Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Are you excited, Haley?” Corey glanced at his daughter through the rearview mirror. She was sitting in the back seat, wiggling a little bit, and he couldn’t tell if it was from excitement or nervousness.
“Yeah!” She turned to him, beaming. “I can’t wait. Olivia said we’re going to work with beads. I want to make a bracelet. Do you want me to make you a bracelet, Daddy?”
He swallowed, thinking that if his wife were still alive, Haley would have someone to make a bracelet for.
“Thanks for offering, sweetie, but I don’t need a bracelet. You make the prettiest one you want, and you wear it. I’m excited to see it.”
“I’ll make one for Miss Olivia,” Haley said, her smile widening as she had the idea. “The prettiest bracelet.”
Corey’s heart warmed—he was glad that Haley had someone to make a feminine gift for after all. “That’s a sweet idea, Haley. I’m sure she’d love that.”
“Are we there yet?”
He chuckled. “We will be in a couple of minutes. Miss Olivia said that it’s a little white house by the sea.”
A few minutes later, they arrived at Marsha Dunlap’s house, and Haley was enchanted by it. “It looks like a fairy cottage,” she said, cooing.
The front door of the house opened, and Olivia stepped out, waving and smiling. Haley raced for her arms and Corey followed more slowly, finding that his heart was beating faster.
An older woman with dark hair wearing a floral dress stepped out of the house behind Olivia. She greeted Haley warmly and then turned to Corey, smiling.
“I’m Marsha.” She shook his hand. “We’re thrilled to have Haley visiting with us today. I love teaching children about crafting.”
“We’re going to have so much fun!” Olivia said to Haley, giving her a high-five.
Although it was clear that both Olivia and Marsha were thrilled to have Haley there for the afternoon, Corey still worried that he was imposing.
“Thank you both for arranging this, again,” he said. “Are you sure it’s not too much trouble? You’re doing so much for us.”
“Not at all! The craft room’s already set up, it’s just a matter of teaching her how to bead. And I love to teach kids.” Marsha beamed at him, putting him at ease with her warm assurance. “We can call you when it’s time to come pick her up? I’m thinking in around three or four hours. We’re all going to make a couple of bracelets, and then paint some coasters together.”
“That sounds awesome,” Haley said. “I’m going to give you my second bracelet, Miss Olivia. The first one is going to be for me. For practice.”
Olivia grinned at her. “Wow, thank you, Haley! I’ll give you my second bracelet too.” She winked at the little girl.
“I’ll get your number from Olivia,” Marsha said to Corey, smiling. “I’ll give you a call when we’re almost done.”
Corey nodded, still feeling overwhelmed by how generous they were being. “Sounds good, thank you.”
“Let me walk you back to your car.” Olivia smiled at him, her attitude even more gentle than usual. She seemed to sense that he still felt uncomfortable.
“Sure.” He smiled back, glad for any excuse to talk more with her.
Marsha and Haley stepped inside the house, and Olivia and Corey strolled slowly back to his car.
“We really are thrilled to have Haley here,” she said gently. “And like I said—you’re going to get help here in Blueberry Bay and Whale Harbor. You can count on it. It’s just how we are.”
“It’s just—” He inhaled, all of a sudden wanting to share with her things that he hadn’t told anyone about. Things that he had been feeling since his wife died. “I feel like I don’t deserve this kind of help. I’d been planning on raising the kids on my own anyway.”
Olivia paused, and her eyebrows rose. He felt a twist in his stomach when he saw her surprise.
“My wife and I were going through a divorce when she got in that car accident,” he said. “We’d been struggling, and both of us had been thinking that it would be better if we separated. We hadn’t told the kids yet, but—” He paused, wrestling with his emotions. “Now that she’s gone, I feel guilty. I wish I’d appreciated her more when she was around. What we had wasn’t perfect, but I could have done more to make it better. I think I was ungrateful, and I wish I hadn’t been. Raising kids on my own is so hard.”
Olivia placed a sympathetic hand on his arm. “That’s so awful, Corey,” she said softly. He looked down into her kind eyes and felt comforted. “I’m sorry. We never know when things are going to change drastically, and I think most of us don’t appreciate the people in our lives the way we should. You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”
He nodded, not knowing what to say. She kept her hand on his arm, and he felt bolstered by her support.
“Today is about Haley,” she reminded him gently. “Honestly, my aunt and I are thrilled to do this. You don’t need to feel like you’re imposing. We want to be there for her, and we want to be there for you too. You know what they say about it taking a village to raise a child.” She coaxed a smile out of him with her enthusiasm. “There’s no shame in accepting help from the community. And you’ve found a community that wants to help you. That’s the best thing about Blueberry Bay.”
“Thank you.” Various emotions swirled in his stomach. There was so much more he wanted to say to her, but he didn’t know how to put it into words without coming on too strong. He wanted to tell her how amazing he thought she was, and that he’d never known anyone like her. That her enthusiasm was contagious, and her kindness seemed never-ending. He wanted to tell her that she was the best thing about Blueberry Bay.
He swallowed, not allowing himself to say any of his thoughts out loud. He felt anxious about sharing his feelings with her, wondering if it was too soon or a bad idea. He didn’t know how she felt about him—maybe she was only his friend because she was so fond of his kids, and she wasn’t interested in him personally.
“I shouldn’t keep you,” he said, telling himself that he would keep thinking about how to tell her how he was feeling about her. “I’ll let you get back inside. But I owe you a favor for this.”
“Psh, no, you don’t.” She grinned at him.
“No, I do.” He smiled back at her. “I mean it.”
Olivia stood behind the kitchen window of her aunt’s house and watched Corey’s car drive away down the road.
Oh, I like him so much, she thought, feeling a kind of shiver of excitement go through her.
The news that he’d shared about his wife had been surprising to her, and she could understand how he felt sorry that he hadn’t appreciated his marriage more. But she was determined to show him that he didn’t need to raise his kids alone, and that there were plenty of people who wanted to help around him, including herself.
She could hear Haley and her aunt talking in the craft room, and she hurried along the hallway to where they were.
“How’s it going in here?” she asked, stepping inside the room.
“Great!” Haley said, turning around and grinning. “Miss Marsha is showing me how to thread the beads onto a ribbon. You have to roll the ribbon really tightly as you go so it will fit through the beads.”
“Awesome,” Olivia said, feeling a rush of pride at how well the shy little girl had just communicated. She was impressed by how calm and confident Haley sounded. “Can I join?”
“Of course.” Marsha winked at her, and Olivia took a seat next to Haley at the craft table.
“Oo, these beads are nice,” Olivia said. “I like the colors you chose, Haley.”
“Thanks,” Haley said. “This one is pink, because it makes me think of being happy. And this one is red, and the little bumps look like spikes, so it makes me think about being mad.”
“Thanks for sharing that with me,” Olivia said, feeling excited that the little girl was verbalizing information about her emotions. “What does the green bead represent?”
“That one is for learning,” Haley said. “Because green is a calm color, and I feel calm when I’m learning.”
Over the little girl’s head, Marsha and Olivia exchanged a look of excitement.
“That’s awesome,” Olivia said. She’d never heard Haley say so much before. The little girl was usually shy and quiet, but the project really seemed to be freeing up her self-expression in more ways than one.
“And this bead is going to be feeling sad,” Haley said, stringing a dark blue bead onto her ribbon. “And this one is also going to represent being mad.” She strung a black bead with red and yellow swirls onto the ribbon.
Olivia was well aware that they were in the middle of a teachable moment.
“Sometimes when you’re feeling those emotions, it can be hard to talk about them, right?” Olivia asked gently.
Haley nodded. “Emotions aren’t words. They’re feelings.”
Olivia nodded. “But sometimes we can use words to show other people what our feelings are. Just like these beads are showing what your feelings are. Does that make sense?”
Haley nodded slowly.
“The people around you—especially your dad, and me—we want to help you when you’re angry, or when you’re sad. It’s easier for us to help you if you tell us how you’re feeling—especially if you tell us before the emotions get really big. Tell us when they’re small, like these beads.” Olivia tapped a bead on the table in front of her, and Haley smiled.
“Okay,” Haley said. “And maybe if I don’t know what to say at first, I can show someone this bracelet and point to the bead that I’m feeling.”
“I think that’s an amazing idea,” Marsha said, beaming at the little girl. “Then maybe the adults in your life can keep asking you questions, and you can figure out what’s causing the emotion together.”
Haley lit up. “Okay!”
Olivia’s heart warmed. “Sometimes there are things in life that aren’t good,” she said. “And that’s really hard sometimes. But art is awesome because it allows us to talk about those bad things and create something beautiful at the same time.”
“Like my bracelet,” Haley said. “The world won’t always be pretty, but art can be.”
“Exactly,” Olivia said, almost wanting to cry. She beamed at Haley. “Whatever we’re feeling, turning those feelings into art can help us feel better.”
Haley lifted her arms up for a hug, and Olivia wrapped her arms around the little girl.
“Good talk,” Haley said firmly once their hug was over, and Olivia and Marsha laughed.
They finished making bracelets, and then Marsha taught Haley how to paint coasters. The three of them spent a wonderful afternoon together, taking a short break for milk and cookies about halfway through their day. Olivia reflected that it was wonderful to spend time with both her aunt and with Haley, and creating art together was a great deal of fun.
Marsha called Corey about half an hour before they wrapped up their last project, and before Olivia knew it, the doorbell was ringing.
“I’ll get it!” she said eagerly, standing up. She was excited to speak to Corey and tell him about everything that she and Haley had talked about.
“Perfect,” Marsha said. “Haley and I will go ahead and clean up the craft table together.”
Olivia hurried down the hallway toward the front door and tugged it open. Corey was standing there, smiling shyly.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“So well!” She grinned, crossing her arms and fighting back an urge to rise up and down on her toes. “She made a bracelet with different beads that represent her emotions. She said she’s going to use it to help herself communicate about her feelings better.”
Corey’s eyebrows rose. “That’s amazing! That’s—that really sounds like something that can help us.” He looked intensely relieved. “Thank you, Olivia.”
“Of course.” She beamed at him. “We talked about having her try to communicate her feelings earlier on, before they get really big. And if she doesn’t know how to talk about her feelings, she’s going to tap the beads that represent whatever she’s feeling. So you’ll want to learn what emotion each bead represents. It’s kind of like a secret code.” She laughed. “And I think helping her explore her artistic side even more will also help her express her emotions in other art forms too. That way, even when she doesn’t know how to use her words, she knows she can use art. She’ll feel less helpless about communicating what she’s feeling.”
For a moment, she and Corey shared a warm smile, and she guessed that he felt even happier about the new development than she did.
“Thank you, Olivia, truly,” he said, his tone gentle. “I’m really grateful. I think this will help us a lot.” He paused, looking into her eyes. “I’m so happy we met you.”
She grinned, and her heart felt full. “I am too.”