Chapter 11 Hailey #2
“Did you guys just get here?” Jacob asked.
“I had some work to get done this morning,” Ransom said, nodding.
“I can’t believe Hope has off today,” Ransom said. “She’s normally on the radio, especially this time of year.”
“No way,” Hailey said in wonder. “Are you Ho-ho-Hope Holiday?”
“Guilty as charged,” Hope laughed. “And now I can open my mouth and say you’re BeeBee Evans.”
“Well, I was BeeBee Evans,” Hailey said, smiling. “Now I’m just a neighbor again. But thanks for watching. I had fun doing the show.”
“You’re a braver woman than I am,” Hope said, shaking her head. “I was terrified to go on air at first, and it’s only radio, where no one can see me.”
“Their loss, honey,” Jacob said, and laughed out loud when she elbowed him and rolled her eyes. “We were going to go get some lunch. Would you like to join us?”
“Please, Dad,” Travis said. “Please, please, please?”
“But I want to watch the train,” Mae said, her eyes still locked on the engine as it passed.
“Why don’t you guys go ahead,” Hailey suggested. “Mae and I will join you in a minute.”
“Yes,” Travis said.
“You sure?” Ransom asked her.
“Of course,” she told him. “You and Jacob can catch up on old times and we’ll get our fill of the train set before we come over.”
“All right,” he said. “Did you want anything particular to eat?”
“Surprise me,” she said.
He winked again, and she turned as quickly as she could to Mae.
“When I grow up, I want one,” Mae said softly.
“A train set?” Hailey asked.
“No,” Mae said. “A train to drive.”
“You would be a good train conductor, I think,” Hailey told her. “I’ll bet you’d get everyone where they’re going safely and on time. Do you like to ride on the train?”
“It’s too little,” Mae pointed out.
“No,” Hailey said. “I mean the real train, the one that comes through Trinity Falls and goes all the way to the city.”
Mae shook her head.
“Well, we should ask your daddy if we can all go on an adventure on the train one day,” Hailey said. “Then maybe you can talk to the conductor.”
“She won’t let me drive the train,” Mae guessed.
“Probably not,” Hailey agreed, trying to hide her smile. “But maybe she can tell you how she learned to operate trains and whether she likes her job.”
“Let’s go tell my dad,” Mae said, taking off in the direction Ransom had gone in.
“Wait, Mae,” Hailey called out.
But it was too late. The little girl had moved through the crowd so quickly that Hailey couldn’t see where she was.
“Excuse me,” she said, going as quickly as she dared through the clumps of people lined up around various booths. “Sorry, I just need to get past.”
Her heart began to pound. Realistically, she knew that no harm would come to the little girl in the midst of a community event in broad daylight.
But living in New York had made her less trusting, and the further she got without finding Mae, the more panicked she felt.
“Hey,” Travis said somewhere ahead of her. “Where’s Hailey?”
“I don’t know,” Mae’s little voice said. “Is she lost?”
“I’m here,” Hailey called out, not wanting to worry the kids.
A moment later, she caught up to the two of them beside a booth with rag dolls in Christmas dresses.
“You didn’t come with me,” Mae said sadly.
“Mae, I know you were excited, but you can’t run off in a place like this,” Hailey told her carefully. “I was worried. Next time let’s hold hands, okay?”
Mae was tearing up, so Hailey crouched down and put her arms out and the little girl slammed into her right away, her little arms hugging Hailey really hard.
“It’s okay,” Hailey reassured her. “We found each other right away, didn’t we?”
Mae nodded into the crook of her neck and Hailey felt a wave of love for the fierce little girl who was so independent but wore her heart on her sleeve.
“There’s Dad,” Travis said a moment later.
Mae let go of Hailey immediately.
“Can I go see my dad now?” she asked before running off.
“Yes,” Hailey told her. “Thank you so much for asking.”
Mae took off before Hailey was even finished speaking and she smiled after her.
“You didn’t get mad,” Travis said quietly.
She turned to him, surprised.
“Of course not,” she told him. “Mae didn’t mean to do anything wrong.”
“Mom gets mad if we do something wrong,” he said, shrugging and looking away.
Sadness squeezed her heart for a moment and she had to suck in a deep breath before bending down to talk with the little boy.
“Travis,” she said. “If you do something wrong on purpose, it’s natural for your parents to feel a little frustrated. But making mistakes by accident happens all the time when you’re a kid. Grownups are here to help you learn from your mistakes.”
His eyes met hers for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure she meant what she said.
“That’s nice,” he said after a moment. “Maybe that’s what Dad thinks too.”
“I’ll bet he does,” Hailey said, nodding.
“He doesn’t yell at us,” Travis said, in a voice tinged with the tiniest bit of wonder. “Not ever.”
Suddenly her sadness about the kids’ mother leaving faded a tiny bit. If Cassie had been so overwhelmed by parenting that she got frustrated with the kids for just acting like kids, then maybe leaving had been the right thing to do, especially when she knew they had Ransom.
“Are you hungry?” Travis asked her suddenly.
“Yes,” she told him.
“Come on,” he said, giving her a tentative smile and then grabbing her hand.
Hailey squeezed his hand back gently as they walked, and the warmth of gratitude filled her heart.
For Mae, grabbing someone’s hand didn’t seem like a big deal. Hailey assumed that the little girl’s self-confidence would never let her worry that someone might not want to hold her hand.
But it meant something bigger that Travis had reached out to her.
Please let me be the kind of person who deserves his trust, she prayed silently.