Page 127 of Not Your Average Vixen
She released a shaky breath, feeling all eyes on her when Cole’s shriek of a yelp sliced through the heavy silence.
“Pee! I have to pee so bad, Mommy! I can’t hold it much longer!” Cole cried.
Bridget blinked, pulled from the trance of the unexpected envelope, and slid the letter into the pocket of her coat as she went into crisis mode.
The tiny chapel didn’t have running water, let alone a working toilet.
“You didn’t pee before we left?” Denise asked.
The boy stood in the aisle, hopping from foot to foot. “No, I went to tell Uncle Scooter and Birdie it was time to leave. But Uncle Scooter was fixing Birdie’s eye again. He was looking at her real close like when you have to fish an eyelash out of my eyeball. And then we talked about bananas and pants, and I forgot to go potty.”
“There was flour in your eye?” Lori questioned.
Oh no!
“Yes, I must have gotten some flour in my eye, and Scooter was just…” she began, flailing like the awful fibber she was.
“Getting it out,” he finished.
“Yes, that’s right! Getting it out! Just like that.” she answered, like a moron.
“Sounds pretty crazy! Next time you have a flour emergency, you can call me, little lady,” Russ said, most likely in an attempt to be funny.
“Will do,” she replied, again with way too much go, team, go infused into her reply.
Score one point for the creepy uncle coming in handy.
“Mommies!” Cole yelled, clutching his crotch.
Denise patted her son’s back. “I’m sorry, everyone. We better go. Cole did drink a small cup of cocoa before we left, but I didn’t think it would do this.”
“And then he drank mine,” Carly added.
“And mine,” Scott chimed.
Denise eyed her son. “How much cocoa did you drink?”
“A lot!” the boy bit out, squinting his eyes, tightening every muscle in his little body.
Bridget checked her watch. “Everyone should go. The gondola seats ten. Scooter and I will stay behind and close up.”
“Are you sure?” Lori asked.
“We’ll be right behind you, and dinner should be ready any minute.”
“I’m going to pee an entire lake, and then I’m going to eat a little chicken!” Cole said as Nancy zipped the boy’s coat, and everyone quickly filed out to the waiting gondola.
The door banged shut, and she took a moment to pull herself together.
“Leave it to Cole to have a potty emergency,” she said, but Soren didn’t answer.
He stared at the framed doorplate.
“It’s a touching gift. I can see it means a lot to you,” she said gently.
He swallowed hard, the muscles of his neck straining. “I know what I need to do for Tom.”
She wasn’t expecting that. After his somber demeanor at the wedding rehearsal, she couldn’t read him.
