“Only if he was young and good looking,” she mumbled. Still, Theo must have heard, because he laughed and wrapped her in a hug. No complaint there, except people were staring at them now.
Pulling her along, he asked, “Do you want a balloon animal or to get your face painted?”
Dread exploded in her stomach. What would make her stand out the least?
“Chelsea, honey,” Laurie Lapierre called out from the front porch. “Could you give me a hand bringing out some of this food?”
Saved. “Of course.” She tapped Theo’s arm. “I have to help your mom.”
Theo tapped back, then winked as she scurried away.
“What can I help with, Mrs. Lapierre?” she asked as she entered the kitchen.
Theo’s mom smiled. “You’re Mrs. Lapierre, too, honey. Why don’t you call me Laurie? Or you can call me Mom if that isn’t too hard on you. Theo told us you lost yours quite young.”
“Mom?” She tried the word out on her tongue. It’s what Jordan called her, but it wasn’t something she’d called anyone in a long time.
“Only if you want to. Now, this tray of sandwiches needs to be put on the table on the porch. I don’t want the kids bumping into it in the yard and knocking everything over. Not to mention, we can put stuff out and clean up easier if it’s close. Does that sound okay?”
“Um, yeah, sounds fine.” Had she wanted Chelsea’s opinion or was she simply being kind? She hadn’t been anything but since they’d met Thursday afternoon.
After a few trips back and forth, the table was full, and Chelsea looked around the kitchen to see if there was anything else that needed to go out. Having something to do was preferable to standing around trying to interact with the parents. Theo knew them all, but even after introducing her, she didn’t feel comfortable with any of them. Would she ever?
“You okay, honey?” Laurie asked, tossing a crumpled napkin in the trash.
“Yeah. Making sure we didn’t forget anything.” Could she find something else to do in the house?
“Everyone’s getting food. I think Theo wanted to do cake and gifts right after, in case anyone wanted to cut out early.”
“Okay. I guess I should go out there then.” Her feet didn’t move.
As Laurie leaned her elbows on the counter, her eyes softened. “Theo’s glad you’re back.”
Staring at the floor, she said, “I know. Jordan needed a mother.”
“That’s not the only reason he’s happy to see you. I never could understand why he kept holding to the thought you might come back, especially after…well, after what we thought happened. Now that I see you two together, I can understand why.”
“You can?”
Laurie nodded. “There’s something between you. Something strong. I know you two had a lot working against you and you have to learn to trust each other again. Have faith that you’ll get there. Don’t give up on each other, all right?”
“I won’t.”
“Now, let’s you and I get something to eat before it’s all gone. After all that work, I’m starving.” Laurie hooked her hand through Chelsea’s arm, and they walked out to the porch together.
“Did she finally calm down?” Chelsea asked as Theo carried a limp Jordan around his office.
Slowly spinning, he let Chelsea see that Jordan had not only calmed down but fallen asleep. The little girl had been so hyped up on party, presents, and cake that she’d had a slight meltdown a few minutes ago when they hadn’t allowed her to have yet another piece of her birthday cake. It had been up to him to handle it, since Chelsea had looked about to explode with fear. The last month with their daughter had been much smoother. Sure, there had been small incidents here and there, but nothing like the subatomic blast wave they’d just experienced.
“She fell asleep. That didn’t take long.” Chelsea’s eyebrow rose.
“No nap today and honestly not a ton of sleep last night. She was too excited. The sugar from the party goods kept her going for a while, but all good things must come to an end.” He hoped the good things that had been going on between him and Chelsea would continue.
“Do we put her down like that?” Chelsea’s nervous gaze darted around the room. Like she was looking for an answer written on the walls or floors.
“I’ll carry her upstairs. Why don’t you dampen a facecloth and help me clean up the worst while we put her down?”
As they wove their way through the living room to the stairs, his parents blew kisses to the child, then went back to picking up the party leftovers.
