Cupcakes and Wedding Bells

by Coco Simon

  I cried some more, part of me wondering why Mom wasn’t coming upstairs to talk to me. My stomach rumbled, but I didn’t want to go downstairs. I stayed on my bed, tears streaming down my face, until the sun stopped streaming through my window.

  Then I heard the front door close, and I peeked through the window to see Mom talking with Jeff and Emily in front of Jeff’s car. Finally. I walked downstairs. Mom had left the cartons of food on the kitchen counter, like I’d guessed she would, and I piled a plate high with chicken, broccoli, and rice. It was cold, but I didn’t care. I shoveled it down.

  When Mom walked back in, I was opening up a fortune cookie.

  “Oh look. It says ‘You will move out of your childhood home and live a miserable life,’ ” I told her.

  Mom sat down next to me. “Katie, I’m sorry. I should have told you about this first, just the two of us. I forgot what a big change this might mean for you.”

  Those were good words to hear. I nodded. “You’re right. You should have talked to me first.”

  “I know,” Mom said. “I thought it would be a special surprise. But I realize now that I’ve been so caught up in the wedding planning that I haven’t been checking in with you to see how you’re doing.”

  “You haven’t!” I blurted out. “I have so many questions!”

  Then I let it all spill—my worries about breakfast for dinner, and pajama night, and not having alone time with Mom. We talked for a long time about all that stuff, and Mom pinkie swore with me that we would still have special times together, just me and her.

  Then my eyes filled with tears again. “But what about—what about the house?” I asked. “Is it in Maple Grove? Will I have to change schools?”

  “Oh, Katie, I think you’ll really love it!” Mom said. “It’s right here in Maple Grove, right off the running trail in Willow Brook Park.”

  Okay, now Mom had my interest. That is one of my favorite trails. It’s a beautiful neighborhood there, with so many trees. And the houses are such pretty colors!

  “Really?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Jeff and I hadn’t planned on buying a house together yet, I swear,” she said. “But we were running a couple of weeks ago and saw the ‘For Sale’ sign being put up in front of it. We toured it, and it’s perfect! So we just made an offer, and it got accepted right away.”

  She took out her phone and held up the screen to show me a two-story house with a wraparound front porch and pale-yellow shingles.

  “Isn’t it pretty?” she asked. “It’s a little bigger than this place. Emily will have her own room when she comes to visit, but you’ll get the bigger room for your bedroom, of course. And it will be a fresh start for the four of us, as a family.”

  I understood everything Mom was saying, and I wanted to be happy about the new house—I really did! But I mostly felt sad and confused and worried.

  “When are we moving?” I asked.

  Mom bit her lip. “That’s the thing. It looks like we need to move at the end of June, right after the wedding.”

  My eyes got wide. “Are you serious?” I asked. “And you thought the most important thing to do today was send me and Emily to a dance lesson?”

  Mom laughed. “I know, it all seems kind of silly. But it feels right to me, Katie. I can’t explain it. I’ve been working so hard at the practice all these years, and I’m going to take some time off starting in June. And Jeff’s got lots of friends who can help us move. It’s going to be fine.”

  She stood up and opened her arms. “Can I have a hug?”

  I got up and fell into her arms. I gripped her probably too tightly.

  Please let things always be like this, I thought, even though I knew that wasn’t possible.

  I went up to my room and lay down on my bed, staring at the ceiling. There was the crack that looked like a lightning bolt, and there was the old water stain that reminded me of a winking moon. My eyes stung as I realized that soon they’d be gone from my life forever. This whole house would belong to someone else. Would the kid sleeping in this room next even notice the winking moon? Or would the new owners paint over it before that kid even got a chance to see it?

  As I gazed around at my bookcase, my dresser with clothes spilling out, and the closet so stuffed with all my old toys that I couldn’t close it, the thought hit me that I was going to somehow have to pack all of it up and move it to the new house. I groaned and covered my face with my pillow.

  How was I going to get through this?

  CHAPTER 6 Cooking Is Soothing

  I really need to have a talk with your mom,” Alexis said the next day at lunch. “What she’s trying to do is impossible! But at least we have a baking session planned for Wednesday.”

  “I know,” I said. “But she’s so happy! She’s smiling all the time. She doesn’t seem stressed out at all.”

  “What about you, Katie? Are you happy?” Emma asked with her blue eyes full of concern.

  “I—I’m confused,” I said. “I’m kind of freaking out that things with Mom are going to change. And it’s going to be so weird to be living in the same house as Jeff! And even though the new house looks really nice, I’m going to miss my old one. It’s just a lot of things changing all at once, you know?”

  “Well, you’ve got us to help you through it,” Mia said. “That’s one thing that won’t change.”

  “Thanks, Mia,” I said. “If I weren’t eating a sandwich, I would hug you right now.”

  “Where is the house again?” Alexis asked.

  “On Willow Brook Road, right off the park,” I answered. I took my school laptop out of my bag. “Let me see if I can get it on here,” I said. The laptops were set so that you couldn’t use them to go on social media sites, but you could do research on them, and I wanted a bigger picture than the one on my phone. Luckily, I was able to connect to the real estate listing. I called it up and my friends gathered around me.

  “That is so cute,” Mia said. “I love that porch!”

  I scrolled to the kitchen. “And look. The kitchen has an island! We’ll have more room for baking.”

  “Which one will your room be?” Mia asked me.

  I scrolled through the photos until I found it. Right now it didn’t look like much—four white walls and a wood floor, with a window overlooking the park. But it was bright and airy-looking, I thought, with more room than I had already.

  “Ooh, Katie, we can paint your room with you before you move in!” Emma cried. “We can help you pick out colors and decorate.”

  I kind of liked that idea. My bedroom still had the flowered wallpaper that my mom had put up when I was a baby. It might be fun to design my own room. But first …

  “I can’t even think about decorating my new room,” I said. “I’ve got to pack up my old room first. And help get the wedding together.”

  Alexis ripped a sheet of paper from her notebook and drew four columns.

  “Okay, let’s figure this out,” she began. “You need to pack up your stuff.”

  She wrote “pack up” in the first column. Then she wrote her name under it. “I would love to help you organize your room for the move,” she said.

  “Really?” I asked. “It sounds like a nightmare to me.”

  Alexis grinned. “Sometimes I fall asleep at night by imagining I am packing things into boxes and putting them away,” she confessed. “Weird, I know, but I am totally psyched to do it.”

  She looked back down at the paper. “What kind of wedding stuff do you have to do? The Cupcake Club is making the cupcakes,” she said.

  “Well, I have to find a maid of honor dress,” I replied. “And I know, Mia, you said you would help me. But I can’t imagine having to go shopping at a bunch of different stores to find the perfect one.”

  Mia’s face brightened. “Then don’t!” she said. “Why don’t I design and sew a dress for you?”

  My mouth dropped open. “Would you really do that for me?”

  She nodded. “It’ll be
fun! I’ll just need to measure you, and then I’ll draw it up, make a pattern, and sew it. You said the wedding color’s pink, right? You’ll look pretty in pink.”

  “Wow,” I said. “That’s amazing, Mia!”

  Alexis wrote Mia’s name under “maid of honor dress.”

  “Put me under ‘decorate new room,’ ” Emma said, practically bouncing in her seat. “I mean, we can all help, but I’d love to be in charge of it.”

  “You guys are awesome,” I said. “The best friends I could ever ask for.”

  “I know you are, but what am I,” Alexis said, which was so silly and so unlike her that we all busted out laughing.

  “I’ll bring my measuring tape to our baking session on Wednesday,” Mia said.

  “And I will start a new idea board of cute room ideas and share it with everybody,” Emma said.

  “Are we set for the baking session?” Alexis asked. “I don’t think we decided on flavors.”

  “Well, since Mom decided on pink, the apple idea is out,” I said. “So I was thinking that vanilla with strawberry filling might be nice. And we could also test the Earl Grey cupcakes.”

  “How about we bake at my house?” Mia asked.

  I shook my head. “I think we should do it at my place. I have everything we need for the test. And besides …” I paused. “I think we need to bake at least one last time in the house.”

  Everybody got quiet, and I knew they were thinking of all the happy memories we’d had in my kitchen. I knew I was.

  “That kitchen is where your mom made the cupcake you brought to school that first day,” Emma said.

  I nodded. “The P-B-and-J cupcake. The one that brought us all together.”

  We all got quiet again.

  “Then it is very cool that we are testing your mom’s wedding cupcakes in that kitchen,” Alexis said. “It’s like the beginning and ending to a story.”

  “Not an ending, really,” Mia said quickly. “It’ll be a whole new story after Katie moves. An even better one, maybe.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “I definitely want to live happily ever after!”

  * * *

  Mia got off the bus with me on Wednesday afternoon. Emma and Alexis had to take the bus to Emma’s house, where Emma’s oldest brother, Sam, was going to give them a ride.

  Mia whipped out a measuring tape from her backpack as soon as we got inside my house.

  “Okay, quickly, let me measure you,” she said, and she wrapped the measuring tape around my waist.

  “Hey, that tickles!” I cried, giggling.

  “Stand still!” Mia commanded, and I did my best as she measured me all the way around and up and down. She made notes on her phone.

  “Last night I researched some dresses, and I made some sketches,” she said. “I know you’re busy, but maybe tomorrow after school you can come to my house, and we can go over the design?”

  “Sure, that works,” I said. “Or you can come over Friday. Mom and I have planned our first ‘pizza-and-packing’ weekend. I’m hoping there will be more pizza than packing.”

  Mia frowned. “I’ll be at my dad’s,” she said. “But I’ll definitely help you the next weekend I’m home. Don’t worry, Katie. ”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “I’m so thrilled that you’re helping me with this dress. It’s going to be perfect!”

  The doorbell rang, and I opened it for Alexis and Emma.

  “Hi,” Emma said, but Alexis didn’t say anything. She marched right up to my room. I raised my eyebrows at Mia and Emma.

  “Alexis, what are you doing?” I called up the stairs.

  “Oh my word, Katie!” Alexis called back. She appeared at the top of the stairs. “You have so much stuff in your room!”

  “Well, I’ve lived here all my life,” I said.

  “I’ve never seen so many stuffed animals!” she shot back.

  “Well, I’m an only child,” I argued. “My grandparents like to spoil me.”

  “And you are obsessed with stuffed animals,” Mia added.

  “Well, they’re so cute,” I said.

  Alexis came down the stairs. “That’s fine,” she said. “Now I know how many boxes to bring with me. Can I come on Saturday morning?”

  I sighed. “Sure. Mom and I planned to pack anyway,” I said.

  She nodded. “Sure, we’ll pack. But first we’ve got to purge.”

  “Purge? You mean like get rid of stuff?” I felt panic rising. “What kind of stuff?”

  “All kinds of stuff,” Alexis replied. “I’d say you could get rid of about ninety percent of—”

  Emma took my arm and pulled me toward the kitchen. “We’re here to bake, aren’t we?” she asked. “Let’s make some cupcakes.”

  I was grateful to Emma for changing the subject. Once in the kitchen, I started pulling out bowls and cupcake tins. The mixer was already plugged in and ready to go.

  “So the simplest thing to do for the strawberry-and-vanilla cupcakes would be to bake vanilla cupcakes and then use the cupcake plunger to poke a hole in them and add strawberry jam,” I said. “But the other day at Chez Daniel, I made strawberry mousse, and I thought that might be fancier to go inside.”

  “Mousse is like fancy whipped cream?” Alexis asked.

  “Kind of,” I said.

  “We’d have to refrigerate the cupcakes, then,” she pointed out.

  “I know,” I said. “But it might be worth it to make them extra fancy. Since it’s a wedding and all.”

  “Can we test them with both the jam and the mousse?” Alexis asked. “I can work on the vanilla cake batter.”

  “And I’d like to work on the Earl Grey,” Emma piped up. “I think it will be a really cool flavor.”

  “I’ll get started on frosting when the mixer’s free,” Mia said. “In the meantime, I’m putting together an idea board of pink wedding cupcake toppers that we can look at.”

  Mia sat down at the table and opened up her laptop. Alexis preheated the oven and started filling cupcake tins with liners. I took a container of chopped-up strawberries I’d prepared the night before and took it to the stovetop. Emma joined me with a small saucepan of milk.

  “So, I warm the milk first and then add the teabags?” Emma asked.

  “Right,” I said. “And you let the teabags steep for about five minutes and then squeeze them really good to get all the tea out. Then you’ll use that milk when you make your batter.”

  “Got it,” Emma said. She called over to Alexis, “You can use the mixer first, Lex, and then I’ll use it for the Earl Grey batter.”

  “Sounds good,” Alexis said, and she began creaming butter, sugar, and eggs together for the vanilla cake.

  We didn’t do a lot of cupcake testing anymore because we had already perfected so many awesome flavors. It cost money to do the tests because we had to buy new ingredients. But it was worth it if we came up with a new flavor that people liked. Sometimes word would get around about an unusual flavor, like our piña colada cupcakes we made last summer. They became a big hit at barbecues.

  I was glad that we were trying out two new ideas for the wedding. That would help make it really special.

  The kitchen got quiet as we worked. We’d made so many cupcakes since we started the club that we could practically do it in our sleep. Alexis got her batter for the vanilla cupcakes into the oven, and then Emma started mixing the Earl Grey batter. I had turned the strawberries into a purée and had it cooling in the fridge. Then I set up a bowl with my old-school hand mixer to make the mousse, so Mia could use the stand mixer for the frosting.

  “You’re all set,” I told her.

  Mia nodded toward her laptop on the table. “You guys, take a look at the cupcake images there while I make the frosting. What if we put strawberry-buttercream frosting on the vanilla cupcakes and topped them with white vanilla-buttercream roses? Then we could put vanilla-buttercream frosting on the Earl Grey, and top those with pink strawberry-buttercream roses.”

&nbs
p; “Ooh, I like that,” Emma said. “We can do alternating layers of pink and white on the cupcake tower.”

  “I’m still finding a tower big enough to hold more than a hundred cupcakes,” Alexis said. “We might need a smaller tower, with plates of cupcakes around it.”

  “That would still be pretty,” Emma said.

  Mia finished her frosting, I finished the mousse, and we cleaned up our mess while the frosting and mousse chilled and the two trays of cupcakes baked and cooled. Before we were ready to start decorating, Mom walked in carrying two pizza boxes and a white takeout bag. We helped her get the stuff to the kitchen table.

  “I figured you guys might want a dinner break,” Mom said. “It’s pizza. I think it’s going to be pizza a lot for the next few days. But I did get a salad.” She lifted up the paper bag.

  “I will never get sick of pizza!” I promised, and I grabbed some plates out of the cabinet. Mia got the forks, and Alexis and Emma got the glasses. My friends knew their way around our kitchen.

  We all sat down and dug in, and Mia showed Mom a picture of a pink-and-white cupcake tower that inspired her plan.

  “At first we thought it should be a surprise,” Mia said. “But then we agreed the bride should know what her cupcake cake was going to look like! What do you think?”

  “It’s lovely,” Mom said. “I’m sure whatever you girls do is going to be beautiful. My head is starting to spin! Mia, your mom offered to take me dress shopping this weekend, but I’ve got to start packing, or Katie and I will never get out of here.”

  “I’m coming to help Katie on Saturday,” Alexis said. “I’m sure you could spare a few hours. Getting a dress is important.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” Mom said. “Thanks, Alexis.”

  “Mom, Mia is going to design and make my dress for me,” I told her. “Isn’t that awesome?”

  “Mia, that is amazing,” Mom said. “You have to let me pay you.”

  “I’d like to do it as a wedding present,” Mia said.