Page 143 of Sparking Sara

I shake my head. “Not like Sadie does. Have you seen the way she stays in all the lines? She’s going to be a genius with paints—just like you are.”

“You might be a tad biased,” Sara says.

“You wait and see,” I say. “Care to make a wager?” I wiggle my eyebrows at her.

“Babe, you should know by now you don’t have to win a bet to get what you want.”

I laugh. “I know. And it’s one of the things I love about you.”

Taryn starts crying. Anything longer than an hour in a car is too long for a two-year-old.

“I think she’s thirsty, Mom,” Joey says.

He’s the protective older brother, always looking out for his sisters.

Sara hands Joey a sippy cup to give to Taryn. She takes a few drinks and then drops it, falling off to sleep.

“I’m bored,” Joey says.

Sara looks through her bag but tells Joey she’s already given him everything she brought to keep him busy. “Any suggestions?” she asks me.

“I might have one or two.” I hand her my phone. “There is a road trip playlist on there.”

Sara raises her brows. “You made a playlist for us? What’s on it?”

“You’ll see.”

She turns on the radio and sets it to my Bluetooth channel. When the first song starts to play, a brilliant smile overtakes Sara’s face. Joey grumbles because he’s tired of hearing these songs. Secretly, though, I know he likes them just as much as Sara and I do. When we first brought him to live with us seven years ago, he cried a lot at night. Sara and I would take turns holding him and dancing around the apartment to Beach Boys songs.

Sadie perks up when her mother and I start to sing along.

And before we even get another mile down the road, the four of us are laughing and singing loudly to “Barbara Ann,” not caring at all if we wake little Taryn—because what we’re doing right here, right now, is what our family does best.

We’re making memories.

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