Hometown Reunion. Lisa Carter

a human pogo stick. “Mow, Dawcy. Mow.”

      “Sure thing.” She blew another bubble.

      Brody’s arms reached above his head.

      She motioned. “Go get it, Brody.”

      He raced after the bubble. Buoyant on the wind, it eluded his grasp. She blew bubble after bubble as Brody gave chase. His son laughed and laughed. As if making up for lost time.

      Happiness. Peace. Contentment. Always just out of Jax’s grasp, too. Eluding him all these years.

      “Watch this, Brody,” she called.

      Brody wheeled.

      She nudged Jax. “Bend a little and close your eyes.”

      He obliged, and she leaned closer. Close enough for him to feel her breath on his face as she blew gently across the small wand.

      A bubble tickled his eyelids and danced like a frolicking ladybug across his skin. A caress. A whisper. A promise?

      Brody clapped his hands. “Me, Dawcy. Me.”

      “You can open your eyes, Jax.”

      So he did. Her own eyes hooded, she touched her finger to the cleft in his chin. Just for a second before she moved to his son.

      Brody chuckled when the bubbles brushed his shuttered eyelids. “Me do you, Dawcy.”

      Keeping hold of the bottle, she let Brody dip the stick into the liquid.

      “Cwoser, Dawcy. Cwoser.”

      Jax rubbed his forehead. “He has trouble with l’s, too.”

      Crouching to Brody’s height, she clamped her eyes shut. And flinched when what she got from him was more spit than bubble.

      “Way to take one for the team, Darce.”

      She shoulder-butted him. “Your turn, soldier.”

      “At your peril, Darcy Parks.” He stepped back, yanking the large bubble wand from its sheath.

      “Ooh...” Brody’s eyes rounded.

      Brandishing it like a saber, Jax smiled, slashing the air between them. She smiled back at him.

      And he knew she remembered childhood escapades involving pretend pirates in the tree house. Zorro and intergalactic warfare, too. They’d made it up as they went along. Like now?

      He whirled, loosing a giant bubble blob. Brody cackled with sheer delight.

      Darcy ran toward the creek. “Catch it, Brody!”

      The toddler raced after her as fast as his small legs allowed. He stumbled, but she was there, sweeping him into her arms.

      Jax’s heart caught in his throat.

      For the first time, he thought he might’ve found a way to bridge the gap. The answer to a prayer he’d been too afraid to voice. Could it be that with Darcy’s help, he might’ve found the way home for both of them?