I give her the camera and my ball of ones, and she comes back with a little bag holding the jar wrapped in newspaper and the camera. “I may have thrown something extra in there,” she says, winking.

Then she picks up a pencil and pad and walks over to Aimee and Michael. “So I hear you two are local stars. I’d love to have your autographs.”

Aimee doesn’t even try to hide how happy she is. Michael tries to play it cool, whipping off his name fast, but Aimee’s tongue curls around the corner of her mouth as she writes. She’s done that forever, anytime she concentrates. It takes her so long, you’d swear she was writing a whole paragraph. But as we leave, she is practically flying.

Walking away, I glance in the bag and see the surprise is the seal frame. My stomach rolls. The reminder I didn’t want is now mine.

But I give one more wave and a thank-you to the lady, who just tried to be nice. As I walk down the driveway looking at the frame in the bag, I wonder about my mom. I hope she is a kind person like that. Wherever she is.

Chapter 12

ZONKED!

When I hear the knock on the door, I hope it’s Aimee and Michael, but instead I find Brandy and Tressa.

“Hey!” Tressa says. “We thought we’d come by to say hi.”

They smile, but the little voice warns me.

I open the door for them, and Tressa scrunches up her tiny, pale face as she enters. Brandy follows.

Grammy is watching one of our favorite game shows, Let’s Make a Deal, and munching cheese curls.

“Hi, girls.” She smiles, waving with orange fingertips. “You’re just in time for the big deal.” A man dressed as a ketchup bottle is trying to decide between keeping his gold envelope or trading it for curtain number three. I step closer.

Tressa leans forward. “Why is that guy dressed like ketchup?”

Grammy glances at her like she just landed in a spaceship. “Let’s Make a Deal!”

Tressa looks panicked. “A deal on what?”

Grammy laughs, and Tressa’s face darkens.

“Let’s Make a Deal. It’s a game show,” I tell her.

The ketchup-bottle guy on TV gets ZONKED! and then there’s a commercial. Grammy turns to us. “Well, jeepers crow. I told that man to stick with his gold envelope. But it didn’t matter how much I told him, he gave it up anyway. People just never listen.” Then she throws up her hands in disgust but puts on a smile. “Hello there, Brandy darlin’. How have you been?”

“I’m fine, Mrs. McHill. How are you?”

“I’m dandy, honey. Just dandy.” Then she looks at Tressa. “Who’s your new friend?”

“I’m Tressa Bohlen. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Grammy says. “I’ve seen you down at Seaside. Are you staying in one of the cottages?”

“No, my family rented a house on Sea Street.”