“Oh?” Vivien turned. “We get to meet him?”
“I think so.” She pressed her hands together and then wiped them on her jeans. “Why not? And, um, Tess. How’s the Bat Mitzvah planning? What was Jennifer’s ‘outrageous request’? Did you pick a theme? Find the DJ? I bet I have a ton to do.”
“What you have to do,” Tessa said, sliding off the barstool, “is go for a boat ride with me.”
“Now?” Lacey asked.
“End of a busy day and you, my darling girl, need to unwind. And I need air, sunshine, and salt spray. I’ll fill you in on the Kaplan event—brace yourself, because there’s a trip to a dog refuge in your near future. But let’s hit the harbor and sip some G&Ts. You in, Viv?”
“I would, but I promised my mother I’d be here while she and Jo Ellen tackle stroganoff. Is she still napping?”
“Yeah, but she’ll be down any minute,” Tessa said. “So, Lace, boat?”
Lacey hesitated for half a second, then shook her head. “I can’t, Tessa. I have…so much to do.”
Tessa lifted a brow, not believing her, but she let it go. If she wanted to hide in a new love bubble and skip a sunset cruise, it was up to her.
“I’ll be upstairs,” she said, slipping away before Vivien or Tessa could stop her.
When she was gone, they just looked at each other.
“She’s finished,” Tessa whispered.
“I haven’t seen her this way since Spencer O’Keefe asked her to prom.”
Tessa clapped her hands and gave a little squeal. “Our girl’s in love!”
Vivien beamed. “I just want her to be happy and with a great guy.”
“Right? And don’t wear pink to her wedding. I want to wear pink,” Tessa said. “It’s my signature color.”
Vivien rolled her eyes and then they hugged like two happy moms with high hopes and big dreams for their favorite girl. Tessa added a squeeze, wishing she could tell Vivien how much this meant to her.
She’d given up her baby years ago, but her dear friend was generously letting her share this special, special daughter. What a treasure they both were.
July 2, 1991
OH. MY. GOSH. Today was maybe the BEST DAY of the summer so far. I am writing this on my bed and I’m smiling like a total dork!!!
So after breakfast, all the parents decided we should have some “family fun” together. (Dad was here, too. He’s usually only here on weekends but he’s taking this week off for July 4th.) Anyhoo, “some family fun” can possibly mean “something lame” but this time they picked GOOFY GOLF!!!
It’s that mini golf place near the highway in Fort Walton Beach with the giant dinosaurs and Humpty Dumpty and all the weird statues that are probably haunted. Tessa and I screamed when we found out, because it’s basically our FAVORITE place ever. I’ve wanted to go back since last summer when a little kid got stuck in the gorilla mouth and they had to call the fire department.
Kate pronounced it “iconic” even though Tessa and I don’t even know what that means.
We all piled into two cars but I got stuck in van steerage with Crista who brought a whole backpack of Barbies and took up 85% of the space. Who needs Barbies at mini golf?
We got to the course and it was SO HOT I thought my hair was going to catch on fire. But it didn’t matter because thesecond we got our rainbow-colored golf balls (mine was purple, well known by all as my favorite color), I knew this was going to be a fabulously awesome day.
Peter () looked SO CUTE in his backwards Braves cap. He always smells like spearmint gum and sunscreen. I made Tessa go behind me in the order because I didn’t want to be stuck between her and Kate while they were arguing about whether or not putting is a real sport.
Peter went first and got a par, then I stepped up and WHAM—hole in one. Not kidding. ON THE FIRST HOLE. He smiled at me and said, “Nice shot, kid.” KID. UGH. But also...he noticed!!!
Tessa kept cheating (she says it’s “strategy” to move her ball four inches closer to the hole) and Kate was SO SERIOUS like we were on a real golf course. Eli mostly tried to act cool and didn’t care, but he DID yell at Peter for putting too close to the edge and almost knocking Crista into the hippo pond. It was chaos.
By the 18th hole, we were all sweating buckets and Eli tried to convince us that moss was edible (it’s NOT). But guess who had the best score? ME!!!! VIVIEN LEIGH LAWSON.
Even better than Peter. By two points. And when I told him, he did this cute smile and said, “Well, guess I’ve been dethroned. You’re officially the champ.”
