But there was no time for talk or tenderness. Two couples were already hobbling ahead in the three-legged race.
Hayden helped Eve put her right foot in a burlap sack, then put his left foot inside too. “Match my stride,” he told her. “Don’t fight it.”
They stumbled at first, then found a rhythm. His palm slid to her waist as if he had every right to pull her close.
Well…he is my husband.
Eve laughed again, unguarded, the sound bursting free before she could stop it.
There’s hope for us after all.
“We’re catching up,” Steven said behind them as a couple ahead stumbled and fell. “You’re the best, Vi.”
“I think you’re the best, Evie,” Hayden said, for her ears only.
They crossed the finish line a second before Steven and Violet did.
“We did it, Evie!” Hayden picked her up and twirled her around. “Keep it up.”
“You’ve got to move faster, Vi,” Steven hounded Eve’s sister.
Violet stared at Eve. Not smiling. Not scowling. Just…watching. As if she were seeing something she hadn’t expected to see—true affection.
The pedal car race followed. The track was the paved sidewalk around the edge of Central Park.
Eve insisted Hayden ride in the wagon, telling him, “Your legs won’t fit in a child’s car.”
Hayden’s eyes flicked briefly to Steven’s scrunched legs before he sat in the wagon, long legs hanging out on either side.
Eve pedaled for all she was worth, taking off ahead of Steven and Vi. If she pumped hard enough, she imagined she might catch up to the slower of the couples ahead.
“Come on, Mama!” Katie ran next to them, Hayden’s cowboy hat low on her forehead.
By the time they reached the fourth station, Eve’s pulse thundered and the small of her back was wet with sweat.
Hayden jumped to his feet and helped Eve to hers. “Way to go, Evie!” He held her hand, drawing her to the pile of inner tubes. He slipped one over her head. “Hold this bottom one with both hands as a base.” Then he added two more on top of that before donning three inner tubes himself. “Let’s finish strong.” His eyes gleamed now, competitive fire burning bright.
“We can win this,” he said, holding her gaze.
The word we hit Eve square in the chest, warming her heart.
They ran side by side. Like a true couple.
*
Running side by side over the grass with those large inner tubes, Evie and Hayden managed to pass one couple and close in on another.
“We’ve got this,” Hayden told Evie, imagining how good it would feel to beat Steven and Violet. Or… Win as a team.
The latter felt more important.
The ground became uneven.
Evie stumbled, veering into Hayden. She bounced against his inner tube, stayed upright and kept running.
What a trouper.
“Hustle up, Vi.” Steven’s voice.