Straight from The Onion Vine Book 2 Turnaround. Jody Scottsmith

at the ‘clink’ that was louder than expected. At least it got everyone’s attention. “I have something to say…about me. I keep a personal blog.” She paused, surprised at her sudden nervousness. “So I can say what I’m feeling, like when Dave first came over. There’s only one rule. I have to be honest, even if what I’m thinking isn’t good.”

      Everyone was too quiet. Kara searched their faces for a reaction. “Maybe we could start one between us. So Suzanne would have somewhere to say what she feels. She can let us know when she hears from Casa.”

      “I’ll set it up,” Neil offered. “Any ideas for a name?”

      They threw some words around and finally took the third letter from each name, added ‘b-l’ for blog and came up with ‘blizor’. Their final decision was ‘blizor.us’. Everyone liked it.

      “I have a question to kick it off,” Neil revealed, asking for the basket of rolls. He took his time picking one out, aware all eyes were on him. He buttered the roll and took a bite, enjoying every minute.

      7-INTRIGUE

      On the way home from Cedardale, Kara asked Suzanne to spend the night. She quickly agreed and Mom loaned Suzanne her flannels.

      Suzanne arranged the pillows and sat on the twin bed. “I’d like to know something, but it’s not for ‘blizor.us’.”

      Kara crawled under the covers. “Sure…if it’s easy; I’m wiped.”

      “Scott knows a lot about halfway houses and sponsors.”

      “Yeah,” Kara propped up her pillows before answering. “I think it has something to do with his mother. He won’t say anything about what happened to her. I get he doesn’t like to talk about it. He brings up Dad’s drinking problem, and even takes his side.”

      “I’m sure he has his reasons,” Suzanne said, seeing she was sensitive about this.

      “Now I have one you,” Kara said in a lighter tone. “Remember when the waitress said something about onions and Weepers? See if Neil’s ever sliced an onion. Try to find out without explaining it.”

      The next morning Suzanne was dressed by the time Kara rolled over. Mom brought in tea to see how she was.

      “I called Jeff last night,” she informed. “I said Eleanor was busy and we’ll try again.”

      “Thanks, Mom,” Suzanne was quick to say. “I forgot all about dad.”

      Kara poured her tea, suddenly realizing Suzanne was dressed. “Isn’t it too late to bolt?”

      “You stepped in last night just in time,” Suzanne admitted. “I don’t know if I could finish about Casa, but I think I can, now. I have psychology paper due Tuesday about a ‘Turning Point’.”

      “What’s that?” Kara asked, taking a sip of tea.

      Suzanne sat on the edge of the bed. “You know, an event in our life that changes everything. Before yesterday, I didn’t have one. Now I do…it goes like this.”

      “There’s this girl who grew up without a mom. When she was older, she found out where her mom lived and decided to surprise her. The mother didn’t know what to say or do, so she walked away. The girl wanted to give up, but friends wouldn’t let her. This helped her see things…differently.” Suzanne stopped to get the tremor out of her voice, and took a sip of tea. “The reason she wanted to see her mother was to feel a part of something. Her mother didn’t make that happen, but her friends did.”

      With that Suzanne took a last sip of tea and put her mug on the tray.

      “Wow,” was all Kara could say. She took her phone off the charger. “Before you go, let’s check out Neil’s mystery question. Could you believe him last night?”

      “Ya think?” Suzanne replied, imitating him perfectly.

      Kara read it out loud. “In grade school Kara talked about her mom, but not her dad. So I asked what he did, like for work. She didn’t answer and avoided me after that. Annie filled me in on the rest. All of you are pretty together. How would you be different with both parents around?”

      “Really, Neil…how would we know?” Kara asked in frustration.

      “That’s the easy answer,” Suzanne explained. “He wants to know how we think it’s affected us. Like yesterday when things didn’t go like I thought with Eleanor. I almost wanted my world to end, but guess what…I still have a paper to write. Like Mom said at Ricardo’s, none of us have exactly put our lives on hold.”

      “So…it’s as important as we make it? I do know plenty of messed up kids with both parents. I’ll have to think about an answer on my run,” Kara decided.

      “Add this to the list. Why don’t you take Psychology?” Suzanne suggested, putting her pea coat on. “You’re already pretty good at it.”

      “Really?” She questioned. “Ok I will…think about it, if you find out about Neil.”

      After the bedroom door closed, Kara snuggled in her fleece robe and sat down on the bed to check texts. There was one from Scott asking about Suzanne. She answered with a ‘much better’ and ‘thanks’ for last night. Scott’s dad paid for everything. Kara looked at Suzanne’s mug on the tray. It wasn’t like her to ‘forget’ to give her a hug before leaving. Kara decided she got the ‘thanks’ she needed in Suzanne’s ‘Turning Point’. She finished her tea and put on her running sweats.