Page 45 of Wildflowers and Wide Receivers

Jonah

Watching Sophie with Vivi is like the sweetest torture. It’s been two days, and Vivi has essentially become Sophie’s shadow. I get it; she’s new, but I genuinely think she likes her. Other than Camille, Lexi, and maybe Kelli, to a certain extent, she hasn’t connected with anyone else this way. Not even her teachers.

Of course, over the past two years, I’ve thought about what it would be like if I ever brought someone home to meet Vivi, but I never expected it to be like this. I thought it would be awkward or hard, but Sophie’s slipped right in like she’s always been here. Only, I can’t decide if this is a good thing, or if I am allowing Vivi to set herself up to be hurt.

Do I want Sophie in our lives? Without a doubt. Wanting her has never been the problem. Where I’m concerned is that Sophie might not want us in return. We are a package deal. An insta family, and that might not be what she had in mind when she thought about having a family of her own. Do I think we’re worth it? Absolutely. I just have to make sure Sophie thinks so too before I let all of this go any further. I can’t have Vivi losing someone else she loves. Is that inevitable? Yes. But not yet.

Not today.

Mostly, today was another repeat of yesterday.

This morning, I left Vivi with Sophie and went to the store to buy us groceries and glue for the rest of the week. After I got back, we went to the beach, built sandcastles, and then came in for lunch. In the afternoon, some clouds rolled in, so we skipped the water and went back out to do some wildflower hunting. Vivi chased the seagulls away for me, and once, when Vivi wasn’t looking, I reached over and gently grasped Sophie’s hand. She seemed surprised at first, but then her fingers wrapped around mine.

For dinner, I grilled some steaks. Afterward, we started a puzzle, and now Vivi and I are out taking Molly for a walk.

“Maybe we should buy our own house here, what do you think?” I ask her. Molly’s grown a lot over the past month and along with her size, so has her energy. She pulls on the leash and Vivi jerks forward. I’m already thinking we might need to have someone come to the house to train her.

“Really?” she asks, excitement evident in her tone.

I look up and down Reid’s street. Each house is similar sized, and while some are lower to the ground, most are on stilts. I can’t imagine owning a home here and it not being on stilts. With storm surge and who knows what else, it seems like flooding could be a real possibility.

“Why not? We like it here. I think we’ll come more often if we have our own place.”

“Will it be on the beach?” she asks, with hopeful big blue eyes, and then she jerks again as Molly is pulling her toward a mailbox to sniff. This particular mailbox is shaped like a wooden pelican. I don’t hate it.

“Probably not.” I internally laugh at what that would cost and what we cannot afford. I mean, I could swing it, but I don’t want to add that extra pressure on us should my career suddenly end. Also, I’d have to consider renting it out and I don’t want to do that. I want this to be another home for just us. “We can look, but if it’s not, it’ll still be walkable. You know the island is small.”

“Can I help you pick it out?” Molly has decided there’s nothing interesting at the mailbox and has moved along the road’s edge to the neighbor’s yard. These roads are sandy, gravelly, and I imagine in the summer scorching hot.

“Of course. That’s why we’re talking about it. It’s not my house. It’ll be our house.”

She takes a moment to think about this.

“Do you think Ms. Sophie will come stay with us at the new house?”

Wouldn’t that be another dream come true? If Sophie and I actually turn into a thing, maybe she’ll want to pick the house out with us. I certainly won’t be able to decorate it. I would let her and Vivi do whatever they want.

“I suppose we could ask her when the time is right.”

“I think you should take her on a date.”

Her statement catches me off guard, and my brows rise as I look down at her.

“What do you know about dates?”

She smiles up at me, while swinging my hand which is wrapped around her free one. When we’re outside like this, I always make sure she’s holding my hand and on the inside of me. Away from the road. Safety first.

“That’s what grown-ups do. They go out and have dinner together.”

That’s what her parents were doing, out having dinner. I wonder if she’s associating the two. I hope not. There will come a day when I do go out to dinner with someone, hopefully Sophie, and I don’t want her to live in fear that I won’t come home.

“Well, I’ll have you know I already asked her and she said no.”

A frown drops onto her face, as she tries to understand. I can see how in the mind of a seven-year-old, who thinks her uncle is awesome, that it doesn’t make sense that someone would say no to me.

“Why?” She looks at me curiously. She also looks offended, and I have to try hard not to grin at her reaction.

“At the time she had a boyfriend,” I tell her.