“Done!” Daniel crowed when he’d stuck on the last sequin.
Wren helped him loop the pipe cleaners through the holes on each side, and when he pulled the mask over his face, she twisted the pieces of wire to hold it in place.
“Yay! It looks great. Do you want to make another one?”
Daniel pushed his chair back from the table. “No.” And he scampered to his mother to show her his creation.
“Say thank you, Daniel,” his mother reminded him, giving Wren a grateful smile.
“Thank you!” the boy called over his shoulder.
Wren waved to him, but Daniel was only interested in showing off his new mask.
She turned her gaze to Cherise. “So what’s this about?”
Cherise kept her eyes on the tiger mask, shrugging. “We’re volunteering.”
Wren sniffed a laugh of derision. “Of course we are.” She pushed up from the table. “I’m going to see what the others are up to.”
She scanned the sprawling space and spotted Rocky and Shelby by a decommissioned ambulance, playing the part of medics. Lee was at the bubble station, and Mamaw Gigi was in the general store.
Wren deliberated. Rocky and Shelby were two against one. She couldn’t make any headway with them. And she certainly couldn’t go to Lee, so that left her grandmother.
The general store consisted of two miniature aisles full of plastic produce, canned goods, and dry goods with a checkout stand and cash register. She found Mamaw Gigi among the aisles, stooped over and organizing the shelves. Without a word, Wren joined her and started sorting the pretend boxes of cereal from the fake fruit. When everything was in its proper place, she forced herself to speak up.
“What’s the point of all this?”
Mamaw put her hands on her hips and leveled Wren with her bespectacled glare. “What do you think is the point to all of this?”
Wren’s jaw set. Her grandmother couldn’t claim all the family’s snark. “To gang up on me so I’ll do what you want.”
Mamaw Gigi’s brow raised; her glare clearly unamused. “And what is it you think we want?”
The question threw her because the answer seemed so obvious. “For me to date a man who shouldn’t be with me.”
Mamaw Gigi rolled her eyes. “We want you to be happy and to have the kind of life you want, without you holding yourself back. Do I think that young man is what you want?” she asked, nodding her head toward the bubble station. “Yes, indeed. I think you want to be with him more than you’ve wanted anything in your life…”
The truth of it was as sharp as a scalpel, and Wren recoiled at its touch.
“…and the fact that you’re trying to push him away makes me hoppin’ mad because, darlin’—” the corners of her eyes turned down, and her face lost all of its ire, if only for a moment “—you deserve to be happy. No one else I know on earth deserves it more than you. And anyone who tries to stand in the way of that — including you — is gonna get a swift kick in the pants.”
By the end of her speech, she was scowling again, which made it easier to push aside what she’d said.
“And I don’t want to make this about me, Wrennie,” her grandmother continued, choosing her words more carefully now. “But I won’t always be around—”
“Mamaw, don’t—”
“Hush now. Listen up. I’m not planning on kicking the bucket tomorrow, but it’s not like I’ll be here twenty years down the road.”
A cold hand seemed to squeeze Wren’s insides, but she held her tongue.
“You need to build your own life. You need to build a family of your own to love and fuss over and hold onto.”
Wren shook her head doubtfully. “Mamaw, if you’re talking about marriage and kids. If that’s why we’re here—”
“I don’t care if you get married, Wrennie. I don’t care if you have kids — though I would love some great-grandbabies before my time comes.” She turned her hands up as though to welcome that possibility. “I’m talking about sharing your life with someone.”
Wren folded her arms across her chest. “Lots of happy people live alone, Mamaw.” But even as she said the words, she knew that a life without Lee would be far less happy than one spent with him. Whether she deserved him or not.
