Milly wished she was more like Amara. If she was, she’d talk to Richard face-to-face about his bad behavior instead of calling when she knew he wasn’t going to answer his phone and leaving an insipid message.

Although, he did the same to her. He’d left a message on her phone an hour ago telling her he wasn’t going to be able to have Zoe to stay at the weekend after all.

As usual he’d left her to break the news to his daughter. She was expected to reframe the message in a way that was more palatable. But now wasn’t the moment. She was too upset with him to keep her tone neutral.

This was one of those times when she missed her old friendship with Nicole. She could have vented and maybe laughed, but now there was no chance of that.

She forced her mind back to the current problem. “I’m glad you’re excited, but keep it to yourself.”

“Got it. It’s a secret. But you’re going to have to tell Gramma and Nanna Peg, otherwise they will keep asking about your date. Also they’re always popping into the boathouse on their way past, so unless Nicole is going to be hiding under the bed the whole time they’re going to find her.”

She wasn’t wrong about that.

“I am going to tell them, but I wanted to discuss it with Nicole first.”

Zoe grabbed her schoolbag from the floor of the car. “And how exactly are you going to hide her? Is she going to wear a disguise or something?”

“I haven’t figured that part out yet. For the moment she is staying indoors, and hopefully that will be enough.” Milly pulled up outside the school. Her head was throbbing. “Have a good day. I’ll be back here at four to pick you up.”

“Five. I have an extra drama session because the play is coming up.”

“Five it is.” Was it her imagination, or did Zoe seem less enthusiastic about that than she should have been? “How’s that going?”

“Great.” Zoe smiled brightly. “I’ll see you later, unless you want to send Nicole, and if she could come dressed as Amara, that would be even better. At least it would make me popular.”

“She’s keeping a low profile, so she won’t be coming dressed as Amara. Oh, there’s Cally—” Milly spotted Zoe’s best friend heading toward school. She gave a little beep of her horn, and Cally glanced briefly at the car but then carried on walking. “She didn’t see us. If you sprint, you can catch her.”

“Sure. See you later.” Zoe opened the car door and headed toward school, but she didn’t sprint or yell for Cally to wait.

Milly watched her go and only then did Zoe’s words penetrate her busy brain.

At least it would make me popular.