Free A Holiday to Remember by Lynnette Kent Page B

favorite sister, Chase decided. Even if some of his thoughts weren’t brotherly at all.
    The night before she was scheduled to leave for New York, Charlie fed the two kids ham and carrots from his own garden sweetened with honey from his beehive,along with apples from the trees in his backyard. Then he showed them a few tricks—how coiled electric wire could become a magnet, how purple iodine crystals, dropped into a colorless liquid, disappeared, and how two clear liquids, when combined, produced a beautiful yellow powder. Chase exhibited his granddad’s collection of crystals and geodes. For once, Juliet wasn’t bored. She’d never had so much fun.
    Then Charlie said, “I reckon you’d better get home, young lady. It’s dark and nobody knows where you are.”
    “They probably haven’t noticed I’m gone.” Juliet sighed. “They were having a party this afternoon. Everybody’s drunk by now.”
    Drunk or not, Juliet’s family had called the police when they found her gone after sunset. When Charlie stopped his 1952 Chevy at the end of a long, winding driveway, red and blue lights flashed in front of the chalet-style mansion Juliet claimed was her grandmother’s home.
    “You’re in a pile of trouble, young lady.”
    “So what’s new?” She leaned forward from the backseat. “I’ll walk from here so you don’t get involved.”
    “I don’t think so—” Charlie began, but Juliet was out of the car before he could turn around. Chase opened his own door, ready to go after her, but she vanished before he got both feet on the ground.
    “She went into the trees on the right,” Charlie said. “You’ll never find her.”
    Chase dropped back into the Chevy. “Will she be all right?”
    “I hope so.” His granddad shifted gears and backed out onto the road. “She’s an awful cute little gal.”Chris stayed quiet for a minute, and the girls gradually realized that he’d finished.
    “Wait,” Selena said, sitting up. “You can’t stop there. What happened to Juliet?”
    “How does Chase see her again?”
    “Did her folks let her see him?”
    Chris looked at Jayne and found her as absorbed as the girls, absentmindedly stirring the pot while she listened to him with her chin propped on one hand.
    “I thought you all might want some supper. Looks to me like Ms. Thomas has your stew ready to eat,” he said.
    She blinked hard and sat up straight. “Exactly. We’re ready for dinner.”
    Yolanda stopped in front of him on her way to the kitchen. “But you’ll tell more later tonight?” Her gaze was fierce, but anxious, too.
    Chris nodded. “I can do that.”
     
    O NCE THE GIRLS WERE READY for bed, Chris picked up the story where he’d left off.
     
    Chase tried not to mope during the rest of his vacation with Charlie, but he couldn’t think of anything fun to do by himself. He hung around town, hoping maybe Juliet had stayed longer and would show up again to steal a candy bar. He rode his bike out to the expensive new housing development where he and Charlie had dropped her off that night, and looked at the chalet in the daylight. When he coasted farther down the driveway, he saw that a tall iron gate blocked the drive, with a fence stretching into the trees on either side. There were dogs behind the fence, German shepherds who made a lot of noise. Maybe Julietknew them and could get past them, but Chase had the feeling he’d regret climbing over.
    So he celebrated the New Year with Charlie until he had to get on a plane in Asheville and fly back to Philly. Then there was school—long, gray, boring days of school, which were only better compared to the…
     
    Chris hesitated over his word choice. He should back off a little on the intensity. “—compared to the war of words he walked into every night at home.”
    As he looked at the girls, he saw Beth nodding her head. “I know how that goes,” she said softly.
    “You and me both,” Yolanda agreed.
    “Chase didn’t forget Juliet, but