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The message was accompanied by a video that Sadie must have taken of a small pod of dolphins surfacing near the boat and Mark telling Sadie not to get too close to the edge.
Cute. I heard him laugh at something she said, and they did sound like they were having a good time.
I couldn’t wait to get every single detail when they got back.
The twins begged for ice cream, so we walked down the street where there was a tiny little ice cream stand next to the dock and I let them get whatever they wanted while I just got a dish of cookie dough. Part of me considered getting a brownie sundae and sending a picture of it to Honor to gloat.
But then I thought about all the brownies I’d eaten with her and how now they felt like a thing we should do together.
* * *
The twinsand I waved madly as Mark and Sadie returned from their voyage. Sadie’s hair was windblown, and their cheeks were red, but they were both beaming.
Riley and Zoey ran to hug their parents and I hung back as they talked together as a family.
It never bothered me, standing back sometimes to let them have their time. It was important.
They all walked over to me, and they looked so sweet together, the two girls between their mom and dad.
“How was it?” I asked as Sadie shivered. “Let me get the car started, you both look freezing.”
“I haven’t been on a boat in forever,” Sadie said, getting into the passenger seat of Mark’s SUV while the girls hopped in the back. I gave Mark the keys and got in the back too.
Riley and Zoey bombarded their parents with questions, and I watched as Mark and Sadie talked about their “date.”
“If you wanted us to be alone together, you could have just told us,” Sadie said, giving both girls a significant look.
“You wouldn’t have done it if we asked,” Riley said, and Sadie and Mark didn’t really have a good answer to that.
“You know your mother and I are not together,” Mark said.
“We know,” they chorused.
“It’s nice that you want us to spend time together, but we don’t want you to get your hopes up, okay?” Sadie said, echoing Mark’s sentiments. For two people who weren’t together, they were definitely in synch.
There was a lecture, but I didn’t think the twins were paying attention to it.
I didn’t miss the looks that passed between Mark and Sadie, and I didn’t think it was reading too much into things to say that their looks were heated.
Eventually Sadie said she had to go home, and she’d see the kids on Monday morning. They hugged her and begged her not to go, that she should come back with us, but she put her foot down.
Sadie came to give me a hug as well. “Thanks for looking out for them.”
“I knew I needed to get involved so they didn’t try to book you plane tickets to Vegas or get ordained online or something really bonkers,” I said.
Sadie laughed. “You know them well.”
“Oh, I do,” I said, hugging her back. “And if you want to give me any details, I’m going to be up for a little while.” I gave her a wink and didn’t miss that she blushed.
“I have a lot to think about,” was all she said.
* * *
Mark toldthe twins that question time was over, and they needed to talk about something else, anything else, on the way back.
That didn’t make them happy, but they ended up talking his ear off about the restaurant, so that was something.
I hopped out of the car when we got back and said goodnight to everyone.
