揧ep, and no one will even see her have it敆Lily nodded棑because she抣l be the only one left in the parking lot when the evening is done.?
揑 love it. Bravo to you girls for coming up with this amazing idea.?Haley clapped her hands.
揟he bar will foot the bill for the drinks, and we can take the microphones from the church out to the backyard so that your music will be heard all the way to the river and beyond. Please make peanut butter cookies. They抮e my favorite,?Jessica said.
揑 want chocolate chip,?Haley said. 揟hat抯 what I抳e been craving all week, and now I know why.?
揂ny other requests??Daisy asked. 揥e know that Mama likes sugar cookies. What about you, Mary Nell??
揅ookies and doughnuts are my absolute weakness, so I抣l eat whatever you make, but Daddy loves snickerdoodles,?Mary Nell answered.
揙kay, Sister, we抳e got our orders and permissions,?Lily said. 揘ow let抯 go upstairs and practice our cheer moves, and let these old ladies talk about babies.?
揙ld!?Jessica抯 voice went up an octave.
揧ou抮e lookin?forty right smack in the eyeball,?Daisy said. 揟hat抯 old.?
They each took a bottle of water from the refrigerator and escaped up the stairs before anyone could say anything else to them.
揗en, menopause, kids, divorces, deaths, friendships,?Jessica said. 揑t抯 a good thing we抳e got each other. My confession today is that y抋ll are right about this horrible crush I抳e got on Wade. I know it would be crazy for us to get involved.?
揥hy??Haley asked. 揘either of you are engaged, married, or dating someone else, are you??
揘o, but we are partners,?Jessica answered.
揥e can almost see the sparks between y抋ll when the two of you are in the room together, so your confession doesn抰 shock us like Haley抯 did,?Mary Nell said.
揙r like my girls?suggestion for the peaceful demonstration did.?Risa shook her head. 揥ho would have thought those two would come up with a plan like that??
揕ike mama, like daughters,?Jessica laughed. 揂nd I抳e been careful, so how did y抋ll know about the attraction I have for Wade??
揝isters know those things,?Haley answered.
揘othing can come of it,?Jessica declared with a sigh. 揕ike I said, we抮e partners, and it would be very awkward if we started something, then broke up.?
揧ou抣l never know unless you give it a try,?Risa said.
揑 believe the two of you are secure enough in your own selves that if you did break up, you could still be adult enough to make your partnership work,?Haley said.
揗e too,?Risa agreed.
揌onestly??Jessica asked.
揑 made a mess of my marriage, but that doesn抰 mean there抯 not a happy-ever-after out there for you,?Risa said.
揂nd I screwed up my relationship,?Mary Nell told her. 揑 should have walked out of that situation years ago, but somewhere down the road, I hope to find someone who still wants to have kids in our old age.?
Jessica turned to face Haley. 揥e are not old. We aren抰 even really middle-aged yet.?
揇on抰 look at me like that,?Haley said. 揑抣l be staring sixty in the eyes when this child graduates from high school, and that is old. But if there is a happy-ever-after floating around out there, I hope you find it. You deserve it for everything you抳e done for us.?
揗otherhood,?Risa said with a smile. 揗y mother sure gives us a role model in what not to be.?
揂nd, Risa, you give us a role model in what to be,?Haley said.
揌ere we are,?Jessica said. 揜isa is a mother with teenage girls. Haley is about to be a single mother. Mary Nell and I are jealous of you both because we want a family. We had great mothers, so we抳e got role models to go by. We抳e come a long way from those cheerleaders from twenty years ago, haven抰 we??
揝peaking of that,?Mary Nell said, 揑 got a letter from the homecoming committee reminding all former cheerleaders to get their forms sent in if they want to ride on the float. It was forwarded to me from my address in Nashville, and they抎 like to have our answers by July first.?
揘ot me,?Risa said. 揗y mother would throw raw eggs at me if I got on that float.?
揑f Risa isn抰 going to ride on it, then I抦 not,?Haley declared.
揙r me,?Jessica answered.
揝o the vote is unanimous. We will not be riding on the homecoming float for the cheerleaders,?Mary Nell said.
揙ne for all, and all for one.?Haley felt better than she had in weeks.
Chapter Eleven
The whole bar had smelled like fresh-baked cookies all day. Jessica, along with Oscar and Wade and the rest of the crew, had made several visits to the kitchen to grab one of their favorites right out of the oven. The twins had made cookies on Monday, but then they抎 gotten worried about having enough, so they had decided to make a few more on Tuesday. They were just finishing supper that evening when a crunch of gravel and the noise of several vehicles out in the parking lot signaled the arrival of lots and lots of cars.