“–witnessed children that young be so kind and show so much empathy.”
Oh thank God.
“Oh, thank you.” Sara felt both relieved and elated. Her children were by no means angels. Whatever the interaction was, could’ve gone a much different direction and she didn’t take for granted for a second that Christine was seeking her out for a positive reason.
Christine lowered her voice as she discreetly explained, “Sally Tripp is potty training and she had an accident when she was trying to climb out of the bouncy house and started crying. Your son not only demanded that everyone stop bouncing so she could get out. He then unzipped the flap and held her hand as her mom got her down but not before offering her a handkerchief that he had in his back pocket so she could wipe the tears from her face.”
Around her there was a chorus of “awws” and “how sweets” from Brynn, Jess, and Ali.
Trevor assisting the little girl didn’t surprise Sara in the least. Trevor always tried to help. Honestly, he was probably just happy that Sally didn’t scream at him like Charlotte had a tendency to do. As far as the handkerchief, that was Austin’s doing. When they’d been headed out of the B&B Trevor had asked what was in Austin’s back pocket and he pulled out a white handkerchief. He’d told her son that a man should never be without one. Trevor had asked why and Austin said it was because you never knew when someone might need one.
So, of course, Trevor asked Sara if she had a handkerchief. She’d started to tell him that they could go buy some the next day, she’d needed to go to Walmart to pick up some things she’d forgotten, but before she got the chance to explain that, Austin handed his to him. Trevor shook his head and didn’t accept it stating that Austin might need one. But Austin quickly put her son’s mind at ease and stopped by his truck before they piled into her SUV and grabbed a navy blue handkerchief as he explained that he always had backups.
Sara had thought the exchange was sweet at the time, now her son had actually used it to give to a little girl that was crying.
“And then, when Sally came back wearing a different outfit, your daughter noticed she was sad and asked if she was okay. Sally told her she was embarrassed because she had on different clothes so your daughter turned her own shirt and shorts inside out and told her that now they both did.”
There was another round of “awws” and “how sweets.” Sara’s eyes automatically shot to Charlotte. Sure enough, her shirt and shorts were inside out.
The good news was, her baby girl had been kind and made someone feel better. The bad news was, she’d stripped down in front of God and everyone. She tried not to think about the bad news and focus on the good.
Sara’s motto was: Fake It Till You Make It (which was the motto she’d voted on for the blog but Shelby had overruled her). It might look like she was confident and had her shit together, but most days she went to bed and played over everything she should’ve done differently. Every wrong choice, harsh word, or mistake she made would play on repeat. She was just doing the best she could and hoping she wasn’t doing any permanent damage. It’s not as if she’d had stellar role models or any role models at all.
But days like this, hearing her children helped someone like that, they gave her hope that she was doing something right.
The women all praised her kids and she was just starting to get uncomfortable with all the attention on her when Jess groaned. “Oh no. She’s got Austin in her web.”
Sara was happy the subject changed, but she didn’t like the thought of it being about a woman catching him in a web. A foreign emotion sank in Sara’s stomach and it took her a moment to realize that it was jealousy.
She was jealous about a man that she’d known twelve hours being caught in a web.
That was a problem she’d deal with after she turned to see the black widow…or um…the woman.
A smile tugged on her lips when she saw that the “spider” strongly resembled Mrs. Claus.
“She’s got him cornered. He might be their next target.” Christine said as if they were talking about something nefarious.
Sara looked back at the women at a loss of what was going on.
“I mean, do you think he’s ready to date again?” Christine sounded concerned. “I mean that had to be quite a blow.”
Normally, Sara didn’t butt into other people’s business, but she found herself asking. “Why, what happened?”
Jess sighed and lowered her voice as she leaned in. “He was overseas and got shot. Apparently, when he came home he found his fiancée pregnant with his best friend’s baby. At least that’s the story I heard. And I was able to Facebook verify some of it.”
“Oh…wow…” Sara wasn’t sure what to say. She hated thinking of him being blindsided like that, but selfishly, thinking of him with a wife and a baby wasn’t something that she wanted to think about.
“And now Mrs. Dobrinski—” Ali began.
“Mrs. D—” Jess interjected.
“Mrs. D and her friends—” Ali pointed to two women that were huddled together under the gazebo. One wore a shawl, had a cane, and looked so thin Sara was worried a high wind would knock her into the water. The other was the spitting image of Betty Crocker.
“Partners in crime.” Jess amended.
“Cohorts.” Ali compromised. “Are most likely setting him up so they can play matchmaker.”
“Oh.” Sara thought she must be missing something because that sounded sweet to her. Endearing. At least, it would be if they weren’t trying to set up Austin.