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CHAPTER 13
It’s an amazingly beautiful Friday afternoon, and after agreeing to meet Jess and her small crew at a neighborhood park, I pick up Mia from school and head that way.
There’s a bit of a drive, more than I would have done on my own, but with her kids there, and her niece who is Mia’s age, I knew she would have a blast and that makes it worth the trip.
After Mia runs to the kids, I go and sit by Jess on a freshly painted bench. “Hey, have you been here a while?”
“Nah. We stopped at Shawn’s to grab Bailey first.” Shawn is Jess’ older brother. He recently moved here from Alabama with his wife, Anne, and five-year-old daughter, Bailey. Jess has been helping keep Baily entertained so that they can unpack, thus, we are here in their neighborhood.
Though the park itself isn’t too big, it is cute and has quite a lot to do in the one small play area. The wooden structure has slides on four sides, monkey bars, a low climbing wall, and even a built-in scavenger hunt. There isn’t a sunshade, but with the amount of large oaks that loom over the thing and the shade they provide, it’s not needed.
“So what’s up with you?” Jess asks as she slides down a little on her seat, stretching out her long legs. “Is Owen still in the guestroom?”
“Yeah. But I hope not for much longer. We have been on better speaking terms, and I told him we should start with the counseling again. I want us to work. He does, too. It’s still a little awkward, though.”
“Mm. How’s Mia handling it?”
“We’re doing our best not to let it affect her in any way. We don’t talk about it at all if she’s around. I just wonder sometimes if he’s going to really give me another chance. I feel like such a screw-up, Jess.”
“Do you want another chance?”
“I think I do. I have no idea what I want anymore. I keep thinking about everything Dr. Riker said. She said there’s a reason we’ve been together so long. As a couple, we just work. The hope was the preservation of that unit. I agree with her. I mean, if we can figure this shit out, we can be something special again.”
“You do work!” Jess exclaims. “Everyone always says that!”
“Who’s everyone?”
“You know, just people.”
I laugh at that because we don’t really hang out with other people. It’s usually just us.
We go into a comfortable silence for a long while. There’s a lot to be said about being able to sit with someone without feeling that desperate need to fill the silent void. And for someone with kids, the ability to go five minutes without talking is something to be savored.
But alas, five minutes is usually all you get.
“Momma! Come swing me!” Mia begs.
“Let Clara do it,” Jess tell me lazily.
I consider it, but the poor eight-year old is already swinging Caleb and Bailey.
“I’ll do it. It’s a little chilly anyway, it will warm me up.” I pull on the long sleeves of the gray sweater I’m wearing to prove my point.
Setting my kid in the baby swing because that’s all that’s free, I start to swing.
“Higher, Momma, higher!” she commands, hitting her ‘r’s hard as she tries to make sure she says them correctly, especially with the other kids around. “Higher!”
“Baby, I’m scared you’ll go flying off if I swing any harder. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Momma, please! High like Bailey.” She points to where Clara is pushing the five-year-old so high I can already see her falling hard and busting a lip.
“Um, I’ll do a little bit higher only, okay?”
Pushing her as hard as my motherly instinct will allow, which isn’t high at all as far as she’s concerned, I become completely focused on Mia. So, engrossed am I in my task of getting her just high enough, but not too much, that when the deep voice sounds from right behind me and says, “You followin’ me around, Darlin’?” it stuns me.
I spin to face him, forgetting that I’d just pushed Mia the hardest I’d dared so far. With barely enough time to register his face, I am hit full force from behind. The impact takes my breath away and sends me flying. I wish I could describe what exactly happens as I go hurdling through the air, but it happens so fast, all I know is that one moment I see Bo, the next I am scrambling to get myself up, spitting brown mulch and holding my left ribs.
I am lifted easily and engulfed in warmth as he pulls me to him. “Are you okay?” he asks full of concern.
