“Are they set up?”
“Just one.The ones on the brewery property are set up for guests, but the cabins are already all booked, so guests are enjoying them.Jagger and I wanted to test them out, so we ran an extension cord from their property through the woods to one of the saunas on the new property.It’s so great.”
I shook my head.“You do know that getting locked in a sauna is one of my biggest fears, right?After losing my children and having Ephram rise from the dead like a bloated zombie.”
“We burned that motherfucker and tossed his ashes into the landfill.He ain’t coming back.”
I rolled my eyes.“You know what I mean.”
“I had no clue you were afraid of being locked in a sauna.Where does that fear stem from?”
Shrugging, I exhaled and glanced out at the growing numbers of people on the field.“Well, obviously the tight spaces thing is—”
She nodded.“Right.I forgot your father wasliterallyBeelzebub and punished his children in inhumane ways.But the heat?”
I shrugged again.“I have no idea.It just is.So, thanks, but no thanks.I’d rather find a hot tub or even a cold plunge.”
“Raina!”someone called from across the field.“We need your help.”
She gave my arm another squeeze.“Don’t let it bug you.They’re jealous, fake bitches whose faces are going to melt off.And you’re a sexy, overall clad goddess who is banging a hot twenty-six-year-old.Count your blessings, cuz.”Then she ran off, red hair bouncing down her back.
I reached the cotton candy machine where the other parent volunteer, Ursula, was setting it up.She hadn’t manned the machine before either, so I grabbed the instruction manual and started to read through things while she finished setting it up.
Between Ursula and myself, we managed to get the machine running and were whipping up blue and pink candy floss for sugar-crazed children in no time.
“This is actually pretty fun,” Ursula said, swirling the paper cone in the big stainless vat of spinning sugar.“Kind of therapeutic.”
I nodded and made a trade with a child of cash for a cone just as a hot, tattooed principal wearing sexy Ray-Bans approached our table.“Hello, ladies.How is business?”
“Gangbusters,” Ursula said.
He sidled up beside me.“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay.”
“I saw you chatting with those three women earlier, then you seemed to be propelled by steam the way you took off from them.Did something happen?”
I glanced over at Ursula, then brought my voice down low.“They were just commenting about our age difference.Being mean.”
He removed his glasses and scanned the field until he found Barb, Sarah, and Sybil sitting in the shade, now with matching floppy, leather hats on, their enormous sunglasses and Stanley tumblers in their hands.“Do you want me to say something to them?”
“God, no.”
“Well, our romantic relationship is nobody’s business.I’m an adult.You’re an adult, and the kids are fine with it.It’s not like we’re moving in together and having a baby or anything.We’re going on dates and getting to know each other.”He shook his head.“Ursula?”
She lifted her dark head and smiled at him, her gauzy pink floral maxi skirt fluttering in the breeze.“Yes?”
“You know that Naomi and I are dating, right?”
She nodded.“Yeah.”
“And does that bother you?Do you think it’s weird that there is a bit of an age gap between us?”
“Flip it and reverse it and nobody would give two shits,” Ursula said quickly.“If you were the older one, there wouldn’t be anybody talking on the island.So, no.I don’t think it’s weird.If you make each other happy, then that’s all that matters.”
He turned to me.“See?Not everybody shares their opinion.People like Ursula—cool people—mind their own business and celebrate when people find love.”
I chose to ignore the “L” word, because I didn’t think he was professing his love for me.He was just saying that romance and partnership were meant to be celebrated, not condemned, as long as the parties were consenting adults.
