Into the Garden (Wildflowers 5)

"Maybe we should just have some beer," Star relented. "Beer? I hate beer!" Jade moaned. She looked at me. "Do you like beer?"

"I haven't really drunk much," I said.

"See?"

"All right," Star said, "have booze, but don't blame me if it goes bad."

"It won't," Jade maintained. She thought a moment. "I'll make this punch drink and I won't put in that much."

"You mix booze with stuff and you get sick faster," Star said.

"Brother."

"I'm just telling you. Unfortunately, I know about it," Star reminded us.

"Okay, we'll be extra careful," Jade promised. "Music," she said. "I'll bring some of my new CD's." She looked around. "I think we should fix up this room, move out some of this furniture so we can dance."

"Call back the Salvation Army?" Misty asked

"No, not give it away. Just move it someplace for the night," Jade explained. "Maybe we can put some of it in the dining room."

"Okay with me," Star said. She looked at me and I nodded.

"We've got the date, the time, the menu, and the plan. It's going to be a great first party," Jade declared.

Misty smiled and I tried to look optimistic.

"Just one more thing," Star said, leaning toward us. "What?" Jade asked.

"Let's be sure to keep everyone out of the backyard. Just in case I didn't do all that good a job."

"You did. Stop worrying," Jade chastised.

Star leaned back.

"Granny always tells me an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

"Spare me all the wisdom," Jade moaned.

"That's your trouble, Jade. Someone already did that."

Misty and I almost laughed and then stopped because neither Star nor Jade was smiling. It would take more than one good party to make us forget who we were and why we were brought together. Maybe, we'd never forget long enough to have a good time after all.

As far as forgetting went, it was just about impossible for me to not think about my father and fear his return. Not an hour of a day went by when I didn't pause to listen more closely to a sound I had heard in the house or a car that seemed to have pulled into my driveway. I gazed out of the window so often anyone passing by would have wondered if I was being held prisoner or something.

However, despite the storm clouds that always seemed to hover on our horizon, the closer we drew to the night of the party, the more excited we all became. Star's initial meeting with Larry turned out better than she had anticipated. Larry not only wanted to see her again and said he would come to the party, he called her every day there- after and took her to dinner one night. Jade reported that David Kellerman was very excited about the invitation and then called to say his cousin was even more eager to come and to meet me, which put me in a panic.

Jade took control of my makeover, but would any hairstyle, any makeup, any new clothing have much of an impact on my appearance? I was still clumping around with a cast on my leg, of course. And what about my limited and troubled experiences with boys? Would I quickly make a fool of myself and ruin the evening?

The day before the party, Jade took me to her hairstylist. She spent most of the time trimming my hair evenly and complaining about the job my last stylist had done. I was too embarrassed to say it had been Geraldine. After that, she cut my hair in a shortish, graduated bob. My hair was then blown dry and sprayed with a gloss lacquer. I had never had anything like it done before.

"Now that's an up-to-date hairdo," Jade cried, and when I looked at myself in the mirror, I felt my heart skip.

Was that really me? It changed my whole appearance. I no longer looked dragged out and tired. It was so difficult to think of myself as attractive. Geraldine's admonitions against vanity resonated like a drumbeat in my head.

"What are you looking at, Cathy? Are you going to fall in love with your own face, too?" I could hear her ask.

Back at the house, Jade experimented on my face with different shades of makeup, eyeliner, and lipsticks while Star and Misty sat in judgment, everyone arguing about the results.