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“Wow.” It’s all we can say. Who knew vegetables could taste so good? The next morning, my mother and I say good-bye to the woman who changed our lives. “Do you have to go?” I ask Aunt Marty. “I can’t hide in Delaware forever.” She cups my chin the same way she did on the day she arrived. “It’s worked for me,” Mom jokes. The three of us laugh. My mother actually looks pretty standing next to her sister. And Aunt Marty is as gorgeous as ever. Even though she’ll be moving into a much smaller apartment and—she insists—a much smaller life, my aunt Marty is every bit the goddess she will always be. “Thank you for the furniture,” Mom says, “and our colorful walls. I’ll pay you back.” “You don’t have to pay me back, Fay. I don’t need that stuff anymore. Besides, we’re family, remember?” “Still . . .” Mom’s voice trails off. I know what she’s thinking. She owes her sister so much. How can she ever repay her? How can I? “I’m only three hours away,” she says, her voice quavering. “Three seconds by phone.” Aunt Marty throws her arms around my mother and squeezes. “I love you, Fay.” “I love you, too,” Mom says. Then she adds, “My beautiful sister.” With tears running down her cheeks (though her 190
makeup somehow remains perfect), Aunt Marty turns to me. “Lovely Ruthie,” she says. We hug each other hard. I stand there and feel her heart beating into mine. The sense that she will always be part of my family fills me with joy. Tilting my head up, I whisper, “Thank you.” But it sounds unbearably lame. How can you thank someone for showing you yourself? Where you belong, the potential for who you can become? “My darling,” Aunt Marty whispers back, “thank me by being you.” Funny, that’s exactly what I plan to do. 191
Page 3:
Mary Hogan
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15 IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN
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SHE WALKS INTO CLASS TEN MINUTES AF
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“DUCK.” That’s the first word
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“Wasn’t the president’s daugh
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“If it isn’t P. Nerdy in his ga
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IT WAS DELICIOUSLY WARM OUT, ONE OF
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The two of us were trapped in a mat
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you see all four of them? They’re
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MOM HAS HER FEET PROPPED UP ON OUR
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Mom—her kinky reddish-gray curls
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ping powerhouse, Odessa, Delaware,
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when I’m in love with a boy who h
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four, but it felt like forty. We le
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a giant looping ramp. Suddenly, I s
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and Destruction” lectures. “Eve
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Before I could figure out what to s
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I laughed, too. Tried to look as ca
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“Do you have these in red?” she
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what everyone else did. “These cr
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sure they’d been ironed. Everythi
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in front of other males, about not
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“WE CAME ALL THIS WAY FOR A DAY ?
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“Who told you?” my mother asked
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The last thing I saw were Aunt Mart
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Far back in the corner of my closet
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emember it. Like the soft, warm com
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asking Aunt Marty for advice about
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un both hands down the front of her
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Mom is speechless. Her hair is a kn
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She slams the freezer door shut in
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WE’RE TOO LATE. BY THE TIME I BRI
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“We have company!” he exclaims.
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ack). He’d round a corner, wearin
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I’d say, “Sure,” without worr
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I wiggle my freshly painted toenail
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“Thanks,” I say, calling after
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But—and this is a humongous but
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Arthur turned into a puppy. I kept
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IF AUNT MARTY WEREN’T SMACK IN TH
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the wall that separates the living
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about your birth.” “What have y
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“She was the only member of my fa
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Quietly, she repeats, “There is o
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Swiveling, she turns her back on me
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corn. I want to bury my face in it
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“Check this out,” Perry says, s
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We sit. On the white couch. Like tw
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Aunt Marty steps back and watches o
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“I want my daughter to be prepare
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AUNT MARTY’S CAR SMELLS LIKE HER
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loop of their relationship going. I
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“I know.” Truth be told, it’s
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sunscreen, and something I can’t
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Only, when I see Frankie, she hands
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IT’S THE SMELL OF CINNAMON AND BU
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Aunt Marty beams. She races ahead,
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Lilah impatiently asks, “What siz
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“Nothing,” I say. “Good. Now
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Shop, the Gap, Tower Records, Banan
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Serrano is as excited to see Celest
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“A Cosmopolitan, please,” Aunt
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Celeste and Frankie excitedly bob t
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ultimate ego trip.” Caressing my
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oth heart and soul. Trust me. That
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“That’s why I’m here in Odess
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IT’S ABOUT NINE O’CLOCK WHEN WE
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fill my daughter’s head with garb
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“You don’t hate me, Fay. You ha
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My mother moves even closer to me,
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something in Wilmington, but the st
Page 147 and 148: I can barely breathe. “You busy S
Page 149 and 150: “Props?” “You know, setting s
Page 151 and 152: your nose, one eyebrow or the other
Page 153 and 154: “Tell your mother the truth.” M
Page 155 and 156: THROUGH THE BUS WINDOW, WE BOTH WAT
Page 157 and 158: “Let’s jam!” he shouts. The G
Page 159 and 160: scope out each mouth-watering possi
Page 161 and 162: “We’ll make it,” Perry says w
Page 163 and 164: appears on the pay line, an astrona
Page 165 and 166: “We can’t.” “We must!” I
Page 167 and 168: completely. My body jingles like a
Page 169 and 170: fantasies. The reality of it is . .
Page 171 and 172: that. Things are flying smoothly ag
Page 173 and 174: twenty minutes, then twenty-five. I
Page 175 and 176: the blood throbbing through my temp
Page 177 and 178: Aunt Marty brings my mother Little
Page 179 and 180: speaks to the coroner about Mr. Art
Page 181 and 182: emember most about Mr. Arthur. It d
Page 183 and 184: “Me?” At that moment, I realize
Page 185 and 186: of the talking.” Then she added,
Page 187 and 188: my head: For fourteen years, I’ve
Page 189 and 190: As I look at my mother standing the
Page 191 and 192: This year, three weeks after Mr. Ar
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Page 195 and 196: much smaller) head. “So do I.”
Page 197: WE HAVE ONE LAST FAMILY DINNER—TH
Page 201 and 202: in Dover Mall as often as Mom will
Page 203 and 204: “Hey,” he says to me, nodding a
Page 206 and 207: ETERNAL THANKS TO THE AMAZING Amand
Page 208 and 209: THE SERIOUS KISS PRETTY FACE
Page 210 and 211: Copyright PERFECT GIRL. Copyright
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