"Jenna! Reece! Did you see? I petted Eeyore!" Faith burst out of the gate and ran toward them.
"I know," Jenna said. "Was his nose soft?"
"Uh-huh." She looked between the two of them, her face screwed up with concentration. "Can I be a flower girl?"
"A what?" Reece asked.
"A flower girl."
"Like this?" Jenna pointed to her own face and a colorful flower that curled up near her eye.
"Nooooooo." Faith rolled her eyes. "A real flower girl. Like Missy got to be when her big sister got married last month. I want to be a flower girl, too. Can I be yours? Pretty please?"
"Oh," Jenna said. She glanced at Reece, and her stomach twisted when she saw the tightness on his face. She knew why, of course, and not for the first time, she had to wonder if he'd ever come around on the side of marriage--and what she'd do if he didn't. But she shoved the thought firmly from her head. They'd been a couple for all of twenty-seven seconds, and their best friend didn't even know the truth yet. Marriage was the last thing she needed to be thinking about.
"Please..." Faith's voice rose in a heartfelt plea.
"I have an idea," Jenna began, managing a sideways smile at Reece. "The minute we need a flower girl, you're going to be the one we call. Okay?" The girl's smile widened. And before she could ask when exactly that might be, Jenna grabbed her hand and said, "Why don't we go get henna flower tattoos on our hands right now?"
"Can we?" Faith's eyes went wide.
"Sure. Wouldn't Daddy think that's pretty?"
The little girl nodded, then looked up at Reece. "Are you coming, too, Uncle Reece?"
"I think this sounds like girl-time, okay?"
Faith nodded, her black curls bobbing. "I like girl time," she said. "Someday, I'll have a mommy, and can have it whenever I want."
A knot of tears rose in Jenna's throat, and she blinked furiously to keep them from seeping out through her eyes. "Did your daddy tell you that?"
"Oh, no. Mrs. Westerfield," Faith said, referring to her regular babysitter. "She says Daddy doesn't know what's good for him, but that someday he'll find a nice lady."
Jenna met Reece's eyes, and saw that he looked as helpless as she felt. But then he sank to one knee and pulled Faith close. "Well, I'll tell you what. Until he does, you and Aunt Jenna can have all the girl time you want, okay?"
"Okay," she said agreeably, then stuck one thumb into her mouth and held out her unoccupied hand for Jenna.
"What are you going to do?" Jenna asked, as Reece pulled her close and rested his forehead against hers.
"I'm going to go relieve Brent," he said. "It's not the same, but I think a little daddy-daughter time wouldn't come amiss."
"No," she agreed. "Definitely not."
"Aunt Jenna! Come on!" A little hand tugged hard on her fingers.
"Someone's anxious," she said, letting herself be led away. "We'll find you later," she called back to Reece.
Later turned out to be a full hour since the line for henna was long and, right next to the henna tent was a small pen filled with peacocks.
"All right, rug rat," Jenna said. "Time to go find Reece."
"Good luck," a familiar voice said, and she looked over her shoulder to see Brent leaning on a nearby post.
"Oh, you're here. Good. Reece is covering The Fix's booth?"
"Tiffany's on it," Brent said. "That's why I came to find you. That, and to check on my junior ornithologist," he added, pointing to Faith, who was creeping up on a preening male peacock.
"We're having a great time," Jenna said. "But what about Reece?"