The Friends We Keep

Hayley and Morgan couldn’t be more physically different. While Hayley was small-boned, blonde and of average height, Morgan was tall, curvy and dark-haired. She had a vibrancy about her. When she walked into a room, she commanded attention. Usually it was just to complain, but still. People knew she was there.

Hayley was eleven months older. All through school, she’d heard the same thing. “Hayley was such a smart girl. So quiet. I had no idea Morgan would be so different.” That was usually followed by a knowing chuckle. Sure, Morgan didn’t get the grades, but she was a pistol. Stubborn, difficult, yet compelling. Morgan had a way of getting everything she wanted. It was a lesson Hayley wished she’d also learned—maybe then she would have a couple of kids of her own. As it was, she had a failing reproductive system and a niece and two nephews.

“Sometimes I wish they’d all just go away,” Morgan admitted. “And leave me in peace.”

“You don’t mean that,” Hayley said, as she put out the spices for the chicken cacciatore station. “You love your family.”

“I do, it’s just something... I don’t know. I guess we all want what we don’t have.” She walked toward the office. “I need to do some paperwork before the idiots arrive. You’ll have the stations set up?”

“I will.”

“Good. It’s nice to know there’s someone I can depend on.”





Chapter Eight

The giggling from upstairs was loud. Amazing, considering there were several layers of wood, drywall and even full rooms between them, Gabby thought. But here she was, in the kitchen, still able to hear the teenagers giggling.

She and her siblings were close enough in age that her mother had had as many as three teenagers at a time in the house. How had she stood it?

“Mom, you’re even more amazing than I’d realized,” she said, as she pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven.

The twins were watching a movie in the family room. Both girls had played hard at camp that morning and were exhausted. A happy state of affairs, Gabby thought. Jasmine and Boomer were both enjoying the Disney retrospective going on, as well. Makayla was up in her room with a couple of girlfriends. Gabby was caught up with laundry, she’d gone for a walk that morning and had yet to eat a cookie. All in all, it had been a spectacular day.

Now she put two peanut butter cookies onto a plate and took it in to the twins.

The girls thanked her, as did Boomer. He thumped his tail enthusiastically.

“Please don’t give him too much,” she told the girls.

She filled another plate and headed up the stairs. As a rule, teenage hunger seemed to grow in direct proportion to the fun they were having. Based on what she’d been hearing, Makayla and her friends had to be starving.

But as she approached the closed door, she realized there wasn’t any sound at all. It was as if everyone had left. But wouldn’t she have heard them go? They usually called out that they were leaving, plus just a few minutes ago, she’d heard the laughing.

“You girls must be starving,” she said as she opened the door.

Only there weren’t the three girls she’d let into the house two hours ago. There was only Makayla and Boyd. Sitting on her bed. Kissing.

They immediately jumped apart. Boyd stood and took several steps back. Makayla rose and got between Gabby and the boy.

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you knock?”

This wasn’t happening, Gabby told herself. It couldn’t be.

“When did you get here?” she asked Boyd, trying to appear calm. “I didn’t see you come in.”

Nor had she heard the other girls leave, she thought again. Had they snuck him in and then disappeared?

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

“Nothing.” Makayla’s voice was defiant. She glared at Gabby. “This is my room.”

“Yeah, I know that. And you know the rules. No boys in your room. Boyd, you need to go home now.”

He nodded and walked past Makayla without saying anything.

“You ruin everything,” Makayla yelled at her. “Everything.”

“Then my day is complete. No boys in your room. Are we clear?”

Makayla nodded sullenly.

Gabby thought about adding she would be talking to Andrew later, but wasn’t sure that was much of a threat. Still, she had to say something.

“No friends over for the rest of the week.”

Makayla rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ll just go there.”

To which Gabby couldn’t say anything because she wasn’t allowed to ground Makayla on her own. Andrew had made that very clear. Because Makayla was his daughter, not theirs. Not that she was allowed to say that, either. Talk about a one-way road to disaster.

So no grounding, but she could withhold cookies, she told herself. A small, petty act, but it was all she had. She carried the plate back out and headed down the stairs.

A boy in her room. That was bad. Makayla was a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl. Maybe hormones weren’t ruling life yet, but they were making a run at it.

Once back in her kitchen, she told herself she was overreacting. That everything was fine. The trick was making herself believe it.

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