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table.
    â€œIs what Brooke said true?” Mom asked.
    â€œI had no choice, Mom,” Aly said. “Remember how you said that the CEO has to jump in and make decisions and take care of emergencies? Without Brooke and you around, I had to make sure the Sparkle Spa customers were taken care of.”
    Mom didn’t answer, so Aly continued. “Isn’t that what the leader of a business does, Mom?”
    Her mother smiled. It was a small one, but it was a smile.
    â€œYou’re right, Aly. That is what the person in charge has to do. But I think you may have forgotten that your sister is your partner. She works with you, not for you. She shouldn’t have heard the news from Sophie. In fact, she should have been part of the decision.”
    Aly felt her stomach drop a little. She couldn’t argue. Mom was right, and Aly had overlooked that point, but still, she thought her decisions were pretty good ones. “Everything happened so quickly,” she started to explain. “And I didn’t want Brooke to worry about not being around to help during such a busy week. I just wanted to do what was best—for our customers and for Sophie and Brooke and everyone.Charlotte and Lily and Caleb helped out too. If they hadn’t, it would’ve been a disaster at the Sparkle Spa, and we’ve worked so hard to build it. I didn’t want it to fall apart just because of Brooke’s arm.”
    Mom looked at Aly for a long moment. Then she got up and gave Aly a hug from behind, resting her chin on Aly’s head. For a second Aly kind of wanted to cry. “Why don’t you wait until Dad comes downstairs, and then you can apologize to your sister,” Mom finally said.
    â€œI will,” Aly told her. She knew she had to. She knew it was the right thing to do—plus, she hated it when Brooke was mad at her. But she knew that in addition to apologizing, she was going to have to tell her sister about giving the other kids jobs at the Sparkle Spa too. If Brooke was already upset about them working there for a day, she was not going to be happy about the longer-term arrangement. “First, I’mgoing to make a peace offering, though.” Aly thought making Brooke’s favorite snack might help out a little. It was worth a try.
    As Aly made a heart-shaped cream cheese and jelly sandwich for Brooke, she and her mom talked about the new Presto Change-o colors that had arrived while Mom was home with Brooke—how some shades looked muddy, but how the metallics, like Silversmith, seemed popular.
    When Dad came back into the kitchen, Aly quickly took the sandwich and a glass of chocolate milk upstairs. “Brooke?” she called, knocking on their bedroom door. “Brookester?”
    â€œI’m not talking to you,” Brooke answered.
    â€œYou just did,” Aly said. “And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. And I’m leaving you a present.”
    Then Aly went to the office—she figured it would take Brooke a little while to come around, and shestill had some reading to do for her Lewis and Clark project. Once she was finished sticking flags on the book Ms. Abbott had given her about Sacagawea, noting that Lewis and Clark would probably have gotten lost and not been very good explorers without Sacagawea’s help, Aly sat down at the computer. After clicking around for a bit, she found the new business card Mom had made for Joan. She copied it and pasted it into a new document over and over, then started typing new wording into each little rectangle. In just a few minutes she’d made Sparkle Spa business cards for everyone on the team—Sophie, Lily, Charlotte, Caleb, and herself—so she could give them out tomorrow at school. She pressed print and watched the pages pile up.
    She’d have to cut the thick paper to the right size, but the cards looked pretty good. She especially liked the purple star she’d added in place of the