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o’clock. See ya.” Before she slammed the phone down, I heard her yelling, “Bobby’s in a meeting. Don’t touch that door, Steve.”
    Grinning through my tears, I dropped the phone back on the hook.
    Juana rushed up to me.
“¿Qué pasó?
”
    â€œThis is really, really crazy, but I got the job.”
    The worried look disappeared from her face. “
Mira
, you learned something from this,” she whispered as she hugged me. “You learned not to cry too soon.”
    Laughing, I hugged her back. “You’re the second person who told me that today,” I confessed. I was happier than I thought possible, but I couldn’t help wondering what could have made Bobby change his mind. Were the ones after me so bad that my songs began to sound good? Was it worth trying to figure out?
    Couldn’t I just accept it and be happy?
    Of course not. I would never take a “yes” for an answer without knowing why it had changed from a “no.” I was, after all, a Green.

CHAPTER FOUR

    I waited as long as I possibly could before spilling the beans. After dinner when Janny and Jules were relaxing in the living room, I retrieved my contract from my bedroom. Jeff, of course, chose this night to stick around. He knew something was up long before our parents had finished their coffee and were sloshing brandy around in snifters. I’d changed for dinner into an elegant red Anne Klein sheath that Janny had loved and bought for me and reapplied lipstick to match. No fake lashes either.
    Once I was sure the liquor had taken effect, and Jules was smoking his after-dinner Marlboro, I sat down, papers in hand.
    â€œI have a summer job,” I announced. Best to start with the good news.
    â€œJJ, dear, that’s wonderful,” Janny enthused. “Truthfully, I was hoping you’d end up working for me, but congratulations. Isn’t that wonderful, Jules?”
    â€œWonderful,” echoed my dad, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “Tell us all about it.”
    I took a deep breath. I was sitting so close to the edge of my seat, I thought I’d fall off. “Before I do, I want to ask you something. Mom, did you have any idea where I was going today?”
    She laughed. “I’m an attorney, Justice, not a detective. You never told me where you were going, so obviously I didn’t know.”
    â€œSo you never said anything to Bernie?”
    â€œBernie?” Her tone changed. The glaze over her eyes evaporated, replaced by a focused stare. She sat up straight and placed her brandy on its coaster. “This is not headed in a good direction.” She shot Jules a
pay attention
glance, then zeroed in on me. “You know I haven’t spoken to him in six years, not since—”
    â€œNot since he showed up uninvited to Jeff’s bar mitzvah,” I finished.
    â€œExactly.” Janny’s voice became tense. “Your uncle is a gambler, a thief, and a music business lowlife. Why would I want to speak to him about anything?”
    â€œNow don’t get worked up,” Jules cautioned. “You’re not telling us you got a job in the music business, are you, Justice?”
    â€œThat’s exactly what I’m telling you,” I said, trying not to get defensive. “And I wanted to be sure that Uncle Bernie wasn’t involved because I want to make my own way on my own talent. At first it seemed like I didn’t get the job. But then I got it, and I can’t figure out why, and I just thought maybe …” I ran out of breath and stopped.
    â€œThere is no way Bernie heard about it from us,” Janny snapped. “Since this is the first
we’ve
heard of it. And now I want to know where you were, who you saw, and everything about them.”
    â€œUh-oh,” Jeff commented, choosing this moment to make his presence felt. He’d made sure he sat down out of the range of fire, but close