Free Courting Cate by Leslie Gould Page A

look of concern spread across her face. She was probably remembering the way I’d been treated at the bookmobile just a few days before.
    I didn’t usually succumb to peer pressure, but in the moment I was feeling quite overwhelmed. “I suppose so,” I managed to squeak.
    Pete’s eyes lit up even more. “Wonderful! I’ll tell Martin to arrange for a van.”
    I opened the door and gave Nan a little wave as I slipped through. “See you,” I sputtered, sure I could come up with a good excuse not to go on the hike by Saturday morning. If Dat and Nan were going, Betsy would be well chaperoned. The thought of not going disappointed me, sure—that part of me that longed for Pete’s invitation to be genuine and sincere. But I knew the whole thing had to be a setup.

    Friday evening I plopped down on my bed beside Betsy as she brushed her hair. It was time for me to put myself first for once.
    “He really does want to court you,” she said, as if she could read my mind. “Honest to Pete.” Her face went blank and then she began to laugh, once she realized her accidental pun.
    “But why?”
    Betsy shrugged. If she knew, she obviously wasn’t going to tell me.
    I swallowed hard. “It feels like I’m coming down with a sore throat.”
    “Don’t,” she said.
    “What?” I feigned ignorance.
    “Fake being sick.”
    It was true that I’d used that technique in the past to get out of events in which I didn’t want to participate. I swallowed again. “I’m not. It’s been sore all evening.” Alone in the buggy that afternoon I’d shouted into the wind as loudly as I could, hoping to make myself hoarse.
    Betsy moved away from me and bounced onto her knees, facing me. “Cate Miller, don’t you dare do this to me.”
    I wrinkled my nose. “Dat and Nan are going. You won’t have to stay home.”
    “I’m not talking about the hike. I’m talking about Pete. He’s the best chance we’re going to get, that you’re ever going to get.”
    “Ouch.” I leaned away from her. “I can’t help it if his motives are suspicious.”
    A puzzled expression settled on her face. I couldn’t tell if she was trying to hide something or if she was confused. “How can you say that?”
    I shrugged. “He’s poor, right? He’s been all buddy-buddy with Dat. At first he was interested in you, like everyone else. And I thought you were interested in him.”
    She shook her head. “Half the time I don’t have any idea what Pete’s talking about—like that night he and I sat on the porch. That’s why I kept laughing. I always get what Levi’s saying.”
    I slumped against the wall, relieved she wasn’t interested in Pete but still not sure why he wasn’t interested in her. Perhaps my original suspicion that he planned to win her through mewas correct. “Well,” I said, “he clearly wasn’t interested in me at the beginning, but now it seems, after spending time with Martin and Mervin, he is. What do you think his intentions are?”
    She stopped smiling. “Who cares what his intentions are! Do you have to overthink everything! Can’t you just enjoy life for once!” Her legs flew out from under her and she scampered off my bed, flinging herself across the room and onto her own. “You are going to ruin my life. Absolutely destroy it.” She pulled her pillow over her head.
    I waited a long moment, wondering at how badly I was being manipulated. Finally I ventured across the room and sat on the edge of her bed and began to rub her back. “Want me to braid your hair?”
    The pillow shook.
    I rubbed her back some more.
    “I want you to go on the hike. Can’t you just do that?” came her muffled response.
    I didn’t answer. Betsy had always been poised and confident, even as a toddler. From the beginning it was obvious that she was much different than I. She was mostly all sweetness and light, like the early summer sun, while I was moody and dark, like the winter twilight.
    She would marry and have a houseful of