55. Living the Dream
Looking back, I guess it was a good thing I didn’t have a chance to pick up that old metal bench from the hardware store yet. Other than the tree in the yard that took out the kitchen window, the stuff the tornado tossed around didn’t do much damage before it sputtered out at the base of the mountain behind our house.
But not everyone we loved got off so lucky.
Carrying a cup of coffee, I ducked out the open French doors to our patio. “Are you sure you don’t want anything else? I can make you whatever you want.”
Peeking up at me through the black eye that didn’t entirely open all the way, Carolyn shook her head. “I’m fine. Just sit with me for a while.”
The only little rental house in town she could afford was now scattered across the football field a few blocks away, along with everything she and her boys owned.
I set the cup of coffee on the ledge behind her and slid onto the half wall as she stared out at the apple orchard in the distance. “I put all those bags of clothes and shoes and some other stuff I thought you could use in the back of Jason’s truck. Okay?”
She was the toughest little cookie I ever met, but as soon as I rubbed my fingers over her arm, she crumbled completely. “Oh, God. What I’m going to do? I don’t have any money saved up or anywhere else to go.”
Pretty much one solid bruise from head to toe, Carolyn could hardly move without cringing, so I let her lean into me instead of trying to hug her. “You and the boys are safe, and that’s all that matters right now. Everything else we’ll figure out together.” Letting her oldest boy measure the windowsill while he supervised, Jason backed out of the kitchen to check up on her until I smiled at him. “Jase’s great with kids. Huh?”
Rocking her head against my shoulder, she sniffled as she tried to replay the other night for me through her tears and the concussion she was still nursing. “He called to tell me to get the boys in the bathtub, and the next thing I remember is him pulling the roof off us.” Her trembling hands balled into fists in front of her. “He grabbed us up one by one and ran us to his truck. The storm wasn’t even over yet.”
“Shh.” I bent down to kiss her head and whispered, “Jason’s not going to let us play together anymore if you keep crying.”
She sighed as she relaxed into me, slowly catching on to how perfect he was for her. “He’s such a fantastic guy. Isn’t he?”
My heart ached for Carolyn and her kids and their entire world being turned upside down in an instant. But even in all the horribleness they were going through, something wonderful seemed to be brewing for them. “He sure had a big smile on his face when he said you guys were staying with him until you got back on your feet.”
I heard her gulp as she nodded. “That’s going to grow old quick for him, though. He’s used to living by himself, and we’re all” — she flung out her fingers — “loud and in your face all the time.”
Squinting down at her, I jerked my shoulder gently so she’d look at me. “Carolyn, the man has been in love with you since we were little kids. He’s living the dream right now. Trust me.”
As much as she was able to with her swollen cheek, she popped her eyes open wider. “Really?” Realizing two decades too late how different her life may have been, she fluttered her lashes against the tears dripping from them. “Why didn’t he ever tell me?”
I drew a deep breath through my nose and hummed back at her. “Mmm. Because he was the funny, chunky kid no one took seriously, and you were head over heels in love with the band teacher.”
The too-long arm of his sweatshirt she had to fold over five or six times dabbed across her eyes. “Why can’t we go back in time and tell our younger selves not to be so damn stupid? It’s not fair.”
Laughing back at her, I shook my head. “Because we wouldn’t have listened, anyway. Some things have to come the hard way, I think.” Swaying with the cool morning breeze, I moved her with me when it pushed me forward. “We just have to try to build something better this time for those little girls we used to be.”
In the corner of my eye, I saw Jason’s checkered flannel veer toward us again as he leaned back. “He’s dying to take care of you guys, so let him and see how it goes between you two.”
I could have gone another year or two tossing the idea around, but that clock inside me seemed to move at double speed those last few days. Could I actually do it, though? “Plus, having you right next door will be helpful because...” Dom and Dad were stacking the wood they cut up from the downed trees, and when I looked back at him, Dom smiled and blew me a kiss. “I’m going to try to have a baby.”
“Whoa!” Her hand came up between us, pushing her away from me. “Are you for real?”
I flipped up my fingers from the half wall. “I know it’s crazy since we only got back together. But I’ll be thirty-nine before you know it, and I don’t want to miss the chance. There’s no one else in the world I can imagine having one with, anyway.”
Flinching from the pain, she shifted toward me more to pick up the coffee mug behind her. “I don’t think it’s crazy, Faith. Besides, no one bats an eye at the age thing anymore. Half of the moms from the team are older than I am.” She sipped a little of the coffee away from the rim. “I think it’s awesome, and I’ll help you any way I can.” While taking another drink, her eyes shifted behind us for a beat before she set her cup down. “What does Dom think about all that, though?”
“He kind of put the idea in my head with that I’m-joking-but-I’m-also-serious thing he does, but it just feels right. You know?” My finger made a circle by my ear. “I only needed someone to tell me I wasn’t out of my mind before I discussed it with him some more. Because if he even thinks I might want a baby, it’ll be his life’s mission to make it happen.”
Shaking her head as she gazed across the lawn to Jason’s house, I heard her chirp a laugh. “I’m living in a castle, and you’re going to have a baby. What a difference a couple of days can make. Huh?”
I put my fingers through hers and brought them to my lips. “Yes, they can. And I think it’s only going to get better for us from here on out.”