AChapADay: Chapter One

Thursday, April 12, 2020

There had been some back and forth about whether they would actually go.  First of all, it was only supposed to be mom and her three friends, like it always was on their Girls’ Weekends.  But one of the husbands had to take an unexpected business trip.  Instead of canceling, they got creative and decided to bring the girls with them.

Second of all, meteorologists were predicting the “biggest blizzard in a decade.”  In the middle of April.  Mack thought, for sure, this would derail the trip.  But mom convinced her friends to go anyway.  “We’re all from Minnesota, after all, we know how to handle snow.”  Mack wasn’t sure this was a good enough reason to drive two hours north for a fun weekend with the girls, but her mom was stubborn when she made her mind up.

Mack stuffed her stocking feet into her green rain boots and zipped up her duffel bag.  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go.  It’s just that she didn’t know the other girls very well.  So she didn’t know what to expect. Their moms had been friends for as long as Mack could remember, but she only saw their daughters a couple of times per year.  They were all in seventh grade, and their moms were best friends, but that’s all they really had in common.

“Mack,” mom called up the stairs, “we’ve gotta go!” 

*****

Before leaving town, Mack had a piano lesson.  

“While you’re inside, I’m going for a quick run,” mom said as she slid into the driver’s seat.”

Even though they were expecting snow, it was sunny and 45 degrees out.  It felt like spring should be coming, not a blizzard.  Mack watched the houses go by through the car window and chewed the inside of her cheeks.  Why was she so nervous about spending the weekend with the other girls?  

“Mom, can you ask for the other girls’ numbers?  Maybe I will text them.”

Mom smiled and recited a text to Siri through her car.  Almost immediately, mom’s friends answered with their daughters’ numbers.

Mack copied them from mom’s phone and started a text.  She wondered if they were nervous too.  Or if they felt the pressure of liking each other even half as much as their moms did, like Mack did. 

Mack O’Leary: Hey, it’s Mackenzie, Scout’s daughter.  Just thought I’d say hey before we leave.  Are you excited for our adventure in the snow this weekend? 

She hesitated for a second, finger over the send button.  Then decided to wait until after her lesson.

They pulled into the driveway of Mack’s piano teacher Lori as mom’s phone started ringing, an old Prince song.  “Grace, hey, hold on a sec,” she pulled the phone from her ear and said “I should be back a few minutes before you’re done but here’s the car key just in case.”  Mack took the key and she and mom got out of the car.  As Mack skipped towards the house, and mom walked down the driveway to the street, she heard her saying “well that’s what I’m saying!  We won’t even run into any snow until we’re driving home on Sunday.  It’s going to be fine!”