A smile curls my lips, and I nod, adopting a scholarly tone. “Dr. Smithfield et al are pleased to sign off on my coursework, and they highly recommend me for continued study, should I choose to pursue it.”
“Of course, they do.” Haddy walks over, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “Dove is as brilliant as she is beautiful.”
“Will you be my PR director now?” I nudge her side with my elbow.
“Absolutely, I will. What do you need? A Save the Trees campaign?”
My lips twist, and I tilt my head to the side. “You know, that’s the one thing I hadn’t thought of. It’s possible the town might get behind a Kickstarter.”
“I’ll help you set it up!” Haddy takes out her phone, but Gina takes my arm.
“We’ll discuss it over drinks. Now it’s time to celebrate, and I have the recipe for purple drink!”
Haddy puts her phone on the table throwing up her arms and shouting, “Purple draaaank!”
“Where’s Lucy?” I frown.
“Spending the night with Mee-maw and Pops!”
Gina snorts a laugh. “If she calls Aunt RavenMee-maw, you are going to be in so much trouble!”
“As if!” Haddy waves her cousin away. “Lucy could call her poo-poo, and she’d think it was the most adorable thing.”
We lock arms and head into the kitchen to pull down the blender and mix up the grape Kool-Aid, ice, and vodka, even though the original recipe calls for Everclear.
Haddy officially made the “LA modification,” saying we can afford vodka now, and our livers will thank us.
Two purple drinks later, I’m lying on the sofa upside down, with my head touching the floor and my knees over the back, watching Gigi dance around the room singing “Beauty School Dropout” at the top of her lungs—only instead ofgo back to high school, she changed it togo back to grad school.
Haddy dances around doing the backup singing and laughing, and thankfully Maddie is still on spring break with Heather, back home in Eureka visiting her grandparents. I’m afraid we’re not being very good examples this evening.
“Wait a minute!” I hold up a hand from my ridiculous position. “Are you saying I have bad hair?”
Gina puts her hand on her chest, pretending to be shocked. “Of course not! I’m saying you’re a much better scientist than stylist.”
“Unless she was ahooker!” Haddy yells, and we all explode with laughter.
I roll to the side, and my legs roll off the back, sending me crashing to the floor. “I’ll do hooker hair. I’m very ecumenical!”
Gigi drops to her knees, scooping up Kelani and crawling over to sit beside me with her back to the couch. “I don’t want you to go back to Louisiana, Dove.” She lifts Kelani’s little paw and pats me with it. “Stay here with us.”
“Stooop,” I whine. “Not Kelani. It’s too cruel.”
“It’s just like the end of every summer all over again.” Haddy joins her, putting the pitcher of purple drink on the coffee table and sitting on my other side. “We would all be together, and then I’d have to come back to LA with Mom and Dad.”
“I thought you loved it out here?” Gina looks across me at her.
“I did.” Haddy’s shoulders drop. “I do! But y’all were all together in Newhope, and it felt so far away.”
“That’s exactly how I’m going to feel.” I wobble my head around to look from one to the other. “Now y’all are all out here together, and I’m so far away.”
“So stay with us!” Gina puts the puppy down and holds my hand.
Her voice is so pleading, I want to cry. “I would if I could, but they need me.”
“Weneed you.” Haddy rests her head on my shoulder, and I reach up to roughly pat the side of her face.
“Y’all are just going to have to come visit me like we used to do when we were kids. Every summer or during the holidays.”
