Chapter 3 #4
“Nothing, really, but she’s been a little down, and life can get…
” I think of the daily drudgery and hassles of laundry, cooking, kids, and bills.
“Well, you know how life can get. I was thinking maybe the two of us could go away for a girls’ weekend.
Maybe to Charleston or Richmond. Nothing crazy—just a hotel room and a nice dinner out, maybe something at a spa.
” I hold my breath as Josh’s forehead furrows.
He’s considering the idea, but I know what else he’s considering—me being away for a couple of days in the busiest season of our homesteading life, plus the expense of a hotel, meals, and a massage…
Or maybe that’s just what I’m thinking because my husband turns to me with a wide smile.
“I think,” he tells me, “that sounds like a wonderful idea. As long as you can convince Emmy to go.”
I think of the expression on Emmy’s voice when she told me about Ed’s beers-and-bowling work conference. “Oh, I think I can convince her.”
Of course, I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
I barely get a chance to talk to Emmy for another week because, like me, she’s busy with plowing, planting, and managing a very full life.
Plus, she has three more kids than I do.
And, I suspect, she’s avoiding me because she’s embarrassed by her mini-breakdown.
She certainly hurries away after Bible study the next week, as well as homeschool co-op, without any of the usual cheerful chitchat I’ve come to take for granted. I decide I’ll have to beard this lioness in her den.
The morning after co-op, I leave Jack and Rose helping Josh with the pond—he’s decided to dredge it, inspired by Mike—and head over to Emmy’s.
The ramshackle farmhouse just three miles from ours is practically a second home for me and quite a few of my kids.
The sagging front porch, the chickens clucking in the dusty yard, the line of washing hung out to dry even though it looks like it’s about to rain…
it’s all wonderfully familiar, but it also makes me think Emmy really could use a break.
As I head up the porch steps, one of them cracks beneath me. Oh, dear.
I knock once on the door and then open it, the way I’ve become used to.
“Hello…” I call cheerfully. “Anyone home?”
For a relatively small house that is home to nine people, it’s surprisingly quiet.
Ed’s pickup truck and Emmy’s nine-seater minivan are both in the driveway, so I’m pretty sure somebody’s home.
“Hello?” I call again and come into the cluttered hallway.
There is a sodden diaper right in front of the door, and I step over it carefully.
“Hello?” I call for a third time, just as Emmy’s third youngest, Caroline, comes around the corner and skids to a halt.
Caroline is twelve, with the same straw-colored hair as every other member of her family and Emmy’s freckles.
Truth be told, though, I don’t know her very well.
Emmy and Ed have so many kids that a few in the middle get a little lost in the mix.
With a lurch, I wonder if that will happen to Rose or Jack once we add number five to our brood. Five kids. How did that happen?
“Caroline!” I say, my voice booming out a little too loud, the way it does when I’m with children I don’t know very well. “How are you? Where is everybody?”
She folds her arms and subjects me to a pout. Classic middle child behavior. “How should I know?” she asks sulkily before adding grumpily, “They’re out in the barn.”
Okay, I guess she does know. I hide my smile as Caroline stomps upstairs. Been there, done that. Many times. I have no idea what Caroline is annoyed about, but I’m guessing I’ll find out when I go out to the barn.
Sure enough, when I get outside, everyone is gathered around a pen, oohing and aahing.
Emmy turns to me, her face flushed. “Abby! You’re just in time. Polly’s horse has foaled.”
“Oh, wow.” The first time I met Emmy nearly a year ago, they had a foal as well.
It feels like a long time ago now. I come to stand by the fence as I watch the spindly-legged foal totter around.
It’s a sight that can’t help but make me smile.
“Caroline went back inside, by the way,” I tell Emmy, and she laughs.
“She’s in a huff because she wants the foal for her own.
But she’s never been interested in horses!
Not the way Alice and Polly have.” She sighs, then laughs again.
“She’ll get over it. Caroline’s never been one to stay mad for long.
” She props one elbow on the fence railing as she gives me one of her frank looks, in the way only Emmy can. “Where are your kids?”
“Actually, I came over on my own.”
“Oh?” Her fair eyebrows rose. “This sounds like it calls for coffee.”
We leave everybody else outside as we head back into Emmy’s comfortably messy kitchen, and she starts making coffee.
She has some this time, and there are a dozen freshly baked muffins cooling on a rack.
Maybe her meltdown of a few weeks ago really was just a blip.
It makes me wonder whether I should suggest a girls’ getaway, after all…
except, I realize, I’d like to get away.
This weekend might be as much for me as for Emmy.
“So?” Emmy asks once we’re seated at the table with our mugs and a muffin each. “What’s up?”
“Well, I had an idea.” Suddenly, I feel shy. Emmy is my best friend, and I’m pretty sure I’m hers, but a whole weekend away together feels like a big deal as well as a big ask, considering how busy her life is. I’m asking her to leave it for a few days to spend time just with me.
I feel like I’m in middle school, asking a new friend if she wants to sleep over. It’s definitely a little scary.
“An idea?” Emmy repeats, bemused because I haven’t yet elaborated.
Suddenly, I feel silly. This is Emmy. Even if she says no, she can’t, it won’t matter. I know she’ll appreciate the invitation either way, and we’ll still be friends.
“Well, I was thinking it would be nice to get away for a few days,” I tell her. “A girls’ weekend, just you and me, somewhere fun. Not too fun,” I add quickly, while a small smile quirks Emmy’s mouth. “Just a hotel… a pool…”
“A spa?” she asks eagerly. “A bar?”
I laugh. “Yes, definitely, although I’ll stick to mocktails.”
She slaps her hand on the table and lets out a West Virginia-style holler, making me wonder why on earth I was nervous to ask her.
“Well then,” she exclaims, “count me in!”