Chapter 11 #2
“She’s a lot like I was at her age,” she said. “I always felt more confident when I had something constructive to do.”
“That’s an amazing insight,” Tripp said.
“It took me a while to piece it together,” Jillian said, chuckling. “But once I did, it made social situations a whole lot easier for me. Plus, everyone is glad to see you when they know you like to pitch in.”
“Is that why you volunteered so much?” he asked her.
“Yes,” she said. “I liked helping out, and it made it easier to get involved.”
“I never would have guessed that you were shy,” Tripp admitted. “I always thought you were quiet just because you were no-nonsense.”
“It was probably a little of both,” Jillian admitted with a sheepish smile. “But I like to think my tolerance for nonsense has gone up a lot since having kids.”
Her eyes moved to where Posey and Mari were spraying pink and blue clothing on a snowman and practically falling over with laughter.
“They put out a pretty solid stream of good nonsense,” Tripp agreed, smiling.
The girls finished up and returned their spray bottles to the table where a couple of volunteers were refilling them.
“We want to get on the Ferris wheel,” Posey panted as she ran back to them, her eyes shining.
“Yes,” Mari added quietly as she caught up to her sister.
“Awesome,” Tripp said, feeling pretty excited to get on the Ferris wheel himself.
It was only about two stories tall, but there still might be a neat view over a bit of Maple Street. He wondered if they would be able to see to the park from here.
Posey grabbed his hand and took off toward the parking lot. Tripp felt the tug on his heart as much as he did on his arm.
When he glanced over at Jillian, hoping this development didn’t make her uncomfortable, he was relieved to see a funny little smile quirking up her lips.
They arrived in the parking lot in time to see the Ferris wheel begin to move for the first time. The crowd of people who had lined up for their turns all broke into applause.
Posey began hopping up and down in her excitement, and she didn’t slow down even when they arrived at the end of what was already a very long line.
“Now girls,” Jillian said. “We can wait in line now if this is really what you want to do next.”
“Yes,” Posey said right away.
“Or,” Jillian said. “We could go try some games and activities, and come back later to see if the line is shorter.”
“What if it’s not shorter?” Mari asked, eyes wide.
“It might be longer,” Posey said, letting go of Tripp’s hand to grab both of her sister’s hands. “We better stay.”
“Yes,” Mari said, looking to her mom with a serious expression. “We’ll stay.”
“Nobody needs a drink or a bathroom break first?” Jillian asked them.
Both girls shook their heads.
“Okay then,” Jillian said. “Here we go.”
They all watched the riders on the slowly revolving wheel. Children smiled and laughed, waved at the line below, or buried their faces in their parents’ and caregivers’ coats.
Tiny snow flurries began to dance down, setting the mood for winter magic and Tripp felt almost like a kid again himself.
“It’s going kind of slow,” Posey remarked after a moment.
“Yes, it’s going slowly,” Jillian agreed, her gentle correction making Tripp smile.
“That’s good,” Mari said worriedly. “It wouldn’t be good if it went too fast. The people would fly right off.”
“Or the wheel would just roll right down the street,” Posey said, her eyes lighting up.
Tripp chuckled at how different Jillian’s two girls really were. And both so imaginative.
“Should we play a guessing game?” Jillian suggested.
“Yes,” Mari said, looking pretty pumped about it.
“I have one,” Posey chirped.
“It’s like twenty questions,” Jillian told Tripp. “But we don’t count the questions, we just go until we get it, or we give up.”
“Okay,” Tripp said. “I’m game.”
Posey started giggling.
“I’m game means I’m up for it,” Mari told Posey.
“That’s silly,” Posey declared, her eyes still twinkling.
“Is it a girl?” Jillian asked, deftly directing her girls back to the game at hand.
“No,” Posey said.
“Is it someone we know in real life?” Mari asked.
“No,” Posey said.
Everyone looked to Tripp, so he tried to think of what to ask.
“Is it a character from a book?” he asked her.
“From a bunch of books,” Posey said.
“You’re only supposed to say yes or no,” Mari reminded her sister.
“Yeah, but this one’s tricky,” Posey said, frowning.
“Tricky, huh?” her mother asked. “Is the character also from a movie?”
“Lots of movies,” Posey said.
Tripp looked to Mari to see if she would complain this time.
“Is it a person?” Mari asked.
“Yes,” Posey said, nodding her head up and down.
“Is it a grown-up?” Tripp asked.
“Yes,” Posey said.
“Wow, a grown-up male character that has been in lots of books and movies,” Jillian said thoughtfully. “Is it Sherlock Holmes?”
“Who’s that?” Posey asked.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jillian said, laughing. “Sherlock Holmes is a detective in a bunch of mystery stories. And lots of movies and television shows have been made about him.”
“But he’s not real?” Mari asked.
“Nope,” Jillian told her. “When you’re older, we’ll read one of his stories together and see what you think. Most people think he’s a super interesting character.”
“So is this guy,” Posey interjected. “We think about him a lot.”
“Posey,” Mari laughed. “You gave it away.”
“She did?” Jillian asked.
“Is it Santa Claus?” Mari asked.
“You win,” Posey squealed, jumping up and down a few times before hugging her sister hard.
“Yes,” Mari triumphantly yelled, hugging her sister back and sort of half-spinning her in a circle.
They were being a little loud, but as Tripp glanced around, he saw only smiles and twinkling eyes on the faces of the other people in the line as they watched the two little girls embrace.
“That was a good one, Posey,” Jillian said approvingly.
“Mari next, Mari next,” Posey cried, letting go of her sister and hopping in place, very ready to start guessing.
Jillian glanced over at Tripp, as if to see what he thought of all this. Her eyes said, I know we’re a lot, but the look on her face told him she loved her daughters’ joyful energy.
“This is great,” he told her, meaning it. She must have forgotten how many siblings he’d grown up with.
Her responding smile was so full of warmth it made his heart stutter.
They played a few more rounds of the guessing game and no one was able to stump anyone. Just as Posey was about to begin another turn, they got to the front of the line.
“Okay,” Travis Stone called out to them with a big smile. “Our last four passengers for this round. Let’s get you loaded up.”
Posey was practically vibrating with joy, but when she grabbed her sister’s hand, Mari pulled back and looked up at the structure they had been slowly approaching.
“I… I don’t want to go,” she said softly to her mom.
“But we were waiting so long,” Posey whined. “It’s finally our turn.”
“I’m scared,” Mari murmured. “I’m sorry.”
A torn expression flitted across Jillian’s face, and Tripp realized that she was trying to decide whether to try and convince Mari to get on the Ferris wheel even though she was clearly terrified, or disappoint Posey, who would be devastated.
“Why don’t you and I stay down here?” Tripp asked Mari. “We can wave to your mom and Posey when they go by, and maybe we can get a picture of them with my phone.”
Mari’s face lit up, and her shoulders slumped in relief.
“Can we, Mom?” she asked. “Please?”
Tripp braced himself. As nice as it was to be rekindling their friendship, he knew Jillian might not be ready to just leave her precious daughter with him. He should have offered the option to Jillian first rather than asking Mari.
“That’s such a nice idea,” Jillian said, smiling at Tripp in obvious relief. “You stay with Tripp, Mari. And we’ll wave to you every time we pass and tell you all about it when we get off.”
Mari nodded with a big smile and Tripp walked her back to the fence surrounding the Ferris wheel to watch. There were plenty of onlookers gathered around, and lots of people with strollers were waving to bigger kids who were boarding the Ferris wheel. They wouldn’t be on their own out here.
“Thank you,” Mari said softly. “Posey really wanted to go.”
“Is that why you said you wanted to go too?” Tripp guessed.
“I thought I did, too,” Mari said, shaking her head. “But it’s up really high.”
“That’s okay,” Tripp told her. “My brother Zane doesn’t much like heights either. We’ll have a good time down here, and I’ll bet there’s other fun stuff to do when they’re finished.”
Mari smiled up at him, looking really grateful, and she really did remind him of his brother. Zane had been Tripp’s best friend and closest sibling growing up, even though they were polar opposites in terms of personality.
“Hey,” he told her. “I have a little surprise for later today if we finish up here and we still have lots of energy. Do you want to know what it is?”
She nodded, looking excited to be in on a surprise.
“Okay,” he said, offering her his hand. “You’re officially on the surprise planning committee.”
She reached out her own hand, and looked really pleased when he shook it in a brisk, businesslike manner.
“Here’s what I was thinking your mom might like to do later,” he began in a confiding tone, even though Jillian and Posey were way too far off to overhear him.
And as he explained things to the little girl, he thought about how easy it would be to get used to a life just like this, and how dangerous it would be to let his imagination run away with him.