Page 50 of Over the Verdant Hills
“If you let me have those, I’ll throw them in the back,” Josiah said, coming back for the duffel and the backpack she carried.
“I think it’s up to you—you’re going to want me to let you do all the work, and I’m going to be completely worthless.”
“You’re definitely not completely worthless. You are the spirit behind everything. Let me be the workforce.” He grinned at her, and she found herself grinning back. A silly, romantic grin, the kind that she might have given a boy in junior high or high school. Not the kind that she should be handing out as a thirty-something-year-old woman, a divorcee with two children. A lot of worldly experience under her belt. But Josiah made her feel like that high school girl, made her burdens feel not as heavy as what she imagined them to be, and made life seem like it could be fun and free and not as serious and careworn as what she always wanted to make it.
She wanted to be with someone like that. Someone who helped her be better.
They turned and walked together off the porch. The kids were already in the back of the truck, and she walked around to her side while Josiah put the duffel and the backpack in the back, along with the picnic basket and the cooler that held their drinks.
She anticipated a really nice day.
And she wasn’t wrong. Rodney and Becky were awesome. They had the carriage but not hooked up, and her children watched with fascination as they showed how they cared for the horses before they hooked them up, picked their feet, and explained what they were doing as they got the carriage and all the straps and harness attached.
Claire found herself watching with fascination as well. She’d never seen anything like it. And the carriage ride was fantastic. There was just something about being pulled along by the strength of magnificent horses that lent a magical feel to the entire day.
Rodney and Becky were charming and sweet, but not overbearing, and at times, the four of them sat in the back laughing over somethingor pointing out ships on the horizon or interesting waves—just all the things that people saw when they were by the lake and with their family and people they loved.
Claire couldn’t shake the feeling that she wished that this was her family. She wished she hadn’t messed up so badly. But maybe she’d needed the mistakes in order to become who she was. Maybe without the mistakes, this day wouldn’t be so bright, so beautiful, so perfect. She wouldn’t understand or appreciate perfection without having gone through the pain and agony of imperfection.
The thought settled her and gave her a calmness and a rightness. And she stopped wishing that she had done things differently. Although she probably always would have that desire, she knew that God had allowed her to go down the path she was on for a specific reason, and if the timing had been different, it wouldn’t have been right.
Once Rodney and Becky had taken them back to the stable and unhitched the carriage, inviting them in for a snack which they declined, they got back in the truck and headed down the beach a bit, to a deserted spot that was wide enough for them to fly kites comfortably.
Josiah showed them how to put their kites together, and they all worked at them. She could just imagine that Ted would have hired someone to put the kites together. She was surprised by the thought and then pushed it out of her head completely. She didn’t want to spoil the day by thinking about Ted. He was gone. Part of her past. A part of it, but still in the past.
And she didn’t want to spoil today with those thoughts. It was okay to think about becoming stronger, becoming better, even thinking about how the pain had molded and shaped her, but to think about how Ted would have done everything wrong wasn’t productive at all.
They all had their kites together, and Josiah and Lana had theirs in the air while she and Dan were still working on getting theirs up. For some reason, hers just would not fly. She was about to take the tail off when Josiah came over and studied her kite for a bit as she worked, trying to get it more than ten feet in the air.
“I think you have the cross spar on backward,” he finally said.
She laughed. She’d figured she’d done it wrong. She pulledher kite back down, and he pointed out that she had flipped it around and put it on the wrong side.
“That’s why these things are all twisted,” he said, pointing to the places where the cross spar locked in.
“I see. I guess I thought that was a weird way for it to go, but I suppose I was eager to get my kite in the air and didn’t take the time to do it right.”
“That’s okay. That helps you learn,” he said, winking at her and then moving a bit as his own kite took a dip and almost hit the water.
She thought about that. It was representative of her life. Maybe she’d been in such a rush after high school that she’d taken what looked like the easy route, eager to get her life started, when she should have paid attention and done a little better job. Again, just like Josiah had said, the detour had made her wiser. It had taught her things that she wouldn’t have learned otherwise. And she had two amazing children because of it as well.
They flew kites for more than an hour, their faces bright, their smiles easy and free. Dan managed to get his kite tangled up with Lana’s, which made Lana mad, but it was just one more learning experience, in Claire’s eyes anyway. They stopped for lunch, spreading a blanket out and using her grandma’s picnic basket, with all the goodies that she’d packed, including freshly baked bread. It wasn’t warm, but the butter was soft, and she had gotten some of her grandma’s raspberry jelly out of the pantry, and that made up for any lack of warmth.
It was funny how being outside worked up an appetite, and all the food they’d packed was consumed. Claire could have eaten a little more too. But it was probably good for her to not eat too much. She still was going to go meet with Grace later.
“We should do this every day,” Dan said, happily shoving the last chocolate chip cookie into his mouth. It was store-bought, but maybe next time they did this, Claire would have the time to make homemade chocolate chip cookies. Hers were just as good as her grandma’s, if she did say so herself.
Since her grandma seemed to be the gold standard for everything.
“I had a great day. And I’m totally down for doing it again,” Josiah said. And Claire gave him a smile that she supposed said way too muchabout how she was feeling. His eyes widened a bit, like he was surprised by the feeling on her face, but she didn’t look away. After all, this was her new beginning. She wasn’t going to hide from it.
“If you hadn’t tangled my kite up, I would have had a better time,” Lana said. “But it was pretty fun.” She smiled, and that made Claire’s heart light and happy. Who knew what would be going on next year. Maybe Lana would decide she wanted to live with her dad. Maybe she would want to spend time with her friends rather than her family. Maybe something totally unexpected would have happened by then. Whatever—Claire would cherish this time. They put all their garbage back in the picnic basket to be disposed of when they got home, folded the blanket up, and flew kites for another hour or so, until they decided it was time to go home.
“I can get some wood ready and be ready to have a fire when you’re back from meeting with Grace, if you think you’d like that?” Josiah asked as they pulled into the driveway, and the kids piled out.
“That would be an amazing ending to a perfect day.”
“I hope your talk goes well,” Josiah said, his hands on the steering wheel. He didn’t move to get out.
