Jamie screeched and wrestled playfully in her arms, and Beth let her go, chuckling as Jamie headed toward the kitchen. Time to make her breakfast. She’d developed a fascination with frozen waffles, and wanted them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. While they were time savers, Beth didn’t want them to be the only thing her daughter ate. But today, she didn’t have the heart to say no.
A knock at the front door had her detouring in that direction, Jamie on her heels. Looking through the peep hole in the apartment’s door, she spotted Tessa on the other side.
“Morning.” She quickly moved out of the way as Jamie barreled toward her aunt.
“Aunt Tessa! Aunt Tessa! We are having faffles! You want some?” Jamie wrapped herself around Tessa’s legs, her little arms barely reaching all the way around. “Mommy makes good faffles.”
“Faffles?”
“Waffles,” Beth motioned toward the kitchen. “Frozen toaster waffles. Jamie has become addicted to them.”
“Ah, gotcha.” Tessa reached down and smoothed a hand over Jamie’s head. “I would love some waffles, but I already ate breakfast. I’ll sit with you while you eat yours, though.”
Jamie took Tessa’s hand and led her into the apartment’s miniscule kitchen, Beth trailing behind. She’d rented the place after her last trip to Shiloh Springs, thinking after she sold the house, she’d have enough money to get a better place, maybe even buy a home here. With the disaster Evan had made of her financial life, not only was she in debt up to her eyeballs, her credit was ruined. Tessa didn’t know yet, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could expect Serena and Ms. Patti to keep her financial woes a secret. Ms. Patti was the sweetest, kindest woman she’d met in this town, but she was also Tessa’s future mother-in-law, which put Beth in a precarious situation. Time to bite the bullet and tell her sister the truth—she was dead broke and drowning in debts she’d had no hand in creating. But, according to the divorce decree, because these debts hadn’t been disclosed at the time of the settlement, and all the debt was in both hers and Evan’s names, she was responsible for any debt incurred during their marriage. She’d have to go to court, and get a ruling to change that, which she fully intended to do, but the court date was months away. In the meantime, she had a tiny nest egg of savings, one she was using to put a roof over Jamie’s head.
“How’s everything?”
“We’re doing okay.” Beth watched Jamie open the freezer drawer and pull out the package of frozen waffles. Her little girl grew more independent with each passing day. With the move from North Carolina to Texas, Beth had pulled her out of pre-kindergarten. She needed to get her enrolled in class in Shiloh Springs, because she didn’t want Jamie falling behind all the other kids.
Tessa glanced toward Jamie. “Is you know who still bothering you?”
Beth shook her head. “I haven’t heard from him in several weeks. Hopefully he got the message, because I’ve got nothing to say to him. Can you believe he wants me to come visit him in prison?”
“He’s got some nerve. Pleading to lesser charges was the smartest thing he could’ve done. Jamie doesn’t need to know what her father intended for us.”
“The last time he called, he wanted me to bring her to visit him.” Beth pulled butter and syrup from the refrigerator, and pulled the toaster to the edge of the counter. Jamie carried her footstool over and climbed up. With the ease of familiarity, she put one waffle and then a second into the slots and pushed down on the button of the toaster.
“Unbelievable.”
“What’s unbelievable, Aunt Tessa?”
Tessa knelt down until she was eye level with Jamie. “It’s unbelievable you are such a big girl, you’re making your own breakfast.”
“Course I make breakfast. I’m four years old.”
“Well, can you stop growing for a little while?”
Jamie giggled. “That’s silly.”
Tessa glanced at Beth. “Can I ask her?”
Beth nodded. “Sure.”
The waffles popped up, and Beth placed them on Jamie’s plastic yellow plate. It was her favorite. She quickly added the butter and syrup, and cut the waffles into bite-size pieces before placing the plate on the table, and poured a glass of apple juice for her daughter.
Beth watched Tessa slide onto the seat across from Jamie at the battle-scarred table that came with the furnished apartment. None of it was things she’d pick, but under the circumstances, it’d do until she could figure out her next move.
“Jamie, I’ve got an important question I want to ask you.”
Jamie put down her fork, and folded her hands in her lap. She looked so cute and serious, Beth wanted to grab her phone and snap a picture. But this was Tessa’s moment, and she didn’t want to spoil the mood.
“Okay, Aunt Tessa.”
“You know Uncle Rafe and I are getting married, right?” Jamie’s hair bobbed around her shoulders at her vigorous nod.
“I like Uncle Rafe. He’s funny.”
“Uncle Rafe likes you too, sweetheart. We want to ask if you’ll be the flower girl in our wedding. Being a flower girl is a very important job. Maybe one of the most important ones in the whole wedding.”
Jaime’s forehead scrunched in concern, looking so serious Beth had to hide her smile. “What does a flower girl do?”
“You have to walk down the long row in the church, all the way from the back to the front. You get to wear a pretty new dress, carry a basket of flower petals, and you throw the flowers on the ground while you walk to the front of the church. You come out before the bride—me—so everybody will see how beautiful you look. Do you think you could do that?”
Jamie looked at her mother. “Do you think I can, Mommy?”
“I think you will be a wonderful flower girl, baby.” Beth’s heart swelled, the pride in her daughter almost overwhelming her. She was growing up so fast, too
