Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Bea pulls in a breath, letting it out slowly as she nods. “Yeah. There are. We’ll figure this out. Together.”
“Together,” we agree.
“And Makena and Elly will be here tonight,” I tell Nix. “They’re bringing dinner and games to boost morale.”
And boost it they do, in ways none of us expected…
It’s just after six when an air-horn blast rattles the entire house, sending us leaping from our spots on the couch and dashing to the dining room window.
As I pull back the curtain, my jaw drops and Nix instantly begins to laugh.
“Holy hell, she’s going to wreck your grass.” He laughs harder as Mack’s bigger, even food-babe-bossier new truck—the one she got to expand her business while the old one is being deep-cleaned—hops the curb and charges into the middle of my lawn.
With a hiss of air brakes, she parks the massive vehicle parallel to the house, creating a twenty-foot-long, ten-foot-high wall of steel between my living room windows and the street.
I can’t see them, but I can hear the reporters putting up a fuss as Makena hops out of the driver’s seat and circles around the front. She’s wearing bright yellow overalls and combat boots and flips the reporters the double bird with a smile that banishes all concerns about my stupid grass.
New sod will cost a couple hundred bucks.
But a friend like this? Priceless.
Mack opens the passenger’s side door and Elly climbs out, handing her two big grocery bags before taking Mimi’s hand. For her part, seven-year-old Mimi looks every bit as thrilled as her auntie Makena to be creating chaos. Her eyes shine and her dark curls bounce with extra sass as she leads the march up the porch steps.
I open the front door before she can knock, beaming down at her. “Welcome, guys! I see you brought the party.”
“And games!” Mimi says, holding up her tote bag. “And coloring, too. We’re going to have so much fun!”
“And so much food,” Makena adds, breezing inside behind Mimi with her giant bags, trailing a truly mouth-watering scent behind her. “I made ten of everything.”
“And I brought dessert,” Elly adds, lifting her foil-covered cake pan. “It’s just sheet cake, but my buttercream icing is nearly as good as Mack’s.”
“Only because I gave you my recipe,” Makena calls from the kitchen before adding to Beatrice, “Come on, Bea. Pop that wine, girl. It’s definitely wine o’clock right here in the Big Easy.”
“We should play Rabbids, Nix,” Mimi says from the living room, where Elly is helping her plug in a battered-looking gaming system. “It’s the funniest game ever. It’s impossible to be sad when you’re playing Rabbids. And you can be the one who screams!”
Nix nods warmly before announcing, “The one who screams is my favorite.”
Just like that, the bunker becomes a party.
We eat gumbo and po’ boys around the coffee table and take turns playing the most ridiculous video game I’ve ever seen. We drink wine and sweet tea and then wine again, because…why not? Makena, Elly, and Mimi brought things to sleep over in my other guest room, so no one has to drive.
Honestly, by the time Mimi starts yawning around nine p.m., I’ve decided adult sleepovers—with bonus Mimi, of course—are too much fun to be reserved for times of trial. We need to get one of these on the books at least once or twice a year.
I’m about to head upstairs with Elly to show her where Mimi can brush her teeth so she’s ready to be carried straight to bed if she falls asleep watching the next movie, when Beatrice comes downstairs, fresh from her shower.
She’s in pajamas, her damp hair coiled atop her head, and her guitar in hand. Her eyes are shining, but not with fear or sadness or even rage.
She looks…inspired, determined. Like a woman with a plan, a fact she proves as she announces to the room at large, “I just booked studio space for Thursday afternoon. Two of Blue’s musician friends are going to meet me there to play drums and lead rhythm guitar, and I’m going to record a song. My first solo song ever!”
Makena breaks into applause first, joined quickly by the rest of us, but Beatrice shushes us with a blushing wave. “Thank you, but I don’t need applause. I was just hoping I could play it for you guys. I want the people I love to be the first to hear it. Because you’re the best.”
Nix nods, setting his wine down on the coffee table. “Yeah, Bea. Please. It would be an honor.”
“A complete honor,” I agree.
Makena and Elly murmur their agreement as Mimi whispers, “I’m so excited. I’ve never been the first person to hear a new song before!”
“Me, either, bean,” Elly says, laughing as she pulls Mimi into her lap, kissing her cheek. “I’m so glad I get to do it with you.”