The next pass was their last, and then the music stopped, and the wheel turned very slowly, letting passengers off two-by-two.
Tripp and Mari were waiting for them at the exit, with Mari very excited to show off the photos she’d taken.
“These are so good,” Jillian said, genuinely surprised at how nicely they had turned out. She was always the one taking the photos, so she didn’t have many recent photos of herself with either of the girls.
“I’ll text them to you,” Tripp said. “But first, let me get one of you with Mari.”
Mari smiled and wrapped an arm around Jillian’s waist, and they held each other tight and smiled as Tripp took a picture.
“Now get in there, Posey,” he said.
Posey shot over and snuggled in while Tripp took a few more.
“Now you,” Posey told him.
“We’ll do a big selfie,” Tripp said, coming over and lifting his hand way over his head.
He wrapped a big arm around them all and Jillian smiled and tried not to notice the spice of his aftershave as he took one last photo.
“Now we won’t forget how much fun we had today,” he said, smiling down at his phone as his fingers tapped.
A moment later, Jillian’s phone buzzed in her pocket.
“Thank you,” she told him. “Now, what’s next, everyone?”
The restof the morning passed quickly. There were plenty of games and good things to eat, and they bumped into so many people she knew, and even more that Tripp knew.
It was a pleasure for Jillian to show off her girls. And she found she didn’t mind people’s eyes traveling between her and Tripp, or the knowing smiles they gave her, clearly assuming the two of them were together.
Maybe Allie wasn’t the only one who knew Tripp had alwayshad a thingfor her.
Which also meant that maybe other people also thought Jillian had considered herself too good for Tripp, instead of the other way around. She tried not to overthink it, and just enjoyed the day for what it was.
“Can I tell them?” Mari asked Tripp once or twice as they explored the festival.
“Not yet,” Tripp said the first few times, waggling his eyebrows at her and making her laugh.
“What?” Posey asked. “What?”
“It’s asurprise,”Mari said, her eyes sparkling.
When they had exhausted all the fun things at the festival, Tripp finally turned to Mari.
“Want to do the honors?” he asked her.
Mari hopped up and down and then cleared her throat.
“We have asurprisefor you,” she said proudly. “Only, if everyone still has lots of energy.”
Posey sure did, and Jillian was feeling surprisinglypeppy herself.
It was amazing how much nicer it was to attend an event like this one with another grownup along. They were able to wait in different lines with the girls when they wanted different things, and she had even taken them to the bathroom while Tripp got them hot cocoa. She hadn’t been torn even once about what to do next, because together they could do everything the girls wanted, even when that meant she did an art project with Mari while Posey and Tripp did a three-legged race.
“I hope you’ll like this,” Tripp said, as they headed down Maple Street.
“We’re walking to the surprise?” Posey asked suspiciously.
“Yes,” Tripp told her. “It’s right in town, you can almost see it from here.”
