AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And back when Liam and I lived in our own little bubble of happiness. Full of stolen kisses, dancing in the rain, ice cream dates, and talk of the “real” honeymoon we’d splurge on one day, the kind where we’d leave the state and stay for more than a weekend.
I sank into that feeling. Usually, I ran from it, but for once, I let myself relive the days when it was just us two. How we would laugh together, cry together. When Liam was my best friend. Before this lonely, empty Liam-shaped hole in my life formed and stretched wide.
With each unsteady brush stroke, another memory hit.
I added white to the background. That time he made me ride the Ferris wheel at some janky traveling fair. I screamed the whole time. Beside me, he laughed and promised me an ice cream after.
A dash of gray at the hippo’s feet. The nights, before we were even married, when Liam would lie beside me and watch me add to the Pinterest board full of my visions of what our future house would look like.
I continued that way, soaking in the nostalgia each memory brought with it.
Before I could stop it, a slow grin formed on my face and a warm contentedness washed over me. And I wasn’t sure whether I could attribute this happiness to painting alone.
Wednesdays meant I could see Marigold without having to come up with a lame excuse.
Only I’d never have the opportunity if this line didn’t move forward.
New parents were always being given unsolicited advice. Marigold got the heap of it, especially because we’d come home from the hospital with not one baby, but two. Even so, I’d received a good bit as well.
Sleep when they sleep, no juice till they’re a year old, get a car seat that transfers easily to a stroller, stuff like that.
But no one, not a single soul, warned me about the car-rider lines.
I’d never been told a single cautionary tale about how a person could, specifically in a bigger city, be stuck in these things for forty minutes. I loved my kids, and I wanted as much time with them as possible. But I’d only had one cup of coffee so far this morning, and between their insistence on three different kinds of waffles (because I was a pushover like that) and the bickering in the back seat, I was at my wit’s end. I was a patient person, but everyone had their limit, and I was at mine.
Only two things were keeping me sane as I pushed through this dreaded line. First, I’d see Marigold in approximately thirty minutes (though at the rate this line was moving, it might be closer to ten hours). Second, I’d eaten four waffles for breakfast. If I hadn’t, they would have gone to waste. So that was that.
“Ow, quit that,” Miles whined.
“What are you gonna do?” Dallas clapped back.
I wasn’t sure what they were arguing about, and I didn’t bother asking. This was becoming a regular thing and intervening rarely helped. I wondered what Marigold did when they were like this.
“You’re just mad that what I said is the truth!”
“No, it’s not. Shut up.”
That got my attention. I peeked at them in the rearview mirror. Behind me, Dallas had his hands cupped over his ears.
Miles leaned in close. “Everyone knows you like her—”
Oh, that’s what it was about, then. I cleared my throat and twisted in my seat. “Miles, quit it.”
Miles let out a huff and pointed at his brother. “But he started—”
“Stop.” I used the firm dad tone I usually kept packed away because I liked to consider myself a fun and relatable parent.
I turned back around and eased forward. We’d finally made it to the drop-off area. The second the car came to a stop, Miles hopped out with a quick goodbye. Dallas, on the other hand, hadn’t budged.
I shifted the car into park and turned around. “Hey.” I waited for him to look up, and when he did, I gave him an encouraging smile. “Do you really like a girl?”
Neither of the boys talked about crushes, at least not with me. Which was not at all what I was like at their age. I vividly remember begging my mom for a poster of Megan Fox to put on my ceiling. This had to be a Marigold trait. I wanted them to come to me with this stuff, though. I wanted them to know they could ask me anything. Then maybe by the time we made it to the teenage years and they found themselves in trouble, they’d call. God, I hoped I’d be the first call if one of them ended up arrested. My bet was on Miles. It’s always the quiet ones.
Dallas shrugged, but he gave me a small nod.
My chest squeezed in response. Suddenly, I was thankful for this morning’s slow car-rider line. “All right, here’s what you need to do. You’re taller than her, right?”
He dipped his chin, pink rushing up his neck. “Yeah.”
