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Her students began to arrive, right on time, and once everyone was there and introductions were complete, Raina started the lesson. She’d decided to keep it simple for the first session, changing the style of the candles each week as they carried on. She smiled as she made eye contact with one of JJ’s previous babysitters. Hadley Stratton was only a couple of years younger than Raina and had a delightful way with children.
“Okay, ladies, thank you all for coming along tonight. I see you all received my email with the instructions for preparing for this evening’s lesson. Does anyone have any questions so far?”
Hadley spoke up. “You said we could dye the egg shells, but what if we could only get brown eggs?”
“No problem,” Raina assured her. “You can choose to keep your candles in the shell and decorate the shells, or you can break the shell away after the candles have set and simply burn them in a container—like an eggcup or something like that. It’s entirely up to you.”
“I’m so brain dead after nannying all day and studying all night that I think I can only go as far as filling a shell. Is that okay?” Hadley laughed. “Maybe I can leave decorating to another lesson.”
Several other women joined in with Hadley’s laughter, obviously empathizing with her. Raina nodded in acknowledgment.
“How many of you would prefer to decorate or color?”
About half the women in the room put their hands up.
“Okay,” Raina said. “How about we split into two groups for tonight? Decorators this side of the workroom, and plain beeswax candles on the other.”
The women good-naturedly shifted around and, after showing the group doing plain candles how to start the process of melting their beeswax, Raina discussed with the group of decorators how to dye their egg shells or hand paint them with freestyle or stenciled designs. As everyone set to work, Raina began to feel a sense of excitement. The lesson was really going well and the atmosphere was both lighthearted and creative at the same time.
She stopped by Hadley’s table for a minute, while making the rounds of the class to check that everyone was on track.
“It’s good to see you, Hadley. We miss you.”
“I miss you guys, too. But you know what it’s like balancing everything.”
“You always make everything look so effortless when you’re with kids. You should really have some of your own one day,” Raina teased with a friendly smile.
Hadley laughed out loud, drawing attention and several smiles from the people around her. “I’ve got so much on my plate right now I’m quite happy to put that off for a while longer. Besides, there’s the important prerequisite of finding the right man for the job, y’know?”
Raina felt her smile slip a little, but she knew Hadley hadn’t meant anything by her comment, that she hadn’t been referring to Raina’s poor choice of partner in Jeb.
“You make sure he’s the right one, then,” Raina said, with a light touch on Hadley’s arm.
“Don’t you worry, I will. When the time is right. In the meantime, at least I have your classes to look forward to on Tuesday evenings. This is about as far as my social life extends. Getting to spend time with other adults and relax and unwind is like gold to me right now, plus I get to make some cute Christmas gifts at the same time. What more could a woman want?”
With a murmur of agreement, Raina moved on to her next student. Hadley was right. What more could a woman want than to be surrounded by people she enjoyed being with and doing something creative? Even so, Raina felt an unexpected yearning that pulled from deep inside. She wanted that “right one” in her life one day. The man who would be her partner in everything and help her to guide JJ on his path in life. Right now, while JJ was small and so dependent on her, it was easy to imagine that she’d be able to cope forever. But sometimes she wished for more. For herself, as well.
Nolan Dane popped immediately to mind and Raina quashed a startling swell of desire as adequately as she was able. This was ridiculous. She’d only met the man today and she was already spinning a tale of happy ever after in her mind? Clearly she wasn’t busy enough with her life already. Pushing all thoughts of men to the back of her mind, she went to assist one of her students with the placement of her candle wicks.
By the time the class finished, everyone was proud of their results—Raina most of all. Not only had she successfully pulled off tutoring her first official craft lesson, but everyone had commented how much they were looking forward to returning the following week when they’d be making mason jar candles filled with oil. Some were even talking about classes in the New Year and how they’d like to bring other friends along.
