Page 114 of Class Clown

“She’s obsessed with Aryn’s boys.” I laughed, watching her, my heart full.

Aryn’s three boys were seven, five, and three, and they regularly spent Friday afternoons at my house with me and Sofia while Aryn and Wesley finished out their work week, still at Washington Elementary. I’d scaled back my school nurse duties to three days a week and offered to take her boys on early-out days when I realized how much fun it would be for Sofia.

The regular interaction with Aryn’s family was the best outcome of it all. At least once a month they stayed for dinner, and Nico and Wesley had developed the deep, but quiet friendship of two introverts.

“Where’s Brooks?” Nico asked, seeming to notice for the first time that Meredith’s other half was missing. “He sick or something?”

Meredith shook her head and pointed to the balloon crews. “He’s over there, learning everything he can about ballooning. I’m afraid it’ll be this year’s new shiny hobby. His forties have become the decade of experimentation to find out where his true joys lie.”

“Hmm. Any luck landing on something?” Nico asked.

“No, but he’s found a lot of things he does not like.”

I chuckled. “Like what?”

“Pickling, shoe repair, turning his woodworking hobby into a boat building business, kites, racquetball, road cycling. I think you get the idea.”

“Pickling?” I laughed.

“I shut it down when he pickled some eggs and tried to slip them into my salad.”

“Did he really try to build a boat?” Nico asked.

Meredith nodded. “Twice.”

We were both laughing when Hailey and Ford joined our circle, followed quickly by Aryn and Wesley. Hailey’s twin girls had joined Aryn’s boys and Sofia in an impromptu game of freeze-tag, and all the parents watchedwith soft smiles. There was something very satisfying about our children playing together.

Ford’s older children from his first marriage were both looking down at their cell phones, leaning against the car, and I didn’t blame them. We were pretty old in their eyes, and they were way past freeze tag in the cold morning air.

“How’s college going for Henry?” Aryn asked Ford.

He glanced at his son, his blue-gray eyes catching the morning light. “Let’s just say that as his father I know he can do anything he puts his mind to, but as a realist I’m expecting a bumpy road.”

We all grinned, fellow parents down in the trenches together, and Hailey wrapped her hand through his arm.

“Henry is doing well. Living at home is saving him a lot of money, but it’s also killing his social life, so we’ll probably encourage him to move into the dorms next semester.” Hailey smiled softly, her kindness shining through. “I can’t believe our boy is in college.”

“And Hillary is a senior this year,” I pointed out, looking at her across the grass. “From that pig-tailed ball of fire to this beautiful young woman, time is a thief.”

Hailey agreed. “At least we have our little ones still around, or I’d be getting lonely thinking about being an empty nester.”

Ford cracked a smile. “Lucky me, I’ll be in my sixties before that happens.”

“Happy fiftieth, man,” Nico said, reaching out a hand to shake Ford’s.

“Thanks.”

“So, hot air balloons, huh?” Meredith asked. “Is that the thing to do when you’re past the halfway point of your life? Live on the edge, celebrate the time you still have left?”

Ford tilted his head at her and grinned. In the past decade he’d gone from having light streaks of silver in his blond hair, to having more gray than blond, but he hadn’t lost the tight jaw-line and piercing eyes that made him seem like a much younger man.

“Trying to squeeze out the last drop before I go buy my first recliner,” he responded, and Meredith smirked. “I’m not dead yet.”

“You had to pick something that gets people out of bed at six a.m.?” Meredith pushed.

Ford shrugged. “Whenyouturn fifty, we’ll celebrate it in the afternoon, giving you plenty of time to crawl from your cave.”

We all laughed and Meredith rolled her eyes, but good-naturedly responded with, “It’s a deal.”

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