"Babysitters Club 028 Welcome Back, Stacey!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

returned to the living room. I did have to talk to my parents. I knew that. I couldn't ignore them forever.
I plopped into an armchair and looked from Mom to Dad. "What?" I said.
"We have some unfinished business," my father informed me.
"What?" I said again, as if I didn't care at all.
"Aren't you curious about anything?" asked Mom. "Aren't you wondering what's going to happen now? Where we're going to live? Whom you're going to live with? I would be, if I were you."
I shrugged, even though I was dying of curiosity.
"Stacey, you must talk to us," said Dad. "We're very sorry about what's happening, but you've had twenty-four hours to absorb the shock. Now we have to go on with things. There are a lot of arrangements to be made, and we'd like your thoughts about some of them."
"Okay, okay." I settled down, putting my feet up on our coffee table, which I am not allowed to do. I just wanted to see what would happen; to see if I'd get any more special treatment.
But Dad said immediately, "Feet on the floor, Anastasia."
Whoa, Anastasia.
I put my feet down in an instant.
"All right," said Mom. "I'll begin." She sent my father a message with her eyes that plainly said, "Okay?"
Dad nodded.
"Well," said Mom. "First of all, the marriage counselor - "
"Divorce counselor," I corrected her.
"Anastasia Elizabeth McGill," said Dad warningly.
I shut my mouth.
"The marriage counselor," Mom repeated pointedly, "advised us both to leave the apartment. Your father and I will each be moving."
"You will? Why?" I exclaimed.
"Because the counselor said that if one stays here and the other leaves, you might feel that the parent who left had deserted you. So we're both moving."
"Where to?" I asked. And then 1 blurted out (because I just had to know), "Which one of you will I live with?"
"We're leaving that up to you," Dad replied. "That will be your decision entirely. You won't
have any say over where we move to, but you may decide whom to live with."
"Or how to divide your time between us," added Mom.
"Divide my - ?" I started to say. And then I remembered Shayla. I remembered something about "joint custody." Shayla's parents live about ten blocks from each other, and Shayla and her sisters live with their mother from Wednesday afternoons (after school) until Saturday night. Then on Saturday night they go to their father's and stay there until they leave for school on Wednesday. The girls have everything they need at both places, so they hardly have to pack up anything on Wednesdays and Saturdays except school-books. Keith has a different arrangement. His parents also live pretty near each other, but he and his brother spend a month with one, a month with the other, all year long. Caitlin has a third kind of arrangement. Her father moved to a suburb of Chicago after the divorce. Caitlin and her brother live with their mom during the school year, but spend vacations and summers with their dad.
"Are you going to have joint custody of me?" I asked my parents.
"Yes," they replied, looking surprised.
And Dad asked, "How do you know about joint custody?"
"I just do." I paused. "So I can live with either one of you or go back and forth between you - however I want?"
My parents nodded.
"Well, I guess my decision will depend on where you're going to move to," I said, thinking of Caitlin.
"I'll be staying in the city," said Dad, "because of my job."
I looked at Mom, knowing now that she wanted to move. But where to? Long Island? New Jersey? Or maybe as close by as one of the nice neighborhoods in the Bronx. Now that wouldn't be bad at all. She'd still be in the city - technically - but she'd feel almost as if she were in the country.
"I'd kind of like to go back to Stoneybrook," said Mom.
I opened my eyes so wide my eyebrows nearly rose right off the top of my head. "Back to Stoneybrook?" I squeaked.
Mom nodded. "I really loved that area. I was very sorry when we left."
"But - but what would you do there?" I asked.
"Find a job. It's high time I went back to work. But not here in the city. Somewhere with a slower pace."
I couldn't believe it. I was all confused. I'd thought that Dad would move out and I'd live in our apartment with Mom half the time and with Dad the rest of the time. That seemed like the best arrangement. Now I had to choose between New York City and Stoneybrook. I also had to choose between my parents. Obviously, I couldn't do what Shayla and Keith do. My arrangement would have to be more like Caitlin's.
"I - I can't make a decision until I know where you're going to live," I said to my parents.
"Fair enough," replied Dad.
"One thing we can assure you," Mom said, "is that we'll both buy or rent places that will be big enough for you. You'll have your own bedroom wherever you go."
"Okay," I said. Thoughts were whirling around in my head. Go back to Stoneybrook? To the Baby-sitters Club and all my friends there? Leave New York again? I had no idea what to do.
"May I go to my room?" I asked. "I need to think."
"After dinner," said Dad. "You need to eat, too."
I gave in quickly. The faster I ate, the faster I could escape.
As soon as dinner was over, I retreated to my room - and the telephone. I didn't have my own phone number, like Claudia does, but at least I had an extension in my room, so I could make private calls.
I phoned Laine first. I told her the news flat-out, pretty much like this: "Hi, Laine. It's me, Stace. My parents are getting a divorce." That was the second time I'd said those awful words out loud, and they were becoming easier to say.
I think Laine nearly dropped the phone. "They're what?" she cried. "Oh, Stacey, I'm so sorry." (No wonder she was surprised. We'd been friends for an awfully long time.)
I told her about Mom and Dad's moving plans, and right away I could hear her growing fearful. "Oh, please don't go away again, Stace," she said. "Stay here with your father, okay? It'll be easier anyway."