Class Clown (The Thornback Society #4)

26. Epilogue

Epilogue

About nine years later

September

“Who rents hot air balloons for their birthday party?” Meredith asked, looking up at the dusky blue autumn sky while pulling her jacket sleeves closer around her. “It’s ostentatious.”

“Being cold always makes you grumpy.” I giggled, tugging down the beanie I’d pulled over my hair, and rubbing at my gigantic, rounded belly. “Are you honestly telling me that if Brooks rented you a hot air balloon, you wouldn’t be excited?”

“Yes, I’m telling you that.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m calling your bluff.”

“You’re lucky you have that space heater running to keep you nice and toasty. Are you allowed to hot air balloon when you’re a bazillion months pregnant?” Meredith asked, reaching to rub at my stomach – something I only allowed my Thornback friends to do. “Is it twins?”

I smiled and adjusted my stance as this little one turned a cartwheel. “Feels like it, but the doctor keeps promising there’s only one baby in there,” I replied. “And, I’m allowed to do anything I want. I’m an adult.”

“Does Nico feel the same way?” Meredith teased, tossing a look over her shoulder at the man gracefully moving across the dewy soccer field, holding the hand of a dark-haired little girl who was as bundled up as her mama. “Because the way he’s marching over here says he knows exactly what you’re going to try to do.”

I sighed. “I can’t get away with anything these days.”

Meredith pulled gloves from her jacket pocket and pulled them over her slender fingers. The sun was still below the horizon, the streetlights still glowing, and it was chilly. “This is why I waited so many years to marry Brooks. I had to make sure he fully understood how things would be between us. He stopped trying to boss me around years ago.” She paused in putting on her gloves to smile at the gold band she’d only recently acquired.

Meredith had taken her time to be ready for marriage, and Brooks hadn’t seemed bothered by it. Their commitment to each other hadn’t depended on her agreeing to be his wife. When she had finally stated that the time was right, they’d married in a small ceremony this past spring, using Ford’s beautifully landscaped backyard, and keeping the guest list to under fifty people. It had been perfect for them.

I scoffed. “You only think he isn’t bossing you, but he’s been pulling strings in the background all this time.”

“Hah!” Meredith huffed. “Lies.”

“I can guarantee that if you were eight months pregnant right now, he’d be headed this way too.”

“If I was eight months pregnant, I’d still be in bed, but that will never be an issue for me, thank goodness.”

Meredith looked across the field at the five enormous balloons that were being spread out by their crews and tucked her now-gloved hands into her pockets. Not for the first time, I wanted to ask why the decision to have no children, but just like she’d been quiet about her reasons for holding off on matrimony, she wasn’t open to discussing it.

I personally felt like it had something to do with her neglect-filled childhood after the death of her mother. In many ways she’d already raised a child, by caring for her younger sisters throughout those years. Meredith taught school, and was surrounded by children every day, and she knew herself in a way the rest of us didn’t always. Also, she’d recently turned forty-four, and that probably played a role as well.

At the end of the day, the subject was rarely discussed because Meredith was loved for exactly what she chose to be.

“This had to cost more money than me and Brooks make together in one year,” she pointed out .

“It’s not every day you turn fifty,” I reminded her. “If I could afford it, I’d do big things like this all the time. I’d ride a camel to work every day.”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “That sounds like it would get old really fast.”

“The cool thing about being filthy rich like Hailey and Ford is that it could get old really fast, and I’d move on to something else.”

“Ford doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would want this type of recognition on his birthday,” Meredith said.

I smiled. “Ah, maybe you’re forgetting that Ford and Hailey’s love adventure began at his fortieth birthday party, which was much bigger than this.”

“Speaking of . . .” Meredith pointed her chin to the parking lot area where a high-end SUV had just pulled up. We watched as the front doors opened, and Hailey’s always perfect blonde head of hair appeared out one side, while Ford exited the other. “There’s the birthday boy himself.” The back doors also opened, allowing their kids to pile out.

“Maybe Ford didn’t organize this. Maybe it was Hailey’s idea?” I said, somewhat sad that I didn’t know the answer to that. In the past, I’d have known every detail about this party and it’s planning, but after Hailey had birthed her twins six years ago, she’d quit teaching school to stay home with them and I’d seen far less of her. “She’s does love to celebrate him.”

Nico arrived at our side then with our four-year-old daughter, Sofia, and immediately put his free arm around my shoulders. Sofia looked so much like her dad that it made me wonder if my genes had been invited to the party. Named for Nico’s mother, she had his dark wavy hair and deep brown eyes, but a tiny tip-tilt at the corner of them proved she was a little bit mine.

If I’m honest, her attitude was mostly me as well.

“You’re not thinking about going up in one of the balloons are you, Bee?” Nico asked, giving me a gentle squeeze.

Meredith shot him a look and laughed. “Of course she is. She’s a grown woman who can do whatever she wants.”

Nico, well-used to Meredith’s sarcasm after nearly a decade of friendship, grinned. “Then I arrived right in time.”

“Fun police,” I accused.

“Once you’ve safely delivered our son you can be reckless once more,” he promised, kissing my temple with a smile .

“Maybe his destiny is to be delivered in a hot air balloon.” I nudged Nico in the ribs. “You can’t mess with fate.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Sofia squealed then, clapping her hands together as Aryn and Wesley’s mini van joined the growing group of cars in the parking lot.

“They’re here!” She let go of Nico’s hand and took off running, her short little legs pumping with joy, her pink earmuffs almost falling off.

“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 watched with 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. “When you turn 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.”

Movement by the balloons caught my eye and I turned to see Brooks striding toward us. His big smile was nearly hidden by his beard, and over the past couple of years he’d let his hair grow out so it was now to his shoulders. Today he had it pulled back into a queue at the base of his neck, and with the knit hat on his head he had the look of an adventurer, which was the total opposite of his actual life as a corporate lawyer.

The gray had caught up to all of us, as we were all mid-forties now, aside from my baby of a husband who was still in his late thirties. I thought it made the men look dashing, and the way Aryn’s gorgeous red hair looked with tiny streaks of white made her seem ethereal and lovely. Sadly, I didn’t feel quite the same about my black hair having white streaks, and was fully committed to dyeing it for another ten years. I needed to look like my children’s mother, not their grandmother.

“Happy birthday, Ford,” Brooks said as he arrived at the group. He shook Ford’s hand and then moved to Meredith’s side where he wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her close, offering her some of his warmth. “This is fantastic. Did you know hot air balloons usually go around eight or ten miles an hour? They don’t cover much ground, but they do it in style.”

“Eight miles an hour is pretty fast, when you compare it to walking,” Aryn responded.

“True,” Brooks agreed, “but I assumed they were faster.”

“Wind speed would play a role in that,” Wesley, usually content to listen when we were in a big group, piped up.

“True again,” Brooks said. “I’ve been over there grilling them on the ins and outs of ballooning, and I find it really fascinating.”

Meredith hurried to reach up one of her gloved hands and place it gently over his mouth. “We are not buying one, we are not becoming ballooners.”

Brooks playfully bit at her fingers. “I wouldn’t dare suggest an early morning hobby.”

“Then why do I feel like this will be a topic of conversation until you wear me down?” she asked, her lips in a thin line. “I swear, if you decide to learn to sew your own balloon . . . ”

Brooks laughed and kissed the top of her head. “This isn’t my bright new idea, but I do find it interesting.” He looked to Ford and Hailey. “Really cool of you guys to put this together and invite us to join in.”

“Can’t wait to see what we do for Ford’s sixtieth,” Aryn said. “I’d be up for a Mediterranean cruise, in case you’re wondering.”

Hailey smiled. “Noted.”

A rumbling sound drew our attention back to the balloons, and even the kids stopped running around as we watched flames start shooting up into the dusky morning sky. It was time. The sun was peaking up over the mountains to the east, and it cast a hazy glow all around as the balloons began to lift. The warmth drew us all closer, and we watched in awe as they grew in size, floating up toward the heavens.

“Each balloon can take four passengers,” Hailey instructed as we walked that direction. “Everyone who wants a turn should get one. Afterwards, we’ll have brunch up at the house.”

Excited chatter broke out as everyone discussed who would go in which balloon and with who. While I was excited for this adventure for the birthday boy, I felt a little sad to be missing out myself. Terrible timing to be so pregnant right now.

Nico’s hand slid into mine. “Sorry, Bee. I know you’d love to go up.”

“You’ll go, though, right?” I turned to look up at his beautiful, solemn expression. “Please do not miss out because of me. When are we ever going to have this chance again?”

He nodded. “Alright. I’ll go and take Sofia, but maybe in a few years we could try to find you an opportunity?”

I leaned up to kiss him, and he put a hand on my waist, tugging me closer. This, it never felt anything less than wonderful. We’d been together for nine years now, married for eight, with our beautiful Sofia and our little son on the way. I was still loving my job as a nurse, and Nico had graduated with a degree in civil engineering, which he put to use helping create better infrastructure for various cities around the country. It was something he’d become interested in after his deployments, and seeing some developing countries that could greatly benefit from better roads, bridges, waterways, and buildings – especially structures that could hold up to natural disasters .

It had meant a good amount of travel in the early years as he established himself, but after Sofia had been born, he’d cut back and now did a lot of remote work with only a few in-person site visits each year.

Life was sweeter than I’d known it could be.

A shout had me turning away from my husband to look behind me, and I was greeted with the site of Lizzie jogging toward us, her tight curly hair bouncing wildly around her. Her husband, Jackson, and their two girls were walking along in her wake, and I was thrilled to see them.

Lizzie ran straight toward us, and the Thornback women separated from our husbands and children to meet her halfway. She threw her arms wide and we became a mass of laughter as we formed the world’s sloppiest group hug.

“You made it,” Hailey sighed happily. “I’m so glad.”

“I can’t believe we pulled it off. We had to leave late because Sally had a test in her last school period,” Lizzie said, talking about her stepdaughter, “and then Jackson got hung up at work because one of the shuttle vans got a flat. We didn’t get to town until nearly midnight, and five-thirty is an early wake-up call at the best of times.”

We released our hold on each other, but Lizzie weaved her two arms through mine and Hailey’s, and we each grabbed a hand with Aryn and Meredith until we were walking in a line back to the group.

“Hi Jackson,” I called over my shoulder to the husband who had caught up to us.

He smiled back, and I warmed at the sight of him in his typical flannel shirt, his face slightly scruffy, his hair a little too long. He still had the tan of a man who made his living in the outdoors, and his daughters did too. The whole family had glowing tans, and their little Eliza had inherited Lizzie’s bouncy curls.

“These balloons look awesome,” Sally, now fifteen, said in awe. “I see them around Moab sometimes, but I’ve never been in one.”

“Today is your lucky day,” Lizzie cried. “You’re with the Thornbacks, and Thornback women know how to make dreams come true.”

We all murmured in agreement and a wave of contentment washed over me.

We’d sat around a wobbly table in a faculty lunchroom ten years ago and bemoaned our somewhat monotonous lives. We’d been in our thirties, worried about growing older and seeing nothing but more of the same ahead. That day we’d decided to go on an adventure, and look where it had led us. Our group had grown, our hearts had expanded, and our futures were bright.

Yes, we’d lived through some sorrows and heartaches, but we were here together, our toes slightly damp from the dew, our breath coming out in cold puffs, faces lit by the giant flame-throwers in the balloons, hands holding hands, arms around each other, our children laughing around us and our husbands conversing nearby.

It really didn’t get any better than this.