Trouble's Brewing (Stirring Up Trouble) (19 page)

“I guess it’s possible,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“What’s the safety thing about? Safety reasons? Is that exactly how it was worded in the book?”

“Of course. I memorized it because I knew you’d ask.”

“Whose safety? Hers? Ours? The Witch World? The planet?”

“I don’t know,” Milo said. “It could mean just about anything.”

“I think I might just ask him.”

“Who? Finn?”

“Yeah. I think he should tell me whether it was him or not. Instead of all this theoretical, ethical, mumbo jumbo.”

“Good luck,” Milo said. “I think mumbo jumbo is his thing.”

I pressed play on the remote and the DVD player roared to life.

“You aren’t going to fall asleep on me again, are you?” Milo asked, sneaking a glance at me.

I froze. “I didn’t think you knew.”

“I woke up when you started drooling.”

“I did not drool!”

“No,” he admitted. “You didn’t.”

“Did Jake see?”

“I don’t think so.”

I sighed with relief.

“He may not know, but I do,” Milo added.

I grabbed the throw pillow and swatted at him.

“Hey,” he snapped. “We’re missing the movie.”

Milo kept giving me weird, unsettling looks as we watched the movie. I hoped he was just trying to give me a hard time. I didn’t want things to change between us, and things definitely felt off-kilter right now. He was just messing with me.

Either way, I knew better than to fall asleep again. I got up and got us each a soft drink. Milo ignored his, so I ended up drinking it too. Then I got up once to run to the bathroom, and another time because I caught myself nodding off. Stupid L-tryptophan.

As added insurance, I practically draped myself across my end of the couch. Surely if I drifted off, I’d gravitate that way. I was starting to enter dangerous territory as the characters in the movie began interacting in my mind with my own family. This happened a lot, and it meant I was half asleep. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I started to push myself up into a seated position.

I didn’t have the strength. My body was heavy. In fact, there was a large weight draped over my back. It felt somewhat like the heavy apron they put on you when they took x-rays at the dentist. Only warmer. Hot almost.

And moving. The weight was moving rhythmically as if it were breathing. I stopped struggling and focused. Milo lay against me. Asleep? Or just trying to torture me? I wasn’t sure. I turned slowly to roll him onto the back of the couch as I slipped out from under him.

When I finally accomplished my task, Milo lay snoozing on his back on the couch. I squinted at him, trying to see if he had really fallen asleep.

I went upstairs, making sure my footsteps were loud enough to let Milo know I’d gone up. At the top of the stairs, I stopped and squatted to look through the railing.

Milo didn’t stir. I waited, determined to catch him awake.

Nothing.

Finally I gave up, no longer caring whether he was asleep or not. I crept the rest of the way to my bed and collapsed.

I wasn’t sure what to think about the falling asleep stuff. We were friends. We were comfortable with each other. Would Anya and I curl up like that if we fell asleep? No. Not on the couch. But in the backseat of the car, on a long trip, I vaguely remembered it happening. Normal, I assured myself. Perfectly normal. And I’d cuddled up with Milo instead of Jake because I always slept on my left side. I checked myself quickly to confirm and realized I was curled on my right side. Oh crud. It’s because I’m all freaked out, I told myself. Now I’m just making myself crazy.

I pulled the cover over my head in hopes of blocking out my racing thoughts. Stupid turkey, I told myself. All that Thanksgiving food was messing with my mind and my sleeping habits. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized I hadn’t once thought about the limestone in the shed. I had forgotten all about it.

Since the mountains were a ridiculously popular day after Thanksgiving destination, Mom had scheduled a trip to the lake where we could find some walking trails. We had a “light” breakfast which involved pancakes with lots of choices from fruit to yogurt to syrups. Then we drove up to Norris Lake and walked for about an hour. We’d bought tickets for a double feature at the movies later.

“I almost feel human again,” Milo’s mother said as we returned to their van. “I think I ate so much that my system was threatening to shut down completely.”

“Not the prettiest time of year for the lake though,” I said.

“I thought it would be preferable to walking around the track at the high school.”

“Definitely,” Milo’s parents agreed.

“It’s nice to get back to nature,” his dad said.

I wasn’t so sure. The sun wasn’t shining, and we could have been back home already. Of course, I wasn’t in a hurry. A weird notion for me. I didn’t need to hurry because I couldn’t work on my potions anyway.

“I saw something interesting online this morning,” Bill said as we headed home.

I expected him to describe some new computer gadget, but instead, he said, “A village in Africa made a huge amount of money by capturing and selling a rare toad.”

“A toad?” As in, one of my toads?

“That’s right, Zoe. You may have caused a few problems…”

My mother coughed from the front seat.

“…but it appears some actually benefited from the Frog Fiasco. They’re using the funds to build a school and a clinic.”

“Oh, how nice,” Marjorie gushed.

“Cool,” Milo said.

Nobody mentioned the less positive results, and I found myself very thankful that they held their tongues.

Back at home, the parents started arranging the leftovers so we could each fix a plate. Milo eyed the stuffing and turkey. “How can it possibly look so good to me after all I ate yesterday?”

“Because it is good,” his father said.

The phone rang, and Mom answered.

“Hello.”

“Yes, of course. How nice to hear from you, Paulette.”

“Sure. Just a moment.”

Mom turned to Milo’s mother. “I need to take this. Can you guys excuse me for a moment?”

“Sure,” his mother said.

Mom went into the living room.

“Where’s the gravy?” Milo’s father asked.

“Annie has a jar somewhere,” his mother said. “I’ll find it.”

Since Milo’s dad was practically drooling on himself, we let him heat his plate in the microwave first. Once ours were heated, Milo and I went to the dining room table.

I was savoring a bite of cheesy broccoli casserole when my mother came into the room. The tension she radiated slapped me from across the room. I swallowed the casserole and put down my fork.

“Zoe Miller!” She held up her iPhone, her arm shaking with anger. “Did you do this?”

As I stared at the dating site profile on her iPhone, I tried to get a grasp on the situation. How could she possibly have found out already?

“I asked if you did this.” Mom’s face grew red.

I pushed away from the table and stood up.

“Yes, Mom, but—”

Milo’s parents appeared in the doorway, looking confused and concerned.

“How could you, Zoe? This is so humiliating! Do you have any idea how embarrassed I am?”

She was way more upset than I thought she would be.

Milo stood too. He put his hand on my arm in a gesture of support.

“Mom, it isn’t that bad. Everybody does it. I didn’t think it would embarrass you.”

“You probably didn’t think Paulette at K’town in the Afternoon would see it and ask to feature my Internet dating experience on the show!”

Uh oh.

“You probably didn’t think I’d be blindsided and embarrassed in front of a colleague. You probably didn’t think about what the network will think when they see it or about the damage you could do to my career!”

“Mom—”

“You probably didn’t think about the dangers inherent in hosting a television show and the exponential increase in creepy fan mail that I am going to face!”

Danger? My mother had creepy fan mail? “I didn’t… I didn’t know.”

“Annie,” Milo’s mother said, coming into the room and putting an arm around my mother. “It’s going to be okay. I’m sure Zoe meant well.”

“I didn’t think you’d be embarrassed,” I stammered. “I thought you might not want to do it.”

“You are grounded, Zoe.”

“Mom!” I motioned to Milo and his family. “Hardly anybody could have seen it yet. I just put it up.”

“When?”

“We—Wednesday,” I said. “After midnight.”

“So only a day, really,” Milo’s dad said, pulling out his iPad. “Annie, it’s only been up for a day.”

My mother pulled away from Marjorie and covered her eyes with her hands. Her chest rose as she took a deep breath.

“Mom, I’m so sorry. I never meant to embarrass you. I didn’t know about the mail.”

My mother nodded. “I know,” she said in a steady voice. “I know you meant well.”

I lowered my eyes in shame. I hadn’t done this for her. Sure, I’d told myself it would be good for her, but the reality was I had done this for me.

“Let’s sit down and talk this out,” Marjorie said. “Bill, bring Annie a glass of tea.”

Mom and Marjorie pulled out chairs, and Milo and I sat back down.

Once the five of us were seated around the table, Mom spoke. “One of Paulette’s production assistants saw my profile in the featured new members section.” She shook her head. “She must think I’m an idiot. I didn’t believe her until I clicked the link she texted me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said again.

“Give me the login info, Zoe, and I can take this down right away,” Bill said.

I told him the password and user ID I had used.

“Zoe, I don’t understand why you felt the need to do this.”

I didn’t want to share my fears about Dr. Finnegan. It would embarrass her even worse.

“I think she just wants you to be happy,” Milo said, allowing me to sidestep a direct lie.

“I do, Mom.”

Mom let out a sigh. “I know, Zoe. I know you’ve been worried about me with your father dating Sheree. I’m fine though. I’m open to dating, but I don’t need to date. I’m fine. I like my life.”

“It’s down,” Bill said, looking up from his iPad. “Nobody can see your profile now.”

“Thank you, Bill,” Mom said.

“Are you ready for something to eat, Annie?” Bill asked. “I’ll be glad to fix you a plate.”

“No. Thank you, though.”

“What about you, Marjorie? Should I get your plate?”

Marjorie rolled her eyes. “Bill, you can eat. Get your lunch. It’s fine.”

“Oh goodness.” My mother looked at Bill. “I’m sorry. Of course you should eat.”

Bill was out of his chair and out of the room in seconds.

My mother and Marjorie shared a look and then laughed.

“The man loves his leftovers,” Marjorie said.

“I didn’t mean to hold up his lunch,” Mom said. Then she turned her attention to Milo. “You too, honey. Go ahead and eat before it gets cold.”

Milo picked up his fork. Then he tentatively took a bite of stuffing.

I’d lost my appetite.

Bill returned with his plate and Marjorie’s.

Marjorie took hers but she didn’t dig in like her husband. Instead, she said, “Annie, it sounds like the production assistant stumbled across the profile by accident. I doubt many people have seen it. The profile is down now. Let’s figure this out.” She turned to her husband. “Were you able to see any kind of stats on the profile? Can we tell how many people have viewed it?”

Bill finished chewing his turkey and swallowed. “They don’t show the views, but she has four messages from men who want to get to know her better. Since we all know Annie’s beautiful and talented, I’m confident that not many more than those four have seen her profile.”

Tears pooled in my mother’s eyes again. “Bill, that’s so sweet.”

“He’s right,” Marjorie said. “You’re a catch, and any man who saw the profile would pursue you.”

“Do you want me to pull up the profiles of those four?” Bill asked.

“Well,” Mom said, her voice lighter, “I suppose we should. Just to be safe.”

“It couldn’t hurt. Could it?” Marjorie said.

Mom’s smile was fleeting, but it was a smile.

Chapter Thirteen

Milo and I escaped to my room as soon as we could.

“That was intense,” Milo said.

“You think? I thought she was going to strangle me.”

“She wouldn’t hurt you.” He was quiet for a moment.

“I messed up.”

“I thought she’d be annoyed. I didn’t think she’d be mortified.”

“I know.” I hated having embarrassed my mother. “I probably should have thought about the safety thing, too. She is kind of a celebrity.”

“So Operation Find Mom a Date is on hold?”

“Definitely.” I glanced down at my cell. Jake had called twice, and I had ignored his calls. “I need to call Jake soon. I’m not sure if I’m grounded though.”

“We already have the tickets,” Milo said. “For both movies.”

“Would you mind to—”

“I’ll go down and ask your mother if we can still go to the movies.”

“I love you, Milo,” I called after him as he ran to do my errand. I was so lucky to have a friend like Milo.

I texted Jake.
Finding out about the movie plans now. Will call in a minute
.

Bill drove us by Sheree’s house to pick up Jake and drop us off at the theater. My dad came out to say hello and to introduce Bill to Sheree. Those were an awkward five minutes.

Jake climbed into the middle seat of the van to sit next to me. After the emotionally draining afternoon, I wanted to lay my head on his shoulder and let him hold me. Unfortunately, doing so would make all four of us uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to prompt Bill to scold me. I’d already done enough to disappoint everyone today.

“You okay?” Jake asked.

“Rough day,” I said, but my heart warmed at his concern. He’d noticed something wasn’t quite right with me.

“So, Jake,” Bill said, “I’m glad to have this opportunity to get to know you.”

Uh oh. Bill was almost as protective of me as my dad was.