care.
“Okay, let’s think up her comic book name,” Hannah suggested. “That’ll make you feel better.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“C’mon, you know you want to. How about ‘Rich E. McBitchy?’”
“She’s not bitchy, her sister is.”
“Yeah, but Gwyneth already has her comic book name. She’s Twiglet, the British Bumstick. Her super power is sucking all the fun out of a room just by entering it. She’s a member of the League of Fantastic Funsuckers.”
Maggie cracked a smile at that.
“That’s right,” Hannah said. “Now you’re back on board. Tell you what, Caroline can be ‘Stinky Megabucks.’”
“How about ‘Stinky Megabucks, the Vegan Menace?’”
“Perfect,” Hannah said. “I will enter that in the official handbook.”
Caroline had gone to school with Hannah, Maggie, and their cousin Claire, from kindergarten through seventh grade at Rose Hill Elementary, and the four had been inseparable. Mrs. Eldridge may have looked down her nose at the local girls, with their hand-me-down play clothes and clumsy way around her fine china, but they were Caroline’s only friends, so she tolerated them.
The summer after seventh grade Caroline’s brother Brad drowned, and their mother used that as an excuse to send her youngest daughter to boarding school. Caroline came back each summer and palled around with Hannah, Maggie, and Claire, but as much as they loved her, she grew up in a much different culture, with different types of friends and interests than those of her small town counterparts. They saw less and less of her until, after her father passed away and her mother went back to England, she rarely came back to Rose Hill.
Maggie had once driven to Dulles airport in DC to see Caroline during a long flight layover after Caroline called and begged her to. Maggie ended up holding her friend’s backpack for forty-five minutes while Caroline argued with the boyfriend who had come to the airport expecting to join her on the next leg of her trip, only to get dumped as soon as he arrived. When he got there, he found out Caroline was actually going with a man she’d met at the Glastonbury Music Festival in England the week before. The new boyfriend drank in the airport lounge while the old boyfriend, who had turned down a prestigious internship and sublet his apartment in order to go on this trip, cried in front of everyone at the departure gate. Maggie couldn’t remember the dumped boyfriend’s name, but the new one from London was memorably named “Giles Thripps-Maythorne III.” Maggie had later named a goldfish after him.
Caroline’s setups sometimes included Hannah as well. One summer Caroline invited Maggie and Hannah for a week-long stay on the outer banks of North Carolina, but once the two got down there, they discovered a house full of Caroline’s hard partying, condescending friends from college. Alarmed and repulsed by all the pretentious posing, cocaine snorting, and partner swapping that took place on the first night, they had driven home early the next morning.
“Your trouble is,” Hannah said, as she pointed a fork full of hash browns at Maggie, “you keep expecting her to be like you and me, when she’s nothing like us.”
“I know,” Maggie said, “and I know that shouldn’t matter so much.”
After lunch, Maggie checked in at the bookstore, and Jeanette came to her with a concerned look on her face.
“Your friend Caroline came in and got a big stack of books,” she said quietly. “I mean hundreds of dollars worth. She said you wouldn’t care.”
Maggie’s hurt feelings zoomed into anger, and she took a few moments to calm her temper before she spoke.
“The next time Caroline comes in, tell her she needs to see me before she takes anything else. Also, please total up everything she’s taken so far, and give her an invoice, due upon receipt.”
Maggie could tell Jeanette was pleased with her answer, but she didn’t go into it with
“Okay, let’s think up her comic book name,” Hannah suggested. “That’ll make you feel better.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“C’mon, you know you want to. How about ‘Rich E. McBitchy?’”
“She’s not bitchy, her sister is.”
“Yeah, but Gwyneth already has her comic book name. She’s Twiglet, the British Bumstick. Her super power is sucking all the fun out of a room just by entering it. She’s a member of the League of Fantastic Funsuckers.”
Maggie cracked a smile at that.
“That’s right,” Hannah said. “Now you’re back on board. Tell you what, Caroline can be ‘Stinky Megabucks.’”
“How about ‘Stinky Megabucks, the Vegan Menace?’”
“Perfect,” Hannah said. “I will enter that in the official handbook.”
Caroline had gone to school with Hannah, Maggie, and their cousin Claire, from kindergarten through seventh grade at Rose Hill Elementary, and the four had been inseparable. Mrs. Eldridge may have looked down her nose at the local girls, with their hand-me-down play clothes and clumsy way around her fine china, but they were Caroline’s only friends, so she tolerated them.
The summer after seventh grade Caroline’s brother Brad drowned, and their mother used that as an excuse to send her youngest daughter to boarding school. Caroline came back each summer and palled around with Hannah, Maggie, and Claire, but as much as they loved her, she grew up in a much different culture, with different types of friends and interests than those of her small town counterparts. They saw less and less of her until, after her father passed away and her mother went back to England, she rarely came back to Rose Hill.
Maggie had once driven to Dulles airport in DC to see Caroline during a long flight layover after Caroline called and begged her to. Maggie ended up holding her friend’s backpack for forty-five minutes while Caroline argued with the boyfriend who had come to the airport expecting to join her on the next leg of her trip, only to get dumped as soon as he arrived. When he got there, he found out Caroline was actually going with a man she’d met at the Glastonbury Music Festival in England the week before. The new boyfriend drank in the airport lounge while the old boyfriend, who had turned down a prestigious internship and sublet his apartment in order to go on this trip, cried in front of everyone at the departure gate. Maggie couldn’t remember the dumped boyfriend’s name, but the new one from London was memorably named “Giles Thripps-Maythorne III.” Maggie had later named a goldfish after him.
Caroline’s setups sometimes included Hannah as well. One summer Caroline invited Maggie and Hannah for a week-long stay on the outer banks of North Carolina, but once the two got down there, they discovered a house full of Caroline’s hard partying, condescending friends from college. Alarmed and repulsed by all the pretentious posing, cocaine snorting, and partner swapping that took place on the first night, they had driven home early the next morning.
“Your trouble is,” Hannah said, as she pointed a fork full of hash browns at Maggie, “you keep expecting her to be like you and me, when she’s nothing like us.”
“I know,” Maggie said, “and I know that shouldn’t matter so much.”
After lunch, Maggie checked in at the bookstore, and Jeanette came to her with a concerned look on her face.
“Your friend Caroline came in and got a big stack of books,” she said quietly. “I mean hundreds of dollars worth. She said you wouldn’t care.”
Maggie’s hurt feelings zoomed into anger, and she took a few moments to calm her temper before she spoke.
“The next time Caroline comes in, tell her she needs to see me before she takes anything else. Also, please total up everything she’s taken so far, and give her an invoice, due upon receipt.”
Maggie could tell Jeanette was pleased with her answer, but she didn’t go into it with
Similar Books
