Stay Sweet(28)
“We have fifteen minutes!” Cate whines.
“We have twelve minutes.” Amelia doesn’t mind if they aren’t the first to show up, but she doesn’t want to be the last.
“I’ll never make it through the day. You know I need sustenance.”
“I saw you grab a granola bar out of our pantry!”
Cate pouts. “That was a breakfast appetizer.”
Amelia snaps her fingers. “Ugh! I forgot to bake a new batch of opening day blueberry muffins.” Maybe if she hadn’t been so focused on stalking Grady, she would have remembered.
“After you get everyone started on chores, send someone out for bagels and cream cheese.”
Though Amelia hasn’t eaten anything, she doesn’t feel the emptiness in her stomach. It’s her nerves, she’s sure. Once things calm down, she’ll be starving too. “Good idea.”
*
Despite its being so early, there’s a lot of hugging and bouncing and happiness as the girls arrive at the stand. Though after a few minutes and a head count of seven, Amelia wonders when Grady might make an appearance. He will surely want to make a speech to the girls before they get started. He seems like that kind of guy. Also, Amelia thinks, it will be nice to have his help carrying out the picnic tables, which are solid wood and unbelievably heavy. Not that the girls can’t handle it themselves, they do every year, but it’ll be faster with Grady, and today, every minute counts.
Amelia turns around and realizes she’s standing off by herself. Or, rather, the rest of the girls have drifted a few feet away from her, continuing to chat and talk and laugh. She recognizes this as the deference always shown to the Head Girl, but it feels weird, it being paid to her. Uncomfortable.
She walks over and finds Cate midconversation with the youngest girls.
“He’s completely and totally off-limits, okay? Don’t go out of your way to be nice to him, because he might interpret it as flirting. And if Grady flirts with any of you, or makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, I want you to come and tell Amelia or me ASAP.” Amelia wants to assure them that it will be fine, that Grady seems like a good guy, but the girls look grateful for the protection of the oldest girls looking out for them.
And, really, the only thing that matters right now is that they get the stand ready by eleven o’clock.
But 6:15 comes, then 6:20, and there’s still no Grady. What little time they have is slipping away. Amelia wanders past the stand and a bit up the driveway, as if staring at the farmhouse might make Grady appear.
“Can’t you text him?” Cate asks, following her.
“I don’t have his number.”
“Well . . . I wouldn’t wait much longer.”
They walk back over to where the girls are standing around waiting for direction. Borrowing a hair thing, scratching a bug bite, touching up some lip gloss, yawning.
Amelia opens her notebook and tries to find the least-annoying chores to divvy up first. Except they’re all annoying, in their own ways. Amelia has never gotten mad, or even remotely upset, at being asked to do something. Even the more stupid, hazing-ish stuff that newbies are sometimes made to do, like separating the sprinkles by color. But she suddenly feels weird about dictating who should be doing what, especially remembering what Cate told her about Britnee. And the fact that there are no newbies, at least not yet, means no one is here to pick up the slack on the least-liked chores, like cleaning the stand bathroom.
“Is it possible to be the boss without being bossy?” she asks Cate in a low voice.
“What’s wrong with being bossy? You’re the boss!” Cate laughs. “Here. Watch and learn.” Cate claps her hands for their attention. “Girls! Listen up! Amelia’s going to start delegating chores. Meanwhile I’m off to get us bagels, and anyone who isn’t busting serious ass when I get back is going to be forced to eat the Pumpernickel Bagel of Shame.” Cate winks at Amelia, as if to say See? Easy.
Amelia sticks out her tongue. Joking aside, though, she wishes she had Cate’s confidence, and she’s in awe at the ease with which Cate can straddle the line between being fun and calling the shots. Basically all the stuff that Amelia agonizes over just comes naturally to Cate.
The girls turn to Amelia. And the best she can do? Apologize after she calls out each task listed in her notebook.
The girls shrug, unbothered. They stand shoulder to shoulder, ready to work. Because they love this place as much as she does. Thank goodness.
*
Soon the stand is busy with activity. Mansi pushes the lawn mower across the grass. Liz wields the weed-whacker around the perimeter of the stand with her earbuds in. Sophie and Bernadette work together to carry out the picnic tables, moving each one just a few inches at a time, because they’re so heavy. Jen lines each of the trash cans with a black bag before topping it with a bright pink plastic shutter lid to help minimize the inevitable bee situation. And no one, thankfully, comes close to being awarded the Pumpernickel Bagel of Shame.
Every task that isn’t essential to being ready to sell ice cream by eleven a.m. will be left for another day. There’s no time for a fresh coat of paint on the stand. The bee traps won’t get set until Amelia can track down a recipe for the syrup they find so irresistible. Taking down and dusting the empty milk bottles, too. Even omitting those chores, there’s still an enormous amount of work to do, and only a couple more hours to get it done.