Page 44 of The One Who Saw Her: Boone

"Yes," Rea said, finally meeting her gaze. "And the order is that the children get bored and I refuse to watch them riot."

Maribelle sniffed. "Face painting is frivolous."

"So is the General Regent."

The crowd smothered laughs. Maribelle did not.

And so the discussion went on—cake walk, ring toss, vendors. Vivi was scribbling notes when a stunning redhead in her early twenties caught her attention.

She sat on the neighboring bench, a beautiful kid balanced on her knee like it was the most natural thing in the world to bring a tiny person into a place that smelled faintly of gin, olives, and industrial-strength cocktail blenders.

Vivi glanced at the toddler, who had a smattering of freckles across her nose so pronounced it was like a Where's Waldo of constellations. She was currently trying to smush a graham cracker into her mother's collarbone.

The woman caught Vivi's look and sighed before Vivi could even pretend she hadn't been staring.

"I know," she said, lifting one hand in preemptive defeat. "Kid in a bar—classic bad mom optics. But I didn't know who else to leave her with. Sitters off Craigslist aren't my thing, I don't know a soul here, and I figured the best way to meet the town is to just show up."

"Honestly?" Vivi said, just loud enough for her to hear. "She's behaving better than half the grown adults in this place."

"That's not reassuring," the woman whispered back—but the corner of her mouth twitched upward.

"I'm Vivi," Vivi said, quietly extending her hand, so as not to be caught socializing while the meeting was in session.

"I'm Sutton." She untangled her hand from a stuffed pony on reins that seemed to regenerate every time she moved. At the last second she paused. "Warning: it's probably sticky with peanut butter, yogurt, or toddler spit. Possibly all three. She's a multitasker."

"A little spit never hurt anyone," Vivi said, taking her hand.

"This is Lynlee," Sutton cooed, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead. Lynlee giggled, showing off her teeth—which there were only two. "We're just passing through and trying to see if this is somewhere I can picture settling down. If it's a good place to raise a kid. Not sure yet. We leave for Big Sky tomorrow. Another maybe-town on the list."

But something in the way she said it—soft, fragile at the edges—told Vivi there was nothing casual about Sutton's visit. Not really. People searching that hard for home didn't pass through a town like Bridlewood. Heck, the dot on the map must be the size of a tack point.

"I'm in the same boat," Vivi said. "Came here for an Eat, Pray, Love experience."

"And?" Sutton asked, bouncing the toddler gently as she gnawed on her mother's necklace.

"I ate a lot of biscuits," Vivi said. "Prayed never to be a doormat again. And I guess I fell in love."

Sutton's brows arched. "Fell in love?"

Realizing what she'd said, Vivi backpedaled. "Not with a man. With this town."

"Then you're staying?"

Vivi stared at the row of liquor bottles behind the bar, the neon lights caught in the glass like little trapped galaxies.

"My life's in New York. My job, my family, all the expectations I spent years trying to live up to. And I've spent my entire adult life chasing one dream after another—only those dreams always belonged to someone else. This trip was supposed to be about finally choosing my own. Not a man."

Sutton nodded slowly, the kind of understanding that only comes from hard-earned experience passing over her face. "Sometimes the thing you didn't plan for is the thing that was meant for you."

The toddler squealed triumphantly and slapped her cracker-coated hand on the table.

"And sometimes," Sutton added, resigned, "the thing you didn't plan for is just carbs."

"Ladies, are we interrupting you? " Maribelle asked pointedly.

"No, ma’am. So sorry, please continue,” Vivi said, thinking about what a great first impression she’d just made.

"Now." Rea clapped her hands and brought the room back to order. "We need two more hands for glitter application. And someone who doesn't scream at the kids when they smear it all over the walls!"