Page 34 of Icebound Hearts

He laughs. “I don’t think Ms. Violet would like that very much. Then I’d be her pirate!” He covers one eye with his hand like he’s wearing an eye patch. “Arr!”

“You’re silly.”

Jake giggles, kicking his legs a bit and watching the houses pass by outside the window. “I wish Ms. Violet could come to the party,” he says after a beat.

My gaze shoots to his face in the rearview. “Really?”

“Yeah! She’s so much fun. I think my friends would love her too.”

“Well, I’m sure they’ll get to meet her eventually. She’s not going anywhere for a while.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know, buddy. Not for a couple months, at least, until she starts her new job out in California.”

“Where’s that?’

“Pretty far away.”

“Can we go visit her?”

I hesitate, my hands squeezing the steering wheel while I think of a good answer. “Maybe. If she’d like that, we could make it happen. But Ms. Violet is a grown-up, so she has a lot she has to do.”

“Okay…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, okay? We still have plenty of time to spend with Ms. Violet before then, so let’s just enjoy it.”

Jake nods at me in the mirror, and although I smile at him, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t share his disappointment at the thought of Violet leaving.

I get that she has her own life and this nannying thing was just a convenient stopgap for her, but the more time I’ve spent with her, the more I’ve grown to like her. And I’m not looking forward to the shuffle of trying to find another babysitter because I highly doubt anyone will come close to making the kind of bond with Jake that she has.

But we’ll survive. We always have, and we always will. And just like I told Jake, there’s still a lot of time left before we have to cross that bridge, so I tell myself not to worry about it either. Besides, a lot could change in the next few months, and who really knows what will happen?

We drive in silence the rest of the way to Jake’s friend’s house. Carter is the same age as Jake. They met in preschool and have been best buddies ever since, which was a huge relief because Jake struggled to make friends at first. But now he’s in with the best of them, and Carter’s parents, Hazel and Jeffrey, have been great about inviting Jake to a bunch of other stuff.

“Wow, there are so many people here already!” Jake peers excitedly out the window as we park on the street among the dozen or so other cars. A stream of kids comes tearing around the corner from the backyard, chasing and shooting each other with Nerf guns that are as big as they are, and Jake bounces in his seat.

“Daddy, look! There’s Carter having the Nerf war.”

“Yeah, I see,” I say with a laugh and hurry around to the back of the car to let Jake out.

“Can I go play with them?” he asks as soon as his feet hit the ground.

“Go ahead. I’m just gonna check in with Mr. and Mrs. Green, then I’ll be back to get you later, okay?”

“Okay. Bye, Daddy!”

Jake runs off after the line of kids that’s now streaking into the backyard on the other side of the house. The garage door to the Greens’ house is open, giving passage to the backyard where all the action is, so I grab Carter’s gift bag and step through.

A few other parents are milling around the giant inflated moon bounce and a table piled high with cake, snacks, and presents waiting to be opened. I drop Jake’s gift on the table and find Jeffrey and Hazel by their in-ground pool supervising some kids jumping in the nearby moon bounce.

“Hey, there’s Sawyer!” Jeffrey says when he spots me and steps around to offer me a hand to shake. “Glad to see you, man. Where’s Jake?”

“He’s around here somewhere. He saw Carter and some of the other kids executing each other with Nerf guns and couldn’t resist, so I turned him loose.”

Hazel laughs as she joins us. “Sounds about right. Can I get you something to drink? We’ve got beer and Coke in the cooler.”

“Uh, thanks, but I’m not staying. I’ve got some errands I need to run while the kiddo is preoccupied.”

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