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I squinted at my mom. “That was weird, right?”
She held out a hand and examined her freshly painted nails. “Boys will be boys. You remember how you and your brothers were when you were younger. Always sneaking around.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
Setting up artificial turf was freaking hard. Mostly because my mind was stuck on the moment my ex-husband declared that he’d never stopped loving me.
I had stubbed my toe on the mallet I was using to nail this stuff down three times in the last ten minutes. It was like my head wasn’t screwed on right. Over and over, I forced myself to focus on my task, but my mind kept drifting back to thoughts of him. It didn’t help that his craftsmanship was imprinted on every piece of this project. The smooth edges of the cutouts, the way he designed the boards to click together so I could set the structure up on my own when the time came since the setup window fell during an afternoon when he had to work.
The words from the simple text Liam had sent last night were etched on my heart, and with every beat, they called to me. That didn’t help with my distraction either.
I’ll be here whenever you’re ready.
Why was he all of a sudden so gentle and understanding? It was making this huge, monumental, multiple life–changing decision a whole lot harder on me.
I finished laying out the turf, then used tiny plastic stakes to secure it to the ground. I lifted the hippo in the tutu—my personal favorite—and set it close to the entrance. Beside it, I propped up the sign I’d proudly painted, emblazoned with Mini Golf and our booth number so the judges could vote accordingly.
I stood back and scanned the whole area, grateful I hadn’t backed out of the project like I wanted to at first. And I was really, really glad we hadn’t gone with Liam’s idea to throw together a poster board the night before. A booth nearby was set up as a basketball game. Another was a simple wheel that players would spin to win a prize. One had live pets—good luck to whoever was in charge of that one. At the very end of the line was Martha May’s—ahem—I meant Adeline Phillips’s booth.
I tried not to look at it, honestly. Comparison is the thief of joy, and all that, right? But my flesh betrayed me, and of their own accord, my eyes wandered, taking in her setup.
It looked like NASA had dropped off an extra space station they’d had lying around. I wasn’t sure how it worked or what it did, but there was a large inflatable astronaut standing next to the entrance to the spaceship. Maybe kids could go in and hit a few buttons or something? It looked good. Okay, it was perfect.
But you know what?
Ours was better. Not because it was over-the-top or because of the countless hours I’d spent painting ridiculous animals pointing at different holes. But because of what it had taken for us to get here. The way Liam and I, no matter what our relationship looked like now, had overcome hurdle after hurdle to make something beautiful that our boys would love.
Besides, if we didn’t win—which we totally should, because, I mean, look at it—I would take the boys to Hershey Park anyway. The true reward, I realized, would be the looks on their faces when they saw our game.
I finished setting the animals in place, then I tested the hole myself to make sure the pieces were lined up as they should be. Then I did it a couple more times. I couldn’t help it. It was just so darn cute.
I set the kids’ putter down next to the plastic golf balls and took a step back, admiring our work. Below our neon sign was an archway that led to where the kids would start the game. It wasn’t very long—after all, we didn’t have a ton of room—but it was magical. The ballerina hippo was up front, of course, followed by the giraffe in a top hat pointing to keep going. The zebra held a Hole in One! sign, and finally, at the end, a lion in his hula skirt and coconut bra holding the very last obstacle. I’d had to paint most everything with my left hand, and it showed. But I’d worked my butt off on this, as had Liam, and I was proud of the end product. I was also really, really looking forward to Saturday night.
Reaching for my phone, I took a quick picture and texted it to the Wells family group chat.
All finished! Ready for Saturday night :)
Calla: ARE YOU SERIOUS
Calla: THAT LOOKS AMAZING
Luke: The boys are going to love it. I still think a star wars theme would have been cool but this is pretty awesome.
Layla: Ignore my husband. It is absolutely perfect!
Crew: So…where is it going when you guys are done with it?
Liam: Is this your way of asking if you can have it?
Crew: I have a big backyard.
It’s all yours, bud. Thank you, guys. I’m really really proud of it!
Liam: You should be. You worked your butt off for it.
Calla: *kissing emojis*
With a chuckle, I put my phone back in my pocket, then took one more look at all our hard work. Yeah, proud was kind of an understatement.
