Only the Lonely Read online

  “I’m Fiona. Do you live around here?”

  Madison managed a feeble “Uh-huh,” in response.

  “Oh cool, do you live on Ridge Road?” Fiona asked.

  “I live … uh …” Madison pointed behind her, in the general direction of Blueberry Street. It wasn’t her most eloquent moment of all time.

  Suddenly a woman called out from the door of the green house. “Fiona! Let’s go, young lady!”

  “Yeeps!” The girl smiled at Madison. “I gotta run! See you around the neighborhood?” She disappeared again up the path, almost as quietly as she’d appeared, waving the whole way. “Nice to meet you—sort of!”

  Madison waved too. Then she waited a moment to see if the girl would reappear, but no one came outside. Madison stared at the big brown duck painted on the side of the family’s mailbox and read the swirly letters: THE WATERS FAMILY.

  As she and Phin made tracks back home to 5 Blueberry Street, Madison wondered when she would see Fiona again.

  “Rowroooo!” Phin agreed.

  As soon as they arrived home, Madison and Phin noticed an icky-sticky charred smell coming from the kitchen. The pug’s nose was sniffing wildly at the air.

  “Mom?” Madison hurried inside. “Is something burning?”

  She stopped dead in her tracks. Had someone stolen Fast Food Mother in the middle of the night and replaced her with Cook-Me-Breakfast Mother? Mom was cooking? She was even wearing a tacky “Kiss the Cook” apron.

  “Have a seat!” Mom announced, shoving a plate of very yellow scrambled eggs and very burned toast in front of Madison.

  It was the morning of surprises.

  “Gee, Mom,” Madison said, a little stunned by the greeting, and the smell. Then she added, “They seem a little, well … gold, actually. What’s up with that?”

  Madison knew what was really up; Mom had forgotten to add milk again. One time Mom had tried to make lasagna, which came out more like red soup, but Madison had just slurped and said nothing. Madison didn’t see the point in hurting Mom’s feelings just because her pasta was a little runny.

  Mom beamed. “Sweetie, today is a special day just for you and so I thought breakfast was a good way to start off. What do you think? Today we can go over to the Far Hills Shoppes and get you some new clothes for seventh grade. I know starting junior high is a big deal and I know I have been away a lot on business lately and, well, won’t it be nice to spend a little time together?”

  Usually Madison was good at predicting Mom’s sudden bursts of “nice.” But not this morning.

  “Come on. What gives, Mom?” Madison laughed. “What’s the catch?”

  “Catch? There is no catch. Don’t you want to go shopping?” Mom asked.

  Madison scooped up a forkful of food and nodded. She would have said something, but she didn’t want to gag on the eggs.

  As soon as they’d cleared away the breakfast dishes, Madison filled Phin’s water dish and waited for Mom to put on her eyeliner, lipstick, and concealer. That usually took a while, so Madison visited her computer keyboard in the meantime. She could check her e-mail, at least.

  There was no mail.

  Discouraged, Madison opened a brand new file folder and began to type.

  Fiona

  Met this new girl over on Ridge Road. She has long black braids and cool clothes. Her name is Fiona Waters and she was very friendly and I think she wanted to be my friend. Is that possible? She looked my age and she must have just moved in because I know the house she lives in. Way, way long ago this other family the Martins lived there.

  I wonder what happened to the Martins?

  How can people just suddenly disappear and then appear in the neighborhood from out of nowhere? Everything really does change when you aren’t paying attention.

  I of course clammed up the minute Fiona said “hi” because I am useless around strangers. I wanted to run away. It’s like I had the words to talk right here on the tip of my tongue, but no luck. I’m stuck. Sometimes I think there’s this master conspiracy to keep me tongue-tied and friendless, for the rest of the summer. I wish Aimee would just come home, already!

  At least I have Phinnie.

  On their way out the door, Madison asked Mom if she would please drive to the Far Hill Shoppes via Ridge Road. She wanted to drive past the green house again, of course. As they passed, Madison saw that the Waters family car was no longer parked in the driveway. Even Fiona had vanished.

  Madison and her mom cruised over a few blocks to the back entrance of the mall. There was a sign draped across the storefront: GOING-OUT-OF-BUSINESS BACK-TO-SCHOOL EXTRA-SPECIAL SUPER-SALE. Sales always sounded great to Mom, so that’s where they started.

  While Madison loaded her arms with cotton tees, embroidered khakis, and sweaters. Mom remained attached to her smartphone, waiting on a bench by the cash register. Some producer or director was always texting or calling her about something.

  “Mom, can I get these? Please?” Madison pleaded gently, trying to distract Mom from the phone. She held out a few shirts for Mom’s vote. This was supposed to be their day together, after all.

  “Well, try them on first, I wanna see,” Mom said, grabbing a tank top out of the pile. She took the phone away from her mouth and frowned. “I don’t know about shirts like this one, sweetie. People will be staring, don’t you think?”

  “Staring?” Madison suddenly felt self-conscious. Staring at what? Madison hardly had any boobs yet. She quickly gave Mom an “I could die right here, right now, if you ever, ever, ever refer to my chest again” look. She’d show Mom some staring.

  Of course, Mom never noticed Madison’s stares. She was too busy focusing on her cell phone again, doing some work thing.

  Madison pouted a little and proceeded into the dressing room. She felt hot with that special kind of embarrassment you only get when you’re out with your mom. She felt hot from carrying all these stupid clothes. She felt—

  Wham! She felt awful! She had walked right into someone on the way into the dressing area.

  “Yikes!” Madison blurted out. “Are you okay?”

  “Excuse me, I am so sorry,” the girl said, suddenly bursting into a wide grin. “Hey, don’t I know you?”

  Madison’s jaw slackened. It was Fiona. She was wearing the same yellow sundress Madison had seen her in earlier. Madison noticed Fiona’s toenails were painted a perfect grape color and she had on an equally perfect pair of yellow jelly sandals. Madison had always wanted sandals like those.

  Although she had an uncanny ability to process many visual details in a very short period of time, speaking was something Madison wasn’t so quick about.

  “H-h-howdy!” Madison stuttered. Howdy? Was she a cowgirl?

  Her cheeks turned the color of cherry tomatoes.

  “Howdy,” Fiona giggled. “You were the girl I met this morning, right? With your dog. He was too cute.” Fiona smiled. “What’s your name again?”

  “Madison,” she mumbled.

  Fiona kept smiling. “I’m Fiona, but I think I told you that already, right? I’m new in Far Hills.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Madison, listening. “New.”

  “Well, new because we just moved here and I don’t actually know anyone here in Far Hills yet except my brother, Chet, he’s my twin brother, so he doesn’t count obviously as a friend-friend because he’s not a girl and …” her voice trailed off.

  She was good at talking—a lot.

  “By the way, do people call you Madison or Maddie?”

  “Most people call me Madison. Except my friends. They call me Maddie. But you can call me something else. … You can call me a complete moron for acting so dumb this morning.”

  Fiona chuckled. “You’re funny! And you are so not a moron! I’m so happy to meet you. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t have any new friends at all this summer and it can get pretty lonely around here, you know what I mean? It’s like the whole world is away at camp or something.”

  Madi
son sighed again. The embarrassment of the previous seven minutes and twelve seconds started to wear off.

  Fiona was pretty and she was so nice.

  Fiona was even a little lonely.

  Was Fiona Waters just like Madison Finn?

  They cruised around the sweater racks and Fiona picked out a speckled blue cardigan while Madison grabbed an orange sweater set. In the blink of an eye a day of shopping was reduced to good-byes, the exchange of phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and a word or two about junior high jitters.

  “So I’ll see ya!” Fiona said as she walked out of the store with her mom.

  Madison grinned. She wasn’t so afraid to smile up close anymore.

  On their way out of the mall, Madison and her mom stopped for banana splits. A little hot fudge goes a long way, especially when you’ve been shopping all day. Chocolate meant risking a zit, but today it was a risk she was willing to take.

  In between bites Mom asked, “So who was that girl you were talking to in the store?”

  “I met her when I was trying stuff on.” Madison volunteered the details of the dressing-room collision and Fiona and her twin brother and whatever else she could remember. “They live on Ridge Road.”

  “You know, Olga told me a new family had moved into the old Martin house.” Olga was a real-estate broker friend who kept Mom in the neighborhood gossip loop. “Was she nice?” Mom asked.

  “She’s really nice. Mom. Is that weird?” Madison answered her own question. “Well, I’m a weird magnet, so it all makes sense.”

  “You are not weird, honey! You’re perfect,” Mom said. “I’m sure Fiona is going to be a wonderful new friend. That’s how things happen, when you least expect them.”

  When they got home, Madison checked her e-mail right away. It was the day of surprises, after all. She had mail.

  From: Eggaway

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: hi

  Date: Wed,23 Aug 3:21 PM

  Hey Madison, whassup? Hey computer camp rocks so much I don’t want 2come back 2 stupid Far Hills! i cant believe 7th grade is here in like a min. Hey anyway I miss yor stupid dog Phin. LOL!!! Is he still FAT? I think you and me should defniteley take that cmpter class together in school by thewaynow that you have this ok talk L8R. Drew says hi BTW. Write back BYE!!!

  Madison smiled. Egg was one of her best friends in the entire universe and she really missed him—and his stupid spelling mistakes. He didn’t care about letters much; he was more of a numbers kind of guy. She liked that, of course. The funniest thing about Egg was how he had gotten his nickname. He didn’t get it because he was a brain, although he was. When he was six, Egg got hit by a raw egg on Halloween. (He had the scar to prove it.) Egg’s “real” name was Walter Emilio Diaz.

  Madison clicked on REPLY.

  From: MadFinn

  To: Eggaway

  Subject: Re: hi

  Date: Wed,23 Aug 5:05 PM

  Egg it is sooooo good to hear from you!!!

  How is computer camp? Do you have any other new friends? How is Drew? What else is new? I am here in Far Hills by myself (with Phin and Mom).

  When are you coming home? Aimee is coming back next week. I hope I see you soon! TTFN

  Madison clicked SEND, smiling. She hoped her friend missed her just as much as she missed him. The next e-mail was from Dad.

  From: jefffinn

  To: MadFinn

  Subject: I’M COMING HOME!

  Date: Wed,23 Aug 4:40 PM

  Hey sweetheart.

  I am coming back @ the beginning of next wk. Let’s dinner?

  I’ll make you good food! Tell your mother. I will call w/dates.

  I love you, Daddy

  p.s. got you a present! Call me xoxoxo ;>)

  Madison grinned at the little hugs and kisses and the winky symbol. Daddy always sent those.

  No more mail. Madison looked at her list of files.

  She opened the Fiona file.

  So does this mean the stars are aligned for me? Two meetings out of the blue with the new girl. I believe in coincidences.

  I wish I had hair like hers, it is so shiny even in those braids. She just moved here from California and I think she looks a little like a model actually. I don’t know. She has eyes that are a smoky green color and that is why I think she looks like a model. She was really nice to me even though I was acting so bizarre.

  I hope she doesn’t think I am the biggest loser for trying to run away this morning or for having like nothing interesting to say. I helped her pick out clothes for school. She actually asked me my opinion. No one ever does that.

  I guess the reason I am acting all worried is because deep down I would like her to be my friend.

  The moment Madison wrote the words “deep down I would like her to be my friend,” she started over-thinking.

  Dad always teased Madison about “over-thoughts.” She would get one idea and then think about it over and over and over until she was completely muddled. Madison couldn’t believe how much missing her friends was messing with her head. Egg was coming back soon. Aimee was coming home soon. She had to get ready to go back to everything the way it was before the summer started. Now she had one guilty over-thought that would not go away. She typed it onto the page.

  If I want to be friends with someone new, does that mean that there’s something wrong with me and my old friends?

  Dad’s voice echoed, “Don’t over-think it, honey. Just let things be.”

  But it was too late.

  Madison Finn had already way over-thunk.

  Chapter 3

  MADISON BOLTED UP IN bed. She was in the middle of a hazy, crazy nightmare about ice cream, orange sweater sets, and school. She was walking into the Far Hills auditorium followed by a hundred drooling pugs and tree frogs all barking and croaking the same thing because in this dream, Madison could understand the language of animals, of course.

  “Rowroo! Ribbut!” This meant: keep away from Madison Finn!

  Madison knew she had a good imagination, but this was ridiculous. She turned on her laptop. The monitor glowed in the half-dark of her bedroom.

  Dreams

  I’m being chased by Phin clones and tree frogs like the ones Mom and I saw in Brazil! Maybe I shouldn’t have had those cookies before bed? Mom told me I could get weird thoughts from sweet stuff too close to bedtime.

  I think I am definitely weird.

  Who dreams about dogs and frogs?

  “Don’t over-think it, honey. Just—”

  Madison decided to “let things be” in an early morning bubbly tub. Mom had all these cool aromatherapy bubble baths and Madison loved the way they made the room and her skin smell. She couldn’t believe that there had been a time in third grade when she didn’t want to take a bath or wash her hair. Things had really changed since then.

  Madison looked down in the bath water and traced the shape of her own body. Her shape was changing a lot these days, too—and it felt weird. Her hips were bigger. She grabbed at the fleshy parts of herself to see if they’d grown or shrunk.

  Madison rubbed her hand across her shin. It was fuzzy. Had it always been this way?

  “Good morning,” Mom said all of a sudden, kicking open the bathroom door unannounced, arms full of warm towels from the dryer. “Mmmmm. Doesn’t it smell nice in here?”

  “Mom, I am so hairy!” Madison blurted out.

  “Did you say hairy?” Mom couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “Yes, hairy. Right here. On my legs.” Madison rubbed her calf. “I always knew I had little hairs but I never noticed how much they were growing before now and look! I’m as furry as Phin, Mom.”

  “No you’re not!” Mom smiled. “Honey, human beings have hair on their legs and that’s just the way it goes. We’ve talked about shaving before. It’s not disgusting, it just is. I guess maybe we need to get you a razor.”

  “Mom, I’m not ready to shave!”

  “Okay, girlie, stay hairy
then,” Mom joked.

  Madison was over-thinking again—about razors and shaving and being hairy forever and ever and to infinity. Who else did Madison know who shaved her legs?

  Mom did most of the time.

  Aimee had also started shaving just last year, but she was blond, so you could barely see the hair anyway.

  Madison wondered if Fiona had to shave.

  “Okay, okay, give me the razor,” Madison decided at last.

  Mom pulled out one of her disposable plastic razors and a tube of aloe cream. “I promise it won’t hurt, honey bear.”

  First, Mom demonstrated on herself. Then she shaved a strip on Maddie’s leg.

  Finally, Madison tried on herself, real slow. She only nicked herself twice, which Mom said was pretty good. Soon enough the leg fuzz was gone and little hairs were dancing on top of the bath water.

  “Ewwwch! It stings,” Madison said, dunking her legs back in the tub.

  “Only for a moment,” Mom sighed. “My big girl.”

  Madison rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Mom, whatever. I’m twelve, remember? You can cut out all that sappy stuff, all right?”

  “Well, I’ll let you finish up.” She kissed the top of Maddie’s wet head.

  “Yeah, can you go now?” Madison asked. “Like NOW.”

  “Oh!” She pulled something out of her pocket. “I almost forgot. You got a letter yesterday.”

  Mom dropped an envelope on the counter, winked, and shut the bathroom door.

  There on the sinktop was a letter written on deep-sea-blue stationery, Aimee’s favorite color. The silver ink on the envelope was already a little smudged from water on the counter, so Madison ripped it open right away. It felt like opening her arms for a giant hug.

  Dear Maddie …

  Oh I miss you soooooo much!!!!! How are you doing at home? I am sorry that I haven’t really written except like twice this summer but I have been dancing every single day and I am sooooooo tired. I actually got on pointe last week, can you BELIEVE it??? The teacher says that the toe shoes will probably make our toes ache and bleed sometimes which is awful, but I want to be a dancer so I better just deal with that.