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“Sugar is a legal poison.”
Dawn’s tendency for blabbing out random, oddball things kicked in, yet nobody questioned what she said let alone looked at her strangely for what she said.
Things were—things felt like they were going smoothly with The Baby-Sitter’s Club, given that things were now going smoothly. Mary Anne happened to have her new room, although something felt a bit off when Dawn stepped into the room. At first, she thought it was the level of awkwardness which came from their parents breaking up over her mom attempting to help redo the room in the first place.
Yet, Kristy put her finger on it after Mary Anne became super awkward around her crush. Mary Anne didn’t like her room, but there seemed like something was missing from the room.
“Home.” That was perhaps not how she said it, but she knew what it felt like, not feeling like a place was home, so helping Mary Anne make the place feel like home, finding that one thing that Claudia hadn’t thought of in giving Mary Anne that hip room Mary Anne wanted to prove she was growing up. Why Claudia hadn’t thought about the importance of Humpty Dumpty, Dawn didn’t know—but then, Mary Anne hadn’t known either.
“So, Mary Anne got her room,” Dawn muttered, unsure of what to say with her mom after the breakup and over that.
“I’m glad.”
“How do you feel about...”
“Don’t know. He’s still the way I remember him at school.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No. Change is something that takes time for some people but thinks about it. He’s afraid of—well, Mary Anne growing up without her mother I think, and he’s not quite ready for someone else to feel her shoes and needs to come to the realization that feeling someone’s place isn’t the same as replacing them.” She winked at Dawn. “Don’t go blabbing that though?”
Dawn made the zipping motion across her mouth, yet still wondered how her mother felt, given the fact she’d been super patient with her father in coming out yet was super supportive when they divorced. “She needs someone to. Deserves it, but maybe it’s Mary Anne’s dad who needs to realize he’s not replacing his previous wife, rather than a matter of replacing her mom. They both acted normal, balanced each other out. Still—can’t hold out the hope that they’ll get together.”