She hesitated, then said in a low tone, “My husband and I had a premature baby who didn’t make it. Preeclampsia snuck up on me. Because I was a doctor, my husband thought I should have realized what was happening sooner. Maybe I should have.”
Sara clasped Kaitlyn’s hand. “I’m so sorry. I just can’t imagine losing a baby.”
“Neither could I. I was in a deep funk afterward, and Tom and I grew further and further apart. He asked for a divorce. I suggested counseling, but he didn’t want any part of that. Looking back, I have so many regrets.”
“Just as all of us have a story, I guess we all have regrets, too.”
“I don’t know what I would have done without The Mommy Club. I went to a support group and someone there mentioned it. I started out by helping new moms. I figured if I helped others, I’d get better, and that pretty much happened. I had a purpose in my practice, but The Mommy Club gave me a purpose outside of my practice. I needed that.”
“So if you do an interview with Jase, you’re wondering how much to say.”
“Exactly,” Kaitlyn agreed.
Amy suddenly jumped off the bench and ran to the tall, broad-shouldered man in the red polo shirt and chinos who was walking toward them with a camera hanging around his neck.
Jase smiled broadly, scooped her up in his arms and spun her in a circle as her balloon bobbed above them both.
“He’s daddy material,” Kaitlyn suggested with a sly smile.
Was Jase really daddy material? Was she ready to accept another man into her life when her marriage had seemed to go so wrong?
Jase’s gaze found hers over Amy’s head. The wine festival faded away. Maybe it was time to explore more than an interview with Jase Cramer.
Chapter Nine
Jase approached Sara with Amy, then set the little girl on the ground. Before Amy could blink, he waved his hand in back of her daughter’s ear and pulled out a shiny pink barrette.
“Look, Mommy! For my hair.”
“I see. Do you want me to put it in?”
Her daughter stood still as Sara attached the barrette in the soft strands over Amy’s temple. Kaitlyn offered her hand to Amy. “Why don’t we go to the face-painting booth and see what you’d like?”
Amy looked up at Sara. “Can I?”
“Sure, I’ll be right with you.”
Amy happily trotted off with Kaitlyn, not even throwing a glance over her shoulder.
“She’s easy to please,” Jase said with a smile.
“You do a good job of it. Pink barrettes and little girls just go together.”
An awkward silence ensued and Sara knew she was the one who had to break it. “The festival is great.”
“Marissa could be an event planner anywhere. I’d better think about giving her a raise or I might lose her.”
“She feels she owes a lot to you. I don’t think you’ll lose her.”
“I didn’t do anything but give her a job and a chance. She’s made the most of it.”
An uncomfortable silence again settled between them and Sara told Jase what she’d decided about living at the cottage. “I haven’t heard anything from the insurance investigator yet so I want to start paying you rent.”
He gave her a look that said he was about to refuse, but then he kept silent. Finally he said, “If that’s what you feel you have to do.”
“That’s not the only thing I feel I have to do. I’ve been thinking about the interview you did with me. If you still want to write it up, go ahead. I’m okay with it.”
His gray gaze was probing. “What changed your mind?”
“Lots of things. But most of all I realized I don’t want someone else defining me. I want to put out the truth. If that’s not enough, so be it. I have to at least try. And getting word out about The Mommy Club is important. Your article was the first some people even heard about it.”
“It’s Fawn Grove’s best kept secret. People who give help don’t like to toot their own horn. People who accept help don’t like to admit it.”
“That makes sense.”
Sara knew she didn’t want to step away from Jase. She wanted to spend more time with him, to see if he liked being with her and Amy. “I suppose you have to mingle.” She didn’t know what Jase’s duties might be today.
“I do, but not all the time. What do you have in mind?”
“I thought we might enjoy the music together, let Amy run around and get really tired, eat ourselves silly.”
“I can’t think of a better way to spend the afternoon.” The look in his eyes said he meant it.
As Sara walked side by side with Jase that afternoon, visiting each stand, listening to music, tasting food they all liked to eat, sitting on a bench under a canvas canopy, sampling gourmet ice cream, she and Jase talked about everything. He didn’t seem to mind being interrupted by Amy. He didn’t seem to mind a drip of ice cream on his arm or making time for a four-year-old. Throughout it, he somehow found a way to make Sara feel special, the focus of his attention.