Wildflowers and Wide Receivers

17. Sophie

Chapter 17

Sophie

W e spent hours today on the beach watching Vivi play. She built sandcastles with Jonah, played catch with a foam football, snorkeled in the water, and we walked up and down the beach to collect shells. And while I had planned on spending this weekend by just bringing a towel down and lying out in the sun, past that I was uncertain. This however, became an amazing day and what I’m sure will be the start of an amazing weekend.

“Wildflower, you look sunkissed,” Jonah tells her as he rubs some after-sun lotion on her arms.

“I feel sunkissed. I got a tan today,” she says, sticking out her legs and looking at her golden skin. She’s wearing another super cute romper. This one is navy-and-white striped. I can’t help but wonder if Jonah takes her shopping for these clothes or if maybe Camille volunteers.

“You did,” he tells her, kissing the top of her head, then placing the bottle on the coffee table.

Earlier, I told him he was doing a great job with her, and he really is. He’s so attentive, and it’s clear he adores her something fierce. He’s giving me straight-up single-hot-dad vibes, and I swear my ovaries jump and rejoice. I’d like to blame it on my age, but it’s just him.

For dinner, we decided to walk to the Beachside Café. Jonah offered to cook us dinner, but this was Vivi’s idea. I’ve been here once before for brunch, and from what I remember, the food was amazing. As we make our way down the beach, Vivi is in the middle and she reaches for both of our hands. It’s so innocent and so sweet, but over her head, Jonah and I lock eyes onto each other. The three of us are connected, and my heart stutters at how we look. Is his doing the same?

We look like a family.

A really beautiful family.

Vivi starts swinging our arms and humming, and Jonah’s eyes drop to her. He seems surprised by her actions, but she doesn’t seem fazed at all. It’s like the three of us walk together all the time instead of this being the first time, and I can’t help but wonder, could this be a glimpse of our future?

“Look, Uncle Jonah, dune sunflowers!” Vivi shouts. She lets go of his hand and points toward the sand dunes on our right. All three of us turn to look. The dunes on the island at this point aren’t large, but they are beautiful and covered with seagrass. And sure enough, close to the ground, there are patches of shrubs that are covered with little yellow flowers with a dark center.

“I see them,” he tells her, and she retakes his hand.

“Tomorrow, can we go hunt for wildflowers?” she asks, looking up at him with big eyes.

“Of course we can. We’ll see if we find any new ones.”

She smiles up at him, then looks at me.

“Do you want to come with us?”

“I’d love to go, but you need to tell me more about what we’re going to be doing.”

“Hunting for wildflowers!” she exclaims, like that should explain it all.

I glance over at Jonah.

“Wildflowers are our thing.” He shrugs his shoulders. “When we have the chance, we go out exploring to see how many we can find. Vivi gets to pick one of each flower we find. Sometimes we make a bouquet, and other times we make a collage.”

“Sounds fun. I take it you’ve done that here before?”

“Yep,” Vivi chimes in. “Last time, we found four.”

“That’s amazing. I can’t wait to see what we find tomorrow.”

Vivi continues to swing our arms, and not so secretly, I take peeks at Jonah. What is it about this guy? Tonight, he’s wearing a pale-blue T-shirt, khaki shorts, and he’s carrying a pair of flip-flops. His hair was wet when he first came down the stairs, but now after being in the breeze it’s dried. Just like Vivi, his skin is also sunkissed. He looks so good. Catching me looking at him, his mouth tips up on one side. It’s not a big smile, but one that says, “I’m happy you’re here, too.”

“Ms. Sophie, this place has the best food.”

“Do they?” I ask her, not bothering to tell her I’ve eaten here before. She’s so excited to take me there.

“Yes.” She looks up at me. “I love their lemonade, and for dessert, they have banana pudding with the cookies in it.”

“Sounds delicious. What do you get for dinner?”

She thinks about this for a moment and then says, “Most of the time, I get the grilled cheese, but tonight, I think I want fried shrimp.”

“I’m allergic to shrimp,” I tell her, and at this tidbit, Jonah looks over at me. Since his confession about not really knowing me, I’ve noticed that all day he’s been soaking up anything new I tell him about me. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t doing the same. I just leave out the part where I’ve basically internet stalked him since he reappeared in my life and know quite a few details about him. But these, I learned today.

Jonah’s favorite food is tacos. Even though he grew up in Boston and loves lobster rolls and clam chowder, he says he’s a sucker for a good taco. He admitted to trying tacos in every city he’s played in. While sometimes there’s free time to venture out, other times he has them delivered to the hotel.

His favorite movie is Cinderella Man . He saw this in the theater with his brother. It was the first “adult” movie he remembers letting him see, and for a time when he was a kid, he wanted to be a boxer.

He loves the smell of sunblock, he’s never met a potato chip he doesn’t like, and aside from hating seagulls and pigeons, it turns out he really doesn’t like birds in general. When I asked him why, he mentioned a duck biting him once and the Canadian geese taking over Boston.

I laughed thinking he’s being ridiculous, but hey, he’s allowed to feel however he wants.

“Does that mean I can’t get them?” Vivi asks, frowning.

“Nope, you can still get them. It just means I can’t eat them,” I tell her, tightening my hand on hers. “Or give you a big kiss on the lips.”

“What happens to you if you eat them?” Both of them are looking at me now.

“My lips swell up real big, I break out in hives, and I look funny.”

She tilts her head. “I don’t think I have anything like that. There’s a boy in my class who can’t eat nuts. Because of this, we aren’t allowed to have anything with nuts in the room. Not even a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

“Well, I think it’s definitely better to be safe than sorry, don’t you?”

“I guess so.” She shrugs. “But I do like peanut butter.”

“Just like your uncle,” I goad her and Jonah smiles.

It’s just after six when we walk into the restaurant, a bell rings over the door. Sunset isn’t for almost two more hours, so we’ve beaten the crowd.

“Hi, y’all. Grab a seat anywhere and I’ll be right over,” says an older woman who is smiling from ear to ear. She pushes her way through the swinging door that leads into the kitchen and disappears.

Vivi picks a table in the front of the restaurant, close to the window so we can see out.

“Can I sit beside you?” Vivi asks.

“Of course,” I tell her, and Jonah scoffs.

“I see how it is. You girls have to stick together and all that, right?” He’s teasing her, and she giggles. Meanwhile, Jonah sits across from me, and butterflies swarm in my stomach. It was different sitting next to him on the beach. We could look out at the water there, but here, we’re facing each other.

“I just love repeat customers. How are you, Ms. Vivi?” the lady asks, and Vivi brightens at being remembered.

“I’m good,” she tells her, giving her a small smile.

The lady turns to look at me. “I see we brought a friend.”

“This is Ms. Sophie,” Vivi declares, proud to introduce me and my heart swells at how sweet she is.

“Hi, Ms. Sophie,” she says, giving me a wink. “Everyone around here calls me Aunt Ella, so if you need anything, just holler.”

“She has a shrimp allergy,” Jonah blurts and Aunt Ella and I both swing our gaze his way. He looks so serious and so concerned, and Aunt Ella just pats him on the shoulder.

“Got it. No shellfish near your girl here.”

The fact that he just made this known, to make sure nothing happens to me, my heart sighs and I swoon on the inside. I know I shouldn’t compare, but Isaac never did this.

We give her our drink order, and watch as she walks away.

“So, Vivi.” I shift in my chair to look down at her. “I want to tell you how much I loved your performance on Friday night. You did so good.”

Her cheeks turn pink. “Thank you. I love ballet,” she says, as she pushes her menu around the table.

“I remember from when you were in my office. I kind of figured that out when we first met.”

Vivi’s cheeks turn pink.

“What made you fall in love with ballet?”

“My mom loved ballet,” she says, so matter-of-factly.

“She did?” Somehow this wasn’t the answer I was expecting or I wouldn’t have asked and opened this door.

“Yes, she took me to see The Nutcracker before she . . .” She doesn’t say the word, but we all know, before she died. Vivi glances down at the table, sadness washing over her. I feel that sadness too. Even after all these years it sometimes creeps up on me, and my heart aches knowing she’ll go through life feeling this too.

“Hey.” I put my hand on her back and she looks up at me. Giving her a small smile, I tell her, “I love that you share ballet as one of your favorite things. That’s so special. My mom loved the opera, but me not so much. All that high-pitched singing hurts my ears.” I hold my hand out and try to recreate some type of sound that you would expect to hear from a singer, only I sound like a dying cat. Vivi's sadness recedes, and she lets out a little laugh.

“What about you, Jonah? What’s something that you loved or hated?”

“Hmm,” he says, tapping his chin. “Okay, I have two for you, one of each. I spent most of my time with your dad”—he looks at Vivi—“and you might remember this, but he loved parades. I don’t know why, either. Every year, when I was a kid, he used to drag me to the South Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade. It’s so crowded, the bagpipes are so loud, and well, I kind of hated it.”

“He took me to that parade,” Vivi says, eyes wide as Jonah talks about her dad. I can’t help but wonder how often do they talk about them?

“I’m not surprised at all. I’m not sure that your mom liked going either, but your dad was all, ‘It’s a tradition!’”

“I have some green beads from that parade in my jewelry box.”

“You have a lot of beads in your jewelry box.”

“You’re the one who took me to the Gasparilla parade this year.”

“Well, now you know why. I know if your dad was here, he would probably dress up like a pirate, and embarrass us all while trying to talk with a pirate accent, but he’d make sure we went every year because he loved parades.”

“Can we go again next year?” she asks, looking at him with big eyes.

“We can go every year,” he tells her, a promise laced in his words.

Jonah and Vivi stare at each other, both lost in their own memories.

“What about the thing you love?” I ask.

“I’m almost embarrassed to admit this,” he says, glancing at me, while rubbing the back of his neck.

A smile stretches across my face. “Oh, now you have to tell us.”

He looks back at Vivi. “Your dad liked country music, and it kind of rubbed off on me.”

I bark out a laugh. “That’s your dark secret? That you love country music?”

“Listen, Bostononians don’t listen to country music.”

“That’s not true at all! People everywhere listen to country music. Boo, I was expecting something juicy,” I taunt him.

Vivi giggles.

“I wouldn’t say it’s well received in the locker room either.”

“Boo,” I say again, chastising him. “Lame.”

“Whatever, yours was opera.”

I stick my hand out again and sing the note.

This time Vivi laughs out loud.

“Well, now you have to tell us something that you love,” he says, sitting back in his chair and smirking.

What is something that I love?

“Hmm, you already know that I love bones, if I had to pick something else, it might be baking.”

Vivi’s face lights up. “I love baking, too!”

“I have a bit of a sweet tooth and think it’s fun to bake cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies, you name it.”

“I love cupcakes and cookies.”

“That’s because you’re a smart girl,” I tell her.

“Uncle Jonah doesn’t like them.” She smirks, totally pleased with herself for outing him.

I turn to face him directly. “How is that even possible?”

He holds up his arm, pushes up his sleeve, and bends his arm to ninety degrees, popping up his bicep. “Rock solid,” he says, and I just shake my head at him. When Vivi lets out an exaggerated sigh, I take it this is not the first time she’s seen him do this.

“What are your plans for the rest of the week?” I ask, changing the subject.

“Looks like tomorrow we’re going wildflower hunting. We’ll go for a bike ride. We’ll take the golf cart for some ice cream. On Monday, we’re going to the aquarium. One day, we’ll wander through the boutiques, and I’ll let her do some shopping, and we might go to a movie.”

“So all the good beach stuff.” I nod at Vivi, and she nods back.

“That’s right,” Jonah says. “Nothing but the good stuff for my girl here.”

“Well, I’m glad I get to be here for some of it,” I tell them.

“Me too,” Vivi says, wrapping her arms around mine and leans into me for a quick hug.

Tears prick my eyes, and I turn and give her a full hug instead.