Yael and the Party of the Year by Tamsin Lane

Author:Tamsin Lane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Canada

* * *

Yael goes for Gabriel.

Yael focuses on her friends.

Triptych

Party day! Finally!

I was so excited!

Mostly.

The day before, I had nailed my Torah reading. All that practice had really paid off. After that, I had convinced myself that if I could sing that whole thing in Hebrew and only stumble a little, I could do a speech in English. And it’s not like I had to memorize what to say—I’d printed it out, and it was now currently folded up and stuffed into my pocket for later. Easy-peasy. Or so I told myself, determined to be brave and responsible.

We arrived at the Maize, and I let myself enjoy the moment. All my friends and relatives were coming to this wonderful place that guaranteed an amazing time. I felt pretty lucky.

As Dad pulled into a spot (after circling the parking lot only twice), I saw Tara, Paloma, and Gemma waiting for me by the ticket booths. They were all smiling so hard; Tara was even bouncing on her toes in anticipation.

Seeing them so excited was contagious, and I barely waited for the car to stop before I unbuckled my seat belt and launched out of the back seat, ignoring my mother yelling my name and something about being run over by my own father.

“YAEL!!!” Tara hollered, pulling me into a crushing hug with one arm as she held the other out with her phone to take a selfie. “You finally arrived!”

“I’m a half hour early!” I laughed as she let me go, only to be grabbed into Paloma’s waiting arms. Then I pulled back from Paloma so Gemma could have her turn.

“We’ve been here for twenty minutes already,” Gemma said, holding up her phone. “I wanted to capture you arriving.”

Leave it to Gemma to think of everything.

“Where to first?” Paloma asked. “Can we go play games?”

While I wanted to say yes, the grown-up thing to do would be to go to the barn first to check the room setup and get ready to greet people.

“Come on, girls,” my mom said as she joined us, pushing Rivka in her stroller. “Let’s get inside. You can go run off and have fun soon, but first Yael needs to welcome everyone.”

I knew it. Time to be a grown-up.

• • •

The moment I entered the barn, I stopped, suddenly overwhelmed. I looked around at the twinkling fairy lights, the antique wooden tables decorated with red-and-white gingham tablecloths, and the buckets filled with candy that served as table centerpieces. There were bundles of cornstalks and hay bales arranged around the hall, adding a crisp, earthy smell. It made me immediately think of a Maud Lewis painting—charmingly rustic, the same look I’d been going for with my invitations.

I’d been so silly to ever not want this party.

I turned and looked at my mom, taking a deep breath so I wouldn’t cry. “Thank you so much,” I whispered.

She put her arm around me. “See? I told you you’d love it, Yael.”

My mother could be over the top sometimes, but I was suddenly so glad I’d listened to her.

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