Melody
I hope you’re not backing out of tonight. Ramsey has dinner almost done, and Amber is so excited to have Mikayla over on a school night. I promise we won’t stay too late. Everyone has things to do in the morning.
I swallowed my groan and thumbed a quick reply.
We were just getting ready. Be to you soon.
I looked up at my daughter and nodded. “Let me change my shirt and we will go.”
“Yay! Thanks, Mom. You’re the best.”
I smiled and kissed the top of her head as she threw her arms around me. Little victories.
Everyone was fairly casual for book club, but I didn’t want to show up in a stained tee and sweatpants, so I searched for something that made me feel less like a frumpy mom and more like me. Oh, and I needed a bra.
Ten minutes later, with me in yoga pants and an oversized shirt, I pulled into Melody and Ramsey’s driveway. Amber raced out to meet Mikayla before the two of them rushed back into the house and disappeared. Melody came out before I could get to the door.
“Let’s go.”
She said the words like she was running away, and all my instincts lit up. “What’s wrong?”
She chuckled. “Nothing. I promise. Amber’s just been up my butt all day. She’s getting into a needy phase, I guess, and I want to get away before she clings to me again.”
“Oh,” I said, feeling more than a little jealous. Mikayla definitely was not in the same phase.
When we got into the car, Melody sighed. “Amber got her first ever period yesterday.”
“Really? Wow. How did she handle it?”
Melody chuckled. “She was fine. She said she knew all about it between what I’d talked to her about, school, and what she saw online. But it was still a shock and a little bit of a moment for her. Did Mikayla start yet?”
I nodded. “Last year.”
“Amber said a lot of girls had already started. She was anxious about it for a while. Truth be told, I was starting to worry, too. I was going into fifth grade when I got mine. For her to start sixth grade and not have it yet, I was wondering if something else was going on.”
“I think there are more girls who haven’t started than have admitted it. You know how kids are. They all want to fit in. It’s not like they are in the stalls together. Something like this is easy to hide.”
“True. I’m just happy she’s okay. You hear stories about girls who never got their period, and it was some major medical issue that no one knew about until they were much older. One tiny bit of relief for this stressed-out mama.”
I chuckled with her as I parked a few spots from the front of Book Boyfriends Unlimited. “I can only imagine. We have enough to stress about. We don’t need to add something like that on you.”
“Exactly.” Melody climbed out of my SUV and waited for me on the sidewalk. “How are things going with work?”
I groaned.
She laughed. “That good?”
I sighed. “Gretchen wants me to dig up dirt on Natalie and Omar. Natalie gave me permission to share that she was the woman in the picture last year, but I don’t want to trash them. They’re good people, and this is a good town. I don’t love that Gretchen is out for blood.”
“Isn’t she always? You said that was her reputation.”
“Whose reputation?” Finley MacKellar asked as she unlocked the door to let us in. Finley owned Book Boyfriends Unlimited and married Trent MacKellar, the man whose family founded the town we all called home.
“My editor’s,” I told her. “She wants dirt on Natalie and Omar.”
“Natalie’s already here,” Finley whispered, locking the door behind us again.
“She knows. I told her about it. I am not looking to destroy anyone who doesn’t deserve it,” I said.
