Lexi had been working in the newsroom for a couple of weeks and was really enjoying it. She was learning a lot and her plan to get to know Mary was going well so far. Today was a teacher in service day and Lexi was working in the morning instead of the afternoon. Mary offered to take her to lunch at the coffee shop downstairs. It was a chance to talk without the distractions of the newsroom. She found herself staring at Mary again. She wanted to see a resemblance but aside from the nose she didn't see much. She stared at Mary's hands as she held the menu looking it over. Were they her hands too? She wanted so much to tell her but she still thought it was too soon. Mary had been so kind to her and the time had to be right to drop the bomb on her.

Mary looked up from the menu and smiled, "I don't know why I look at the menu. I already know what I want."

Lexi smiled back nervously, "I guess I'll have the chef salad."

"You know, that's what I always get." Mary told her, "So we haven't had too much of a chance to talk in the newsroom. How are things going? You're going a great job helping us out."

"Thanks. I really like it. I've wanted to work in journalism since I was a kid, not sure where I caught the bug."

Mary took a drink of water, "I got it from my Aunt Flo." She explained, "She works for newspapers but I got my love of news from her."

"Nobody in my family was ever interested in it." Lexi explained, "My dad works for a manufacturing company. We move around a lot. Every time they want to open a new plant he has to transfer."

"That must be hard, having to move so much." Mary said sympathetically, "Where are you from?"

"Back East, we moved here from Seattle." She lied but didn't want to mention being born in California

"Have you made many friends here yet?" Mary asked

"A few." Lexi said, "Bess is my closest friend right now."

"Bess is a terrific kid…I mean young lady." Mary offered, "I've known her mother for years."

Lexi laughed, "Her mother is some kind of weird sometimes." She joked, "Oh, I'm sorry, she's your friend. I can't believe I said something so lame." She looked down

"It's alright." Mary assured her, "I know all about Phyllis's, um, quirks."

"Yeah and somehow Bess is totally normal." Lexi observed with a half-smile

"You know, I just thought of something." Mary flashed her smile again, "Lars and Phyllis are going to be out of town this weekend and Bess and I both have dates Friday night but we were going to hang out Saturday night. Would you like to join us? Unless you have plans."

"You mean like hang out at your house?" Lexi asked, "Aren't you seeing that guy who does the sports?"

"Andy, yeah, he's leaving on Saturday morning to go fishing with his friends for the weekend." She explained, "It'll be fun. We can pop popcorn, have an old fashioned slumber party. Unless you think that's totally lame." She quipped

Lexi laughed, "No, that sounds great. I'd like to come."

"Great."

SATURDAY NIGHT

Lexi was having a wonderful time. They ate pizza for dinner and gave each other manicures and pedicures. They had just popped some popcorn and were getting ready to watch Psycho on the late movie when the phone rang.

"I wonder who that could be." Mary looked at her watch and it was after eleven

"I bet its Andy." Bess said teasingly

"Oh, stop." Mary answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Hi, Honey." It was in fact Andy

Mary laughed, "Oh, I'm sorry, sweetheart." She said, "We were, um, just laughing at something on TV."

"Oh, so how is the slumber party going?" Andy asked, "Are you wearing something sexy?"

"Uh, no." She answered, "But we're having a good time." She could hear Bess and Lexi making kissing noises in the background, "We're getting ready to watch Psycho." She looked at them with a smirk

"I wish I was there to hold you if you get scared." He told her, "I'll be home sometime tomorrow afternoon. How about I take you out to dinner?

Mary smiled, "I'd like that." She said, "I miss you." She heard the girls say 'aww' in unison

"I miss you too, Baby." He told her, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye." Mary said and hung up the phone. She looked at Lexi and Bess, "Very funny, you two. You're worse than Rhoda."

"Who's Rhoda?" Lexi asked

"Aunt Mary's best friend, she used to live upstairs." Bess explained, "She moved to New York a few months ago."

Sadness clouded Lexi's green eyes, "I wish I could stay somewhere long enough to make a best friend."

"Hey, you and I will always be best friends, no matter where we live." Bess assured her, "Just like Aunt Mary and Aunt Rhoda."

Lexi looked at Mary, "But isn't it hard to still be friends when she's so far away?"

Mary nodded, "Sometimes but we talk quite a bit and I was in her wedding a couple of months ago." Mary wanted to move away from such a sad topic, "Hey, why don't we forget about all that and watch the movie, huh?"

Lexi smiled, "Okay."

SUNDAY MORNING

Mary fixed a big breakfast and planned to take the girls shopping for a few hours before coming back and getting ready for her date with Andy.

Bess was looking at a brochure Mary had for California, "Are you going on vacation Aunt Mary?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking about it." She said

"California looks really cool. I wish I could go sometime." Bess told her, "Lexi was born there in Palo Alto."

Mary stiffened a bit then looked at Lexi, "I thought you were from the East Coast."

"Oh, I am. I was a baby when we moved from California so I don't even remember it." Lexi explained

"Ah, well, that's understandable." Mary acknowledged

"Have you been there before Mary?" Lexi asked hesitantly

"No, I haven't." She replied, "So how about we get ready and hit the mall?"

TBC…Lexi gets closer to telling Mary the truth, meanwhile, Mary and Andy make a decision about their relationship