by Coco Simon
“I think so,” I said.
Emma looked over Alexis’s shoulder. “Oh, look! It’s tiny Katie!”
“Let me see,” I said, and Alexis passed the album over to me. There was a picture of me in first grade, with my best friend Callie and three other girls from my class. We were sitting around my kitchen table, and I was about to blow out candles on a birthday cake with chocolate frosting.
“Oh wow,” I said, “I forgot about that party.” I looked through the album. There was me running under the sprinkler in the front yard. And me opening presents under the Christmas tree. And me sitting on Grandma Carole’s lap in the rocking chair in the living room. So many, many memories! How could I ever leave this place?
And then, just like that, I wasn’t fine with it anymore. My eyes filled with tears again. “I’m going to miss this house,” I sobbed. “I love the new house and my new room and everything, but this house has been my whole life. I have so many memories here!”
“Just think of all the new memories you’ll make in the new house,” Alexis said.
“Right,” Emma agreed. “And you’ll be making them with a whole new family. A family that tiny Katie never thought she would have.”
“Emma, that’s so deep,” I said, and I did that thing where you’re crying but you laugh and it sounds like a hiccup. “You guys need to be part of those memories. You both and Mia!”
Then I started crying again. “This is terrible! How can I be happy and sad at the same time?”
Alexis pulled me up from the floor. “Calm down, Katie,” she said. “I know what you need. Let’s bring some of these boxes downstairs.”
We each carried a box down from the attic and sat at the kitchen table. Alexis opened the carrier and handed me a cupcake.
“Take a deep breath. Then take a bite,” Emma instructed, and I obeyed. The sweetness of the cupcake immediately made me feel a little better.
“Ah,” I said. “The cupcake cure. See? I’m not crying.”
“Those claims are not verified by the FDA,” Alexis joked. “But I’m pretty sure you’re right.”
Mom came into the kitchen. “Hi, girls! Katie, that kitchen table is being loaded up next.”
The three of us jumped up and moved the cupcakes and the doughnuts onto the counter. Then we went back up to the attic and finished packing. I avoided looking at the photo albums this time. We needed to say focused!
After the furniture truck was packed, Jeff followed them to the new house, and Jeff’s friends André and Bill came by with a small-box truck. Emma and Alexis stayed to help us move boxes from the house to the truck, and Bill stacked them on to it. After the box truck was filled, we filled Bill’s pickup truck and Mom’s trunk.
“Katie, check the house. Did we get everything?” Mom asked.
I jogged through every room of the house, silently thanking each one. When I finished, I picked up my backpack, and Alexis and Emma grabbed whatever cupcakes were left. I locked the door behind me, and we piled into Mom’s car.
It was only a fifteen-minute drive to the new house, and the furniture guys were already busy moving stuff in. Then André and Bill got to work unloading the boxes with Jeff. Alexis and Emma helped, and then we all took a break when Alexis’s mom brought over some sub sandwiches at lunchtime. Apparently she’d heard that we were pizza’d out.
“Katie, your furniture is set up in your room, and I think most of your boxes are up there,” Jeff said. “Why don’t you, Alexis, and Emma start setting things up the way you want them?”
“Sounds good to me,” I agreed, and the three of us made our way up there.
The room already looked different with my dresser, desk, bookshelf, and bed in place. The first thing I did was open the bag with my sheets, pillows, and bedspread, and we set up the bed. Then I flopped down on it.
“I’m done!” I announced, and Emma joined me. Alexis picked up a box marked STUFFED ANIMALS.
“Honestly, Katie, where are you going to put all these?” Alexis asked.
“Put them on me,” I said. “They bring me joy!”
“What do you mean?” Alexis asked.
“PUT THEM ON ME!” I said loudly, collapsing into giggles.
Emma jumped up and tore open the box. Then she and Alexis dumped all the stuffed animals on top of me.
“So much joy!” I cried, and soon we were all cracking up hysterically.
Mom appeared in the doorway. She took in the three of us howling with laughter and me covered in stuffed animals. “All right, you three are clearly exhausted. Let’s call it a day! Alexis and Emma, thank you so much for your hard work today. Is it okay if I drive you home?”
“No problem, Mrs. B,” Alexis said. “I’ve got to go work on your seating chart.”
Mom shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it, Alexis,” she said. “Katie, I’ll be right back.”
I hugged my friends good-bye, and then I climbed back onto the bed with the stuffed animals. I chilled out and listened as the guys carried stuff through the house. After a while I got up and tried to unpack a box, but I gave up. I walked back downstairs and helped Jeff and his friends move boxes.
* * *
It only took a couple more hours to get everything into the house. Mom, Jeff, and I ate the leftover subs, and then Mom and Jeff talked on the porch for a little while. Later, Mom came in and sat down next to me.
“Same table, different house,” she said. “What do you think, Katie?”
“I think we have a lot of unpacking to do,” I said, and she ruffled my hair.
“You’ve been working so hard, and I’m so grateful to you,” she said. “Don’t worry. I have off again this week, and I’ll get a lot put away while you’re at school. And Mia’s mom is coming to help tomorrow.”
I stood up and stretched. “I think I need to go to sleep.”
“I’ll walk you up,” Mom said, and she waited while I got into pj’s and brushed my teeth, and then she tucked me into bed, piling more stuffed animals on top of me while I laughed.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.
“I think so,” I said. “Love you, Mom.”
“Love you, too, Katie,” she replied.
I took one long look around the room. My first night in my new room in my new home, I thought. And I didn’t feel the least bit sad. I was fine again. I imagined it might be this way for a little while, with happiness and homesickness coming in waves.
Then I curled up with my stuffed animals and fell into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER 10 I Have a Date for the Wedding!
W hen I stepped on the bus Monday morning, it was about half as full as usual. That’s because I got on the bus earlier now, which meant I had to wake up earlier from now on. But it meant more time with Mia, so it all evened out.
“Katie!” Mia cried happily when she saw me. “How’d it go? I wanted to stay here and help, but Dad is letting me stay in Maple Grove already for the wedding, and …”
“It’s fine,” I assured her. “Emma said you were busy working on my dress, anyway.”
Mia smiled. “Oh, Katie, you’re going to love it! I’ve still got a lot to do, but I know I’ll get it finished in time. I’m going to spend all this weekend working on it. I’m in design mode!”
I nodded. “Now that the move is over, we’re in wedding mode from now on. There’s a ton of stuff to unpack, but we’re not sweating it. Plus, your mom came over and helped my mom unpack the kitchen, and that’s the most important room in the house, anyway.”
“Mom was saying that we should bake the wedding cupcakes at our house, the day before the wedding,” Mia said. “To give you guys a break.”
“That’s probably smart,” I said. “Mom’s pretty calm now, but who knows what she’ll be like right before the wedding?”
The bus stopped, and George got on. He strolled down the aisle and sat in the empty seat behind me and Mia. I realized then that I had never asked him to the wedding to help with the cupcakes. Mia gave m
e a look, and I leaned over the seat to talk to him.
“Hey, you’re back in your seat,” I said. George hadn’t sat behind us since that day Ken was sick.
“Hey, you’re on the bus early,” he said.
“Yeah, I moved,” I told him.
His eyes got wide. “So fast? I thought you were busy with the wedding?”
“I was—am,” I said. “But Mom and Jeff bought a house, and then Mom had this idea that we should move in early. So we did this weekend.”
“Wow, moving’s not easy,” he said. “Where are you living now?”
“By the park,” I told him. Then I changed the subject and asked him something I’d been afraid to ask. “Are we cool? I feel like you’ve been avoiding me lately.”
George looked surprised. “Of course we’re cool,” he replied. “I just figured you were busy with the wedding and you needed some space. You’ve seemed kind of stressed lately, and you were too busy to hang out. But I get it. You’ve got a lot going on right now.”
I laughed. “I thought you were the one who needed some space from me.”
George laughed too. “I guess from now on we should talk about stuff. I mean, that’s what friends do, right?”
“Right,” I said, and I felt my cheeks getting warm. George is a friend, yeah, but I also feel as though I like like him sometimes, which is nice—but can be confusing.
“So, I was wondering if you would be able to help us with the cupcakes at the wedding,” I said. “Not, like, working the whole time because you could, you know, eat and—” George wouldn’t even let me finish the sentence.
“I’d love to come!” he said. “I’ll do whatever you need. And if I get a break, I’ll bust some moves on the dance floor for you.”
“I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep up with me,” I told him. “I have had a professional lesson. I can move from side to side and swing my arms.”
“Did you say ‘swing my arms’? You’d better be careful on the dance floor, Katie,” George teased. “You might give somebody a black eye!”
I shook my head and turned back in my seat, but I was smiling. Mia squeezed my hand and nodded approvingly at me. I pictured myself dancing with George in my beautiful new dress. For the first time, I started thinking about how fun the wedding was going to be!
* * *
Once the move was over, everything became eerily calm for Mom and me. Because we were right across from the park, she and I were able to run together every morning. It was a great way to work off wedding anxiety, and I got to spend extra time with Mom too.
The last few days of school were busy with exams at first, and then when exams were over, we did things like watch movies in class. Homework stopped, and at night Mom and I slowly worked on getting the house ready for Jeff and Emily. Jeff came over one night to paint Emily’s room pale pink, and I helped. He was pretty impressed with my W technique.
* * *
Finally, it was the day before the wedding. Grandma Carole and Grandpa Chuck showed up at the new house that Friday afternoon.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” I cried, and I raced down the steps for a group hug. Grandma Carole looked up at the house.
“Well, this is just lovely,” she said. “Do you like it, Katie?”
“I love it,” I told her. “Come on. Let me show you my room!”
Before we could get to my room, we ran into Mom, and there was a lot of hugging and crying and stuff. Especially my mom and grandma. They just looked at each other and got weepy and hugged for a really long time.
“You know, I never even asked where you were going to stay,” Mom told her parents. “Do you want to take Katie’s room?”
“We booked a hotel room in Stonebrook,” Grandpa Chuck replied. “We figured the house might not be ready for guests.”
“And I reached out to Jeff’s mom on Facebook,” Grandma Carole said. “We’ve got dinner reservations tonight at seven for all of us. I know you didn’t want a rehearsal dinner, but …”
Mom hugged Grandma Carole. “No, that’s perfect. Thank you!” she said. “Have you checked in to your hotel yet?”
Grandma shook her head.
“Then maybe you could give Katie a ride to Mia’s house on your way?” Mom asked. “She and her friends are baking the wedding cupcakes this afternoon.”
“Wait until you see them,” I promised my grandparents. “They’re going to be amazing.”
“Of course they are,” Grandma Carole said. “You are an amazing baker!”
I showed Grandma and Grandpa my room, and they had lots of nice things to say about the paint job and my school grades and how beautiful I was going to be as a maid of honor. They are really great for my self-esteem!
* * *
Then they dropped me off at Mia’s. When I walked in, I could hear Dan and Sebastian playing guitar in the basement. Mia, Emma, and Alexis were already in the kitchen.
“Katie! Can you believe tomorrow is finally the big day?” Emma asked.
“It doesn’t seem real,” I admitted. “But I think I’m kind of excited. It’s about time! Up until now I was just kind of nervous.”
“Awesome, Katie!” Mia said.
“Okay, Cupcakers, we have ten dozen cupcakes to bake,” Alexis said. “I’m thinking we should get the dozen gluten-free out of the way first, and make sure we label them and keep them separate.”
“Sounds good,” Mia said. Then she winked at Alexis and Emma. “First, I need to show Katie something.”
Alexis and Emma smiled at each other, like they knew something I didn’t. I quickly figured it out when Mia brought me up to her room. There, on a dress form, was my beautiful dress!
I gasped. It was even prettier than Mia’s sketch. The pink color was more like a soft rose, the delicate cap sleeves looked dreamy, and there was a shiny satin sash around the waist in a deeper pink. “And look!” Mia said, and she lifted up the dress to show me the hem.
The very bottom of the dress had a tiny border, less than a half an inch thick. It was a sparkly, sheer, gossamer material that had all the colors of the rainbow! It added a tiny shimmer to the dress and made it look even more magical.
“I was almost finished with the dress,” Mia said. “And then this shiny rainbow material caught my eye. And I thought ‘I have to add a rainbow to Katie’s dress! She always says rainbow is her favorite color!’ ”
My eyes filled with tears again, and this time they were only happy tears. “Mia, I can’t believe you made this for me,” I said. “You are so talented!”
“The best part about making it was making it for you,” Mia said. “I can’t wait to see you in it, Katie.”
I hugged her. “Thank you sooooo much.”
Mia left the room, and I tried on the dress. It fit perfectly. I called her back in, and we stood in front of the mirror together. I couldn’t believe how awesome I looked! And I do not like wearing dresses.
“Maybe you could put your hair up,” Mia said, pulling my hair into a bun with her hand.
“Joanne from Mom’s office is doing our hair and makeup tomorrow morning,” I said. “I’ll see what she thinks.”
I looked at myself in the mirror and sighed. “I don’t want to take it off.”
“Well, you’d better, unless you want to get frosting all over it,” Mia said.
“I almost forgot why I came here!” I said. “We’ve got a hundred and twenty cupcakes to bake!”
CHAPTER 11 The Big Day
We baked, we frosted, and we decorated. We hadn’t finished with all the cupcakes when Mom came with Grandma and Grandpa to go out to dinner.
“I should stay until we’re done,” I said.
Alexis gave me a shove. “You are done! From this point on, you only need to worry about the wedding. Now go!”
I knew she was right, but there was one thing I had to do. I hugged Alexis, Emma, and Mia one by one.
“You are the best friends ever,” I said.
Mia brushed the flour off my jeans. �
�We love you, Katie. Now get out of here!”
I ran out to the car, and we went out to eat with Jeff and Emily and Jeff’s parents, Leslie and James. It was nice, but the restaurant was loud and there was a lot of talking and I was soooo tired from all the cupcake baking. I was glad when Grandma and Grandpa finally dropped Mom and me off at the house.
* * *
My phone alarm woke me up at seven. The wedding day was finally here! I went downstairs and found Mom in sweats and a T-shirt, drinking coffee. She looked relieved to see me. She was a little paler than usual.
“You’re up early,” she said.
“It’s the big day!” I said. “Are you nervous?”
“Very,” Mom replied. “Want to go for a run?”
I grinned. A few minutes later Mom and I were on the trail. The sky was blue and a cool breeze was blowing. We did our usual route, which takes about thirty minutes, but before we got to the house, we stopped in front of the lake and sat on a bench.
“Katie, I just want to say how proud I am of you for how mature you’ve been through this whole process,” Mom said. “Thank you.”
“I’m happy for you,” I said. “That’s the most important thing. I love you.”
Mom hugged me. “I love you, too, Katie, more than the moon and the sun and the stars and the sky!” She was crying now. “No matter what happens today, tomorrow, or anytime in between, you are the most important thing in the world to me. You will always come first in my life.”
Those were the exact words I needed to hear, and I took them in without saying anything. Mom and I walked back to the house. I remembered the two envelopes Mom gave me and said not to open until the wedding day.
“Mom, you said I should open those two envelopes today,” I said. “Should I open them now?”
“That’s a good idea,” she replied. “Do you want to be alone?”
I shook my head. “No, stay with me.”