“OKAY, LADIES. THE COLLIN PRINCE fan club session has now come to order.”
Madison rapped her gavel onto my bedpost. We were meeting at my house, the day after the wedding, as her mother was working on yet another remodel project for some sort of magazine photo shoot. Madison swore her mother changed her house around so many times—one day she’d get lost coming home, not recognizing it.
“The Collin Prince funeral session, you mean,” Kalani said mournfully. She poked her stomach. “Thanks to you, you dumb, taco-hating belly.”
Madison gave me a rueful look. “Sorry, Hailey. I know we all let you down.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “We gave it our best try. And it’s not like we didn’t make money. We should try to find something fun to do with it. Or maybe just save it for now,” I added, thinking of Ginny and her college fund. You never knew when hard times could hit, and it couldn’t hurt to have a little extra stashed away, just in case.
“What are we going to do with the dresses?” Sarah asked. “ ’Cause mine is taking up a lot of closet space.”
“Maybe we could sell them back to the thrift store?” Kalani suggested. “We could get credit to buy some more practical stuff we might actually wear again.”
I glanced over at my closet. At my dress, which still hung from a hanger on the door. My heart squeezed a little. It was so beautiful, even if it was a little impractical. (Okay, fine, a lot impractical.) The idea of getting rid of it made me sad. But what else were we supposed to do with them? It wasn’t like we’d ever have an opportunity to wear them. And they would just end up gathering dust and taking up room.
“I guess you’re right,” I said after a pause. I offered them to Ginny since they’re taking over the business, but she said they’d get their own. “I can see if my stepmother can drive us to the thrift store later today.”
We looked up to see that Nancy had stepped into the room. She smiled at us. “Sorry to intrude,” she said. “I just thought you girls might be hungry.” She held out a plate of cookies, which we eagerly grabbed. After taking a bite and swallowing it, I turned to my stepmother.
“Can you drive us to the thrift shop today?” I asked. “We need to sell our princess dresses.”
“So you’re done for good, then?” she asked. “You’re sure?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I gave all our families to Ginny and Jordan. They’re going to take over the business and create their own costumes. We’ve got way too much other stuff going on.”
She looked us over, nodding slowly. “Understood,” she said. “Though I did have one thought. . . .”
I cocked my head in question. “What is it?”
“The St. Francis Group I’ve been volunteering for is starting a new initiative. They want to bring in special guests and performers to local hospitals to entertain young cancer patients. I thought it might be perfect for you guys.”
My heart rose in my chest. “Really? We could perform at the hospital?”
“Don’t get too excited,” my stepmother interrupted. “It’s not like a babysitting job or a wedding. It’s for charity—so you wouldn’t get paid.”
Oh. Our heads sank. Of course.
“But,” she added, “I’m sure the kids would really appreciate it. They don’t have much to look forward to in their lives. It would probably mean a lot.” She shrugged. “Anyway, no pressure. I just thought I’d let you know of the opportunity. No big deal either way.”
And with that she scooped up the empty cookie plate and headed out of the room, closing the door behind her. I watched her go, then turned back to my friends.
“I really thought for a second she was going to say it was a real job,” Sarah said, looking dejected.
“Yeah. Like there was actually a chance still—to get the money for Comicpalooza,” added Madison.
Kalani sighed. “We have to face facts. There is literally no way that’s going to happen now.”
“Right.” I bit my lower lip. “Still. I think we should do this anyway.”
The girls looked up at me. “What? Why?” Madison asked.
I shrugged. “Remember when we started this whole thing? How fun it was? Dressing up as princesses, working on our scripts, playing with the kids. I know it was all for money . . . but it was also kind of great, right?”
I smiled, remembering that first day with Brody and the crazy random pirate treasure. “We started this business together,” I reminded them. “And we were supposed to do our last job together too, but that didn’t work out. So what about this? What about putting on the dresses just one more time? Not for money. But for the kids. And our friendship.”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement. We were going to do this . . . once more with feeling.
And speaking of friendship . . .
Sarah turned to me. “Can I talk to you for a second?”
I somehow managed to nod, my heart in my throat. I followed her out of the bedroom and into the living room, settling down next to her on the couch. I watched as she stared down at her hands, as if gathering courage to talk. I wanted to say something. But I knew it was better to wait for her to say what she wanted to say.
She drew in a breath. “I had a lot of time to kill while at the hospital,” she said. “And I read your story.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“It was . . . funny,” she said, a small, reluctant smile playing at the corners of her lips. “Really funny. You’re a good writer, Hailey.”
“You’re a good writer too,” I said quietly. “I’m sorry if I made it seem like I didn’t think so. Trust me—it wasn’t that at all. It’s just . . . you were so excited to be doing the Collin Prince story, and I didn’t want to let you down.”
“I would have understood, you know,” she said. “I mean, I know you want to be a writer, and I would have totally cheered you on at the contest.”
“I know you would have. And I’m sorry.” I gave her a rueful look. “Also, for the record, I love our Collin Prince story. And I don’t want to stop working on it . . . with you.”
She looked up at me for the first time, her eyes shining. “Really?” she asked.
“Really.”
She grinned. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of papers. “Because I wrote the next chapter this morning,” she informed me, plopping the papers on my lap. “So it’s your turn again.”
“Awesome,” I said. “I’ll get started on it right now.”