Page 35 of A Simple Regret

“All right, little dude, let’s tear up the yard.”

I don’t know how long I pull him around the fenced in area, but it’s quite a while. We’ve made several laps, figure eights, and zigzags, and he never says a word. Every time I glance back at him, he’s just grinning from ear to ear, like he’s having the best day ever.

After what feels like hours more, I stop and ask, “Want to see what I brought?”

He runs toward the bag and waits anxiously for me to open it. I pull out the snow brick mold first. “We can make bricks and make a snow wall or fort,” I tell him, demonstrating how it works by packing it with snow, turning it over, and carefully pulling the mold off the snow brick.

“Cool!” he proclaims, running over and stepping on the freshly made brick. As if it’s the funniest thing in the world, he busts out laughing, his head thrown back as he giggles at the silliness of smashing the brick.

With my own smile on my lips, I glance at Maren and find her watching her son with so much love and fondness, it steals my breath. Of course, I blame it on the colder temperature and not the emotions I’m doing everything I can to ignore.

“Look at this snowball maker,” I say, distracting him from stomping on the already smashed brick.

He stands beside me as I demonstrate how to scoop the snow up with the snowball maker and toss it at his leg. Theo giggles, picking up snow and tossing it back at me.

I glance toward Maren and say, “I guess I didn’t think this one through.”

She just smiles.

“But I saved the best for last, little dude. Look at this,” I insist, removing the monster feet from the bag and ripping the plastic tag off that’s holding them together.

“What’s dat?” he asks, his eyes wide as he looks on.

“Watch,” I state, getting down in the snow on my knees. Using the monster footprints, I make tracks as best I can, considering it’s all pretty packed down.

“Rrrrrrr!” he hollers, using his best monster growl voice. “Mommy, wook! Monster!”

“I see,” she replies with a grin.

“Wanna try?” I ask, handing over the two pieces of plastic. “Just be careful not to put too much pressure on them. We don’t want the plastic to break.”

And just like that, everything else is forgotten as Theo makes monster foot tracks all over the yard.

Leaning against the fence near Maren, I say, “I’ve never seen anything like those.”

“Snow toys have definitely come a long way since we were kids, huh?”

“What toys when we were kids? All we had was a shovel and our hands.”

She grins. “And a sled.” Glancing to the longer one, she asks, “Did you buy that for him too?”

I look over at the heavy-duty toboggan sled, perfect for two people. “I did. While I was standing there, looking at all the snow stuff, I had an idea. I wasn’t sure if you’d go for it or not, but I thought I’d get the sled on the off chance you said yes.”

She’s hesitant but asks, “Say yes to what?”

“Taking the two of you sledding. We can go tomorrow out at Wyatt’s farm.”

Her gaze returns to her son, who is still happily making monster tracks across the yard. “What would you use to pull us?”

“My four-wheeler. It’s stored at Wyatt’s with the rest of my family’s.”

“Oh.” I can tell she’s processing. She used to do that in high school. She’d get very quiet, her brain working overtime to run through every angle or option.

“I’ll give you time to think about it, and it’s okay to say no. I know he’s young, but I’m a safe driver, especially when I have someone with me. I’ll go slow, and we can keep it short. I’d never risk you—either of you,” I quickly add, trying not to let the focus fall on…her. This is about giving Theo an experience.

Right?

Keep telling yourself it’s just about that…