Page 119 of Heartache & Playdates
“Totga?” I had no clue what that was. Was it another WAP or BDE?
Lina smiled. “It stands for the one that got away.”
“Really?” I heard myself say again.
“Really. She’s been calling you that for years.Waybefore you saw each other at the reunion. And speaking of the reunion, did you know that Maddox wasn’t even going to go to the reunion until Alex texted him and said thatyouwere going.”
“What?” Maddox never told me that.
“Yeah, he was supposed to have Hannah that weekend, but he asked Lizzy to take her.” Lina chuckled. “She made him agree to go on two playdates a month for a year before she’d agreed.”
“He agreed to go on playdates? To go the reunion?” Maddoxhatedplaydates.
“Yeah, he’s still got five more months to go. But Lizzy said she’s going to let him off the hook. She told me she was only doing it to see how bad he actually wanted to go to the reunion. She never actually planned on making him do them. But then after he was so bummed, she was hoping maybe someone would get him out of his funk. But now that she met you, she knows that you’re it for him. Not even a playdate with Gal Gadot would get him over you. So she’s not going to make him squirm anymore. She’s not going to make him go on anymore playdates.”
My head was spinning. This was so much information. But I did have an idea.
“Do you think that she might set up just one more?” I asked.
Lina’s eyes twinkled. “I think that might be able to be arranged.”
49
MADDOX
“Thanks for coming along,”I smiled at Lina sitting beside me in the passenger seat.
“No worries! I love hanging out with you and Banana.” She scrunched her nose as she glanced back where Hannah was in her booster seat, then turned back around. “Plus, it’s cool that we’re going to your high school. Can you show me where you met Peyton for the first time?”
“Of course!”
The annual Valentine’s Day carnival was happening today, and Lizzy had agreed to a playdate with Sandy Miller, whose oldest went to the high school, but she woke up this morning not feeling great. She must’ve known that I wouldn’t be happy about it because when she called, she said she’d already texted Lina to see if she wanted to tag along, and she had.
I hoped that Lina would be a buffer between me and Handsy Miller.
I’d messaged Peyton to see if she wanted to come too, a sort of walk down memory lane, but she said that she was behind on work this weekend and didn’t have anyone to stay with Nonna. The first part might be true, she could be behind on work. I had interrupted her the night before last at the dance when she was supposed to be catching up on work and distracted her a little bit.
But I knew for a fact that if she needed someone to stay with Nonna all she had to do was request it because that was the arrangement I’d set up with the private care service. Day or night, all Peyton had to do was request a nurse and one would be there within minutes.
I felt a little guilty that she thought the service was paid for through Nonna’s Medicare, but I knew she wouldn’t accept it if she knew it was me paying for it.
“Okay, here we are. We’re a little early, do you want to walk around and see where I had classes?” I asked Hannah in the rearview mirror.
“Are you kidding me?” Hannah exclaimed.
I glanced at Lina to see if she’d picked up on the fact that her little sister had started saying that phrase, but she just said, “Of course we do!”
We got out and as I walked up the steps of Union High, a wave of nostalgia hit me. I hadn’t been back here since the day I got my diploma. I’d driven by, but walking on the steps, seeing the clock tower at the top of the building, smelling the unique scent of ocean breeze and the cannery that sat beside it was entirely different.
Lina and Hannah were walking ahead of me holding hands, and I took out my phone to snap a picture of them. I sent the shot to Lizzy and Peyton, who both “loved” it.
A year ago, if someone had told me that within a year I’d be back at my high school with my daughters,plural, for a playdate, I would have told them they were crazy. First of all, because at the time I thought I had only one daughter. And secondly, I hated this place.
I realized now the reason I’d had such an aversion to the high school wasn’t because of the bad memories it held; it was because of the good memories. It hurt too much to see all the spots that Peyton and I had hung out.
But now that she was in my life again and I knew that she was here to stay, it wasn’t so painful. It was actually kind of sweet. Especially since I was here with our daughter.
As Hannah and Lina walked through the booths that were set up for the carnival, I took a picture of the tree that Peyton and I used to eat lunch under and sent it to her with the two hashtags.#memories#wishyouwerehere.
