And a mom whose picture was saved in the secret folder on my phone.
“I’m Aspen’s mom,” Mara said and with a wink in my direction added, “one of those hockey moms.”
The nerve on that woman.
“Aren’t we all?” Jeanine laughed, looking between us while I popped my jaw, then gritted my teeth. The drink cooler was on the ground and it might have been hard for Mara to bend to get something.
“Can I get you a drink, Mara?” came out a little too loud.
“Wow. The service,” Mara said with a smirk.
I must have sighed because Jeanine giggled. I elaborated so Mara would stop teasing me and would just make a choice. “Water? Seltzer water? Coke? Beer?”
“Seltzer sounds great. Thanks, Jack,” she said.
Why did I feel warm all over just from hearing her say my name?
Jeanine made herself scarce when I came back with Mara’s drink.
“Oh, actually, would you mind opening it?” Mara asked. “My fingers get too bendy sometimes.”
“How have you been opening cans without anyone around?” I asked, popping the top of the can for her.
“Either a bottle opener or brute strength,” she said. “Just blunt force trauma to the can.”
I was probably supposed to laugh, but I don’t do that much, so I pinched my lips and nodded. “Not to be rude, but what condition do you have?”
Mara took a sip off the seltzer and bobbed her head while she swallowed. “A handful of them really, but they typically come as a set. Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome makes the faulty collagen that makes my joints go all weird. Then the blacking out when I stand up is from POTS, which is related. Chronic pain,” she said, pointing in the air with her seltzer can. “And they think the weird collagen makes my gut hold stuff longer or differently than people with proper collagen, so that creates the Mast Cell Activation.”
She rattled it all off like it was nothing, but it was obviously a lot to manage.
“And what does that do? The mass cell stuff?”
“Mast, not mass. And that’s maybe the hardest one,” she said. “I can have allergic reactions just kind of at any time when any number of factors adds up.”
“Shit,” I said. “That’s gotta be scary living alone. And with kids.”
Mara pursed her lips. “There are a lot of scary things about parenting alone. You know that, though.”
I nodded and sighed. “I do.”
She turned to me with a soft smile. “You did a good job with her birthday today. I’ve always heard you should just do one celebration for divorced kids, but it sounds like your ex didn’t give you the choice.”
I grimaced. “She did not. But I asked Harper what she wanted to do, and she just said play with her friends. So that’s what we’re doing.”
Mara’s eyes were soulful looking over me, taking a moment to study me. “You’re a good dad, Jack.”
“You’re a good mom.”
She snorted and waved her hand. “No, I’m not fishing for a compliment. It’s just, no one probably tells you that you’re doing a good job. And you are.”
Why did my eyes feel hot? When was the last time someone complimentedme? Not my sports performance. Not how sharp I dressed. Complimenting me on something I cared about.
I ground my teeth together as my nose started to feel drippy.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she said, then her eyes rounded. “Oh, geez, I think Hazel’s trying to climb in the bouncy house. She’s going to get trampled.”
