Page 36 of Finding Wonderland

Vera felt her mouth hang agape. “Excuse me? Broadway? Isla Mackenzie, you’ve been holding out on me.”

“It wasn’t a lead or anything. I was part of the ensemble,” she tried to brush it off but Vera remained impressed. “But I got pregnant with Blake before the show opened so that was the end of that chapter in my life. Not that I regret getting pregnant,” Isla quickly added. “I don’t.”

“I know.”

“Blake and Mason will always be the greatest things I’ve created in my life.” A slight smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “And any other kids that I may have with someone down the road.”

Isla leaned in ever so slightly toward Vera, and Vera did the same. But as they were about to kiss, Mason and Walker came running over to them.

“Mommy!” She jumped into the booth seat beside Isla and held up her handful of tickets. “Look at all the tickets I got!”

“Whoa! That’s so many!”

“And I got a lot too!” Walker held up her fistful to Vera. “We’re gonna put our tickets together and get a big prize.”

“Yeah!”

“Well,” Vera snatched the check off the table before Isla had a chance to even think about paying for the meal, “how about we head on out so you two can look at the prizes?”

As Walker and Mason scampered toward the front of the restaurant, Isla and Vera followed behind them. Isla playfully bumped her hip into Vera’s.

“That’s the problem with kids though. They interrupt all the time.”

“True,” Vera laughed. “But you wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Isla smiled at Mason and Walker, who were excitedly chatting about the prizes in the case by the checkout counter. “But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like some alone time every now and then.”

Every fiber in Vera’s body was on edge. Did she mean what Vera thought she meant? Did Isla want to be alone with her? Vera felt her face grow hot at the thought of what alone time with Isla would entail. She could barely choke out a response.

“I’d like that, too,” she somehow managed to mutter.

“Good.”

With a wink, Isla walked over to Mason and Walker as they all looked at the prizes. But Vera’s eyes were locked on Isla as images of them alone together began to overtake her mind. She tried to distract herself, but it was useless. Thoughts of Isla filled Vera’s mind as she drove Walker to the house with Isla and Mason trailing in the car behind them.

Focus, Vera. Focus, she repeated to herself as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. But it was useless. Her only hope was she could find a way to be distracted from thoughts of Isla.

“Vera?”

“Yeah?” She glanced in the rearview mirror at Walker.

“I like Isla.”

Vera couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. “I do, too, sis. I do, too.”

Chapter 13

Isla

Downtown Moonflower Cove looked as if it were plucked straight from a Hallmark movie. Pumpkins, scarecrows, and mums in every color lined the sidewalk in front of the shops on Main Street. People of every age were milling about with smiles plastered on their faces and plastic buckets filled with candy hanging off their arms. A gentle breeze made it feel colder than it actually was, which helped put Isla into a Halloween mood she hadn’t anticipated feeling.

It would be the second Halloween without Blake, which meant soon she’d be experiencing her second Thanksgiving and Christmas without Blake. Isla couldn’t deny her pain over that fact. But Isla was determined to keep her pain in the back of her mind and heart so she could give Mason the holidays she deserved. And besides, Isla didn’t want to ruin her evening with Vera and the girls with her sad thoughts.

They had all dressed up for the annual Halloween extravaganza that Vera had been hyping up all week. Vera’s enthusiasm over the event made Isla excited for a holiday she usually only enjoyed because of her kids. Mason had chosen to dress up as a Power Ranger—the blue one, specifically—while Walker was dressed as Sailor Moon. Her pigtails bounced from side to side as she happily chatted with Mason about the contents of their candy buckets.

Isla had half-heartedly put on a tiara, after Mason’s unending insistence that she had to dress up. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d dressed up for Halloween, but clearly Vera couldn’t say the same. Vera had gone all out with a vintage blue polka dot dress, red high heels, and her hair in curls as Lucy Ricardo. And judging by the way her smile seemed to light up the world, Vera was definitely in her element.

Which was exactly why Isla wouldn’t bring up her sad thoughts of Blake. As she had for the last year, she would keep them to herself.

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