“Um,” Emma said. “I … we thought four hundred would probably be enough. Like, it seems like so much. But you need more than double that?”
The smiles disappeared from their faces. “I’m afraid so,” Mrs. Button said.
Mr. Button jumped in, trying to make us feel better. “Four hundred dollars puts a big dent in it, so don’t you girls feel bad at all.”
“It’s wonderful, what you’ve done,” Mrs. Button told us. “You should be very proud of yourselves.”
“It’s not enough, though,” I said. “But you know what? I have some more money at home.” I turned to leave. “I’ll go get it for you.”
“No, no, please,” Mrs. Button said. “You don’t need to do that. We’ll figure this out, girls. Please don’t worry yourselves about it.”
There was that word again. Too many worries and not enough happy things, like squirrel monkeys and sunsets and ice cream cones. We’d wanted to fix something. To make life better for someone. Or in this case, a lot of someones—people who used the bookmobile. And coming close didn’t really count, did it?
When the door opened behind us, we all turned to see who it was. What a surprise when Mr. Dooney and Ms. Strickland walked in. Carmen, Emma, and I stepped out of the way to make more room.
“Are you having a party?” Mr. Dooney asked. “If so, you forgot to invite us.”
“We’d never have a party without you, Fred,” Mrs. Button said. “The girls were just dropping off the money they made from the arts and crafts fair.”
“Oh, then this is perfect timing,” Ms. Strickland said. “I’ve come to give you this private donation someone left.” She turned to us. “After you’d gone home on Saturday, I found this envelope at my desk. It’s a five-hundred-dollar donation. Isn’t that wonderful?”
While Emma, Carmen, and I tried to get over the shock of what had just happened, Mr. Button reached into his wallet and pulled out five twenty-dollar bills. “I was going to buy myself a fancy new blender, but I suppose the old one works just fine for now.”
“Oh my gosh,” I said as I grabbed my friends’ hands and started jumping up and down. “There’s enough. That makes a thousand dollars. The bookmobile can stay!”
We squealed and jumped around and hugged one another. When we felt the bookmobile shake, we burst out laughing.
After we settled down, Mr. Dooney said, “Say, while we have you girls here, we’d like to ask you something. Since you three are so good at coordinating events, we wondered if you might like to help with another one.”
“Probably depends on what it is,” Emma said. “Like, if you want us to put together a shark-viewing party, that’s not really our thing.”
Carmen and I laughed.
“No sharks involved,” Ms. Strickland said. “Just flowers, a minister, and some of our closest friends.”
No way. Was this really happening?
“You’re getting married?” Emma blurted out. “The two of you?”
They laughed. “You sound surprised,” Ms. Strickland asked. “Perhaps because we’re not exactly spring chickens anymore?”
“You just … you haven’t known each other that long,” I said.
“When you get to be our age,” Mr. Dooney said, “you realize life is short and time is precious. We’ve enjoyed each other’s company so much, and we’ve both been alone for a while now, and, well … we don’t want to be alone any longer.”
Ms. Strickland chimed in. “Our hearts tell us it’s the right thing to do, and so, we’re going to take the leap.”
“It seems to me there’s been a lot of leaping lately,” Mrs. Button said as she gave me a wink. “Why, look what a leap into an arts and crafts fair has done for us.”
“Yes,” Mr. Button said. “I do believe that it often takes a leap for people to see that they can really soar.”
That was definitely one for the notebook of beautiful things.
“So what do you girls say?” Mr. Dooney asked. “Can we count on you to help? We’ll give you a budget and set you loose, how does that sound?”
The Starry Beach Club would join forces again. We’d create a magical wedding and reception for a wonderful couple.
“We do,” Emma said. She turned to me. “Get it? Instead of I do, we do?”
“You’re so clever,” I said, laughing.
“Wait, when is it?” Emma asked, turning back to Mr. Dooney and Ms. Strickland.
“We thought the end of June would be a fine time for a wedding,” Ms. Strickland said. “We’ll have a simple ceremony on the beach. It’s the reception afterward that we really need help with. Nothing too fancy, though. Do you think a little over a month is enough time? We thought we’d use the rec room at the senior center, so the venue is taken care of.”
“No problem,” Emma said with all the confidence in the world. “But would it be okay with you if we had a bunch of different pies instead of cake? Something different, you know?”
“Oh, I love that idea,” Ms. Strickland said. “Perhaps we can tell guests that instead of bringing a gift to the reception, they can bring a pie to share.”
“A pie party,” I said. “We get to have a pie party!”
This was going to be the best wedding ever. Hopefully.
Things needed for a wedding reception
* A band or a DJ for dancing
* Coffee, tea, and punch to go with the pie
* Ice cream, maybe? Because apple pie without ice cream is sad.
* Centerpieces and tablecloths
* Flowers
* A guest book
* Plates, napkins, silverware, and glasses
* Decorations
My sister’s dream came true. She earned her junior lifeguard certificate. My grandparents came down and took us out to a fancy dinner to celebrate. I made Miranda a card that said, Thanks for being an awesome sister and an inspiration. Most of the time. Love, Pooh.
When we went to visit Dad two weeks before the wedding, he was understanding when I spent a lot of time on his laptop looking at centerpiece ideas. Emma, Carmen, and I had already looked at so many, but nothing had seemed quite right.
Ms. Strickland said her favorite kind of flowers were tulips. We could have just gotten a bunch, split them up into vases, and called it good, but we wanted to do something unique. Maybe even extraordinary.
As I was shutting the computer down for the night, Dad said, “Girls? I need to tell you something.”
He sounded nervous. Miranda shut off the television and we sat there, staring at him.
“I want you to be the first ones to know, I’ve met someone. Someone really special. And I’d love for you to meet her tomorrow. Thought we’d go out for lunch together, if that’s all right?”
“You’re not getting married, are you?” I asked.
“What?” He looked at me like I’d just asked if the sky was green. “No. No, honey, it’s nothing like that. We’re just dating. But it’s important that you meet her and get to know her a little bit.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I have marriage on the brain, I guess, after all this stuff I’ve been doing for Mr. Dooney’s wedding.”
“That’s understandable,” he said.
“Who is it?” Miranda asked. “I mean, what’s her name?”
“It’s Andrea,” he said. “From work. We’ve been friends for a while and it just kind of … blossomed into something more recently.”
I could hardly stand the thought of Dad being with someone else. Miranda had told me to get used to the idea, because neither of our parents would want to stay single forever. But it wasn’t easy to do. I didn’t really want to let anyone else into our family. And that’s what would have to happen when one of them got serious with someone one day.
One day, down the road, I told myself. A long way down the road.
Maybe the idea would get easier with time.
“Anyway,” he continued, “I hope you like her.”<
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Even though I had a lot of feelings about the whole thing, I really hoped so, too.
Sunday morning, Inca and I had a do-over doughnut date. When I walked in, she was sitting at our regular booth, waiting for me.
“Hi,” I said, feeling a little shy, which was ridiculous. This was my best friend. But the last time we’d been here, things hadn’t gone well. And I wanted this time to be different.
“Hey,” she said.
I set a gift bag in front of her.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“Open it and find out,” I told her.
So she did. And when she saw the picture of the purple flower in a vase with my signature in the corner, she said, “Oh my gosh, I love it.”
“It’s from the arts and crafts fair I did. I feel like I should tell you that it was my dad’s idea to get it for you. Maybe he was worried I wouldn’t sell them all, I don’t know. But anyway, happy June. Happy summer. Happy everything!”
She laughed. “You’ll be here for part of the summer, right?”
“Yep. I guess Miranda isn’t going to be able to come because of her new job. So it’ll just be Dad and me for a few weeks. And maybe his girlfriend now and then.”
Her eyes got big. “He has a girlfriend?”
“Yeah. We’re meeting her later today.”
“Wow,” she said. “So much has changed.”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
“But we’ll still go to the library a lot this summer when you’re here, right?” she asked.
“For sure.”
“And we’ll still go swimming, right?”
“Yep.”
“And we’ll eat all the doughnuts we can stand, okay? Because no matter what happens, our love for doughnuts is forever.”
Now I laughed. “Yes. And I can’t wait.”
She slid out of the booth. “You don’t have to wait. Come on. I’m hungry.”
Something told me it was going to be a really good summer.
A few hours later, I was sitting across the table from Andrea, in a little Italian restaurant eating salad and pasta and probably the best bread I’d ever had in my life. My stomach was having a very, very good day.
Andrea seemed pretty cool. She wore long, dangly earrings and had short silver hair with purple highlights. I loved it.
“Andrea oversees the education office at the zoo,” Dad told us as we passed the bread basket around for the second time. “Like, she makes sure all the field trips go off without a hitch.”
“Is it a hard job?” I asked.
“Only on the days when a child gets eaten by a big cat,” she said. It made us all laugh.
“But in all seriousness,” Dad said, “it’s an important job. Making sure schoolchildren are safe and cared for while they’re visiting.”
Safe. Cared for. It made me think of Carmen and how it was all she wanted—for her and her family to be safe. If only she had someone working hard to protect her.
“I’m lucky,” Andrea said. “It’s a wonderful place to work. Any ideas as to what you want to do someday, girls? Or is it too soon, still?”
“Wedding planner, maybe, Juliet?” Dad asked.
“Should probably wait and see how it turns out first,” Miranda joked.
“Thanks a lot,” I told her. “It’s hard to know, but sometimes I think I might like to write and illustrate books, maybe.”
“She’s very talented,” Dad told Andrea.
“I want to travel,” Miranda said. “See the world.”
“Flight attendant could be fun,” Dad said.
“I’m thinking pilot,” Miranda said.
I felt proud of my fearless sister right then.
Dad’s cheeks turned a little pink. Like he was embarrassed he hadn’t thought of that. He took a drink of water before he said, “Absolutely. You girls are so smart. Whatever you decide to do, I’m sure you’ll go far. Now, how about some dessert?”
“The spumoni ice cream is amazing,” Andrea said. “If you like ice cream, of course.”
“Love it,” I said.
Andrea smiled. “Then I think we’ll get along splendidly.”
Later that afternoon, on the bus ride home, while Miranda slept, I thought about how sometimes people or things or situations didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted them to be. My paintings were never as good as I’d like. The people Mom and Dad dated would probably never seem good enough, even if I liked them just fine. I’d never be able to do enough to help the people I cared about. But nothing, and nobody, is perfect. And if you wait around for things to be perfect, to feel perfect, or you try to be perfect yourself, you’re going to miss out on so much.
My sister loved trying new recipes. Like the “Best Chocolate Cake (Ever)” recipe that turned out to really be the best chocolate cake ever. Seriously, it was so good. I probably would have looked at the recipe and decided it seemed too hard and skipped right over it. But she wasn’t afraid to try. Or to leap, as Mr. Dooney had said.
I opened my notebook of beautiful things and wrote, It can be scary to leap. It can feel like someone is pushing you off the edge of a cliff. But maybe those are the times when good things happen. When you realize you can do more than you ever imagined you could. When you discover you can soar.
How to leap
1. Tell yourself you are smart and strong and amazing.
2. Ignore anyone who tells you something else.
3. Focus on the positive things that can happen.
4. Find people who believe in you.
5. Make a chocolate cake and get a pep talk while you’re at it.
6. Cross your fingers.
7. Make a wish that it will all turn out okay.
8. Do your best.
9. Show up.
10. Leap.
The day of the wedding, Emma, Carmen, and I stood at the table with all of the beautiful pies. So many pies! Banana cream, chocolate cream, lemon meringue, cherry, apple crumb, peach, and lots more. There had been about fifty people at the wedding, and we probably had thirty pies to choose from. Scattered among the pies were vases of colorful tulips—pink, purple, red, yellow. The table looked amazing, just like the entire room.
Emma’s dad had found a handyman to string white Christmas lights across the ceiling in rows. Not only that, we’d bought ten large round paper lanterns and he’d hung those from the ceiling, too. Every table had white linen tablecloths with the pretty centerpieces we’d created. Mr. and Mrs. Dooney absolutely loved how it had turned out.
As I went back to staring at the pies, I said, “I wish I could have a slice of each one.”
“I know,” Emma said. “It’s so hard to choose.”
“Hello, girls,” said a man’s voice. I spun around and there was Mr. Strickland.
I stood there, not sure what to say. We’d seen him at the wedding and managed to avoid him. But now we were supposed to talk to the man who had told us to stop pestering him?
Emma managed to find her voice. “Hello, Mr. Strickland. Would you like a piece of pie?”
“Yes, I would, but I can get it myself,” he replied. “I wanted to tell you, congratulations. I’m sure you’re pleased the bookmobile is staying.”
“Yes, we are,” I said.
“Sorry you don’t get a hot dog stand,” Emma said.
“That’s all right,” he said, putting his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. “You know, I hadn’t been inside the bookmobile until last week. My mother asked me to go with her. And wouldn’t you know, Mrs. Button found me the best book to read. I don’t think I’ve read a book since college. I’d forgotten how nice it is to read something for fun.” Just then, the music changed and got louder. He gave us a little wave. “I’ll let you get back to the fun. No hard feelings, all right?”
“Okay,” I said.
After he left, we looked at one another and smiled. Emma grabbed our hands,
swung them back and forth, and started singing along to the song. “Shake it off, shake it off.”
Carmen, looking over our shoulders, said, “Hey, can I introduce you guys to someone?”
“Sure,” Emma said.
“Follow me.” She led us over to a table where her brother, Oscar, was sitting, next to a petite woman with her black hair twisted into a neat bun on the top of her head.
“This is my mother, Ana,” Carmen said. “Mama, these are my friends Emma and Juliet.”
Ana stood up and gently shook our hands and told us it was nice to finally meet us. “You should come to our home sometime. I can cook you some chiles rellenos. Carmen’s favorite.”
“Wow, we’d love that! Right, Juliet?” Emma said.
“For sure,” I replied.
“Do you like the centerpieces we made, Mama?” Carmen asked, pointing to the one in the middle of her table. There were two old books stacked on top of each other and wrapped with a pretty white ribbon. On top of the books sat a small vanilla candle and two tulips in a crystal vase. It had been so fun to go to a used bookseller and buy a bunch of vintage hardcover books. We couldn’t help but flip through them and read some of the poems and stories as we made the centerpieces. When I’d found the idea on the internet, I knew it’d be perfect. After all, it was the bookmobile that had brought Mr. Dooney and Ms. Strickland together. He’d gone to the senior center to ask about a room for the arts and crafts fair, he’d met Ms. Strickland, and the rest was history.
“Very pretty,” Carmen’s mom said. “Just like you, mija.” She waved her hand at us. “All of you.”
“Thanks,” Emma and I said.
Just then, the DJ put on a song with a really good beat. Everyone flew to the dance floor and sang along with the lyrics. “We are family.”
“We should dance,” Emma said. She looked at Carmen’s mom. “All of us. It’ll be fun!”
I shook my head. “I don’t really dance.”
“What?” Emma took my hand, looked into my eyes, and smiled. “Juliet, come on. Please? We’ll be right there with you.”
How could I say no to that?
Carmen grabbed her mother’s and brother’s hands and gently pulled them toward the dance floor. We followed along, and when we got there, we formed a little circle. Before I knew what was happening, my body was moving to the beat. As we danced, Emma pointed her finger at each of us and sang along. “We are family.”
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