And she smiles at Maria. Even though I did half the freaking work for this carnival.
“Well!” My cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling. “I guess I’ll get back to the bake sale.”
“You do that,” Julie says.
My cheeks are burning as I walk back across the gym. I can’t believe the way Maria snubbed me. Julie and I used to be so close—she was the one who told everyone in town to watch Sweet Secrets and helped me make the show a success. She’s been my best friend for five years! But now that Maria is around, it’s like I can’t do anything right in her eyes.
I can only imagine what Maria has been saying to her about me. I don’t know how that stupid giraffe ended up in my backyard. It wasn’t Bobby’s fault, and it definitely wasn’t my fault.
Tears are pricking at my eyes. I certainly don’t want to go back to the bake sale, where everybody is staring at me like I have the plague.
So instead of leaving the gym, I hang right. That’s where the bouncy houses are. Where Sean is doing his second shift, since Teresa backed out. But he doesn’t look like he’s getting too burned out. He’s teasing this little girl about her sparkly pink shoes, and she’s giggling. He’s really good with kids. And he’s such a good dad.
Meanwhile, my husband isn’t here at all. He’s working. Obviously.
Sean knocks on the door to the bouncy house. “Hey! Sixty more seconds of bouncing then everybody out for the new group! Time to go crazy!”
I take a deep breath and walk over to Sean, who seems taken aback to see me. He literally takes a step back.
“Hi,” I say.
“Uh, hi, April,” he says.
He must think I have the plague, like everyone else. “I guess you saw that post on Facebook,” I say.
He frowns. “Facebook? No, I don’t have a Facebook account.”
Oh, thank God.
“Lucky you.” I snort. “So how is it going over here? Looks like fun.”
“Yeah…” He rubs at the back of his neck as he avoids my eyes. “It’s pretty busy.”
“Well, I don’t want to interrupt or anything. I just thought you might enjoy a snack.” I hold out the turnovers, wrapped in a napkin. “It’s those apple turnovers you loved the other night. I saved some for you.”
Actually, there’s a whole pile of them back at the bake sale table. But he doesn’t need to know that.
I had hoped Sean’s eyes would light up like they did that night of the book club, but instead, he takes another step back. “I better not.”
I look back at the raffle table. Sure enough, Maria’s eyes are on my back. I turn back to Sean, my own eyes narrowing. “Did Maria tell you not to talk to me?”
“What? No.”
Liar. “So why don’t you want a turnover?”
“I just…” He shrugs. “I just don’t. I’m not hungry.”
“Fine.” I almost crumble the turnovers in my hands. “Are you picking up Bobby to go play soccer at the park tomorrow?”
He drops his eyes. “Uh, I was thinking it would just be me and Owen tomorrow. Just some one-on-one time. Sorry about that.”
The tears in my eyes are getting dangerously close to the surface. “I see…”
“Look,” he mumbles, “I’ve got to get back to work…”
And then he turns away from me to deal with the bouncy house. Our discussion is over.
Fine. I’ll just eat them myself. Who needs to be able to button my pants?
Nobody stole any food from the bake sale table while I was gone. If anything, it looks like there’s somehow more food on the table than there was before. What am I going to do with all this food? I can’t even give it away.
“Mom! Mom!” It’s Bobby. I haven’t seen him in half an hour, because he’s been off playing with his friends. The fact that he’s returned could mean only one thing. “I need more tickets to go on the bouncy slide!”
I wince. “Bobby, I gave you forty dollars’ worth of tickets!”
“Yes, but everything costs so many tickets.” He pouts. “I need more. Leo and Owen are going… I don’t want to be left out…”
That one tugs at my heartstrings. Especially since I just got left out by Leo and Owen’s mothers. So I reach into my pocket and pull out the tickets I had been planning to use to enter the raffles. “Fine. But this is all I’ve got.”
I guess I won’t be entering any raffles. Not that I would dare go near that raffle table again.
My heart isn’t in this carnival right now. Nobody is buying any of my baked goods, and people look like they’re afraid to even breathe the same air as me. I can barely manage a smile. It’s not like I’m the sort of person who feels like they need to be loved by everyone. But…
Well, maybe I do feel like I need to be loved by everyone.
Maybe I should go. I’ll give Bobby a chance to go on the slide with his friends, then I’m going to abandon my station here and just leave. Nobody will even notice I’m gone. I start to put the money away, and that’s when I hear the loud thump from inside the gym.
All of a sudden, there’s a hush within the gym. Broken only by the sound of somebody shouting to call 911.
Chapter 24
Of course, my first thought is of Bobby.
He’s in the gym. I saw him go into the gym. Bobby could be hurt.
It’s my only thought as I abandon the bake sale table and race into the gym. I feel the same cold fear I did that day when Bobby disappeared from the backyard. Please, God, let him be okay. Not that I want some other kid to be hurt, but I really, really don’t want it to be mine.
And my prayers are answered. As I enter the gym, I see Bobby on the sidelines. He is sobbing, but he’s not hurt. He’s not part of the mob of parents surrounding the injured party. I race over to him and throw my arms around his skinny frame. He’s so shaken that he doesn’t even squirm to get away.
“Did you see what happened?” I ask him.
“Leo…” Bobby gulps. “Leo… fell. Off the slide.”
He must be talking about Leo Bressler. I follow his gaze to the bouncy house slide. The top of the slide is at least eight feet in the air. There’s a mat below, but it’s still a big fall.
Owen Cooper is standing nearby as well. He isn’t crying like Bobby though. He’s looking down at his dirty sneakers. I wonder if the boys were with Leo when he fell. If so, they’re probably both traumatized by the whole thing.
Sean emerges from the crowd, looking a little pale. I still feel the sting of humiliation from the way he rejected me earlier, but I push it aside. “Is Leo okay?” I ask him.
He doesn’t answer right away, which really scares me. “He has a broken arm,” he finally says. “I’m going outside to wait for the ambulance so they know where to find him.”
“Did you see it happen?”
He shakes his head. “I was at the other bouncy house.” He rests a hand on Owen’s shoulder. “Why don’t you come outside with me, Owen?”
Owen’s lower lip trembles. He looks up at his father and blurts out, “Bobby pushed him!”