Page 24 of A Future in the Bay

“Do you think we’ll be more ready for baby Oscar if we drink more tea?” he teased, taking another sip before handing the cup back to her.

“I expect so,” she said, winking.

For a moment, they sat there smiling at each other.

“But no matter how ready we think we are, I’m sure baby Oscar will still manage to surprise us,” he said, chuckling.

“That’s very true.” She snuggled down against the pillows and grinned up at him.

“So the best we can do is be flexible and support each other,” he said, taking her hand and stroking her fingers with his thumb. “We’ll figure everything out as we go along.”

“I promise to do that with you,” she said, kissing his hand.

“I promise too,” he said, smiling at her. “I don’t mean to sound over-confident, but I think we’re going to make great parents.”

“I think we will too,” she said, sighing happily. “We already love him a lot and I know we’re going to do our best. That’s all anybody can do, really.”

“And we’ll make sure he drinks tea,” Dane said solemnly.

She leaned her head back, a soft laugh falling from her lips. Then she curled up against him as he reached for one of the baby books curiously.

“You want to read to Oscar?” she asked.

“I’d love to,” he said. “Are you ready to hear about the very sleepy sloth, Oscar?” He leaned over, pressing his ear to Alissa’s stomach. “He says yes.”

She chuckled again as Dane began to read the book out loud. She felt a wave of peace and sleepiness wash over her as she lay there cuddled up next to her husband, listening to him read a story out loud to their baby. She still felt jittery about becominga mother, but she felt much better about it knowing that she would have this wonderful man by her side.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Isaiah grunted a little as he lifted playground equipment pieces and started to carry them over to where he was going to set them up. It was the middle of the afternoon, almost the end of his workday, and he was beginning to feel tired.

He felt proud of the work he’d accomplished that day. He looked across the half-built playground, smiling in satisfaction. It really did look nice—he knew the kids were excited about getting to play on it. He’d heard some of them saying so, and Olivia had told him that they talked about it a lot inside the school.

He glanced at the red brick building and grinned. “It’ll be done soon, kiddos,” he said, even though none of them could hear him. Every once in a while, he caught sight of one of the kids watching him from one of the upstairs windows—they usually ducked out of sight immediately when he spotted them as if he was some kind of wild man.

He was looking forward to the end of the school day, when all of the kids got picked up by their parents. He enjoyed watching them scamper and run along the sidewalks, excited to go home. He found the sight of them endearing and uplifting. A few of themore outgoing kids had become his pals, and they would stop and say hi on their way to the cars.

And after that, he thought with relish,I’m done for the day.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what he wanted to do after work—he’d rented a jet boat for the remainder of his time in Blueberry Bay, and he was itching to get out onto the water. He loved boating and being on the ocean, and today was a perfect day to go out. It was warmer outside that day than it had been earlier in the spring, and he had beads of perspiration along his hairline and dripping down the back of his neck. He kept thinking about getting out onto the water and feeling the cool breeze rush against his face. He wanted to drink a cold beer and catch the sunset—he knew getting out on that boat was going to feel so good after working hard all day.

Soon the bell rang, and kids started to pour out of the school like a colorful river. His pals raced up to the playground.

“Hey, Isaiah!” called out the first one, a red-headed kid named Mikey. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. What do you think of the new swing set?”

“It looks awesome,” said a girl in pigtails named Annie. “When are you going to be done?”

“Soon,” he promised, and then car horns honked and the kids waved at him and took off. He smiled as he watched them go. He glanced at his workload—he’d been planning on stopping after the last bell, but he told himself he’d get one more thing done that day. The kids were so excited about the playground—maybe he could finish it for them a little faster than he’d planned.

He went over to a pile of metal parts that he hadn’t had a chance to sand yet.

It’ll be easier to sand these once they’re up, he thought.If I’m careful, I’ll be okay. I’ll get a couple more pieces set up before going home today.

He reached down and picked up a long metal piece that was fairly heavy. He was careful to touch the smooth parts of it, since there were jagged metal shards poking out of it here and there. As he was carrying it over to where he wanted to set it up, he stumbled on a tool that he’d foolishly left lying on the ground, and the metal piece slid down in his hands.

“Ah!” he exclaimed, feeling a sharp protrusion of metal slice through the palm of his hand. He dropped the metal piece and looked down at his hand. Bright red blood appeared swiftly in a line along his palm.

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