Absolutely Truly Read Online Free Page A

though, and I gave him a rueful smile.
    By the time dinner was ready I was feeling a whole lot happier. My mood took a nosedive again a few minutes later, though, when Dad walked through the door, scowling.
    Mom was right behind him. “Mmm, that lasagna smells delicious,” she said, taking off her coat and hat and hanging them on a hook in the mud room.
    â€œSupermarket’s finest,” said Hatcher.
    She swooped in to kiss each of us on the cheek. “Sounds good to me. I think I’m going to like this new KP arrangement.”
    I gave my father a speculative glance. Mom was way too upbeat for someone who knew about an F plus. Maybe he wasn’t planning to tell her about my report card after all.
    My mother watched, her lips pressed together, as my father struggled with the zipper on his jacket. I could tell shewanted to help, but we’ve all learned to wait until asked unless we want to get our heads bitten off. It takes a lot for Dad to ask for help with anything.
    â€œDanny’s all set for tomorrow, and so am I,” Mom said lightly, squatting down to help Pippa with her zipper instead. “It’s kind of funny to think we’ll all be starting school together.”
    My little sister flung her arms around her. “You can come to my clathroom, Mommy,” she lisped, thanks to her missing teeth. “I’ll let you thit right nextht to me.”
    â€œThanks, Pipster,” my mother replied, ruffling my sister’s curls. “I really wish I could—but I have to go to my school.” Straightening up, she glanced around the kitchen and frowned. “Where’s Lauren?”
    â€œOut in the barn,” Danny told her. Gramps and Lola’s house has a really cool old barn that they use as a garage. Gramps has his woodshop out there, and they turned part of the hayloft into an art studio for Lola. “She’s still in the car. She said she wanted to finish her chapter.”
    â€œFor heaven’s sake, it must be ten below out there!” Mom exclaimed. “Get her in here, would you?”
    Danny went to do as she asked while the rest of us sat down at the table. When he and Lauren returned, we said grace and then dug in. I glanced over at my father now and then as we ate, bracing myself for the ax that I knew would eventually fall. We made it all the way to dessert without a peep about my report card.
    â€œDid we get any mail?” my mother asked as Hatcher passed around a plate of the Pumpkin Falls General Store’s famous maple walnut blondies.
    I froze.
    My father looked over at me and raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to tell her, or shall I?”
    I sighed. “Go ahead.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œGo ahead, sir .”
    He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the envelope, then passed it wordlessly to my mother.
    â€œTruly,” said my mother, shaking her head sorrowfully when she spotted my math grade, just as I knew she would. “I’m so disappointed in you.”
    Hatcher kicked me under the table. I glanced over to see him tap his two forefingers under his chin. That’s our shorthand for “chin up.” I sighed again. What I really wanted to tell my mother was that it was all Dad’s fault, that he was the reason we’d had to leave Austin, which was why I hadn’t been able to concentrate on stupid pre-algebra. But I couldn’t say that, naturally.
    â€œI know, Mom,” is what I said instead. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll try harder.”
    â€œYou certainly will,” said my father, his voice as crisp as the creases in his starched shirt. “In fact, I’ve decided on a plan of attack.”
    Of course he had. Lieutenant Colonel Jericho T. Lovejoy is big on plans of attack.
    â€œI’ll tutor you until your grade is acceptable again,” he continued. “I’ll expect you at the bookstore by 1530 hours every afternoon after