The 7th Mother-Daughter-Book-Club (#Wattys2016)

Emma

                          We all trail behind Jess up to Cassidy's room, but she isn't there. We're all oblivious at first, but the answer is soon obvious.

 "She must be in the Turret - duh!" Becca exclaims. We all climb the stairs to the turret, but I'm the first one there.

  Cassidy is sitting directly across from the door, hugging her knees. She has her eyes trained on the window, but I can still see that their puffy  and red.

"Cass?" I knock the wall softly, but she doesn't reply.  So I just walk straight in and sit down next to her.

   "Cassidy - you've been acting strangely all  day. You were late meeting up with us - we both know it doesn't take THAT long to get water and ice - and you threw up and ran out of book club, which is like your favorite thing in the world next to hockey.  What's going on?"

She doesn't say anything.

"Fine!" I shrug. "Just be that way - We  can watch the Red Sox game without you!"

Cassidy's head whips around, hope in her eyes, when suddenly,
"Hey! There isn't even a baseball game on AT ALL tonight!"

I grin.  "Gotcha. Now start talking."

        And she does. She tells me everything, from art class to the rink.  But I'm still confused about one thing.

   "Cass, didn't your dad die 7 years ago? You never get bothered by that stuff."

Tears  begin to form in Cassidy's eyes again.

                "Yeah, Emma but...... As of today, my dad's been dead for SEVEN. YEARS."   She looks down at her fitbit. "That's seven years as of right this very moment."

I nod, remembering how miserable I felt last fall when I realized how I had gone  a full year without seeing Melville.

"Cassidy." I began.  "I know death is tough, but you have to focus on the GOOD things. If Your dad HADN'T died, You wouldn't have moved to Concord, we wouldn't be friends, you wouldn't have Stanley or Chloe or Tristan in your life, you wouldn't have been on the Lady Shawmutts, and there would be no Cooking With Clementine. Heck, there wouldn't even be a book club if you hadn't moved here! You'll always miss your dad, Cassidy. But don't be afraid to just take the good with the bad, ok?"

     Cassidy nods, and dries the last of her tears. After our sappy Hallmark moment is over, we decide to  head back downstairs.

          I open the door, and like in the movies, three bodies tumble to the ground. 

"Hey.... Guys! We were just looking for the um.... bathroom...... took a wrong turn..... Well.... See  ya!"

Jess dashes down the stairs and is followed by Megan and Becca.  Me and Cassidy look at each other and burst into laughter.

"Come on." I tell her. "There are four more brownies waiting for you downstairs."

A/N: WOW. It's been a while. I am SO. SORRY. Incase  you haven't checked my bio, my account crashed - it wouldn't let me post any stories. But I'm back!! I may not be able to update as much  as I have because of summer vacation, but I'll try, guys! Thanks to everyone who's stuck around!

- Trinity Rebel