“
They sat there, the air like ice, Everleigh's Ayane wig When I'm older, I'm gonna dye it purple for real!) and Maura's Super Mario mask (I can't breathe in this thing!) cast aside, eating ever one of their collective peanut butter cups. It felt indulgent. Fun. They licked the chocolate from their fingertips. They threw the paper cups across the floor. They feasted. And then there was just one package left, a full-sized score, two final cups inside. They lifted them, and then, as if they were older, an age Everleigh would never live to see, they clinked them together like glasses of champagne, dinging the chocolate, a toast to themselves.
"Let's do this every year," Everleigh declared.
"I'm in," Maura agreed, mouth full.
"I mean it! Promise. As long as one of us wants to go."
"Of course we will. Always."
It was the happiest they'd ever been.
”
”