scolded as she watched Claudia pull a tissue out of her pocket. “It wasn't that bad!”

“My face is dripping wet,” she said, wiping it off. “If I don't dry it, it'll freeze.”

“I'll talk to you later,” Natalie said as she took Bonnie's hand and led her to one of the highest hills in the park.

“Ready to go down?” she asked when they reached the top.

Bonnie eagerly nodded.

Natalie sat down on the sled and positioned Bonnie in front of her. When her legs were secured around Bonnie's waist, she pushed them off the hill. Bonnie screamed with delight as they went straight down.

“Again! Again!” Bonnie cried when the sled stopped at the bottom.

“If you want to go down again we're going to have to climb all the way up.” Natalie pointed to the hill they had come down. “Can you walk all the way to the top again?”

“What if someone gave her a ride on their shoulders?”

Bonnie turned around. “Uncle Leo!”

“Bonnie!” he exclaimed. “You look so yummy. I have to take a bite of you!” He scooped Bonnie into his arms and pretended to eat her arm. “Scrumptious!”

“Don't eat me!” Bonnie giggled. “Please!”

Leo plopped her back down on the ground. “Okay. But only because you said the magic word.”

“Hi, Leo,” Natalie said.

“Hey, Natalie. What are you two doing here?”

“I'm babysitting Bonnie again. Because she was so good, I told her I'd take her sledding.”

“Did you have fun going down the hill?” Leo asked Bonnie, who instantly nodded.

“You know what else is fun?”

“What?”

“Building a snowman. Want to help me?”

Bonnie raced to Natalie's side. “Can we help Uncle Leo build a snowman, Natalie? Can we?
Please?
”

“If that's what you want to do, sure.”

“Have you ever built one of these before?” Leo asked Natalie as he began building a base for the snowman's bottom.

Natalie shook her head. “Have you?”

“Nope.”

“How hard could it be? All we have to do is make three big snowballs and plop them on top of each other.”

An hour later they had built a lopsided snowman with two gray rocks for eyes and a gnarled tree branch for a nose. A brown leaf had been added for a mouth and icicles were sticking out of his head for hair.

“How come it doesn't look like the snowmen on TV?” Leo asked Natalie. “You know, all perfectly round and shiny white?”

“That is one sad-looking snowman,” Natalie stated.

But Bonnie disagreed.

“He's the most beautiful snowman in the whole wide world,” she declared.

“What are we going to name it?” Leo asked.

“Frosty!” Bonnie pronounced.

“It's her favorite DVD,” Leo whispered to Natalie.

“I know. She watched it four times this afternoon.”

“You got off easy. Whenever I babysit her, she watches it at least ten times. If I have to hear that stupid snowman say ‘Happy Birthday' one more time, I'll scream!”

“I still have to take her back home, so I'm sure we'll be watching it again.” Natalie noticed that it was starting to get dark and held her hand out to Bonnie. “It's time to go.”

“Can Uncle Leo come with us?” Bonnie asked as she slipped one red mittened hand inside of Natalie's and the other inside of Leo's.

“If he wants to.” Natalie looked at Leo. “Were you going anywhere before you ran into us?”

“Just on my way home from the school library. I was working on my term paper for English Lit.”

“Who do you have?” Natalie asked as they started walking out of the park.

“O'Callahan.”

“I hear she's supposed to be tough.”

“She's not so bad if you read the assignments.”

“Uncle Leo, will you read me a book when we get home?” Bonnie asked.

“Absolutely!” Leo promised.

When they got home from the park, Natalie changed Bonnie into a dry pair of jeans and socks. Bonnie insisted on wearing her purple jeans, which clashed with her orange turtleneck. And she wanted to wear her green and yellow striped socks.

“Yowza!” Leo exclaimed, covering his eyes when Bonnie returned to the living room. “Dig those crazy colors!”

“They're not crazy, they're my favorites.”

Leo held out two books. “Which one do you want me to read?
Fancy Nancy
or
Knuffle Bunny
?”

Bonnie shook her head. “I don't want to read a book. I want to watch a DVD.”

“Which one?” Natalie and Leo asked at the same time.

“
Frosty the Snowman
!”

“Wouldn't you rather watch
The Little Mermaid
?” Natalie asked.

“No.”

“
Beauty and the Beast
?” Leo suggested.

“No.”

“How about
Cinderella
?” Natalie offered.

Bonnie stomped her foot and screwed up her face, taking in a deep breath as she got ready to scream. “NO! I . . . WANT . . . TO . . . WATCH . . . FROSTY!”

“Okay, okay,
Frosty
it is!” Natalie said, hurrying to aim the remote control at the DVD player. Anything to avoid a tantrum.

Bonnie nestled into a corner of the couch, popping her thumb into her mouth and snuggling with a baby doll.

“Why don't I make us some popcorn?” Leo suggested, heading into the kitchen. “You can't watch a movie without popcorn.”

“I like my popcorn plain,” Natalie called out as she started picking up Bonnie's toys. “No butter.”

“No butter,” Leo called back.

Natalie had just finished collecting the last of Bonnie's toys when the doorbell rang. Opening the front door, she was surprised to see Tom standing on the porch.

“What are you doing here?” she exclaimed as he stepped inside.

“Tracking you down.”

She closed the door behind him. “Why?”

“We had a study date tonight, remember?”

Natalie clasped a hand over her mouth. “I forgot!” she gasped.

“Obviously.”

She could see he was mad from the way he was glowering at her, but she chose to ignore it. She'd made a mistake. What was the big deal? “How did you know I was here?”

“Your mother told me.”

“Natalie, who's at the door?”

Leo walked out of the kitchen with a big bowl of popcorn.

“Having a little snack, Barnes?” Tom snickered.

Natalie noticed that at the sight of Tom, Leo seemed to shrink into himself. Why wouldn't he? Tom was usually one of the guys who laughed at Leo.

Tom turned back to Natalie. “What's he doing here? I thought you were babysitting some little kid.” He looked at Leo again. “What's the matter, Barnes? Mommy and Daddy won't leave you home alone? Or is this the only way you can get a date?”

“I'm babysitting Bonnie,” Natalie said, angered by Tom's comments. “She's four years old. Leo is her uncle. He stopped by to drop off something.”

Natalie didn't know why she was lying. She just had a feeling that if Tom knew she had spent the afternoon with Leo, he wouldn't be too happy about it. She tried to communicate with Leo through her eyes.
Please back me up. Please
.

“Yeah,” Leo mumbled.

Bonnie came running out of the living room. “Uncle Leo! Can we build another snowman tomorrow? Can we?”

“Sure.”

“Can you come, Natalie?” Bonnie asked.

Before she could answer, Tom did for her. “Natalie is going to be busy tomorrow afternoon.”

That was news to her. “Oh, I am?”

“Yes, you are,” Tom insisted.

If there was one thing Natalie hated, it was someone telling her what to do. But she wasn't about to get into a fight with Tom in front of Leo.

“Let's go watch
Frosty
,” Leo said, taking Bonnie's hand in his.

“What are you doing hanging out with that loser?” Tom asked after Leo had disappeared.

“Leo's not a loser!”

“You could have fooled me! He definitely looks like one!”

“Not everyone can look like they stepped out of the pages of
Sports Illustrated
,” Natalie snapped.

“They can if they exercise and don't eat like a pig.”

“Lower your voice!”

“Why? It's the truth. It's not my fault if the truth hurts.” Tom raised his voice. “I bet he's scarfed down that entire bowl of popcorn. Going back for seconds, Barnes?”

“Why are you being so mean? What did Leo ever do to you?”

Tom took Natalie by the hand. “Let's get out of here. We've got studying to do.”

Natalie snatched away her hand. “I can't. I'm babysitting Bonnie.”

“Can't Leo do it? She's his niece. I'm sure he doesn't have anything better to do tonight. It's not like he has much of a social life.”

Leo came back out into the hallway.

“Natalie, if you want to leave, you can,” he offered. “I don't mind watching Bonnie.”

“Let's go,” Tom said, tugging on Natalie's arm. “Where's your coat?”

Natalie shook him off. “I can't leave.”

“Why not? He said he'd watch the kid.”

“That
kid
has a name. Bonnie. And she's my responsibility until Lisa returns home. She left her with
me
. Not Leo. Even though he's her uncle, I can't just walk out. That would be wrong.”

Tom huffed.

Seconds later, headlights filled the driveway.

“Mommy's home!” Bonnie squealed, running out of the living room at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

“I guess you can go now,” Tom said, walking out of the house. “I'll see you next door.”

“Are you going home, Natalie?” Bonnie asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“You're not going to get to have any popcorn with me and Uncle Leo.” Bonnie's face became sad. “And you're not going to watch
Frosty
with us.”

“We'll do it another time,” Leo said, taking Bonnie by the hand and leading her back into the living room. “Right, Natalie?”

Natalie nodded. “Right. I promise.”

Leo glanced at her over his shoulder. The look he gave her made her think he didn't believe her. But she had promised Bonnie and she wouldn't break her promise.