Quiet settles over the group.

“I can’t commute like Alice. Not with Olivia.”

Several of us nod.

“We need to be a family. Not all stretched out.”

I consider what Laurie’s given up because of her love for Brian. The adopted child, and now this move. But when you’re a couple, you decide as a team. You sacrifice for your family.

“If worst comes to worst, we’ll sell the house at auction. And there’s some thought that Brian’s agency will buy it and hold it until the market improves.”

“Oh, Laurie,” Jeannie says. “Leaving will be so hard. And what will we do without you?”

“What I’ll miss most is you guys. My friends. I know I won’t be able to find friends like you.”

“Nope. No one’s like us.” We all laugh.

“But you’ll find others.”

“Different ones.”

“But no one like us.” More laughter.

“I’ve gone through so much with you.” Laurie meets my eyes. “Well. I mean, you guys know my whole story. Other people’ll just pick up with me as a mom.”

“You’ll make new friends.” I look at Allie and she says, “Yeah, at Olivia’s day care and kindergarten. I’ve met lifelong friends at day care. And kids’ sports practices. Believe me, being a mom is a friend magnet.”

Then Allie smiles at Laurie and her voice lowers. “It’ll be hard for a while, but you’ll do it and come up on top. You always do.” Allie’s voice locates the importance of the message.

Tears fill Laurie’s eyes. “Well, I wanted to tell you. Didn’t want to bring everybody down tonight, but that’s really my cookie story. What I thought about was leaving you guys. Leaving Ann Arbor and the lights downtown and cross-country skiing, and Magic Mountain and the Top of the Park, and the cafés in summer. The parks and art galleries. The salon and my clients. And, of course, this.”

“How come you didn’t choose Florida?” Jeannie asks. “My parents are there and I’d be able to visit you when I visit them.”

“Since Mom and Dad moved, it’s made it easier to leave and we considered Florida, but their real estate market is as bad as ours. No one wants to pay the enormous insurance rates.” She stops abruptly and her eyes fill. “It’s just that it’ll be hard leaving these memories.”

“Hey. You get to take the memories with you.”

“But, well, it’s like the Top of the Park. I know it’s fun. I look forward to it every year. And the Townie Party. And this. And I’ll have nothing to look forward to there.”

Allie nods. “The anticipation is part of the fun. But you’ll look forward to all the new discoveries.”