“I think we should include Frances, Flo and Liz,” Karen said hesitantly. “Would that be okay?”
“Of course,” Maddie said at once. “They have Senior Magnolia status with us.”
Laura looked over at Betty, who was standing with a couple of other teachers but basically seemed pretty alone. “Would it be okay,” she began with a glance toward the principal.
Everyone looked to Maddie for a response, since she’d been most affected by Betty’s attack on Cal several years earlier.
“Oh, why not?” Maddie said. “I’m married to the best man on the planet. I can afford to let bygones be bygones.”
Helen draped an arm over Maddie’s shoulders. “What a woman!” she teased.
“That’s me. Generous to a fault,” Maddie said. “What time is this party starting?”
Raylene glanced at her watch. “It’s nearly five now. How about six-thirty?”
Everyone quickly agreed, then went off to handle their various assignments. Laura turned to J.C. “You are coming, aren’t you?”
He looked hesitant.
“Hey, what about all that talk about going public, admitting we’re a couple, not that it’ll come as a huge shock to anyone.”
“But this crowd?” he said, looking oddly shaken. “They’re liable to take the news and run with it.”
“Run with it where?” she asked, bewildered.
“Straight down the aisle,” he murmured, then looked sheepish. “Overreacting, huh?”
“Just a little. We’re tougher than them. Nothing goes on between us unless we want it to. We’ve done okay so far with that philosophy, haven’t we?”
“What I want is a little privacy and a very long night with you in my arms,” he said.
She warmed to the comment but held firm. “First you have to play nice with our friends.”
“How long?”
She grinned. “Until you can persuade me there’s more intriguing entertainment at home.”
J.C. chuckled. “I imagine I could persuade you of that before we ever leave the school building, if you’ll join me for five minutes in a broom closet.”
“Ambiance, sweetie,” she teased. “You’ll have to do better than surrounding me with mops, water buckets and wet rags.”
He gave her an endearingly solemn look. “I swear, you won’t even notice they’re there.”
“Not gonna happen,” she repeated.
But she couldn’t seem to shake the thought that it might be fun to let him try.
* * *
The party at Chief Rollins’s house was turning out to be a lot more fun than Misty had anticipated. For a long time now, she hadn’t expected to feel normal or to hang out with other kids ever again. When Katie had suggested she, her mom and Jake come tonight, Misty had initially declined, but Maddie had joined them and pretty much insisted. She’d noticed that Mrs. Maddox generally seemed to get her way. She hoped her own mom would be forceful like that one of these days. She had been once upon a time, and it seemed to Misty as if she’d been getting stronger during this ordeal, just as Misty herself had.
Even though it was great being included, the house and backyard were packed. There was barely room to turn around, especially with some huge addition being built onto the back of the house and construction stuff all over.
Mrs. Rollins’s lasagna had been enough to feed a small army, but the men had insisted on throwing hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill anyway, so there were all these great aromas in the air, right along with more laughter than Misty had heard in a very long time.
She was sitting all alone in a chair beside this really cool garden, when Katie and Mandy Rollins joined her, along with a girl named Lexie, who apparently lived next door. She was Mandy’s age, just fourteen, so not on Misty’s radar much before tonight.
“I’m really sorry about what’s been happening to you,” Lexie said, then blinked shyly, her expression crestfallen. “Is it okay to say that? Would you rather I not even mention it?”
“It’s fine,” Misty said. “Thanks.”
“Not just at school,” Lexie said, emboldened to go on. “I mean the divorce thing. My mom’s going through that, too. It really sucks.”
“It definitely sucks,” Katie confirmed.
Mandy gave all of them a sympathetic look that was tinged with wisdom. “You know what’s worse? Losing your mom and dad in a car crash and knowing you’ll never ever see either one of them again.”
Lexie, clearly a kid who took everything to heart, gave her a horrified look. “Of course it is. What was I thinking? I am so sorry. Sometimes I forget why you’re living here with your brother and Raylene.”
“It’s okay,” Mandy soothed. “Most of the time I don’t think about it so much. Carter’s the best big brother and guardian in the world, and Raylene’s been amazing. Still, they’re not my mom and dad, you know?”
Lexie gave her an impulsive hug, her cheeks still pink with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, looking stricken. “It’s just that my mom gets so down sometimes, and my dad’s being such a jerk, I forget that there are people who have it a lot worse.”
“Pain is pain,” Katie said. “That’s what my mom always tells me. She says my feelings are valid because they’re my feelings.” She grinned. “And then she proceeds to tell me why I’m completely crazy for feeling the way I do.”
“Do you think moms have some book or website they go to so they can find stuff like that to say?” Lexie asked. “I’ll bet we’ve all heard the exact same things all our lives.”
“Don’t even mention websites to me,” Misty said. “I may never go on my computer again.”
“Yes, you will,” Katie said, nudging her in the ribs. “How else will we keep in touch when you’re off at some fancy Ivy League college and I’m back here at Clemson?”
As soon as she and Katie started talking college plans, the younger girls took off. Misty watched Lexie with a frown as she piled a plate high with food.
“She’s pretty skinny. She can’t possibly eat like that all the time,” Katie noted worriedly.
“Maybe she missed lunch today,” Misty said, not seeing anything that unusual about it. Jake ate like that all the time, especially since their mom had been erratic about getting meals on the table. She thought she recognized the signs of hunger rather than something more dire, the way Katie obviously thought she did.
“I don’t know,” Katie began.
Misty interrupted. “Stop fretting. You heard her talking about her mom being a wreck because
