She had been thinking about what Stella had told her and Rosie the other day in Perkins Cove. She had had no idea life around someone like Mackenzie could be so miserable. And she was thinking about how nice it had been of Mrs. Patterson to take them to Old Orchard Beach. Meg had felt a little awkward around her at first, but Mrs. Patterson had been really nice, offering her sunblock and buying her food, and by the end of the day things had seemed pretty normal, almost like old times. Not quite, but almost. The doorbell rang and Meg sighed. She wished that her mother was home to deal with Peter Giroux, but her mother was at work. Of course. Meg opened the door. “Hi,” she said. Her father was dressed in his usual sloppy way—baggy jeans, a T-shirt proclaiming that he braked for hotties, and dirty sneakers. He badly needed a haircut, and by the looks of his dirty fingernails, Meg guessed he could probably use a shower. She had pretty much gotten used to the two missing teeth, though when he had first lost them to gum disease Meg had felt embarrassed to be seen with him.
