Friends Forever by Danielle Steel

the wedding too, and seemed like nice kids.
    The O’Haras genuinely liked Jack and enjoyed spending time with him and Marilyn. Gabby’s parents, Judy and Adam, were at the wedding too, and had brought Michelle, who seemed astonishingly thin, but looked very pretty. She looked a lot like her older sister, Gabby, only paler, smaller, and less vivacious.
    Andy’s parents had declined, because they were both working. His mother was on call, and his father was in L.A. doing a TV show to publicize his new book. Andy had come with the O’Haras. And Jeff Wallace, Izzie’s father, had come with a new woman he was dating, whom Connie knew Izzie didn’t like. None of the kids wanted change in their lives, they wanted everything to stay the same, but it couldn’t. Two sets of parents had already gotten divorced, and who knew what other changes life had in store for them. And the kids were changing too. In another year, they’d all be leaving for college.
    The only things everyone agreed on were that they had never liked Larry, and how much they liked Jack. And unlike Larry, Jack treated Marilyn like a queen.
    There was a brunch at Jack’s restaurant in Yountville in the Napa Valley, the day after the wedding, and all their good friends came to see them off on their honeymoon. Jack was taking Marilyn to Europe. They were starting in Paris, and he had chartered a sailboat in Italy. He had invited the boys to come, but Brian gotseasick and Billy didn’t want to go, so both boys were going to stay with the O’Haras, and his own sons were going back to Chicago to their mother.
    After brunch, the bride and groom left, and everyone drove back to town. Brian chatted animatedly with Sean on the way home—he was blossoming with his stepfather’s kindness and attention. And Billy barely spoke. He was too hung over from the night before to say anything. Connie just thought he was tired, and he went right to bed in Sean’s room as soon as they got home.
    Connie smiled to herself as she thought of the first time she’d ever seen Marilyn, on the first day of kindergarten, the day Brian was born. It amazed her to think that Marilyn wanted to have another baby, and start all over again. Connie couldn’t imagine doing that herself. She and Marilyn had been friends for twelve years. It seemed hard to believe, it had all flown by so fast. And it was even more amazing to realize that the kids’ school career, the five best friends, was almost over. The twelve years since they’d all met in kindergarten had passed in the blink of an eye.

Chapter 6
    M arilyn and Jack came back from their honeymoon three weeks after the wedding. It was already mid-September, Brian had started seventh grade, and the Big Five were all seniors. They were in the home stretch of their high school careers.
    Marilyn took Connie to lunch to thank her for taking care of the boys while she was gone, and Connie insisted it had been no trouble. She and Mike loved having them, and so did Sean.
    “Our house is so overloaded with testosterone, with Mike, Kevin, and Sean, believe me, two more guys isn’t a problem. I wouldn’t know what to do with a girl.” And then she thought of Gabby’s sister, Michelle. “Did you notice Michelle at your wedding? She gets thinner every time I see her. I was worried about her. I wanted to say something to Judy, but I didn’t want to upset her. She’s always focused on Gabby, I’m not sure she sees what’s happening. Michelle looks anorexic to me.”
    “I did notice,” Marilyn admitted. “I’ve seen it for a while. I keepwondering if I should mention it to Judy, or mind my own business.”
    “That’s kind of how I feel too. But I’ve always been grateful when people told me things about Kevin, when he was in trouble. Sometimes you’re too close to it to see it, or they hide it from you.”
    “I know. How’s he doing, by the way?”
    “Terrific. He’s still at City College. He’s getting there slowly. He should graduate