“Momo? Why are you still awake?”
I look up, and it’s Nadine, wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt and this striped robe thing. She’s disheveled and sleepy looking, and she keeps poking at the corners of her eyes. I must have woken her up.
“I’m sorry.”
“Honey, what’s up?” She gestures for me to scoot down on the couch, and she slides in next to me. “What’s . . . are you looking at wedding blogs?”
“Possibly.”
“Man, you’re hardcore.” She reaches out to tuck my bangs away from my eyes. “Hey. You okay?”
“Huh? Yeah.”
“Mmmhmm.”
“Mom, I’m fine.”
She’s quiet for a moment. And then she stands up. “Come on. Let’s go for a drive. You and me.”
“What?”
“Yup. Let’s go. I just need some coffee.”
“Um, it’s midnight.”
“Correct.”
“I’m wearing pajamas.”
“So am I.” She grins down at me. “Momo, come on. Stop making the Molly Face. Just trust me.”
It feels entirely surreal to be wearing pajama pants and sneakers, walking out to Nadine’s car at midnight like we’re sneaking out of the house. It’s warm, even this late, and there’s that buzzing insect sound that Patty says is cicadas. Nadine opens the car with her clicker, and I settle into the passenger seat. And then she backs out of the driveway extra slowly, like she’s worried about pedestrians, but the streets are totally empty.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” She’s staring straight ahead, one hand on the steering wheel, one hand on her coffee mug, but she’s grinning. I relax into my seat, taking everything in—the streetlights, the porch swings, and the way my neighbors’ houses seem to loom in the darkness. The Applebaums’ cat stares at us through their living room window like the little creeper he is. And then he runs to another window to try to keep up with us. But we keep driving, onto Piney Branch, onto 16th Street. And we’re quiet, but it actually feels nice. We’re almost at Adams Morgan by the time Nadine finally says something.
“So. How are you doing, kiddo?”
“Good,” I say.
She shakes her head. “You are such a little faker.”
“What?”
“It’s weird, right? Cassie having a girlfriend.”
“She’s not technically her girlfriend.”
Nadine grins. “I give it a week.”
That makes me laugh, but there’s also this sad sort of tug in my chest.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” I say.
“I know. Oh man, Momo. This is a tough one.” She nods, still looking at the road. “You know, growing up, my brother was such a dickwad, but your aunt Karen and I were really close. And I remember this. I remember when she got a boyfriend, and she just fell off the grid. It sucked.”
“Yeah.”
“And no one warns you about this. No one tells you how hard it is, because, yay, love! And we’re so happy for them! But there’s this sharp edge to it, right? Because yeah, you’re happy for them. But you’ve also lost them.”
My heart twists. I can’t speak.
“But Mo, they come back to us. You know? You roll with it. It’s weird for a while. But they come back. You’ll get her back.”
I tuck my knees up and stare out the window. We’re almost at Dupont, heading downtown. And there are so many people out. There’s this palpable energy in the air. It’s the kind of night where strangers start hugging and everyone’s drunk and loud and happy just to be in the middle of all of this. I bet people will remember today, even when they’re old. I bet I will, too.
“Pretty wild,” Nadine says.
“Yeah.” I nod. And suddenly, I feel like crying, but not in a bad way. More like in the way you feel when someone gives you a perfect present—something you’d been wanting, but thought you couldn’t ask for. It’s that feeling of someone knowing you in all the ways you needed to be known.
“Hey,” she says softly. “Look.”
I look up, straight ahead, and I recognize it immediately from five million Facebook posts. It’s the White House, lit up with rainbow lights. And it takes my breath away. Even though it’s far away, even though we’d have to pass a million cars to get close to the actual house. I don’t even think it’s the front of the building. But still.
“Really cool, huh?”
I nod, feeling choked up.
“Just wanted to see it in person,” she says.
“I’m so happy about it,” I tell her. Suddenly, it feels so important to say that. “And I’m so happy about the wedding.”
“Well, good. Because we need someone trolling wedding blogs at midnight.”
“Oh, I’m on that.” I smile. “But seriously, I’m just so glad this is happening.”
“Me too,” Nadine says, turning left onto a one-way. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
“I think this is going to be a really great summer for our family.”
“Me too,” I say, and I try to believe it.
BUT HERE’S THE PIECE I can’t quite shake.
Nadine said they come back. That we’ll be normal again. Cassie and me. And I get that. I mean, Abby came down to earth after Darrell. And Nick hasn’t ruined us. Love doesn’t kill friendship. It definitely doesn’t kill family.
Except it sort of does, doesn’t it?
Because we almost never see my aunt Karen. Because she’s not Nadine’s main person anymore. I think she used to be. But Nadine’s main person is Patty.
And I don’t know when that happened. Maybe this is how it starts.
Anyway, somehow Mina’s coming for dinner on Wednesday, despite the fact that my grandma’s coming in from New York that day. Patty’s mom. Also known as the grandma who hits people with her car and then calls them bitches. So, I’m pretty sure this is going to be a shitshow. Like, a major, epic shitshow. But even though Cassie gave this plan a solid nope a week ago, today she seems really Zen about it. It’s like she’s so focused on the Mina-coming-for-dinner part that she’s forgotten all about the with-Grandma part.
The thing about Grandma is that she doesn’t always have a filter. So this should be interesting. I’m in charge of dessert.
I spend all weekend thinking about it, looking up recipes, and waking up at three in the morning wondering if Mina has gluten allergies or diabetes. Though there’s no way Cassie would have forgotten to mention this. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing Mina-related in the world she’s forgotten to mention.
But oh. I’m so wrong.
Because on Monday, I get an Abby text with about five million exclamation points. No words, no emojis: just undiluted punctuational excitement. And at first I assume it’s some new development with Nick, which throws me for a loop—because once sex has already happened, what could be worthy of five million exclamation points? Like, I don’t think that’s how she’d break the news if she were pregnant. I hope not.
Anyway, I figure it out pretty quickly when Abby follows up with, Why didn’t u tell me about Cass?!?!
What are you talking about?
Um. Go check Facebook. Now.
So I tap into the app and go straight to Cassie’s page. Which she never updates. Ever.
But she did.
In a relationship. With Mina Choi.
I cradle my phone in my hand and just stare at it.
She seriously didn’t tell you? Abby writes. WTF is wrong with her?
No idea, I write.
She didn’t tell me. Cassie’s in a real-life relationship with Mina, and she didn’t tell me. I found out on Facebook.
I’m Cassie’s twin sister, and I found out on Facebook.
Do your moms know??
No idea, I write back. But she’s coming for dinner on Wednesday.
Whoa. Cassie! Introducing her to the folks . . .
And grandma . . . I add.
OMFG. Your grandma Betty?
Yep. I add that emoji with the big, toothy, grimacing smile.