Page 28 of Not Another Beach Read
"Absolutely," said Holly. "I love kids."
"Alright, I will talk to Sarah and Allison about that next time I see them."
We watched a few games, and when the last of the ice cream was gone, we walked down to the beach. I led us down to the shoreline, where we found two lounge chairs that had been abandoned by their renters.
"Let's sit and watch the waves coming in for a little while." I said as I sat. "I always find it so peaceful."
"Sure." She flopped down next to me.
"I'm excited you're working for Jenna as well," I said after we'd gotten settled. "Hopefully you'll get to bring home extras at the end of the day. I know if I stop in there at the perfect time, she loads me up with a bunch of pastries that didn't get sold. I can only imagine how much time I'm going to have to spend on the treadmill with you working there. Everything you brought home yesterday was positively sinful."
Holly chuckled. "Everything we made yesterday was so amazing," she said. "I don't think I could pick a favorite. The chocolate croissants were so good and the cheesecake was the best I've ever had. I hope she shows me how to make that again, but slower next time."
"I'm sure she will."
We sat back for about a half an hour and quietly watched the waves crashing on the beach. There was a family of four—a mom, a dad, a brother, and a sister—playing in the waves off to our left.
"Aunt 'Lyse?" asked Holly.
"Holly?"
"Can I ask you a question?" Holly asked.
"You can ask me anything, kiddo."
"How come you and Uncle Drew didn't have any kids?"
My stomach dropped. I didn't even know how to answer that.
"That's a tough one, hon," I said. "I definitely wanted kids, but it just didn't happen. By the time I met Uncle Drew, we were both too old to start."
"So you wanted kids?"
"Absolutely. My ex-husband and I tried for years."
"Is that why you got divorced?" she asked, and then put her hand over her mouth with a horrified look on her face. "You don't have to answer that," she said in between her fingers, then dropped her hands back down into her lap and stared at them. "I'm sorry. I ask the worst questions sometimes."
I chuckled. "It's okay. It's a normal question. In a roundabout way, it is why we got divorced. But more specifically, we got divorced because he got someone else pregnant."
Holly gasped. "Are you freaking kidding me?!" she shouted. "Who does that?"
"Well,hedid that," I said. "And I found out in the worst way."
Holly's dark brown eyes grew even wider. "How?"
"She showed up at our door with the baby."
Holly gasped again. "I'm so sorry," she said. "That had to have been awful."
"It was, but at the same time, I wouldn't be with Uncle Drew right now if it hadn't happened. And Uncle Drew makes me happier than I've ever been."
"That's nice," she said, then after a long silence, said, "You would have made a great mom." Her eyes were transfixed somewhere out near the horizon.
"Well, thank you, kiddo. I certainly would have tried. From what I hear, it's not as easy as it looks. But it would have been worth the effort. Maybe in another life, right?"
"Maybe," she replied.
We sat for a little bit longer, then made our way to the parking lot.
