“Yay!” Sophie exclaimed, tugging on my hand. “Let’s go see the tree!”
I shot Matt a questioning look.
“Sure,” he said.
Sophie sprinted over to it, and the rest of us followed after her. “Did the trees have a real wedding?” She craned her head up and gazed at the arch joining the two live oaks.
“Trees can’t get married, dummy,” Zoey said disdainfully.
“I’m not a dummy!”
“No, she’s not. And you know the rule about name-calling,” Matt said. “Apologize, Zoey.”
“Sorry.”
“I forgive you.” Sophie’s face was sunny, as if the incident hadn’t occurred. “I’d love to go to a wedding.”
“Maybe Daddy and Jillian will have one,” Zoey suggested.
Matt shifted the shovel to his other hand. “Jillian is your aunt.”
“Yeah, but she could marry you, and then she’d be our mother,” Zoey said. “I asked her.”
Matt’s lips flattened. “This isn’t something you should be discussing with Jillian.”
“Why not?”
“Well, because...” He shifted the shovel again. “Marriage is between a man and a woman.”
“It’s ’tween the kids, too,” Zoey insisted.
“Well, it involves them, of course, but first, it’s a man-woman thing,” Matt looked as if he’d rather be discussing anything else. “You’ll understand when you get older.”
“It has to do with kissing and stuff,” Sophie piped up.
“Jillian kisses Daddy,” Zoey volunteered.
I saw Matt’s ears redden. “Just as a greeting. It’s not the same.”
“Hey—maybe Dad and Hope will kiss!” Sophie looked at me, her eyes wide and optimistic. “The forest man said anyone who kisses under the tree stays together!”
My mouth felt incapable of moving, even if my mind could have formed words.
I didn’t mean to look at Matt, but he caught my eye, and a bolt of heat shot between us. I felt my cheeks burn.
“Sounds like you two have been watching too many Disney princess movies,” Matt said easily, stepping away from the arbor of the trees’ intertwined branches.
“Well, I’ll kiss Hope.” Before I knew what was happening, Sophie grabbed my hand and kissed it. “There. Now you’ll have to stay in Wedding Tree forever.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” Zoey sniffed.
“You don’t know everything.” Sophie looked at me with such affection that my heart turned over.
“Hey—that looks like a good place to plant a tree over there.” Matt gestured in the distance in an obvious bid to change the subject. “What do you think?”
“Yes!” Sophie exclaimed.
Matt led the way, and we all traipsed along. Zoey picked the exact site, and Matt drove his shovel into the dirt.
