A Spring to Remember Read online

  Lizzie felt like crying. Was it possible she was failing to sing even one note? How could she have failed this badly so soon?

  But Mr. Samson’s kind eyes and nice smile made her relax a little. He didn’t seem mad—not at all.

  “Can I just ask you some questions, Ms. Lizzie?” he said.

  She nodded. Though she hoped she could actually form words and answers to his questions.

  “What’s your favorite holiday?” he asked.

  Lizzie blinked. She was expecting questions like “What songs do you sing?” or “How come you’re so bad at singing one note?”

  The question surprised her so much, she didn’t even think about how mortified she was about the whole situation. “Halloween,” she said immediately.

  Mr. Samson’s eyes widened. “Yes! Mine too! What do you like about it?”

  Lizzie shifted in her seat and leaned forward. “Um, I like what we do at the orchard. And how spooky things are,” she said. And then she thought that might be a really dumb answer.

  But Mr. Samson nodded enthusiastically. “Right! My favorite thing to do is take walks around Halloween time to see everyone’s decorations. And the weather is great,” he said.

  Lizzie said, “I know! I like wearing sweaters and drinking hot apple cider. And seeing the leaves, but also seeing how spooky it can get when the fog settles on our fields.”

  “That’s right, you mentioned the orchard! I’ve been there, you know. It’s one of my favorite places to be in the fall. I didn’t get a chance to go this past autumn—did you do anything special?”

  Lizzie nodded so big her head felt like it might fall off. “We did! My friends and I and my sister, Gloria, and her friends put on a play and a haunted house. And there was a zombie hayride. And we think there was a real ghost in our barn. And spooky things kept happening around the orchard, so we had to figure things out and had to help the ghost move on. Her name was Verity Wentworth, and she used to live at our farm a long, long time ago. And we dressed up and handed out candy. . . .” All of a sudden Lizzie realized that she was talking a lot and stopped. Most people didn’t let her talk this long.

  But Mr. Samson nodded and his eyes were wide. “A real ghost? That sounds both scary and thrilling!”

  Lizzie said, “It was! But my friends and I were pretty brave. Well, at least my friends were.” She ducked her head and felt her face get hot again.

  Mr. Samson said, “It sounds like you were brave too, though.”

  Lizzie shrugged. She was starting to feel a little uncomfortable again.

  “Who are your friends?” Mr. Samson asked. “Do you all get to spend a lot of time together?”

  Lizzie nodded. “Oh, yes. Sarah is my best friend since forever and she’s at our house all the time. Peter and Olive are twins and they moved here a little while ago and became our best friends. We do everything together,” she said. Then thoughts about Sarah crept in. She blurted out, “I’m worried about Sarah.”

  She sank into herself a little, embarrassed she’d said something so personal. But Mr. Samson nodded. “I bet you’re a good friend, huh?”

  Lizzie shrugged again, and a little smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

  “Aha. I think we figured out what you really like to do. Be a good friend?”

  She nodded but couldn’t seem to look up.

  Mr. Samson’s voice got quiet. “Sometimes, when we’re really good friends, we forget that we have our own ideas about what we want to do. Or we forget to do nice things for ourselves, too.”

  Lizzie swallowed and thought about that for a minute.

  “But we can talk about that later. Can you believe it? Time is up!” Lizzie glanced at the clock in the corner, and sure enough, a whole hour had already passed. She couldn’t believe it.

  “I . . . didn’t . . . ,” she started.

  Mr. Samson finished, “Sing a note? Yeah, that happens a lot the first lesson. This is all a part of the process!” He stood up and bowed to Lizzie. “Thank you, Ms. Lizzie, for sharing your thoughts with me. That’s a type of art right there, just like making music is.” He walked toward the door and opened it. “If you feel like it, you can practice singing along to songs you like until next time. Sound good? See you next week?”

  Lizzie nodded and walked past him. When she got halfway down the hall, Mr. Samson called out, “Don’t forget to take care of yourself while you’re being a good friend, okay?”

  Lizzie turned around and smiled. “Okay, Mr. Samson.”

  He beamed. “Okay.”

  Smiling the whole way, Lizzie walked to where her mother was parked outside. The singing lesson hadn’t been so bad after all.

  She got into the car and her mom said, “Well? How’d it go? Did you have fun?”

  For the first time in a while, Lizzie could tell the truth enthusiastically. “Yeah, I really did.”

  Her mom put the car in drive and said smugly, “See, I knew you would.”

  Lizzie just smiled.

  CHAPTER 4

  A Strange Proposal

  The whole way home, Lizzie tried to prepare for the disaster that was waiting for her there. Sarah would be devastated, that much she knew. Lizzie had suspected for some time that Ms. Shirvani and Sheriff Hadley were dating. She was always surprised when she knew something someone else didn’t, though that happened a lot, especially if it had to do with people. And especially if Sarah was involved. Sarah tended not to notice a whole lot around her.

  It had been a whole hour—more, even. Enough time for Sarah to get really worked up and worried and angry. Lizzie would have to really step up for her, she just knew. So when her mom pulled into their driveway, Lizzie stepped out of the car like a soldier on a mission.

  She walked into the house, ready to deal with any yelling or crying that might be happening.

  Instead, she heard excited voices in the living room.

  She heard SARAH’s excited voice in the living room.

  Lizzie stopped in her tracks for a minute. It was so much the opposite of what she expected, she wondered if she’d imagined the encounter with the sheriff and Ms. Shirvani. Or if she had walked into the wrong house. She looked around—yep, it was her house, all right. And her mother had walked in behind her and was hanging up her keys and talking on the phone to someone. Lizzie shook her head, as if to shake the weirdness away.

  She walked to the banister, tapped it three times like everyone did when they walked into the house, and then went to the living room, toward the excited voices. What she found there almost blew her mind.

  Peter, Olive, and Sarah had thrown all the pillows on the floor like they always did when they had slumber parties or when they were planning big things. Sarah was talking, her hands gesturing wildly and her eyes bright. She, Olive, and Peter heard Lizzie come in, and they all turned their heads toward her at exactly the same time.

  They had huge smiles on their faces.

  “LIZZIE!” Sarah yelled. “FINALLY. We have so much to talk about.”

  Lizzie didn’t know what to say. That was an understatement.

  “How come—” she started.

  “—I’m not upset?” Sarah finished.

  Lizzie nodded and then dropped onto a cushion near Peter.

  “Well, I couldn’t talk for a little bit,” Sarah said. “Which isn’t like me, I know.”

  Peter, Olive, and Lizzie all nodded at her. Olive said, “SO true,” and grinned, but Sarah went on like she hadn’t heard her.

  “And it was a huge shock. I mean, who would have guessed?”

  Lizzie and Olive shared a look but didn’t say anything. Lizzie saw Peter stifling a smile.

  Sarah went on, “But then I REALLY thought about it. Like, really. And guess what? I think it’s a GREAT idea. Who’s better than Sheriff Hadley?”

  Relief flooded Lizzie. She absolutely agreed—she’d just thought it would be a much longer journey to get Sarah to think that way.

  “I have so much fun with Sheriff Hadley. And I’
ve always wanted to go to one of his sci-fi conventions, all dressed up. We both love Doctor Who and Star Wars. And now he’ll have to take me! He’ll be my stepdad if he and my mom get married!” Sarah stopped like the idea had just occurred to her. She added, almost like an afterthought, “I’ve never had a dad.”

  Peter said, “You can always borrow one of ours. We have two.” They all giggled at this.

  Sarah laughed, but her expression hadn’t changed. “Sheriff Hadley as my stepdad,” she almost whispered.

  Olive said, businesslike, “We’ve been trying to figure out how long they’ve been going out. We think it’s a year. Like right when Peter and I got here.”

  Lizzie glanced at Sarah and shook her head. “I think it’s longer,” she said.

  Sarah said, “Wait, you’ve known this for a while and you never said anything to me?”

  Lizzie sighed and thought about what she wanted to say. Finally, she said, “I wasn’t sure. I just guessed. They were always looking at each other and laughing. And one time, about a year before Peter and Olive got here, I saw her lean into him a little bit. And he leaned into her back. But sometimes WE all lean into each other as friends, so I couldn’t tell for sure. And I didn’t want to say anything.”

  Sarah furrowed her eyebrows. “I wish you’d said something,” she said.

  Lizzie’s stomach dropped. Had she been a bad friend? She’d thought she was doing Sarah a favor. But maybe she’d made the wrong decision.

  Olive jumped in. “But if she’d been wrong, then you would have been upset. Since those things could just be what close friends do.”

  Lizzie shot Olive a grateful look, and Olive smiled back at her.

  Sarah nodded. “That’s true. You were being a good friend by not getting my hopes up, I guess.” She didn’t look totally sure, but Lizzie breathed a sigh of relief anyway.

  Sarah’s eyebrows furrowed again. “Why didn’t THEY tell me?” she asked.

  Peter shrugged. “I’ve been wondering that too.”

  “Yeah,” Olive said. “Do you think they thought you might be upset or something?”

  “Well . . . ,” Sarah said. “Sometimes I can be a little dramatic. At least that’s what my mom says.” She cleared her throat.

  Lizzie looked down and didn’t meet Sarah’s eyes. She did, however, see that both Peter and Olive had looked down too.

  Olive said, “Maybe you should just tell them you saw them kissing and that you’re happy about it.”

  Sarah shook her head slowly. She drew herself up and said, “I have a better idea.” She paused and made sure everyone was looking at her. She took a deep breath and said, “I think they should get married!”

  No one said anything for a second. Olive pushed her glasses up her nose. “Okay. So maybe you should tell them you saw them kissing and that you’re happy about it and you think they should get married.”

  Lizzie nodded. She wasn’t quite sure why Sarah had been so . . . well, dramatic about saying they should get married.

  But Sarah shook her head. “Oh, no. They can’t know I know. Not if they didn’t want me to know. What if that breaks the spell and then they split up?”

  Lizzie and Peter exchanged confused looks. Olive said, “I’m not sure that logic makes—”

  “It’s the only way to make sure they get married!” Sarah said, gesturing wildly. “We have to make THEM want to get married. We need to do some superspy work and figure out how to do that. Are you in?” she asked.

  Lizzie said, “Uh . . .”

  Olive said, “I’m not sure what we’re in.”

  And Peter said at the same time, “What are we talking about?”

  Sarah said, “AWESOME! Sunday—that’s tomorrow, remember—I’ll give you your assignments. We WILL get them to propose—and soon!”

  Lizzie wasn’t so sure. And she wasn’t sure why Sarah needed this to happen right that instant. Or why she wouldn’t just talk to her mom. But like Mr. Samson had said, Lizzie was a good friend.

  “Okay,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “We’re in.”

  CHAPTER 5

  Glorialand

  After her friends left, Lizzie climbed the stairs to her room and flopped on her bed. She felt . . . off. Nothing seemed right. Here she was, a player in one of Sarah’s complicated schemes again. Sarah tended to do this—take a simple solution and make it really hard. The difference now was that Lizzie had Olive and Peter: she really wanted to know what they thought. Maybe all three of them together could talk Sarah down. She decided to call them right then, even though they had just left.

  Before she could do anything, though, her door flung open and her sister stood in the doorframe. She had on a boa and her sunglasses and she leaned in.

  “Baby. I hear you had a voice lesson today,” she said.

  Lizzie furrowed her eyebrows. “Okay . . . ?” she said, her voice going up in a question. “Also, Mom said you’re supposed to ask people if you can come in, instead of barging in.” If Lizzie had flung open Gloria’s door, Gloria would have screamed bloody murder.

  Gloria waved her hand dismissively. “I am a student of the human experience, baby. How can I see humans in their natural habitats unless I catch them unaware? You wouldn’t understand.”

  Lizzie couldn’t argue with that. It sounded like her sister was saying she was an alien . . . that would explain a lot, but still she couldn’t help but say, “You know YOU’RE human, right?”

  Gloria ignored her and sat in the rocking chair next to a window. She looked out of it forlornly, as if she were looking at a ship sailing away with her best friend on it.

  She sighed and took off her sunglasses, turning toward Lizzie. “I just want to know, baby, how it is you talked our parents into giving you voice lessons. They, sadly, cannot see that those lessons, out of the two of us, would better serve me. Even though I’ve desperately wanted singing lessons for an entire week now!”

  Lizzie frowned. “Isn’t that when they told you I was going to be taking the lessons?”

  Again, Gloria waved her hand. “No matter. The point is: Why are you getting lessons when you so clearly do not have a voice of your own anyway and will certainly not use them? Whereas I, a supremely talented actress already at my young age, would use these lessons to become even more amazing?”

  Lizzie rolled her eyes and flopped back on her bed. Of course her sister was mad that Lizzie got lessons—Gloria hated anything that didn’t involve her. And admittedly these lessons were way more suited to Gloria than to Lizzie. But something Gloria said rankled Lizzie, and she sat up again. “I do too have a voice!” she said.

  Gloria’s eyebrows rose high. “Oh, really? Like how you’re a vegetarian but haven’t told Mom and Dad yet?”

  “Well—” Lizzie started.

  “Or how Dr. Collings always brings you snow globes because one time you told her you collected them? Except you don’t collect them anymore, do you? But look at your shelf.” Gloria pointed to a shelf on the wall next to her filled with snow globes—only two of which Lizzie had gotten herself. Four years ago.

  “It’s so nice of her, though . . . ,” Lizzie said.

  “Or like how you do whatever Sarah says?” Gloria put her sunglasses on again.

  Lizzie opened her mouth again and then closed it. Gloria sat back in the chair, looking smug.

  “I’m a good friend,” Lizzie said finally.

  Gloria leaned forward and took off her sunglasses again. “Then be a good sister and tell Mom and Dad that I should have those lessons. Or at least that I should ALSO have those lessons. They listen to you more.”

  Lizzie laughed out loud. The one thing her parents weren’t doing lately was listening to her.

  She sighed. “Gloria, I don’t want the lessons. Mom and Dad said I have to take them to . . .” She wasn’t about to give Gloria the satisfaction of hearing that they’d said almost the exact same thing as Gloria. “They said I have to take them, okay? I don’t want to. They’re making me.” Lizzie fl
opped down on her bed again. She felt her eyes moisten. She’d really had fun with Mr. Samson. But she hated that her parents wouldn’t listen to what she wanted.

  Gloria was silent so long that Lizzie thought she might have left. Or that something had happened to her. But then she said in a voice that Lizzie hadn’t heard for years—her real voice, not the one where she was a dramatic actor—“Do you remember when we used to sing karaoke together?”

  Lizzie sat up and looked at her. Gloria had a sweet smile on her face, the way she used to always look before she turned thirteen and became immersed in her “art.” Lizzie and Gloria had actually been pretty close—they’d had slumber parties and giggled together. They’d fought, for sure. But when Gloria turned thirteen, Lizzie thought she might actually have become possessed by an alien. An alien that didn’t like Lizzie very much.

  “Yeah . . . ?” Lizzie said.

  “That was fun,” Gloria said, standing up. She put her sunglasses back on and threw the boa over her shoulder. Then she said in her normal voice—or what had become her normal voice, anyway—“I should have know that a baby couldn’t help me. I’ll just talk Mom and Dad into it myself.” She walked out of the room, leaving Lizzie speechless.

  CHAPTER 6

  Operation Matchmaker

  At seven thirty the next morning, Lizzie opened the door to a fired-up-looking Sarah and a sleepy-eyed Olive and yawning Peter.

  “Ready? We have some planning to do!” Sarah practically yelled. She had something clutched to her chest, and her eyes were wide and excited.

  Lizzie was dumbfounded. They hadn’t really talked about a time, but she sure wasn’t expecting anything this early. And she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Olive and Peter, either. Everything was happening so fast.

  “Um,” she said, pulling at her pajama top. “I guess?”

  Sarah pushed her way in and tapped the banister three times, then headed to the dining room. Peter shrugged and followed, tapped the banister, and disappeared too. Then Olive, who rolled her eyes and smiled at Lizzie, tapped the banister and joined Sarah and Peter. Lizzie sighed and closed the door. And even though she hadn’t just come in, Lizzie also tapped the banister and went into the dining room.