Page 50 of One Small Spark
“Thank you.” I get basically zero credit for the remodel we did years ago, but I try to match her energy. I’m not a menace one hundred percent of the time. “Hopefully it has a happy vibe for the pie-loving people of Sunshine.”
Matching her energy was a terrible idea. I sound like a dork.
“The Painted Daisy next door isthemost adorable,” she says, craning her neck that direction.
No argument there. Hope’s shop is bright and sunny and filled with the cutest little handmade goods imaginable. Rose would fit right in on the shelves.
"I keep encouraging Reed to add more color to Perk Me Up,” she says. “Give it a little pop of something. He says it’s colorful enough as it is.”
I pause, picturing the coffee shop’s crisp white walls and shiny concrete floor. “Where’s the color?”
She leans forward, her eyes lit up. “He means the wooden tables and chairs.Brownis too much color for Reed Bridger.”
Even Callahan’s shop has more color in it than that.
I finish up with the pie, fighting the urge to ask her what happened between her and Callahan like a psychopath. Just go straight to the source to get the inside scoop. But I do have some limits to my crazy. I press my lips tightly together and slide over the pie.
“Thanks so much, Wren. Reed is going to love this.” She swipes her card. “In his own, subdued way.”
I doubt very much her boss who thinks brown is too colorful and specifically told her not to do anything for his birthday is going toloveher kind gesture. But I wave her on her way with her delusions, her skirts swirling as she leaves the shop.
If this is the kind of woman Callahan is into, I would make a poor replacement. Rose is sunshine and happiness and hugs thatgo on a little too long. I’m full of snark and sarcasm and have to fight the impulse to flip him off. Rose is cotton candy, and I’m a sour gummy worm. We’re not even in the same realm.
Callahan’s long-ago comments to his employee barge through a wall in my brain like the Kool-Aid Man.
“Wren Krause is loud, opinionated, and unavoidable. That woman is too much in every category that matters.”
It’d hurt when I first heard it. Not going to lie, it hurt for a long time after, too. I know my own faults, so the description wasn’t surprising. But for a while, I’d thought he didn’t mind my faults. Maybe even liked my nonsense. But compared to his ex? I can see why he would have said it.
I can’t even be mad at Rose. She’s too sweet for that kind of resentment to make sense. Then again, I’ve done plenty of things that don’t make sense in my life.
Like kiss Callahan. Which I really need to stop thinking about. The problem is, I don’t think I can.
“She’s obsessed with him, too.”
Why does he have to be right all the time?
FIFTEEN
WREN
I am such a sucker.
August didn’t want to walk to the small park by our house for his Wren Wednesday. Nope, he wanted to go to the bigger park on the other side of town. The one with miles of paved paths, two big play structures, and a disc golf course. He also asked for a picnic lunch and unlimited rounds of hide and seek.
The hide and seek was pushing it, but I’m terrible at saying no to him. Naturally, I loaded his bike into the back of my car, got him buckled into his car seat, and headed across town after school.
“Look at me, Wren!” He’s carefully balancing on his bike so both training wheels hover over the path. There’s not a lot of wiggle room, but if he gets it just right, he’s really riding on his own.
Ian says they might as well take the training wheels off now, but Tess isn’t on board yet. She still wants to be a mama bear hovering over him.
“You’re doing great, buddy.”
He stands to pedal, shifting from side to side with each push. “I’m good at bike riding.”
“You sure are. Do you want to go to the playground?”
We’re following the path that loops around the park, but it branches off not far ahead. That path splits through the middle of the park, taking us to both playgrounds, with the disc golf course spread out in between.
