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want to do
that.
    When I risked a glance in Nate's direction, I saw that he'd
moved on, something I probably needed to do, myself. After all, I was
eighteen now--too old for crushes on guys who might call me 'friend'
to my face but would never call my number unless they needed help
with their little sisters.
    I worked in the kitchen for a good twenty minutes, dragging
out a five-minute job. That done, I looked over our art. Anna had
colored my castle and Nate's car, as well as her own drawing of a
rainbow and butterfly with three stick people and something that
might've been a horse or, more likely her unicorn, under them.
    Just as I set them down, Anna began to wail. I ran into the
living room to find her sitting up on the couch, clearly disoriented.
Nate got there a heartbeat after me and took over, dropping to one
knee in front of her before I could even speak. "What's wrong?"
    "I want my mommy."
    "She's in Branson with my dad, remember?"
    Anna's bottom lip trembled. "Call her."
    Nate's gaze collided with mine. "Should I?"
    Last resort , I mouthed, stepping around the couch so
Anna could see me. "Did you have a bad dream, Faerie Rose?"
    I watched everything came back to her. "Uh-huh."
    "Tell us about it." I scooted her legs back so I could sit on the
cushion. Nate sat on the floor.
    "Sparky got aten up."
    I put my hand on my heart. "Oh my goodness! By
what?"
    "A monster."
    "What did it look like?" asked Nate, no doubt as curious as
me about what she'd consider a monster.
    "It was big and purple and had lots of legs."
    "That sounds like Henry the Octopus on 'The Wiggles.'"
    Nate's words made me look at him in surprise and a little
awe. Though I loved kids and had done my share of sitting for them, I
was nowhere near that smart about what they watched on TV.
"Would Henry eat a unicorn?"
    Anna thought for a moment. "Nooo."
    "Then it was a sil-ly dream, wasn't it?"
    She thought about that, too. "Uh-huh."
    I tried to share my theory regarding routine dreams without
making things too complicated. "When I go to sleep at night or even
in the afternoon, I sometimes dream about things I've seen that day.
For instance, tonight I might dream about red soup, or McDonald's,
or--"
    "Nate?"
    The truth of Anna's innocent question rattled me. "Um, sure.
Or even about you." Was Nate staring? I was afraid to look since my
hot cheeks meant I was probably blushing again. Only a fool
wouldn't suspect her question had flustered me. Valedictorian Nate
was no fool.
    Anna, clearly feeling better already, turned to her big
brother. "What will you dream about tonight?"
    "Two beautiful faeries and your stinky feet." He tickled her
bare toes.
    Now she giggled. Nate slowly exhaled his relief and mouthed
a Whew! Anna didn't see. Crisis averted.
    "Let's hang our art." I stood and offered Anna a hand, which
she took. We went to her room and hung the pictures on the tent
walls with more of the safety pins.
    Nate and I deliberately kept Anna busy for the rest of the
afternoon. Candy Land, Memory, Barrel of Monkeys--we played them
all with her making up her own rules, which could also be called
cheating. And though used to babysitting, which had been my sole
source of income before Festivities, by the time the dinner hour
rolled around, I was whipped. Poor Nate looked even worse than I
felt, making me glad I'd hung around. He'd never have made it
without me.
    After eating the burgers I cooked for dinner, we watched a
little more TV and then finally headed upstairs so she could take a
bath. Nate took charge of filling the tub, adding so many bubbles that
it took forever for them to pop and vanish, which was apparently
Anna's usual signal to get out of the tub. The water, which had gone
quite cool, would've done it for me long before that.
    We both put on our PJs and crawled into the tent, leaving
Nate to turn off the light. That's when things began to fall apart. First
Anna didn't like the dark. I let her turn on the lantern, thinking I'd
turn it off when she