Page 140 of Maple Mountain
“Speak for yourself,” Salem stated.“I’ll make it ‘til nine.”
“Just you wait,” Hadley muttered.“Your time will come.”
“Don’t think of it as a bachelorette party,” Poet said as she peeled the bananas and placed them into dishes.“Think of it as a cool-girl gang hang out.”
“I’m a cool girl?”Muddy asked as she opened the freezer and pulled out tubs of Hawthorne’s ice cream.
“The coolest girl,” Jane said with a smile.“We all want to be you when we grow up.”
“I’m not grown up,” Muddy stated.“If I ever grow up, someone shoot me.”
“So, what happens at bachelorette parties?”Lenni asked.“I’ve never been to one.”
“We eat junk food, watch movies, paint our toenails, and talk,” Poet said.
“How is that different than any other Friday night?”I asked in amusement.
“What movie are we watching?”Lenni asked.
“The Sound of Music,” Poet said.
“No way!”Lenni exclaimed.“That’s my favorite movie!”
“What a small world,” Poet said, shooting me a wink when Lenni wasn’t looking.
“Help me with these sundaes,” Muddy said to Lenni.
We trekked into the living room.Hadley and Salem were already on the couch, their feet propped up.We’d blown up an air mattress and threw pillows on top of it to make a pile.After passing around the banana splits, Muddy settled into her chair while Jane, Lenni and I took the air mattress.Poet sat in the ottoman chair that had been brought into the room just for the occasion.
Mildred slithered her way between me and Lenni while Fig and Tempest curled up next to Hadley and Salem.Lottie, true to her animal stereotype, went around to everyone in the room, clearly hoping for a sweet treat.
“Okay, are we ready to get it going?”Poet asked.
“Yep,” Salem said, her spoon clinking against her bowl.
Muddy picked up the remote.
A few moments later, the misty Swiss Alps appeared on screen.And when the French horns started to play, I couldn’t help the tears that filled my eyes.
Lenni looked at me.“Wyn, are you okay?”
“It’s my favorite movie too,” I said to her.“And I cry every time.”
She shot me a smile full of understanding, but then she returned her attention to the screen.
The first pee break happened just as Maria bowed in the empty ballroom.
“I love how he’s so grumpy at first,” Lenni said while Hadley was using the bathroom.
“I love that you find out he fell in love with her when she sat on the pinecone,” Poet said.
“That ridiculous pinecone,” Lenni recited.
“Let me guess, you know all the lyrics to ‘The Lonely Goatherd’, don’t you?”I teased.
“Heck yes,” Lenni said with a smile.“We have to sing along.It’s what I used to do with ...”
“Your mom?”I asked.
