Page 25 of Sweet Surprises

Tag nodded and headed up toward the sound.

“Kids are home,” Tripp said, glancing back before applying himself to the feed again.

Charlotte turned to see a big yellow school bus stopping by the farmhouse.

A small boy with a mop of chestnut hair scrambled down and sprinted for Tag, a gigantic backpack banging against his back with every step. She smiled as Tag embraced the boy, who looked almost like a tiny, joyful version of himself.

A pair of blond-haired boys who looked almost identical piled off the bus after Tag’s son and raced to Zane, who was coming up from the creamery.

But the bus didn’t move on.

A moment later, a slender girl who looked like maybe she was a tween stepped down. She held a book in her hand with her thumb marking her place, and the expression on her face was almost startled, like she had been so lost in her book she hadn’t realized she was home.

Once they were all clear, the bus rumbled around the circular drive and left again.

Charlotte couldn’t help noticing that while the little boys had run over to the farmhouse porch now and were chattering and laughing together as they peeled off their boots at the door, the girl was still by herself, her eyes on the ridge of mountains beyond the houses and the farm.

“That’s Tag’s oldest,” Tripp said. “She’s quiet.”

“Like Zane,” she said, though something about the girl’s quiet was different.

“She didn’t used to be,” Tripp said softly. “But she lost her mom when she was ten, and it changed her.”

“Oh,” Charlotte said, feeling her heart ache for the girl.

“Tag is a great dad,” Tripp said right away, firmly, like maybe Charlotte would think the opposite. “But it’s not the same. Chance, the younger one, doesn’t remember his mom much. But it’s different for Olivia.”

Charlotte nodded, her eyes still on the pensive young woman.

“Allie normally takes them home with her,” Tripp said. “She must have gotten hung up with something at school.”

“That’s too bad,” Charlotte said, meaning it. She had been hoping to connect more with her friend, though she understood that as a new teacher, Allie wouldn’t have much free time.

“Go say hi to the kids,” Tripp encouraged her. “We’re just about done here.”

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Of course.”

When she turned back to look, she saw that he had finished the task while she was being nosy.

“Were you going slowly before just to give me a chance?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he said, giving her a wink and a grin.

She shook her head, then headed up to the drive.

Tag and Zane were following the boys inside now, all of them looking glad to see each other. But Olivia remained in her position under the tree, like she needed a moment between the bus and going in with her family.

Charlotte’s heart gave a firm tug. Right after Dad passed, she’d had so many moments where it felt like it couldn’t be possible for the world to keep going on its same rotation when he wasn’t there anymore.

It still hit her sometimes, not as often as it had at first, but she figured she just might get paralyzed by the loss from time to time forever.

Is that what she’s feeling?

She was trying to decide whether to disturb the girl or not as she passed, when Olivia’s eyes finally slid away from the mountains and landed on Charlotte.

Charlotte could see the curiosity in Olivia’s gaze before the girl locked down, eyes moving to the ground, shoulders lifting like she was trying to put a wall around herself.

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