June 1985
“Honestly, Lynn,” said Cassidy Ayala, wiping her eyes. “That sense of humor of yours will be the death of me yet!”
Lynn Harless allowed herself a giggle. “The things I tell you girls. It’s lucky we’re such good friends.”
On the other side of her Charlotte Desrosiers smiled and tucked her long dark hair behind her ears. Abigail Bomar was chuckling and shaking her head, rocking gently in one of the four occupied rocking chairs on the large wrap-around porch of the Desrosiers house.
She looked out across the vast lawn at her daughter and her friends playing near the garden. They were friends. Really good friends. Best friends even. There wasn’t a time Abigail saw her daughter without those three by her side, they were practically joined at the hip.
It was a typical early summer day in Memphis, Tennessee. Light, bright, and not a cloud in the sky. The kids played in the yard while their mothers sat on the porch, sipping sweet iced tea and telling stories of the past and the present in their large rocking chairs, their laughter mixing in with the light breeze that wrapped around all of them.
“Our lives wouldn’t nearly be—mettre la pierre vers le bas!” Charlotte suddenly yelled. The young dark haired girl looked across the yard at her mother. Only when she saw the hard stare in her mother’s green eyes did she sigh and put the rock she had lifted over her head down, turning to pull at a flower instead. “I was going to say our lives wouldn’t nearly be as interesting if we weren’t friends but now I think I wouldn’t have as many heart attacks,” she mumbled, rubbing her temples while the other three women laughed.
“It’s amazing how fast they’re growing up,” Cassidy commented, squeezing a lemon slice into her iced tea. “Next thing you know they’ll be in high school.”
“They’ll be going to Homecoming and Prom,” Lynn added dreamily.
“And then they’ll be married with their own children,” Abigail sighed. She brought her glass to her mouth and took a sip of the sweet and tangy drink. She lightly smacked her lips and followed her eyes to Trace who was laughing gleefully while throwing dirt at Rachel and Mack. Justin sat back and watched, laughing all the while. Rachel started screaming and shielding her face. Mack simply reached into the dirt and threw handfuls back. “I can’t wait until they get married.”
“Lynn can’t either,” Charlotte joked. “She’s already planning Justin’s wedding. Right down to the suit designer he’d use.”
“Lynn, you didn’t!” Cassidy laughed, covering her mouth with her hand.
“What? Justin deserves it,” Lynn defended herself, taking a sip of her tea. “And he’s a boy; he won’t care what he looks like so it’s up to me to care.”
“Oh, Lynn.”
“You can’t tell me you haven’t thought of Trace’s wedding day.”
Cassidy lifted her hand and shook her head. “Shoot, can’t think about marriage with him. Gotta worry about keeping the little ringleader’s behind outta trouble. Don’t have much time to think about anything else.” She leaned forward in her seat. “What about you, Char?”
Charlotte laughed. “Won’t be thinking about marriage in my family for a while,” she replied, her hands clasped over her stomach. “Not with my little tomboy.”
“Oh she’ll grow out of that,” Abigail said with a wave of her hand.
“Hopefully soon,” Charlotte commented, watching her daughter shove Trace and then turn to Rachel to help brush the dirt out of her hair. “I can’t wait to see her walk down the aisle.”
“Unfortunately they have to get through life before they get there,” Lynn sighed.
“I have faith in them. They’ll get through anything that comes their way together, just you wait and see,” Cassidy said.
