Blossom Street. Debbie Macomber

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СКАЧАТЬ your grandmother would say,” Annie continued, “Andrew’s smitten.”

      Smitten. What a perfectly lovely word. “Oh, Annie, I think he’s just … wonderful.” No adjective satisfactorily described her feelings about Andrew Hamlin. Being with him made leaving Chicago for her senior year almost worthwhile.

      “Who’d send you that kind of money?” Annie wondered.

      “Your guess is as good as mine.” Courtney was beyond conjecture.

      “Your dad?” Annie suggested. “Or your brother?”

      Courtney automatically shook her head. “No, neither of them,” she said.

      “Then who?”

      “I don’t know, but it’s the most fabulous gift I’ve ever received.” The doorbell chimed just then. “There’s someone at the door. Grams is in the kitchen, so I’d better get it.”

      “Okay. I’ll tell Andrew you called.”

      “Thanks.” She could hardly wait to talk to him.

      Hurrying to the door, Courtney opened it and gasped out loud when she saw her sister, suitcase in hand. “Julianna!”

      “Aren’t you going to let me in?” her sister asked. “Courtney, my goodness, look at you! You’re gorgeous. Who would’ve thought those pounds would make such a difference.”

      Tears of joy sprang to Courtney’s eyes as she threw open the screen door. “What are you doing here?” she asked, hugging her tightly.

      In seconds they were both laughing and weeping simultaneously. The commotion was enough to bring their grandmother out from the kitchen. Soon her squeals of delight mingled with theirs.

      “My, oh my, this is lovely,” Grams said, pulling Julianna into the living room. “But—how did you get here?”

      “By plane. The most amazing thing happened. I got an express letter that said my baby sister’s been asked to Homecoming by the star football player. Which I knew, of course. The letter suggested Courtney might need a little help getting ready for the big dance.”

      Her grandmother raised both hands. “I’m telling you right now, I had nothing to do with this.”

      “There was an airline ticket in the envelope,” Julianna explained. “Also included was a long list of instructions. The first was that a car service would arrange to drive me to O’Hare, and that another car would be waiting to pick me up at Sea-Tac. It would then drive me to Grams’s house, but I was warned I couldn’t say anything to either of you in advance.”

      “Well, I, for one, am surprised,” Courtney whispered, her cheeks still wet with tears.

      “I was given a cashier’s check for my expenses, but it’s far more money than I’ll need. I’m thinking we should make an appointment for your hair and your nails as soon as we can.”

      “My hair and nails, too?” Courtney whispered, so overwhelmed she could barely speak.

      Grams looked utterly perplexed. “I wish I’d thought of it, but even if I had, I never would’ve been able to afford all this.”

      “Our carriage awaits,” her sister announced grandly. “Well, the car. But the driver’s in livery.” She giggled. “I mean, a uniform—but isn’t this just like Cinderella?”

      “Why’s the car waiting?” Courtney felt as if she had, indeed, been dropped into the middle of her favorite fairy tale. At the good part, though, when the godmother materializes and waves her wand around. Or godfather, she corrected, and it was a check, not a wand.

      “The car’s going to take us all to dinner,” Julianna said. “We have reservations at Morton’s on 4th Avenue. From there, the driver will drop Courtney and me at the mall and take you home, Grams. We’re supposed to arrange a time and place for him to meet us when we’re finished.”

      “I can’t believe this,” Courtney shrieked, giving way to her excitement. “I just can’t believe this.”

      “I must admit this is some Fairy Godfather you’ve got,” Julianna teased.

      “Let me grab my sweater,” Vera said. “I didn’t feel like cooking tonight, anyway.”

      Courtney led her sister upstairs so they could leave her suitcase in one of the spare rooms. “How long can you stay?” she asked.

      “Just until Saturday afternoon. I have to get back, and whoever arranged this seemed to know that, too.”

      “Have you talked to Jason?”

      She shook her head. “It isn’t him,” she said with a laugh. “He doesn’t have a dime to his name. In fact, he’s always trying to borrow from me—as if I had anything extra.”

      The phone rang just as they were leaving the house. Courtney debated whether she should answer it, and then decided it might be Andrew. With her grandmother’s ancient phone, Caller ID wasn’t an option, even if she’d been willing to spring for it. So phone calls were always a mystery.

      “Hello,” she answered, hoping it was Andrew.

      “You called?”

      “I did. Oh, Andrew, the most wonderful thing’s happened! But I don’t have time to explain everything right now.”

      “Why not?”

      “Because,” she laughed, giddy with joy, “my sister’s here and there’s a car waiting to take me shopping for a Homecoming dress, and Andrew—oh, Annie can tell you about it.”

      “This must be the day for good news.”

      “What do you mean?” Everyone was waiting on the porch, but she had to know.

      “It won’t be official until tomorrow, but I’ve been elected Homecoming King.”

      “Oh, Andrew! Congratulations.”

      “Nothing in this world would make me prouder than to have you with me on Friday night.”

      Running light-heartedly out to the car, Courtney couldn’t stop smiling. She didn’t know what she’d done that could have merited such generosity, but she’d be forever grateful to whoever had decided to become her Fairy Godfather.

      She didn’t think she’d ever been happier in her life.

      44

      CHAPTER

      “When in doubt, grab a ball of yarn and Get Creative!”

      —Sasha Kagan, Sasha Kagan Knitwear.

       LYDIA HOFFMAN

      It was more than a week since I’d seen Brad. My anger had cooled and I wished I could take back some of what I’d said. I hoped he felt the same way. Tuesday СКАЧАТЬ