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She surprises a laugh out of me. “That’s scary. We obviously share a brain.”
Her answering smile is smug. “See? That’s because he does. And you like it.”
I shake my head. “We weren’t talking about me and Superman.”
“Yes, we were.”
“Well, we shouldn’t be. We should be talking about you and moving on.”
Felicity’s eyes glaze over, and there’s a sudden rigid set to her jaw. “We don’t need to talk about me. I’ve got everything I need in my life and more.” She gets a pinched look on her face as she gestures to Trace and Hudson, who are now both jumping into a mound of dirty snow.
“I get it,” I say. And I do. Neither of us has any time because it’s taking both of us to support these boys. The difference between us is that Felicity’s past has her closed off to pursuing a future. While I’m just…regular busy. “We have a little more time than we used to, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just saying the stage the boys are at now is a lot easier than when Hudson was teething and Trace was peeing in the closet.” Trace had an epically difficult time with potty training.
“Yeah. Wow. That’s the truth. Things are easier with them now.”
“And it’ll get even easier when Hudson goes to school next year. They won’t need quite so much help.”
“But that doesn’t mean we’ve got a ton of free time now.”
“Life is busy. You’re not wrong. I’m just saying maybe you should start opening your mind to possibilities.”
“Okay. I will open my mind. And I’ll start looking around when I have the time.” Her brow unfurrows and the pinched look retreats from her face. She may only be telling me what I want to hear, but I think it’s doing her good already. She seems calmer and more hopeful. Which lasts about two seconds until she runs over and tugs Hudson away from a bell-ringing Salvation Army Santa. Huddy was trying to stand on the donation bucket.
We stop in front of Gifts and Bits. “Have fun,” she says with another knowing grin.
I wave her off. “You too.”
She grabs the boys, and they head into the store. I continue on to Smart Cookie Bites and Superman—I mean Ollie.
He’s already there, seated at one of the cute bistro tables by the window under wide strands of sparkly gold garland. A loose strand of the shiny stuff has fallen onto his head. He’s playing on his phone, but he stands when he spots me. “Amelia, hi. Good to see you.”
I pluck the bit of garland out of his hair, showing it to him so he won’t think I’m randomly grooming him. “You too, Ollie. Thanks for meeting me. Now we’ve got no time to lose. We have a lot to do.”
He blinks at me. Whatever he thought I was going to say, this wasn’t it. He should hang on. It’ll get worse before it gets better.
“Okay. Do we have time for a cookie?”
I set my purse and messenger bag on the floor and take my coat off. “Well, yes, of course.” I drape my coat on the back of my chair before sitting down. “There’s always time for a cookie. That’s why we’re here.”
He sits across from me and smiles. He still has his dimples. Two of them. He always had a bit of a baby face, and now that he’s all grown up it’s endearing to see he still has something left of the boy I knew.
“So what’s up?” He pulls a white pastry bag toward him. He must’ve already stood in line to get them. How early did he get here?
“I have a project that requires a…person like you.”
“Oh? Like me how?”
My heart rate picks up its pace. I don’t know why I’m nervous to tell him. It’s just Ollie. And yeah, I don’t really know Ollie anymore, so that might be why. “Let’s have a cookie first.”
He opens the cookie bag. “Which one do you want? I got us a couple of their specialty cordial cherry cookies, a carrot cake cookie, some Christmas cookies, and a raisin oatmeal chocolate chip.”
“Oooh. I’ll take the raisin oatmeal chocolate chip, please.”
He hands it over with a doubtful look. “Really? I would’ve thought—”
