“She’s friends with Hallie too, and she’ll be at the wedding. Do you want me to see if she wants to come try on dresses with us too?”
“Is she nice?” Maddy asks.
“I promise, she’s the nicest.”
“Then I guess that would be okay.”
“I’ll ask Ms. Casey. Why don’t you run upstairs and get dressed for school and I’ll make the call.”
Maddy looks at Molly. “Want to come help me pick out my clothes?”
“You bet I do, Maddy girl. I’m thinking sequins.”
Maddy nods, a serious look on her face. “Definitely sequins.”
The two of them get up and head upstairs, while I pick up my phone and dial Jen Casey.
The sound of giggling behind the dressing room curtain is the best thing I’ve ever heard. As soon as we got here after school, Molly took charge and ordered the rest of us to take a seat while she helped Maddy and Jen Casey’s daughter, Maya, in the dressing room.
The two girls bonded immediately over sequins, lace, and hot pink shoes and were best friends before we even picked a single dress off the rack.
“It’s such a nice sound,” Julie says from her seat next to me, tipping her head towards the dressing room.
“I’m hearing it more this week than I did last week,” I say, picking up a cookie from the plate in the dressing room. “A little more every day.”
“You are doing such an amazing job, Em,” Hallie says from the couch across from us. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I shoot a look at the dressing room while Rachel hisses something at Hallie about language and little ears.
Jen laughs. “Would you believe that one of the hardest parts of parenting is trying not to say fuck all the time?”
“I absolutely do believe it,” I say, popping the last bite of cookie into my mouth. “Yesterday Jeremy burned his finger on the stove when he was making dinner, and you should have seen Maddy’s face when he saidfuck.”
I realize my mistake immediately as five sets of eyes slide towards me.
“Jeremy, huh?” Allie says, leaning back and crossing her arms all casual like.
“At your house?” Rachel asks, a sly grin on her face.
“He was making dinner?” asks Jen.
Julie and Hallie, who know he’s been at my house this week, just grin at me, knowing how much I hate being in the center of attention, unwilling to come to my rescue.
Bitches.
“He’s…been at my house a couple evenings this week. He and Maddy hit it off.”
“I just bet they did,” Rachel says thoughtfully. “Like twin lost souls, the two of them.”
“And is Maddy the only reason he’s been coming over?” Allie asks, knowing full well what the answer is.
I huff out a breath thinking,what the hell?
Might as well let it all hang out.
“We’ve kind of got a thing going on.”
Everyone asks a question at once, and I sit there and let them burn themselves out. Once they finish, I say it all at once.
