Alexis Gets Frosted (13 page)

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!”

“And the dollhouse!” he said.

“And the dollhouse!” I agreed.

“I also got her a little charm for her charm bracelet,” he said with a mischievous grin.

“Cute! 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.

“Alexis, you are so special. Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I never knew you had such an interest in my past!”

“Neither did I!” I said. “Maybe it's just something you have to grow into.”

When my dad presented her with the tiny jewelry box that I knew contained a charm, I held my breath. She unwrapped the tissue and opened the little velvet pouch, and in it was a gold . . . duck!

She and I laughed so hard, and we knew it was just the perfect thing. In fact, I couldn't believe she didn't already have one!

Dylan looked at us like we were cuckoo, but I didn't care since that was nothing new.

“Great job, Dad!” I said, and he beamed with pride.

Later that afternoon, Mia and Katie came over and, along with Emma, we worked on our time capsule and ate leftovers from the party.

We laid out everything to photograph, and I also went and photographed the framed items of my mom's.

It was fun to see what people had brought. Mia had some old costumes of her mom's from her wardrobe days, plus some crazy bell-bottomed pants she used to wear, and an exotic feather hat. Emma had an old book of her mom's that had stories she'd handwritten into it when she was a little girl, and Katie had a skateboard that had been her mom's! I couldn't even picture her mom riding it, but Katie said she was actually pretty decent at it. Katie also had the photo of her and Callie. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to draw attention to it, but I was proud of her for including it.

Everyone passed around their biographies, and we read them. Then we loaded up the capsule, which was really a plastic Tupperware sandwich
holder Mia had gotten from her mom. Then we put it into a giant Ziploc bag, and another and another and another! It seemed pretty watertight. I had received permission from my dad to bury it in a corner of the yard, under the magnolia tree, and that was where we headed now, armed with a big shovel.

We took turns digging, and when the hole was ready, Mia did the honors of placing the capsule into the hole.

“It feels like we're having a funeral!” remarked Emma.

“A funeral for our past,” said Katie.

“Here's to the future!” I cried.

“Hooray!” we all said.

That night, my mom came to tuck me in.

“That was a great birthday, thanks to your thoughtfulness, sweetheart.”

I snuggled happily under my covers. “It was fun.”

“Your gingerbread house was wonderful too. You've had a very busy couple of days! But so many fun things!”

“I know.”

“Now I hate to ask, but whatever happened
with Olivia at school? I kept waiting for you to mention it, so I didn't bring it up.”

“Oh. Well . . . we've made peace,” I said. “For now, anyway.”

“Great! I'm so happy to hear that.”

We smiled in the semidark for a minute, and then I said, “Mom, you know what? If you were a kid, we'd be best friends.”

“Oh, Lexi! That's the best birthday present anyone could have ever given me! Thank you, sweetheart!” And she gave me a big squeeze.

I squeezed back and very softly, into her ear, I whispered, “Quack!”

W
ant another sweet cupcake?

Here's a sneak peek of the thirteenth book in the

series:

Katie's

perfect

recipe

M
ake me a doggy! Make me a doggy!”

I started to sweat as the adorable five-year-old in front of me looked up with pleading eyes. I knelt down and waved a round helium balloon in front of his face.

“It's not the kind of balloon that you can make into animals,” I said, using my sweetest voice. “It's just a regular, fun, yellow balloon, to match the cupcakes! See?”