“Really? Your name is Cadence McReynolds?” Janette said with a smile. “How lovely.”
“You don’t say?” Aislyn said, shaking her hand and then releasing it. “What a coincidence. My last name is also McReynolds. And this is my daughter, Aarolyn. She’s sleeping right now, but isn’t she adorable?” The mother gushed, and Cadence moved around the side of the stroller so she could see the baby.
She was adorable. Her hair was a mass of red curls atop her head. Her soft, pink lips twitched slightly as if she were thinking about her mother’s milk, and her tiny hands were fisted where they lay on what looked like a handmade blanket. “She’s beautiful,” Cadence said, her hands going to her own abdomen for reasons she couldn’t explain. “You’re very lucky to have her.”
“I know I am,” Aislyn said, her smile widening. “We were just on our way to visit Shannon and Kieran. Perhaps we’ll see you all a bit later?”
“I hope so. I just love that baby!” Janette clapped her hands together in delight, and Aislyn waved goodbye as Cadence and her grandparents scooted aside so she could use the entire sidewalk.
Cadence walked on, still pondering the coincidence of meeting a woman with her same last name, of recognizing her accent but not knowing why, and the urge she’d had to rub her own stomach as she took in the beautiful baby in the stroller. Asking questions didn’t seem to get her anywhere anyway, so she put it aside as they entered the downtown area.
“We should stop for ice cream!” Grandpa exclaimed. Cadence could see an ice cream shop two stores down and realized she was starving. Ice cream sounded wonderful.
“Yes, let’s do!” Janette agreed, a skip in her step as she made her way ahead of the other two to the shop.
Jordan hurried past both ladies to open the door, and a bell sounded, announcing their presence. The quaint little parlor had several other guests sitting at round tables in families or pairs, everyone happily licking away at their double or triple stacked cones or sipping shakes through brightly colored straws. There was no line, so Janette stepped right up and ordered a triple scoop of strawberry while Jordan wanted chocolate, and Cadence finally decided to have a scoop of each. The cones seemed to magically appear in their hands within seconds without much effort at all from the smiling fellow behind the counter.
“We should go to the park to enjoy these. I bet there’s a baseball game going on,” Janette said, licking the top scoop of pink deliciousness.
“Oh?” Cadence asked, licking her own. The chocolate was decadent, probably the best she’d ever tasted, and it brought out the tartness in the luscious strawberries. “Why do you say that?”
Janette giggled like a schoolgirl. “Because there’s always a game going on.”
Cadence laughed along with her grandmother, but just as they were stepping toward the door, a woman caught her attention. Like the last lady she’d met, her hair was also red, though a much darker shade. She sat across from a man with dark hair who also looked familiar. Cadence caught part of their conversation and realized they were speaking French, a language she did not know. But she understood every word.
Once they were out on the sidewalk, she asked, “Who was that woman in there, the one with the red hair? She looked familiar to me.”
“That was Holly. She’s been here for ages. Such a nice gal. She and her boyfriend Cartier spend a lot of time in the ice cream shop.”
Cadence wondered how she might know the woman if she’d been here for ages and Cadence herself had just arrived. “Were they speaking French?”
“Yes, Cartier is French. I believe Holly knows several languages. She is quite intelligent.” Jordan smiled, and Cadence returned the smile because that’s what people did here. They smiled. A lot. She liked her ice cream and tried not to wonder what French even meant. Was there a different place where people spoke mostly French? She couldn’t say.
They walked on, headed for the ball fields, licking their ice cream that never seemed to melt and smiling at each other. Ahead of them, a shop door opened, and a young woman with blonde, curly hair walked out, her face glowing with joy. Until she saw Cadence. Then, her mouth dropped open and she stared, blue eyes bulging. “Cadence!” she finally exclaimed her arms open wide. “You’re here!”
Cadence remembered this girl for certain. Careful not to get ice cream in her hair, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “Drew! It’s so nice to see you. How have you been?”
“Wonderful!” Drew exclaimed. “I was just doing some shopping.” She stepped back and showed Cadence the bags she had in each hand. “How have you been?”
“Great!” Cadence didn’t hesitate to answer the question positively, even though something in her gut told her that might not be accurate. “We were just on our way to the ball field.”
“Oh, I wish I could go with you, but I’m shopping now. Maybe I’ll see you later.”
“I hope so.” Cadence was definitely looking forward to spending more time with Drew. She missed her, though she wasn’t quite sure how long it had been since they’d seen one another.
Drew said goodbye, and they carried on toward the baseball diamond. Cadence finished her ice cream, as did Grandpa, but Grandma Janette’s dessert served to be too much for the small woman, so she handed the rest off to a little bird sitting atop a mailbox. The bluebird tweeted, its beak upturned, and Cadence tried not to think it was odd that a bird would eat ice cream.
They left the downtown area and walked by a few homes with the baseball diamond up ahead. They passed a beautiful woman with lavender eyes her grandmother introduced as Brandy and a man with a limp she said was called Jessup. Cadence didn’t think she knew either of them, so she didn’t say much, just enjoyed the scenery and kept walking.
