Alexis Gets Frosted by Coco Simon Page A

presentations.

    That afternoon we all gathered at Katie’s to do our weekend baking. I was feeling so relaxed, with everything resolved with Olivia, my project finished and turned in, and a handful of fun surprises lined up for my mom’s birthday.
    I did Mona’s minis today, since Emma wanted to work on some of the new recipes—the strawberry shortcakes and the apple-cinnamon cupcakes in particular. Mia fried the bacon, and Katie colored the pink frosting for the ballerina cupcakes, and we were like an efficient, well-oiled machine.
    â€œWe’ve really got the assembly-line thing down!” I said later as we stood in a row frosting cupcakes at the counter. “Henry Ford would be proud!”
    â€œWhy? Who’s he?” asked Katie.
    â€œThe car guy who invented the assembly line!” I said.
    â€œHey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Whatever happened with Olivia?” asked Mia.
    â€œYeah!” agreed Katie. “We never heard another peep from you about it.”
    I hesitated, tempted to tell them the whole story, but then I decided to be a duck and let it roll off my back. “You know, I think we buried the hatchet,” I said, shrugging casually.
    â€œHow?” asked Emma.
    â€œWe acted like ducks!” I said, and then I laughed maniacally.
    Everyone started quacking, and that was the end of the discussion.

    Early Saturday morning I went with Emma to deliver the mini cupcakes to Mona and then the apple-cinnamon ones to the baby shower for Jake’s old teacher. Emma came home with me afterward to help set up the little birthday lunch my dad was organizing for my mom. The Taylors would be coming later (hopefully with Matt, but he might have a game), and two of Mom’s other good friends and their families, and my grandparents, of course.
    Dylan had bought a really cute pink tablecloth and napkins and party plates with a ballerina theme, and she was making her specialty: tea sandwiches (four kinds: turkey, cucumber, egg salad, and tomato), and we’d have iced tea and coffee and chips, and then the cupcakes. It was going to be great!
    My dad had just returned from the framer’s when we walked in. “Oh good! I was just going to wrap these, but now you can see them first. Look!” He was really pleased, I could tell.
    He pulled two large matching picture frames out of a shopping bag. The first one had my mom’s yellow gingham dress with the pear on it, framed in a pretty yellow wooden shadowbox. It was cute and cheerful. In the lower right corner of the frame was the photo of my mom in the dress, all cute and scraggly and messy. The second frame was pink, of course, and had a pink tulle ballet skirt of my mom’s that my grandma had also found, with the ballerina picture of my mom in the lower right corner. The two framed items made a pretty matched set. My dad planned to move some things around, so we could hang them in our den, above the sofa.
    I hugged him. “Oh, Dad! They look amazing! She’ll love them!”
    â€œAnd the dollhouse!” he said.
    â€œAnd the dollhouse!” I agreed.
    â€œI also got her a little charm for her charm bracelet,” he said with a mischievous grin.
    â€œCute! What is it?” I asked.
    But he wagged his finger at me. “You’ll have to wait and see!”

    At the party, my mom had a great time. She loved all the pink decorations and the food, and the dollhouse was a huge hit with everyone! My dad had set it up in the living room for the party, and my mom was so surprised when she saw it. I personally couldn’t wait to spend some time on it with her; one thing I wanted to find was a platter of tiny cupcakes for the little kitchen.
    Speaking of cupcakes, when I explained to her the different kinds of cupcakes we’d made for the party and how they represented different parts of her life, she gave me a huge hug and got a little teary.
    â€œAlexis, you are so special. Thank