Page 40 of Broken Dreams
“Yes, you’re going to get to play with Jett at his house.”
“Yay!” Elodie spins around in circles.
At least she’s not the least bit nervous.
I squat down, taking her hands in mine. “You’ll be a good girl when we’re at Ms. Brynn’s, right?”
She nods, but we all know a promise from a three-year-old isn’t worth shit. “And you’ll listen to Mommy?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ll eat whatever they make?”
At that she pauses. Yeah, I knew it was a long shot. Elodie would live on fish sticks and tater tots if I let her. Everything I give her—pork, beef, macaroni—are all called fish sticks. If I say that, she’ll eat it.
So, the fight continues. “They’ll have fish sticks there.”
Her eyes alight. “Okay!”
I knew it.
I kiss her nose, grab the salad I made, and then get in the side by side. The Whitlock farm isn’t too far from us, so I thought we could offroad instead of driving. Elodie loves going for rides in the fields and we cut across the Arrowood farm to get there. She loves that we ride through the creek, splashing water as we get bounced around the rocks.
“Again!” she yells after we get through the other side.
“On our way home.”
We cut down the path, passing the infamous Arrowood treehouse that Connor built, and then we arrive at the Whitlock farm entrance. I pull out my phone and send a text to Grady.
Almost there.
Grady
I’ll meet you out front so you don’t walk back here alone.
Okay. Heading your way now.
I ride down the drive, taking the second left, which heads to Brynlee’s house. A few minutes later her cute home comes into view and Grady is there waiting.
My stomach does a little flip when I see him, like it always does, and I remind myself I’m an idiot because he is not my actual boyfriend.
We pull up and he opens my door. “Hey, girls.”
“Jett!” Elodie yells and he chuckles.
“He’s here, don’t worry.”
“She’s been really excited about today,” I tell him.
“Jett too, and me. I’m glad you came.”
I smile at that. “Oh? And why is that?”
“So my sister will finally shut up.”
I figured it was that. I laugh and we walk toward the back. “So today you want very low PDA, right?”
We sort of covered this when we brought the kids to school yesterday. At this point, we wouldn’t really be comfortable around others, especially with the kids around.
