Things didn't work out between my mom and Mary Anne's dad back then. That was mostly because my grandparents didn't think Richard (Mary Anne's father) would ever be successful, since he was from a poor family. (Their words.) They did everything to break

them up, including sending Mom to college in California. Their plan worked — almost. Mom met my dad in California. And Richard also married someone else, who became Mary Anne's mom.

But now, as you know, Mom was single again. And Mary Anne's mother died when Mary Anne was little, so Richard was also single. With a small push from Mary Anne and me, they started dating again. (And dating, and dating, and dating. It seemed as if they dated for ages.) Finally, though, they got married. Now we all live in the old farmhouse together. That's how Mary Anne and I became best friends and stepsisters.

It sounds perfect, doesn't it? Mostly it is. It would be totally perfect if my brother, Jeff, were still here. But he never adjusted to Ston-eybrook the way I did. One day he asked to go back and live with my father inCalifornia . It was very hard on all of us to let him go, but we knew it was for the best. And even though I sometimes go toCalifornia to visit, I still miss Jeff.

On that particular day, though, Jeff was here visiting for winter vacation. He'd been a total pest since the second he got off the plane. The only reason we had quiet at that moment was because he'd gone off to visit his friends the Pike triplets. (Truthfully, I didn't mind his pes-

tiness. It felt as if he'd never left.)