Chapter One
Ring. Ring. Ring. I quickly got up from the couch to answer the phone so it wouldn't wake up the kids, who were napping.
"Hello?" I said.
"Mary Anne, its Kristy."
"Hi. What's up?" I asked, taking the cordless phone with me back to the couch.
"I just got a letter from Stacey and Claudia!" she exclaimed.
"Really? How are they doing?" I asked. Stacey and Claudia are friends of ours from middle school. They live together in New York city.
"They're doing really well. Claudia just got another deal with a museum in New York and Stacey's fashion line is really taking off."
"That's great."
"That's not the best part, though."
"If not that, then what?" I asked, excitement building inside me.
"They're coming back to Stoneybrook for 2 weeks!"
"Really? That's great. I can't wait to see them."
"I know. I was thinking…"
"Uh-oh." I teased. "I sense a really good idea."
"Well, what if we had a BSC reunion?"
"A BSC reunion?" I repeated. "That would be great. We haven't seen the whole club together for almost 2 years…I think it was Mallory's wedding."
"Yep. If we can convince Mal, Jessi, Shannon, and Abby to come home for the same week-end, then it'd work. I'll make some calls."
"Okay Kristy. Let me know if you need help with anything."
"I will."
"I've got to go, Kristy. I think I hear Ella."
"Okay. 'Bye Mary Anne."
"'Bye." I hung up the phone and headed upstairs to the nursery and stuck my head in. Ella was still in a deep sleep. I closed the door quietly and walked back downstairs. I sat on the couch and thought about what Kristy had said. The whole BSC…
The BSC, or Baby-Sitters Club, was a business Kristy started when we were all in middle school. We met 3 times a week and clients called us with baby-sitting jobs. All the kids loved us and we were always busy. Over time, there were up to 10 of us in the club. Stacey McGill was our Treasurer. She now lives in New York City, where she is working on designing her own fashion line. She lives with Claudia Kishi, who was the Vice-President. Claudia is an amazing artist and sells her art to different museums. Kristy Thomas, who is now Kristy Cummings was the President of the club. She married a boy named Jeff, who used to be in school with us. Kristy lives in Stoneybrook, a couple of blocks away from me, where they are currently awaiting the birth of their first child, which is due in about 5 months. Abby Stevenson was one of our alternate members. She lives in Ohio, where she works as an executive to a sports store. Dawn Schafer, who is my step-sister, lives in Stoneybrook. She's married to Austin Bentley, but kept her maiden name. Dawn has a daughter named Christina and she stays at home with her. Jessi Ramsey lives in Detroit and she is a professional ballet dancer. She was a junior officer of the club with Mallory Pike. Mallory is currently living in Maine and is married to Ben Hobart and she has 2 girls-Kara and Emily. She and Jessi were junior members because they were 2 years younger than the rest of us. Shannon Kilbourne lives in Iowa and is a professor at Dort College. Shannon was an associate member of the club. Logan Bruno was the other associate member. He lives in Stoneybrook and works in Stanford, which is about ½ an hour from here, as a VP to a company. He's married to me, Mary Anne. I used to be the Secretary of the club. Together, we have 2 kids-Jacob and Ella. And that was the BSC. We were in business until our Senior year of high school. After high school, everyone scattered in different directions. Now, 8 years after the BSC broke up, we might get to see each other again. Sure, we've seen each other since then. We've been to 4 weddings and had a few other encounters, but it's been awhile since we sat down and talked for a long time.
I looked at the clock and saw that Jacob and Ella would sleep for at least another hour. I got up and went to the living room and pulled out my old photo albums and began looking through them…