Itwastrue. Scott’s eyes told the story of losing his oldest son. It haunted him. Healing family scars took a lot of time. If marrying Thatcher had taught her anything, it was that nothing was a guarantee in this world—not seeing your children grow up, and not fixing wounds inflicted by loved ones.
The stubborn set to Brodie’s jaw told her that nothing was going to heal tonight. “All right. There’s a price list by the register, and everything is clearly marked.” After a quick tutorial on how to run a credit card through the machine, she headed off in the direction of the corn maze.
Instead of telling everyone she was coming, she decided to surprise them. Music pumped through speakers throughout the craft booths and then faded away as she reached the food vendors. Here there were scents and smells that had her stomach rumbling: fried cheese, fried Oreos, fried hot dogs, French fries, and funnel cakes. And those were just the foods that started with F. Apple pie, Boston crème doughnuts, chocolate-covered bananas …
The festival was a dieter’s nightmare and dream come true all in one. She gazed longingly at the bratwurst vendor, who had a line of fifteen people eagerly awaiting an onion-and-green-pepper-smothered brat and a soda. Dinner could wait a while, though. She had the whole night to herself and a crisp fifty in her pocket from selling a set of three lanterns.
She approached the small ticket booth at the start of the corn maze. Maybe it was time to text someone and let them know she was here. Judd, Anders, and Birdie were somewhere inside with the kids. Surprising them would be fun, but not if she spent the whole night looking for them and never finding them.
She pulled out her phone and looked down just as Miles slammed into her legs and wrapped his arms around them. “Mom!”
The smile that spread across her face was written by love. “Buddy!” She hugged him and held out an arm for Laney to hug her too. They wore sweaters and mittens but no coats. Nighttime got nippy, but not bad enough to pull out the winter coats.
“I thought you were working.” Miles set his chin on her hip as he talked.
She cupped the back of his head. “Uncle Brodie gave me the night off.” She glanced up to make sure Judd had heard. Brodie should get credit for his good deed. He didn’t acknowledge her statement either way, but the smile he’d had when their eyes met stayed bright.
Laney bounced. “You can play?”
“I can play,” she replied, matching her daughter’s level of excitement.
Birdie bounded over. At seventeen, the girl was willow thin and full of grace. She’d be off to college next year and taking the world by storm, no doubt. “Fantastic, now we have even teams.”
“Where’s Grace?” Wynn asked Anders. She was usually up for some family fun time.
“She has class tonight,” Anders answered easily.
“That’s right. She’s just got this semester and she’s done?” For as long as Wynn could remember, Grace had been taking night classes. It cut into the couple’s time together, but Anders was super supportive and never complained. He was almost too calm about all of it—like it didn’t bother him to be apart from her. Wynn shoved those thoughts away. Anders and Grace had been together for a long time, and people got comfortable with one another. That was all.
“Yep.” Anders rocked on his heels.
“So …” Wynn rolled her hands over one another. This should be where Anders said something about proposing and finally getting on with their lives. She wanted nieces and nephews, for the love. Being part of a big family should mean cousins galore.
“So then she can get the promotion at the ski resort,” replied Anders, scratching the back of his neck.
Wynn rolled her eyes.
Judd gave her a nudge from behind, his gentle signal not to push it. “Who’s up for maze tag?” He rubbed his palms together.
The kids cheered.
Wynn groaned. “Not me. I’m so tired.”
“No worries.” Birdie grabbed Laney’s hand. “This one’s on my team.”
“I get Miles.” Anders offered the boy a fist bump.
“I guess it’s you and me,” Judd said pointing at her. “We’reit.”
Wynn offered a small smile. At least with an adult as a partner, she wouldn’t have to run pell-mell through the maze and fake a level of enthusiasm she didn’t have. “We’ll give you guys a head start.” She covered her eyes and started counting to ten.
“Come on!” Miles yelled. Finding them shouldn’t be that hard. Their noise level was a dead giveaway.
Footsteps receded into the maze, and Wynn dropped her hands from her eyes. She laughed at Judd, who was counting with his hands over his ears. “Ten!” He dropped his hands and pointed to the right and left. “Which way?”
She listened for a moment and then pointed left. They started in at a walk, not expecting to find anyone. “How are things going? I feel like I’ve hardly seen you this week.”
Judd glanced down at her from the corner of his eye. “Good. We got the remodel on Main Street done, so that’s good.”
