Page 3 of Meet Me on Lilac Lane

“He’s just full of energy today.” Her dad, every piece of his salt and pepper hair neatly in place, leaned over to pat her on the shoulder, but the timer for the bread began chiming and she whirled away. Behind her she heard her dad sigh and then set Finn on the floor. “Almost time to eat?” His deep voice cut through the chaos.

She nodded and then pulled the bread out of the oven and turned. Finn scampered away, chasing Maggie again.

Nora, her fifteen-year-old sister, slouched into the room, dressed in her standard uniform of leggings and a hoodie. Her dark hair hung loose around her face. “When are we going to eat?”

Evie’s three kids joined Finn and Maggie in squealing around the middle of the kitchen.

“Hi, Nora.” Her mom turned from the stove and bussed her cheek. “Done with schoolwork? Can you take these kids to the table? We’re almost ready.” Her mom pulled the pan of spaghetti sauce off the stove. Hopefully she missed the eye roll from Nora before the teen began obeying her mother.

The kitchen fell to near silence after Nora played Pied Piper to the kids.

Soon, they’d all moved to the dining room table.

After saying grace, they began dishing up. Mia tended to her kids’ plates while Evie helped fill five-year-old Cora’s plate. Eight-year-old twins Chloe and Chase didn’t need any help. At the end of the table, Dani and Mia’s dad continued deep in conversation.

“Where’s Kyle?” Mia asked as she cut Maggie’s noodles into small pieces. The toddler shoved the pasta into her mouth almost as fast as Mia cut it. “Slow down, baby. You’re going to get sick.”

“He had something come up at work, so he told us to come over without him.” Evie reached for a slice of bread. In her L.L.Bean top and her dark hair just brushing her shoulders, she looked like a cookie cutter version of their mom. Minus a few gray hairs, of course. “Mom, have you heard from Bash lately?” Their older brother, a lawyer, lived in New York City. He didn’t come home nearly as often as her mother liked, but that was the price he paid for being successful.

“He called on Wednesday just to check in,” Elise said. “He said to tell everyone hello.”

“We should find out if the town council is fully on board with your plan by the end of the day tomorrow.” Her dad’s voice boomed over the table.

Mia forked a bite of spaghetti into her mouth and glanced at Dani. Her best friend and cousin lit up at her dad’s words.

“What plan?” Evie asked.

Mia missed Dani’s reply because Maggie chose that moment to lift her plate off the table.

“All done,” the toddler said. Then she tipped the last of her spaghetti into her lap.

The table erupted into chaos. Evie’s kids took this as permission to resume their game of chase with Finn, her dad chose to continue his conversation with Dani, only louder, and her mom jumped up right away to catch the pasta before it all went onto her dining room rug.

“Kids, if you’re done eating come back and clear your plates!” Evie called.

Mia swooped her daughter out of the seat and took her to the bathroom. Even the cool blues of the room’s walls failed to calm her as she wiped Maggie off. Her daughter’s eyes lit with a sparkle, and her mouth turned up in a crooked grin.

“I messy.”

Mia’s chest loosened. Maggie looked so much like Troy. Her dark blonde curls flopped over her forehead, nearly covering her blue eyes. “Yes. You messy. You can’t dump your plate when you’re finished eating. We’ve talked about this.”

“Okay, Mommy.” Her daughter pushed her lip out in a fake pout. Mia laughed and kissed the top of her head. Fatigue tugged at every one of her muscles.

“Let’s go get Finn. Time to head home.” Hand in hand, they walked back to the dining room. Most of the others had finished eating, and her mom was stacking the dirty plates.

After corralling Finn and herding him and Maggie outside, she paused in the doorway.

Her mom tucked a Tupperware into her hands. “Some leftovers for later. You didn’t get much before cleaning up Maggie.”

“Thanks, Mom. Thanks for watching them today too.”

“I always like having them, you know that.” Her mom reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “How did it go at the bank?”

Overhead, dark clouds piled up in the sky. “They’re giving me a little time to catch up on my mortgage. So, you can pray that I find something steadier for work.” Just like she’d been praying for the past several months. Maybe she should start to listen to that voice in her heart that had started to whisper that God had abandoned her.

“I wish Troy had planned better.” Her mom pursed her lips.

A churning started in her stomach. The little spaghetti she’d managed to eat rolled over. “He was twenty-two years old, Mom. We thought we had plenty of time for things like mortgages. At least he had life insurance.”

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