out to embrace Madison.
“Me, too,” Aimee said.
Madison hugged her friends right back. “Me, three,” she said.
“Gag me,” Chet moaned.
Egg patted Madison on the back. “See you around, Maddie,” he said. “Say hi to your dad for me. For real.”
“Yeah,” Dan chimed in.
“Have a good trip, Finnster,” Hart said with a wave of his hand.
“I will,” Madison said, unable to take her eyes off Hart’s tousled hair. For a split second, she had an overwhelming urge to throw her arms around him and give him a hug.
But she resisted.
Aimee handed Madison a blue-and-yellow envelope with little flowers along the edges.
“Take this for the plane ride,” she said.
“What is it?” Madison asked.
Fiona beamed. “It’s a surprise,” she said. “From both of us. But you can’t read it until you get on the plane. Promise?”
“Promise.”
Madison glanced up at the wall clock over the store register. Mom would be coming by the store in a few minutes to take her home.
“I’d better go,” Madison said.
She raced out of the store and onto the slick streets outside. There, she stood by the glass doors of the Cyber Café waiting for Mom and fingering the blue-and-yellow envelope in her pocket.
She inhaled deeply, breathing in the smell of rain and grass; she craned her neck and gazed up at the lightening sky.
In one day, she would be in Texas, Madison thought.
Wow.
She reached out for the side of the building to keep from falling over. There was no Hart to grab her arm right now. Madison was on her own for the weekend—and for longer than that, she feared.
In three days, Dad would be married all over again.
If anything had ever felt as scary as the Big D, this was it.
Chapter 8
Flying
The last time I was on a plane was when I traveled with Mom on one of her business trips for Budge Films. She was making a movie and we went to this jungle. That was different. The bugs were HUGE. Right now I feel a little like I’m flying into another jungle. Why am I so nervous about this wedding?
Dad is sitting across from me right now and we’re in this airport lounge/waiting room. Stephanie already flew to Texas a few days ago on her own so Dad keeps calling her on his cell. It is a little annoying b/c I wish he’d pay a little more attention to me, but I get it since it is his wedding and he’s thinking about her 24/7. He let me buy all these magazines at the newsstand so I forgive him.
Not so good: I cheated BIG TIME and read Aimee and Fiona’s plane letter before getting on the plane. Bad Maddie! But they don’t have to know, right? I was dying to read it. The envelope was all crunched from being in my pocket. I have to write back to them now. Plus I have to write to Bigwheels too. I’ve been so busy that I have hardly checked my e-mail in the last day. I wonder if she wrote to me first? She probably thinks I dropped off the face of the Earth.
Someone just came on the speaker to announce the pre-boarding of our flight to Houston. We already checked our luggage. I squeezed as much as I could into my suitcase so all I have to carry on the plane with me is secret wedding collage stuff (in case I want to work on it), the magazines, and my laptop of course that fits in my orange bag.
I miss Mom and Phinnie already. Mom made me pancakes with smiley faces this morning. She still doesn’t seem upset about Dad getting married. How is that possible? Didn’t she love him a lot once? If I was married to someone for so long and then they married another person, I would be way upset. At least I think I would be.
My head is all woozy right now.
Rude Awakening:
I feel like I’m flying and we haven’t even gotten on the plane yet
.
Dad gently tapped Madison on the shoulder.
“That’s us, honey,” he said, grabbing his carry-on bags and garment case. “Ready?”
Madison wanted to scream, “Ready? What, are you kidding me? Of course I’m not ready, Dad! Duh! What are you thinking ?”
But instead