Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 48550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
She quickly changed the conversation to ask Beau, “When’s your next debate? The news of you running for office is buzzing around town.”
“I bet. It surprised me too. Things moved quickly when the current representative decided to retire,” he replied.
“Are you going to the reunion, Harper, since you’re in town?” Beau asked.
“Oh, no. I’m avoiding Miranda like the plague,” Harper confessed.
“Don’t let her keep you from going,” Amber urged.
“I won’t. It’s just not important without you guys there. Everyone else I see at the grocery store or church,” Harper explained.
“Next time, Harper. We’ll all make plans to be there for the tenth,” Colt assured her.
Prior to the tenth reunion
“They sweet-talked me into extending my contract here in Florida for six more months. They’re understaffed and I always like money. What’s everyone else’s excuse for not going?” Amber joked.
“I had every intention of getting there. Unfortunately, the bill I’m sponsoring is floundering and the only chance of getting it passed is by meeting with those in opposition one by one,” Beau shared.
“Are you talking about the one for funding for free mammograms for those under a certain income level?” Maisie asked.
No one commented on the tears shining unshed in her eyes. Maisie’s mother passed away about a year ago. She’d ignored the lump in her breast and without health insurance, she knew the test would be more expensive than she’d considered it beneficial to get. By the time she collapsed, the prognosis had been dire. Maisie hadn’t been able to talk her into trying to fight. Her mom hadn’t had the strength or the willingness to leave her family with a burden of debt.
“Yes. That’s the one.”
“I should have left the think tank and gone to work in the private sector,” Maisie whispered, shaking her head.
“Stop that. Maybe that would have been an option if they’d caught it early. Your mom didn’t want anyone to know. By the time you found out, it was too late. You need to stop beating yourself up,” Harper chided her.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Maisie muttered.
“Just imagine if it was my mom or Amber’s. They might have had all the testing and still decided that it was too much to undergo surgery, chemo, and radiation,” Harper reminded her. “No one gets to make that decision except for the person affected by the disease.”
“I know. She probably wouldn’t have chosen to have anything done, regardless. Mom hated doctors’ offices and being poked and prodded. It would have been her worst nightmare to go through those treatments,” Maisie admitted, dashing away the tears.
“I do appreciate you helping others in her position, Beau. Maybe having you in politics isn’t a waste of your intelligence after all,” she teased.
“He’s not just going to try. I bet you next month we all have champagne to toast his win,” Amber predicted.
“Like I can afford that on my stipend,” Maisie laughed.
“I’ll make sure everyone has champagne if I pull this off. I’ll be glad to celebrate,” Beau assured her.
“That will be one thing I’ll let you do for me,” Maisie said to him, looking fierce. “Thank you, Beau. Regardless of how it turns out, I appreciate you trying.”
“Of course. I’m counting on all of you to keep me focused on what’s important,” he told them.
“Where are you, Colt?” Amber asked.
“Currently, I’m in Nashville. We’re fighting with the last couple of songs on this album. The record label has a different view of where it needs to go than I do,” Colt reported.
“Who’s going to win?” Harper asked quietly.
“Me, of course. I’d be glad to have reinforcements if you want to come yell at them for me, Harper.” They all laughed. Colt always had a way of asking her to come see him.
“I don’t want to duke it out with that hard-looking brunette I saw you with on the award show,” Harper said with an audibly forced laugh.
“She’s in a duet with me. Mirabelle is married with three kids and a bunch of baby goats. You’re safe,” he reported with a reproving look.
Amber could feel the tension buzzing between them, even through the video connection. “Okay, so we’ll all be at fifteen now?”
“Definitely,” Colt insisted.
“On my schedule,” Beau added.
“I’ll try my best,” Maisie said and added, “I should be in a different place in five years.”
“I’ll be here,” Harper pointed out.
“Me, too,” Amber assured everyone.
Prior to the fifteenth reunion
“This is getting ridiculous,” Amber said, throwing up her arms as they all looked sheepishly at each other. “That’s it. We’re all going to be at the twentieth. Pinky swear with me that none of us will have excuses.” She held her bent little finger up to the screen and peeked around her hand to make sure everyone followed suit.
“Okay, that’s a rock-solid promise no one can break,” she said, reminding them all of Mr. Chamberlain’s lesson in the third grade about the different types of promises and which ones to never break.