See You at Harry's(23)

On one particularly busy day, I’m helping scoop when someone says, “Hey! That’s the girl from the commercial!”

I groan. Here we go again.

At that moment, Charlie comes racing around the counter and hugs my leg, making me almost drop the cone I’m holding.

“And there’s the little girl who says ‘See you at Harry’s!’ ” someone yells.

“No, it’s ‘See you at Hawee’s!’ ” someone else says.

Everyone laughs.

Charlie squeezes my leg tighter.

I hobble to the counter with Charlie attached to my leg and hand the cone to some old guy. I feel the eyes in the line looking at me.

A tiny kid pops his head up to the counter and peeks at me. “Can I have your autograph, please?” he asks.

You’ve got to be kidding me. I look at Trevor the dishwasher/ice-cream scooper. He shrugs.

“Um, I guess so,” I say.

The boy slides over a napkin. I grab a pen off the counter and start to sign my name. But writing on a napkin with a ballpoint pen doesn’t really work, so I end up tearing the paper a little. It looks horrible, but I slide it back to the kid anyway.

He frowns. “Thanks a lot,” he says in this ungrateful way.

“Where’s Sara?” I ask Charlie.

“Helping Gil,” he says.

“And Mom?”

He points upstairs.

Typical. For someone who is invisible, why am I the only one in this family who can’t seem to master the art of disappearing?

When I finish helping Trevor with the rush, Charlie and I go in search of Sara and my mom. We’re just heading up the stairs to my dad’s office as my mom, Sara, and Gil come out of the room. Sara’s and Gil’s cheeks are bright red.

“What’s wrong?” Charlie asks.

My mom glances at Sara and Gil. “Nothing, baby. I was just having a chat about work with Sara and Gil.”

You mean like how they don’t do any? I want to ask.

“Uh, I’m gonna go back to the kitchen,” Gil says.

As soon as he’s gone, Sara’s eyes fill with tears. “I can’t believe you, Mom,” she says. “We weren’t doing anything wrong.”

“You’re supposed to be working,” my mom says. “Not sneaking off to make out with the busboy. What if dad caught you instead of me? Do you want to get Gil fired?”

“You kissed Gil?” I ask, surprised. I almost shudder but stop myself.

“Thanks for sharing, Mom,” Sara says. “Could you ruin my life any more?”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Fern won’t tell anyone,” my mom says.

Sara eyes me.

“Why were you kissing Gil?” I ask.

Charlie makes a kissy noise.

“Shut up,” Sara says.

“What did I do?”

My mom sighs.

“Why is it OK for you to go off and meditate all the time, but I can’t take a little break once in a while?” Sara asks her.

I can tell that got my mom’s attention by the way she presses her lips together. Like she’s trying to keep from yelling.

“That’s not the same thing,” she says.

Sara crosses her arms. “Whatever.”

“Let’s just get back to work before the rush and forget the whole thing. I won’t tell your father. This time.”

“Um, the rush is over,” I say. “I guess you guys were too busy kissing and meditating to notice.”

“Mona can handle things,” my mom snaps back.

“Like watch Charlie and take all the orders? What the hell, Mom? Mona can’t do everything.”

“Watch your tongue, Fern!”

“What channel is it on?” Charlie asks. He got that joke from Holden. I don’t think he even knows what it means.

“Charlie, that’s rude.” She turns to me. “And I don’t like your attitude.”

“Well, I don’t like signing autographs!” I say. “Dad’s made us all famous!”

“What do you mean?” Sara asks.

“See you at Hawee’s!” Charlie shouts.

Exactly.

My mom groans and glances back at the office door longingly. I swear, if she goes in there to meditate again, I will scream so loudly, her inner peace will run away for good.

Charlie and I don’t follow my mom and sister back into the dining room. Instead, I take Charlie outside. There’s a grassy area under a huge oak tree near the parking lot with a few picnic tables under it. It’s Gil’s job to wash the bird poop off the tables. This afternoon it’s clear that he’s been too busy hanging out with Sara.

Charlie crawls under the table with Doll and tells me I’m the Big Bad Wolf. I growl once to make him happy.

“That wolf is mean,” Charlie tells Doll in a loud whisper. I know I shouldn’t take it personally, but I do.

“And ugly!”

I wonder if Charlie is in range of my foot so I could “accidentally” kick him.

“That wolf’s gonna eat us up,” Charlie whispers.

As I start to growl again, I hear loud music and feel the bass thumping in my chest as Gray’s car pulls into the parking lot. He drives over to us and rolls down his window. “Hey, Fern!” he shouts. “Where’s your brother?!”