Karen's Mistake

  The author gratefully acknowledges

  Stephanie Calmenson

  for her help

  with this book.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  1 Exciting Plans

  2 More to Tell

  3 You Are All Invited

  4 Chips, Dips, and Confetti

  5 Hannie’s Crush

  6 Welcome, Mr. English

  7 Two Musketeers

  8 Midnight Surprise

  9 Life Without Nannie?

  10 It Is a Date!

  11 Girl Talk

  12 Karen’s Warning

  13 What Kind of New Year Is This?

  14 Second Date

  15 Wedding Plans?

  16 Nannie’s Secret

  17 Love Connection

  18 Brokenhearted

  19 Karen’s Mistake

  20 Happy New Year, After All

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  Exciting Plans

  It was the last week of December. I was in the den with my family playing Clue Junior. The game was a Christmas present from my stepmother, Elizabeth.

  It was my turn, and I was pretty sure I had solved the mystery.

  I peeked into the envelope that held the three game cards.

  “I did it! I won!” I said.

  “Good job!” said Daddy. “You are an excellent detective.”

  Excuse me while I take my bows. Okay. I am finished. Now I can tell you who I am. My name is Karen Brewer. I am seven years old. I have blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles. I wear glasses. I even have two pairs. I wear the blue pair for reading. I wear the pink pair the rest of the time.

  “I want to play again,” said Andrew, my little brother. He is four going on five.

  While we were setting up for another game, Daddy said, “Does anyone have special plans for Friday night?” Friday night was New Year’s Eve. I guessed that my older stepbrothers, Sam and Charlie, would have plans. They are in high school and are very popular. I guessed wrong.

  “I do not have plans yet,” said Charlie.

  “Me neither,” said Sam.

  I waited to hear who my stepsister, Kristy, would be baby-sitting for. She is thirteen and the president of a baby-sitting club. But she did not have a job lined up.

  “A lot of families are away for the holidays or staying home this year,” she said.

  My stepbrother David Michael, who is seven like me, thought he might have plans.

  “I might be sleeping at my friend Roger’s house,” he said. “But I am not sure. He has to ask his parents.”

  “How about you, Karen? Have you made any plans?” asked Nannie, my stepgrandmother.

  “I would like to have a sleepover with Hannie and Nancy. But we have not decided whose house it will be at yet,” I replied. (Hannie Papadakis and Nancy Dawes are my two best friends.)

  “It sounds as though everyone’s plans are up in the air,” said Daddy. “Maybe we should do something together.”

  “I like that idea,” said Elizabeth.

  “I think we should have a party. Then anyone who has no other plans can come,” said Charlie.

  “It is time for a vote,” said Sam. “Whoever wants to throw a party say, ‘Aye!’ ”

  There were nine “Ayes,” and one “Ya-ya-ya!” That came from Emily Michelle, my little sister. She is two and a half. We decided her vote was a yes. That meant everyone in my family wanted to have a party.

  “Par-ty! Par-ty!” said Andrew.

  We were so excited about the plan that we forgot all about our second game of Clue Junior. Daddy and Elizabeth got busy giving us assignments. We had to shop for food, make decorations, and call our guests. Nannie promised to make her special sweets for the party. I volunteered to help. I love helping Nannie.

  “We will have to work hard to be ready by Friday. It is only three days away,” said Daddy.

  “No problem,” I said. “We can do it.”

  The grown-ups took another vote and decided to let everyone stay up till after midnight on New Year’s Eve. (Everyone except Emily, of course. She is too young.)

  Yippee! We were going to have a party. We were going to stay up past midnight. I could hardly wait to call my friends.

  More to Tell

  Hannie and Nancy thought our New Year’s Eve plan was the best! But wait. I have told you about my two best friends. And I have introduced you to my big-house family. But there is something important about me I have not told you yet. The family you met is not my only family. I have a little-house family also.

  That is right. I have two families. I will tell you how that happened.

  A long time ago, when I was little, I had one family. It was Mommy, Daddy, Andrew, and me. We all lived together in the big house, here in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

  Then Mommy and Daddy started arguing a lot. It was no fun. They tried hard to work things out. But they could not do it. They told Andrew and me that they loved each of us very much and always would. But they could not be married to each other anymore. So they got divorced.

  Mommy moved, with Andrew and me, to a little house not far away. Then she met a very nice man named Seth. She and Seth got married, and now Seth is my stepfather.

  So when I am at the little house, I live with Mommy, Seth, and Andrew. Oh, yes. We have pets too. They are Emily Junior, my pet rat (you can guess who I named her after!); Bob, Andrew’s hermit crab; Midgie, Seth’s dog; and Rocky, Seth’s cat.

  Daddy stayed in the big house after the divorce. (It is the house he grew up in.) He met and married a very nice person too. That is Elizabeth, who is now my stepmother.

  Elizabeth was married once before. Her four children from her first marriage are David Michael, Kristy, Sam, and Charlie.

  Emily was adopted by Daddy and Elizabeth from a faraway country called Vietnam.

  That is when Nannie moved into the big house. Nannie is Elizabeth’s mother, which is how she became my stepgrandmother. She moved in so she could help with Emily. But really she helps everyone.

  We have lots of pets at the big house. They are Shannon, David Michael’s big Bernese mountain dog puppy; Pumpkin, our black kitten; Crystal Light the Second, my goldfish; and Goldfishie, Andrew’s donkey. (Hee-haw! Goldfishie is Andrew’s fish.)

  Andrew and I switch houses almost every month. We spend one month at the big house, then one month at the little house. I gave us special names because we have two of so many things. (That makes moving back and forth a lot easier.) I call us Andrew Two-Two and Karen Two-Two. I thought up those names after my teacher read a book to our class. It was called Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.

  Andrew and I have two families, with two mommies and two daddies. We have two sets of toys and clothes and books. We have two bicycles, one at each house. I have twin stuffed cats. Goosie lives at the little house. Moosie lives at the big house. And you already know about my two best friends, Hannie and Nancy. Hannie lives across the street and one house over from the big house. Nancy lives next door to the little house. We are together so much that we call ourselves the Three Musketeers.

  Now you know my story. It is time to tell you more about the party.

  You Are All Invited

  There was not enough time to mail invitations to our party. So on Wednesday we started making phone calls. But first we made a guest list. There were friends from work and school and the neighborhood to invite. The list was very long.

  “We can take turns making the calls,” said Sam. “I will go first.”

  Sam loves to talk on the phone. Forty minutes later, the receiver was still in his hand.

  “It is my turn!” I said.

  “To be fair, we will pick number
s from a hat,” said Elizabeth. “Each person will be allowed fifteen minutes in which to make their phone calls. After fifteen minutes, it will be the next person’s turn.”

  Guess what. My turn came next!

  I called Melody Korman and Scott Hsu, who are friends from the neighborhood. They both said they could come.

  I was deciding which friend to call next when the phone rang. It was Hannie.

  “Hi, Hannie! What is up?” I said.

  “Um, I forgot to ask you if you wanted me to come to the party by myself or with my family,” said Hannie.

  “Of course your family is invited! We are inviting all our friends and neighbors,” I said.

  Oops. I had remembered to tell Melody and Scott that their families were invited. But I had forgotten when I called Hannie and Nancy, because I was so excited that we could stay up past midnight. It was all we talked about.

  “I had better call Nancy and tell her that her parents and Danny can come,” I said to Hannie.

  “This is your twelve-minute warning,” said Elizabeth.

  Boo. I called Nancy fast. Then my time was up.

  It was Elizabeth’s turn. She called five people in fifteen minutes. Wow!

  “I hope no one minds that I invited someone we do not know,” said Elizabeth when she hung up. “Alice, my friend from work, said her father is visiting from Florida. I suggested he join us if he has no other plans.”

  “Of course he is welcome here. We would not want anyone to be alone on New Year’s Eve,” said Nannie. “But I am surprised anyone would leave warm, sunny Florida to come to Connecticut at this time of year.”

  While they were talking, I was busy counting up the people who would be coming to our party. There would be four people from Nancy’s family. (Unless her baby brother stayed home with a sitter. Then there would be three.) There would be four people from Scott’s family. There would be five people from Hannie’s family and five people from Melody’s family. The list kept going.

  It is a good thing our house is big. We were going to have a big party!

  Chips, Dips, and Confetti

  It was Thursday. Everyone in our house was very busy. Charlie, Sam, and Kristy had gone to the supermarket to buy food for the party. Daddy and Elizabeth were hanging streamers and HAPPY NEW YEAR banners. Nannie was getting ready to bake some goodies.

  “I need helpers,” she said.

  David Michael decided to help Daddy and Elizabeth. That left Andrew, Emily, and me to help in the kitchen. (Emily helps by banging spoons on pots to make music.)

  “Andrew, will you mix the onion dip?” asked Nannie.

  “Yes. I am a very good mixer,” Andrew replied.

  “Karen, I need you to help me measure,” said Nannie. “We will start with the oatmeal and the raisins.”

  Yum! Making oatmeal-raisin cookies is one of my specialties. I am very good at eating them too.

  I helped measure. Andrew was finished with the dip, so he helped mix. We took turns dropping spoonfuls of the batter onto baking sheets.

  While the oatmeal-raisin cookies were in the oven, we started working on chocolate-chip cookies. While the chocolate-chip cookies were in the oven, we worked on the lemon squares.

  That is when Kristy, Sam, and Charlie came back from the store. Their arms were filled with grocery bags. Sam and Charlie had to run back to the car twice because there were more bags than they could carry in one trip.

  “What smells so good?” asked Kristy.

  “Cookies, cakes, and dips,” said Andrew. “I am a good mixer!”

  “You sure are,” said Nannie. “Would you like to mix up a bowl of fruit punch now? Maybe Kristy will help.”

  “Sure I will. Come on, Andrew. It is time to make punch,” said Kristy.

  Andrew made two fists and poked them in the air.

  “Very funny,” said Kristy. “I do not think that kind of punch will help when our guests get thirsty.”

  Daddy popped his head into the kitchen.

  “We need another confetti maker,” he said.

  “I will help!” I replied.

  I got to work with David Michael on the living room floor. We cut brightly colored paper into little squares and triangles to make confetti. We put it into a big bowl.

  Snip, snip.

  Woof! Shannon raced past us. David Michael and I were extra careful with our scissors when she ran by.

  Snip, snip.

  Meow! Pumpkin chased Shannon. When she was gone, we went back to cutting.

  Snip. Woof! Snip. Meow!

  Shannon and Pumpkin raced into the kitchen. The next thing we heard was something clattering on the kitchen floor.

  “No! No!” said Andrew. “They spilled the punch!”

  I heard Andrew start to cry. Daddy, Elizabeth, David Michael, and I ran to the kitchen. Nannie was trying to comfort Andrew.

  “Do not cry,” she said. “We have plenty of fruit and juice. You can start over.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Shannon knocked into me and I knocked into Andrew while he was mixing the punch,” said Kristy.

  The next thing we knew, something was crashing to the floor in the living room. When we got there, we saw confetti everywhere. And it was not even New Year’s Eve yet!

  Everyone laughed, even Andrew.

  “I think we should cross Shannon and Pumpkin off our guest list,” I said.

  “I think you are right,” agreed Daddy.

  We got to work picking up confetti.

  Hannie’s Crush

  By Thursday night we were tired, but ready for our party.

  “Good night, everyone!” I said. “It is time for me to go to bed.”

  Lots of times someone has to push me into bed. But I knew that I needed a good night’s rest on Thursday, so I would not be too sleepy at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

  I slept late on Friday morning. I probably would have slept longer, but I got a phone call.

  “Hi, it’s me,” said Nancy. “I am so excited about the party tonight. I went to bed early so I would not be too tired.”

  “Me too. But we are going to be having too much fun to get tired,” I said. “And we will be eating so much candy and cake. All that sugar will keep us awake.”

  “Did you talk to Hannie this morning?” asked Nancy. “She sounded kind of funny. I wanted to talk about the party. But all she could talk about was the Nate Bellows concert. It is going to be on TV tonight.”

  Nate Bellows was a very popular singer.

  “I know she loves him. She has been talking about him every day for a week. But she will love the party too,” I said.

  We talked about the guests, and what we would wear.

  “Speaking of clothes, I had better go,” I said. “It is getting late and I am still in my pajamas. Also, I want to call Hannie.”

  “If you are going to call, you should do it now. I think she is going out with her parents,” said Nancy.

  “Okay, thanks,” I replied.

  I called right away. Nancy was right. Hannie did sound kind of funny.

  “So are you ready for the party tonight?” I asked. “Nancy and I were deciding what we would wear.”

  “It does not matter much to me,” said Hannie. “He cannot see what I am wearing.”

  “What do you mean? Everyone will see what you are wearing,” I replied.

  “Nate Bellows will not see me. He will be giving a concert on TV. But I will see him.”

  “You may be a little too busy to watch TV,” I said. “The only time anyone will be watching TV is at midnight, when the big ball goes down.”

  “I really want to watch the concert,” said Hannie.

  “Maybe you can watch bits and pieces of it,” I said. “But you cannot watch the whole thing. You would miss the party!”

  “I guess bits and pieces of Nate will be better than none of him.”

  Hmm.

  By the time I hung up, I felt pretty annoyed at Hannie. I got dressed and went downstair
s to have some breakfast. While I was eating, I told Nannie about Hannie and her crush.

  “I think it would be nice for my best friend to be a little more interested in our party,” I said.

  “I understand how you feel,” said Nannie. “But it sounds as though Hannie thinks she is in love. Being in love is a pretty wonderful thing.”

  “Having a New Year’s Eve party and staying up till midnight is pretty wonderful too,” I said. “I can hardly wait!”

  Welcome, Mr. English

  At a quarter to eight that evening, Hannie and Nancy arrived.

  “I am glad you are here!” I said. “We are going to have important party jobs. Now that you are here, we can find out what they are.”

  “Girls, here are your assignments,” said Daddy. “As our guests arrive, please take their coats and put them in our room upstairs.”

  “No problem!” said Nancy.

  “Will you please let me know if we run low on soda or ice?” said Elizabeth.

  “We can do that!” said Hannie.

  “And I will need you to pass around food,” said Nannie.

  “We can do it all!” I replied. “The Three Musketeers are at your service.”

  All these important jobs were going to be fun. The whole party was going to be fun!

  “Karen, I may not be able to pass food around later,” said Hannie. “You know I have to watch the Nate Bellows concert.”

  Boo. I wished Hannie would forget about Nate Bellows and just have a good time at the party. Then I had an idea.

  “We could tape the concert for you,” I said.

  “No, I need to watch it live,” said Hannie.

  Dingdong! I had no more time to talk to Hannie. Our first guests had arrived. Daddy opened the door.

  “Hi, Melody!” I said.

  We all greeted the Korman family. Hannie, Nancy, and I took their coats. The minute we got to the top of the stairs, the doorbell rang again. We tossed the coats on the bed in Daddy and Elizabeth’s room, and ran back downstairs.

  A couple of Sam’s friends had arrived. More people were walking up the street, and cars were pulling up to the curb. Soon Nancy, Hannie, and I were running up and down the stairs a mile a minute.