They walk into the kitchen together, Molly holding her own coffee mug. She grins at me and takes a seat at the table, giving Maddy all of her attention.
“So Maddy girl, want to take an adventure with us today?” Molly asks.
Maddy bounces up and down in her chair. “Yes! To where?”
“So, you remember our friend Hallie who you met the first day you came here?”
“Yep. She’s getting married to the really nice guy. The one with yellow hair. Rachel is his mom. He came over to her house on Monday when I was there. He has a sister who is also your friend.”
Molly nods. “That’s right. Julie. Hallie and Ben are getting married next week, and you need a dress.”
Maddy screws up her face, thinking. “A dress for what?”
“For the wedding, silly.”
Maddy gasps, her eyes getting big. “I get to go?” she whispers.
“You bet you do. You’re Hallie and Ben’s friend, and all their friends have to be at their wedding.”
I’m glad Molly has this handled because the sheer joy in Maddy’s eyes has emotion burning my own.
“I’ve never been to a wedding before,” she says. “Will there be a lot of people there?”
Molly takes Maddy’s hand in hers. “There will, but you’ll stick with us—Emma and me and our other friends too.”
“And Jeremy?”
At Maddy’s innocent question, Molly turns and gives me a wicked grin that is…less innocent.
“Jeremy will definitely be there. He’s Ben’s very best friend.”
“He’s my best friend too,” Maddy says confidently.
“Is he now?” Molly murmurs, kicking me under the table.
I kick her back because it feels like the thing to do.
“Yep.” Maddy eats the last bite of her cereal and sits back in her chair, eyes still on Molly.
“Well, that’s great. So anyway, you need a dress for the wedding so after school today we’re going shopping.”
“You and me?” Maddy asks.
“You, me, Emma, Hallie, Julie, and Rachel too. We have another friend, Allie, who might also come. She’s a very busy doctor so it’s not always easy for her to get away, but she’s going to try. We’re going to go to a store and try on dresses and go out to dinner and have ourselves a proper girls’ night.”
Molly takes the last sip of her coffee and gets up to refill her mug from my pot while Maddy digests that information.
“I think I’ll like a girls’ night.”
I smile at her. “I think you will too. It’s fun to spend time with your girlfriends.”
“I’ve never really had a girlfriend.”
Emotion swamps me, and I can tell from the look on Molly’s face and the way she takes Maddy’s hand and squeezes it gently that she feels the same. When I ask her if she’s met any girls in her class, Maddy just shrugs and says nothing. It’s so hard to be new, and she’s been new so many times. I make a split-second decision.
“Do you remember Ms. Casey telling you she has a daughter who is a year older than you?”
Maddy nods.
