Chapter 3
THREE
ANABELLE
After getting coffee at Josie’s, I walk past Layla’s flower shop and peer in the window at the gorgeous arrangements using spring flowers like dogwood and tulips. Those bright pink tulips might cheer up the store. I shake my head and continue walking to my car. I really ought to save money.
I drive over to the shop and open the door with one hand—and my coffee in the other. Early morning light filters through the windows and pours onto the floor. After such a gray, cold winter, I’m ready to bask in the patch of sunlight that’s made its way into my boutique.
Eliza is already there, behind the register, munching on a donut, her dark hair up in a ponytail with a long bow clipped in it. She has this cute girly style I could never pull off. “Hey, boss lady.”
“You’re here early,” I say.
She shrugs and swallows her mouthful. “I couldn’t sleep. Figured I’d come help out, get the shop organized a bit.”
“That’s always appreciated.” I turn to my Echo Dot.
“Alexa, play calming pop music.” She complies, and my mood picks up immediately as the tension in my shoulders melts with the music.
I go back into my office and pull out my laptop so I can continue working on the financials.
At least I have coffee if I have to deal with this unpleasant activity.
A few customers come in and out, and Eliza takes care of them. An hour into my work, my phone’s ringtone sounds. It’s a number I don’t recognize, but I answer it anyway.
“Is this the mother of Nolan Lackey?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Wonderful!” a man says. “My name is Milo O’Donnell, and I’m with the Play It Forward organization. It’s great to meet you and greet you! I’m calling to let you know that Nolan has been chosen for our big brother/big sister mentorship!”
I can’t help but smile at his quirky enthusiasm. “That’s great!” I stand from my chair and pace the store. Nolan needs this so much. We’ve needed good news like this for a long time.
“We’re still waiting to hear back from his mentor before we can reveal who it is, but I wanted to reach out and let you know he’s been chosen and introduce myself to you.”
“When do you think they’ll get started?” I ask.
“Within the next week or so, depending on how long it takes to match him. I have a few options available. I’ll be emailing you, so be sure to check your inbox.”
My heart is so full of the knowledge that my boy will have this kind of mentorship.
I head out the door with my backpack and purse and go over to my mom’s to pick up Nolan.
She is his ride home from school, and she helps him with his homework.
I head down Main Street, past Hadley’s, my favorite restaurant, and All Dolled Up, where my friend Lauren does my hair.
I’m due for a touch up on my roots soon.
Getting my hair done is a big part of my self-care routine.
Ever since the divorce, taking care of me has helped me stay afloat.
I turn onto Elm Street and drive down the tree-lined road full of older, well-loved homes surrounded by yellow-blossomed bushes and tulips and daffodils in flowerbeds.
Spring in Maple Creek is glorious. I pull up to my parents’ home, a gray house with white trim and a giant porch lined with rocking chairs and a hanging swing.
I get out and walk inside. “Mom? Nolan?”
Nolan comes running. “Hey, Mom! Gran made brownies!”
“Right before dinner?”
Mom comes into the room wearing a blue apron with yellow daffodils. “He still promises to eat all his dinner.” Her graying blonde hair is cut short and fluffed up in the stereotypical Southern mama hairdo.
“You’d better because you have soccer practice, and you need your energy.” I grin, remembering his big news. “Speaking of soccer, guess what? You got the mentorship with Play It Forward!”
Nolan’s eyes get huge, and he jumps up and down. “Yay! Yay! Yay!” He bounces all over the house like a ping-pong ball in a championship match.
I laugh and turn to my mom. “He’s only a little excited.”
“That boy’s been needing this. His dad got him all into the sport and then took off and left him hanging.” She shakes her head.
“Mom.” I tilt my head toward Nolan and shake my head, mouthing, “Not now.” I hate it when she bashes Jeremy in front of Nolan. I get that she’s mad, but it will only put more stress on the little guy to hear bad things about his dad from other family members.
Nolan is still bouncing and thankfully, hasn’t noticed our exchange. He’s getting more and more out of control.
“Hey, buddy. Time to take it down a notch.”
But he doesn’t hear me.
“Nolan, get your backpack. We need to grab dinner.”
“Oh, you can eat with us,” Mom says over his continued bouncing.
“No thanks, Mom. I appreciate your offer, but we need to eat on our own sometimes. You help too much as it is.”
Crash!
Nolan has flung himself into a vase on an end table, and now it’s all over the floor, shattered to pieces. “I hope that wasn’t expensive.”
After ten years of having a grandchild, you’d think my mom would have kid-proofed her house, but she refuses, saying the children can learn to never touch the items.
Nolan’s eyes are huge. “Sorry, Gran.”
“It’s okay, sugar.” Her eyes are sad as she says it—that vase meant a lot to her. She’d gotten it from Japan when she’d traveled there with my dad last summer.
“If you’d listened the first time, this wouldn’t have happened.” I grit my teeth to keep from fussing at him too much.
“I can clean it up!”
I consider that for a moment.
“It’s glass, and I don’t want you to cut your hands. If you use a broom and dustpan, you can clean it—but be very careful.” He has to learn sometime how to be safe around glass. “You should do something to work hard to replace this vase for Gran.”
“What if I cleaned her bathroom?”
“You would have to do it a bunch of times. Vases can cost a lot of money.”
My mom opens her mouth like she wants to say it wasn’t very expensive or make some other excuse to get him out of taking responsibility.
“What if I did it three times?” Nolan offers.
My heart swells. My boy is learning to be a decent human being. I nod. “I think that sounds fair. For the next three weeks, you will need to clean the bathroom once each week.”
“I can do that.” His voice is lighter, like the guilt is being washed away.
Most people never learn to own up to their mistakes and work to make them better. If I can attempt to teach my boy, then I can do a small thing to leave the world a better place.
After he gets the broom and sweeps up the mess, I grab a brownie and head out the door with Nolan. “Bye, Mom.” I hug her. “Thanks for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
She waves a hand like it’ll dismiss the mistiness in her eyes. “He’s my blood. What other choice is there?”
I shove the last bit of the brownie into my mouth, and we drive home to grab a quick dinner of leftover spaghetti before we head to the soccer field.
It’s been raining for the past few days, so the field is muddy.
Laundry will be fun later. I’m a master when it comes to getting grass stains out.
Luckily, mud isn’t as hard to clean. At least I don’t have to worry about seeing Lucas today, since Jace seemed to be feeling better at Dixie’s Tavern.
The guy is such a grouch, honestly. I can see why he’s still single.
Who would want to date someone with that kind of bad attitude?
I mean, can he even speak without grunting?
Nolan grunted a lot as a two-year-old, but that was because he didn’t know enough of the English language to put together sentences. What’s Lucas’s excuse?
Speak of the devil. I was wrong to assume he wouldn’t be here, but he’s currently standing next to Jace. But why? And why does it matter to me where he is? Lucas means nothing to me. I would never go for a guy with an attitude like that.
I wore the wrong shoes today. My heels keep sinking into the mud.
I was running late this morning, and I knew if I wanted to stop by Josie’s that I’d have to hurry, but when I went to look for my favorite shoes, I couldn’t find them.
So, I grabbed the first thing I could get my hands on, which was a pair of pumps that were unfortunately impractical for the soccer field.
It wouldn’t have been a problem if the ground weren’t so soft.
I didn’t even think about switching my shoes.
Lucas scowls from the folding chair he’s lounging in and reaches down to adjust his knee brace. Something I hadn’t noticed before. He’d been wearing pants the last two times I’d seen him. Was he injured or something?
I’ve been walking on my toes all this time, but as I stare at Lucas, I lose my concentration, and my heel sinks in faster than I expect and I step forward, thinking it’s free. My foot pops loose from the pump, and I fall forward.
“Mom!” Nolan calls.
And as I plummet to my muddy destination, Lucas turns and stares at me.
I don’t try to break my fall with my arms since I’ve been taught it could break my bones.
So, I land, screaming, face first into the mud with my hands wide, out to the sides.
I turn my head to the side just in time, and mud soaks into my ear.
Moisture seeps all the way to the skin through my shirt, which was once white with tiny pink flowers and flouncy ruffles.
At least I have dark pants on. The one silver lining in this situation.
It’s always important to look on the bright side, right?
“Are you okay?” a deep voice growls near my ear. The one that’s pointing up. Not the ear getting a mud spa treatment.
I pull my head from the ground with a loud sucking sound. “Ugh.” Now I’m the one grunting. I sit up, and my gaze falls right into Lucas’s. He takes my hand to help me up.
“Mom, what happened?” Nolan asks.
“My shoes tried to kill me,” I say.
Lucas twists his neck like he’s trying to get a good look at my feet, and I fight the urge to tuck them away from his sight, but there’s nowhere to hide them. He raises his brow but doesn’t comment. Somehow that makes it worse because now I have no idea what he’s thinking.
Heat floods my face, which I hate because it’s proof that I care about what he thinks.
The last thing I want is to care.