Chapter 52
FIFTY-TWO
[Love is…] your family.
That night, we found a piece of grass on the high school soccer field and spread out a blanket.
All four of us piled on with bottles of water and a tub of kettle corn Mikey had begged for.
After much debate, Mikey and Oliver had agreed to get matching balloon swords and were, at this very moment, off to the side, engaged in a battle.
Whenever he was “injured,” Mikey would drop to the ground with theatrical abandon making Oliver laugh so hard, he’d end up on the ground, too. I snapped a photo of that.
At one end of the field, a portable platform had been erected where a local rockabilly band played.
It was almost nine. I was exhausted and had never been gladder that tomorrow was Sunday, and I could sleep in.
I slipped off my shoes and socks and groaned.
Reclining on my elbows, I stretched my feet out, twisting and turning them.
Gil moved down the blanket and before I realized what he was doing, he had one of my feet in his lap and was pressing firmly into the bottom of my foot with his thumbs. I gasped and my eyes rolled back.
“Too hard?” he asked, watching my face closely.
I shook my head and dropped my head back. It did border on painful but the best kind of pain. “Never, ever stop.”
He chuckled, low and deep, and I felt it in my stomach.
“Why are you so nice to me?” I asked jokingly. But I realized I was genuinely curious.
His magic fingers paused. “Because you deserve it. I don’t think you’ve had enough of it in your life, and it makes me sad.”
My breath caught. I glanced at Mikey and then back at Gil. “You deserve that, too. Looks like both of us take care of someone.”
He made a noncommittal noise and switched feet.
For the rest of my impromptu foot massage, he was quiet, and I wondered if I’d upset him somehow.
But there wasn’t much time to think of that once the band wrapped up and Ali stepped up to the microphone.
Her speech was short, thank goodness. Oliver was hopped up on sugar and over exhausted.
I expected the biggest meltdown ever, or for him to fall dead asleep any time in the next ten minutes.
I started cleaning up the blanket of empty water bottles and wrappers so we could lay down to watch the fireworks, which were up next.
So, I wasn’t quite paying attention when Ali got to the part of her speech where she announced the Small Business Owner of the Year.
One second, I was crawling around on my hands and knees cleaning up popcorn kernels and the next, the crowd burst into applause.
“Mommy, you won!” Oliver danced over to our blanket, clapping his hands.
“Woo-hoo. Ellie,” someone yelled.
“Ellie! Ellie!” said another.
I sat back on my heels. “What?”
Gil stood and held out a hand. “You won.”
“I…what?” I let him pull me up and realized everyone’s attention was on me. I heard someone behind me yell my name and realized it was Teddy, sitting in a lawn chair with a beer and a smile.
“Come on, Mommy. We gotta go get the award.” Oliver tugged my hand, and I followed him to the front of the field and up the makeshift platform. Somehow, I ended up clutching a shiny plaque with my name etched into it.
Ali hugged me. “You weren’t paying attention, were you?”
“Not so much.”
She handed me a microphone. “Tell everyone thank you.”
“Oh.” I took it and Ali shoved me forward.
I wasn’t a shy person. In fact, I’d spent several years of my life trying my damnedest to get in front of large crowds of people.
But staring out at that field, my eyes catching on people I knew, who came into the Sit-n-Eat once a day or once a month, I found myself speaking into the microphone with a trembling voice.
“Um, thank you? I didn’t expect this at all. I, well…It’s been a rough year with Ollie passing. I have tried to make him proud even though he’s not with us anymore. Could you all imagine if he’d won this award?”
Those who could, laughed.
“He loved this town. I do, too. Three years ago, I came here exhausted and without a plan. And you all, you’ve made me feel like I’ve always been here.
Thank you for that.” I took a deep breath.
“I don’t know what the next few months will hold.
There might be changes. I don’t know if I’ll still be here, but I want you to know there’s something special about Two Harts. ”
Oliver tugged on my shirt. “Can I say something?”
“Sure.” I lowered it to his face.
“Thank you for making my mommy win,” he said, getting another laugh from the crowd.
When we got back to our spot, Gil stood there smiling. He seemed to hesitate for a half second before he caught me up in a hug. “Who cares what they think?” he whispered.
Fifteen minutes later, the four of us were lying on the blanket on our backs so we could watch the fireworks. First me, then Oliver, then Mikey with his headphones on, then Gil. As the bursts of light pulled out oohs and ahhs from us, I had a moment of such happiness, it made my chest ache.
A man I loved and his brother who I was already half in love with. A kid I’d move mountains for. A town I loved. I had to wonder why we got glimpses like this—of what life could be—only for it all to be taken away from us.
I knew it couldn’t last but for this minute in time, it was perfect.
It was everything.