Her relief didn’t stem from being worried about what else her three-year-old might say. It came from not wanting her little girl to notice how much of an effect the statement had had on her. In Charlotte’s world, being a princess was the be all, end all. It was the pinnacle of compliments. It was everything.
Sara had never believed in fairytales. She wasn’t the girl that dreamed of her knight in shining armor coming to save her. She’d always been perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
So why did the fact her daughter thought Austin looked at her like that cause her to get emotional?
The sound of motors filled the open air space, causing Sara to sit up straighter as she went into autopilot mom-mode and scanned the area for Trevor. When she locked eyes on her target, she saw her son was getting his helmet adjusted by Austin. The precious sight sent her already unstable emotions into red-zone vulnerability. That was not a place Sara liked to be.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sara noticed Jess lean toward her mom and whisper, “Still don’t believe in the magic?”
As she watched Trevor and Austin start their first lap around the track, Sara felt a gentle, familiar pat on top of her hand that was resting on Charlotte’s leg. She looked down expecting to see either her daughter’s or one of the women’s hands over hers. But Charlotte was holding the phone with both hands and none of the women were trying to get her attention.
For a moment she wondered what it was she’d felt, but then it hit her. That was exactly what Grandma Betty used to do. She hadn’t felt it in so long, she’d almost forgotten the loving gesture. She’d always reach out and pat Sara’s hand and tell her that she loved her a bushel and a peck.
Just like Bonnie didn’t believe in a magic love spell, Sara didn’t believe in ghosts or spirits. But as she sniffed back emotion clogging her throat at the thought of her grandma reaching out to her now, her spirit knowing that she’d gone to Whisper Lake, seeing that she’d met Austin, she was wondering if they might both be wrong.
Maybe her grandma did know, and maybe this town truly was magic.