The Trouble With Falling

TWENTY-NINE

Hartley

Ten Years Later…

“Not the!... flour,”I finish as Sadie, our youngest child, drops the bag of flour onto the floor.

“Sowry, Mommy,” Sadie says, her dark blue eyes welling up with tears.

“Oh, honey. It’s alright. It was just an accident. We can clean it up.”

I help Sadie clean up the flour and measure out enough for the cookie dough. The front door bangs open and Brennan and our son, Sawyer, come racing in. Brennan tosses his car keys onto the counter along with his backpack as he rounds the kitchen island.

“Did you start without us?” Brennan asks as he looks around at all of the ingredients laid out on the counter.

“We were just getting everything out and ready,” I assure him.

The kids wash their hands and help me measure out all of the ingredients. Brennan stirs the dough while I get the baking sheets out and spray them.

Brennan practically lives over here. It’s been good. Sawyer looks up to him like he’s the big brother that he’ll never have and it’s been handy having someone else who can chauffer the kids around if I’m running late at the bakery.

“Ready?” I ask, giving Sawyer a hard look when he tries to sneak a bite of cookie dough.

The kids roll the dough into balls and line them up on the sheets while I supervise. We’re just slipping the first tray into the oven when the front door opens and Eli and Patrick come strolling inside.

“Smells good in here already,” Patrick says as he joins us in the kitchen.

Eli comes in next and Sadie jumps down from her step stool and races over to him.

“Daddy!” she shouts as he bends down and scoops her up in his arms.

“Hey, honey. How’s the baking coming?” he asks her and she starts to tell him all about baking chocolate chip cookies, like he hasn’t made them with me a hundred times before.

The timer dings and I help Brennan take the sheets out of the oven. Sawyer is busy looking through the pantry for a snack, but when he sees that the cookies are out, he stops his search.

“They’re hot. Let them cool,” I warn him and he pouts.

“Are you staying for dinner?” I ask Patrick, but it’s Brennan who answers for them.

“Yes, please. Can we make bread afterward? I found this new garlic and thyme recipe that I wanted to try to make.”

“Oh, that sounds good,” I say as he brings the recipe up on his phone to show me.

Brennan helps me make dinner as Patrick and Eli help the kids with their homework. Sawyer is in kindergarten so he doesn’t have that much homework and Sadie is only in preschool so she has none, but she hates to be left out, so Eli helps her with the preschool workbook that we got her.

Sawyer sets the table while Brennan and I take the chicken and vegetables out of the oven and carry it over to the table.

Patrick and Brennan eat dinner with us at least twice a week. Always on days when Cate, Patrick’s wife, is at work.

Frank and Susan moved back to Honey Peak after Sawyer was born. They didn’t want to miss out on a second with their grandkids and they usually join us for dinner at least twice a week too.

Sometimes it’s strange to have so many people around. I went from being alone to meeting Eli and gaining a whole group of friends and family.

I stare across the table at my husband, smiling as he helps Sadie with her glass of milk. We got married eight years ago in a small ceremony right here in Honey Peak. I made all of the food and Susan planned the rest.

Eli looks up and grins at me as his eyes lock with mine.

Who knew that my life would turn out this way? And all from throwing a dart at a map and uprooting my life. All from walking into the Grove Trading Post and getting trapped in some jacket. All from agreeing to some stupid deal to be his fake girlfriend.

It was the best decision that I have ever made.