Connor rolls his eyes and then puts his hat on. “You owe me.”
“Goats!!!”
Sophia takes off in a run to the fenced in area where the petting zoo animals are waiting for her. She about died when she saw her Uncle Connor dressed up as Kristoff and now my eardrums may be permanently damaged from how loud of a scream she just unleashed when she saw the goats across the yard.
My mom comes and loops her arm through mine and pats it gently. “Sadie did a spectacular job, Niko.”
“She did, didn’t she?” My eyes are on the woman I have to thank for such an amazing birthday party as she gets low to the ground to help Sophia feed the goats. She’s created some magical core memories and I’ll never be able to express how grateful I am.
“Mm-hmm.” My mother’s tone is suspicious, causing me to look down. A mischievous look awaits me when I do.
I smack my lips. “Ugh,Äiti.What is that look for?” I watch as her eyes move from my face to where Sophia and Sadie are laughing together with the goats.
“She’s pretty special, isn’t she?”
“I’d have to agree. My daughter is one of a kind.”
My mom slaps my bicep. “You know that’s not who I mean.”
Sadie stands and reaches her hands behind her head, putting her hair up into a ponytail. She looks so carefree and happy right now, it makes my stomach flutter. “Yeah, she is.”
She gives my arm a squeeze and then frees herself to join the girls at the petting zoo. I watch in amazement as three of the most important people in my life laugh together, and I can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of something special.
The rest of the party goes off without a hitch. My entire team showed up to celebrate my girl, and even though I know they’d rather be licking their wounds after our loss yesterday, it means the world to me that they came.
I say goodbye to my parents and close the front door behind me. Exhausted would be an understatement. I’d love to collapse on the couch and watch a movie with my girls but there’s still shit everywhere.
Sophia is still outside playing with the goats so I head to the kitchen to help Sadie clean up. I’m surprised to see thatthe kitchen is clean other than the cake and cupcakes that need putting away.
“Damn, Sadie. You work fast.”
She grabs a Tupperware container I didn’t even know I owned and starts placing the cupcakes inside. “If I sit down, there’s no getting up. I got straight to work after everyone left.”
I start folding up the tablecloth we used on the kitchen table and tip my head toward the backyard. “What time is the company coming back to pick up the animals?” They dropped off the animals earlier and left a couple workers behind to watch over, but they had another party today so needed the trailer to transport more animals.
Sadie looks at the clock on the microwave behind her. “Shoot. They should’ve been here by now. Can you grab my phone off the charger over there? I have frosting all over my fingers.”
She wiggles her fingers at me, and even though I’d much rather go lick her fingers clean, I grab her phone and try to hand it to her.
“Can you shoot them a text so I can finish this up? Passcode is 0617. I should have a text thread going with Uncle Don’s Petting Zoo. Will you ask them what their ETA is for me?”
It’s a small thing, her trusting me enough with something personal like the password to her phone, but for some reason it only makes those butterflies in my stomach from earlier flutter some more.
“Sure.”
I thumb in Sadie’s passcode and click her messages icon. I have to scroll a bit until I find the text thread with the petting zoo, but my thumb stops just as I’m about to click on it. I know it’s none of my business but the message below this one has me pausing.
Someone named Mark texted her last week but that’s notwhat bothers me. It’s the text preview that feels like a punch to the gut.
“Let me know when I can give you a call to talk about the job opportunity…”
Job opportunity? Sadie’s looking for another job? No, that text doesn’t necessarily mean she’s actively looking for a job. It could be someone from before when she was applying for jobs for the Bobcats. But she’s been with the Bobcats for weeks now. Why would they be texting her so long after?
“Did they respond?” Sadie’s voice is soft, oblivious of the downward spiral happening in my brain right now.
I quickly click on the petting zoo’s thread and type the text. They reply back immediately.
“They said they should be here in five minutes.” I don’t intend for my words to come out clipped but by the scrunch of Sadie’s eyebrows, I know that they did.
