Free Bowled Over by Victoria Hamilton

over there and risk another public harangue. She noticed that Kylie was watching her sister too and hoped that the two of them would find a way to solve their differences. The bond between sisters was far deeper, in her experience, than any between mere friends. She turned back to Becca, Daniel and Kevin with a lingering sense of sadness and a renewed determination to begin to fix her long-broken friendship with Kathy the very next day.
    *   *   *
    T HE D OUGLASES DIDN’T stay to eat. There was far too much food, as was always true at every Fourth of July picnic Jaymie had ever been to. The one uneaten item was the weird green jelly mold that devolved into slime by the end of the meal, a victim of the heat, and had to be put out of its misery, dumped in the trash by a laughing Daniel.
    But everything else was good, and despite the temptation to stretch out on the blanket after dinner for a nap, Danieland Jaymie took Hoppy for a walk as the sun sank in the sky behind them. It took longer than expected because there were dozens of dogs, and of course Hoppy had to greet and sniff butts with each and every one of them, including a dachshund dressed as a hot dog and a border collie in an Uncle Sam outfit. Hoppy even had a play-scrap with Junk Junior, a bichon mix who was his best friend. When they got back, all of the dinner stuff had already been cleared away by Becca and Valetta, who had walked it back to their respective houses and the safety of refrigerators.
    “I should have been here to help!” Jaymie protested.
    “You had better things to do,” Valetta said with a wink at Daniel, who grinned self-consciously.
    Cushions and blankets for lounging were brought out of totes, while the fireworks display was readied on the island. Brock, Violet, Valetta and Kevin—who the three Nibleys roped in once they found out he was an excellent card player—played bridge on Brock’s abbreviated card table, while Becca and Dee played dummy euchre on the top of a cooler. Jaymie and Daniel sat together. She petted Hoppy’s head as the little dog draped himself across her lap.
    Brock Nibley called Daniel over to referee and lend his expert opinion to a dispute he was having with Valetta over some computer issue, and Jaymie chose that moment to announce that she was taking Hoppy home before the fireworks and would refill the Thermos with tea at the same time. She walked through the village with Anna and little Tabitha, who was almost asleep after such an exciting day, tripping and lagging behind until her mom lifted her up to carry her while Jaymie carried their basket for Anna. Jaymie fed Hoppy and Denver, made a pot of tea and filled the Thermos, made sure the house was securely locked andwalked back to the park, finding everyone just as she had left them, except that Kathy Cooper was now over sitting with and talking to her sister, Kylie, and Andy Walker.
    The discussion looked civil, and Jaymie was relieved. There was something about the day’s events that left her feeling more hopeful about being able to broach the distance between herself and her old friend. Was that crazy? She watched the three adults and tried to figure it out. Kathy was emotional, it was true, but right now, as she talked to Andy and Kylie, she had Connor on her lap, hugging him to her and resting her cheek on his towhead. Kylie was smiling; she reached out to touch her son but left him where he was, snuggled on his aunt’s lap.
    No one who loved a child that much could be impossible to reach.
    Darkness fell, and the card games finished. The town considerately doused the lights over the walkway for the duration of the pyrotechnics every year, so when the lights went down, everyone settled in their spots to watch the show. Daniel reached out to her and took her hand in his as they lay back and watched the shower of brilliant fireworks over the river. She moved closer, into the crook of his arm, and rested her head on his shoulder.
    A contentment stole