Bonnie

“Mia?” Bonnie called out, jogging across the pale green grass. It wasn’t a lawn to Bonnie’s eyes, but it was a patch of grass, although it had a lot of weeds too. It was bare in some spots and lush in others with long stems peeking out wherever the mower had missed them. It looked wild and rustic.

Bonnie’s feet hurt from standing in the kitchen all day. The sun was just coming to touch the mountains and disappear for the evening. It was still early, but she was ready to take a shower and head straight to bed. Washing dishes was hard work.

“Hi, Bonnie,” Mia greeted her, turning from the path. She had her daughter tucked into a baby carrier attached to her chest. The tiny baby girl was snuggled up against her mother’s chest fast asleep. “Dylan says that your car’s fixed for now. It was something to do with the engine, but I don’t remember what he said it was. It’s just a temporary fix though. He says he needs to get a new part to make it actually work right.”

“How much do I owe him?” Bonnie asked. She had no idea what it would cost to fix something like that. Given the way her brother refused to let anyone but his friend work on his cars, she had a feeling it was rather expensive.

“No charge,” Mia replied, waving her hand through the air with a smile. She leaned forward. “I think he rather enjoyed it.”

Bonnie wasn’t sure what to say to that. A free mechanic? She wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she was certainly surprised. Hopefully, it wasn’t too expensive a repair. She didn’t want to take advantage of their kindness.

“So, how’d your first day go?” Mia asked, adjusting the baby on her chest. She smiled as she smoothed the fabric across the baby’s back. The baby just dozed on.

“I was actually hoping to talk to you about something,” Bonnie replied. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “They said you were the person to ask.”

“Um, sure?” Mia replied with a nervous chuckle. “I try not to manage Chef, though. If you have an issue, you need to bring it up with her.”

“Oh no, Chef is fantastic,” Bonnie quickly replied. “She’s the one who told me to bring my idea to you.”

“Oh, okay.” Mia relaxed. “What do you have in mind?”

Bonnie took a deep breath. “I noticed we have a lot of picky eaters. I think I made a million grilled cheeses tonight, even though there was spaghetti. A lot of the kids just didn’t seem sure about it.”

“It happens a lot the first couple of days of camp,” Mia assured her. “We try to pick something most kids like, but we can’t please everyone.”

“Well, we have a ton of spaghetti noodles left over, and I was wondering if we could use it to make a spaghetti pool.” Bonnie held her breath. She wasn’t sure if Mia was going to go for her idea. She had the feeling the Mia was open to new things, but Bonnie also didn’t want to overstep her bounds. She had a good thing here, and she didn’t want to mess anything up.

“A what?” Mia asked, looking totally confused.

“A spaghetti pool. We used to do it for our sensory kids that struggled with food,” Bonnie explained. “We’d fill a kiddie-pool with noodles and just let the kids play with it. They don’t have to eat it unless they want to. It’s just for playing with. It really helped take the fear out of food. They could squish it and play with it. Since we have so much left over, I thought we could do it here.”

Mia looked impressed. “A spaghetti pool... I like it,” she said softly. She started to nod and then looked carefully at Bonnie. “Elena said you have a childcare background?”

“A degree in special education,” Bonnie told her.

“I love it. I’ll tell Elena to set it up in the morning.” Mia smiled. “Thanks.”

Mia seemed pleased with the idea, so Bonnie continued. “I have some other ideas if you want them. I primarily worked with autism and sensory processing disorder, so I have a lot of experience with coming up with sensory-friendly play.”

“How many years experience?” Mia asked.

“Just over five years,” Bonnie answered. “Plus college experience.”

Mia nodded, looking thoughtful. “You filled out the background check sheet, right?” she asked. “Elena got you in our system?”

“I filled out as much of it as I could,” Bonnie explained. “Given my situation.”

“Right.” Mia tipped her head and evaluated her for a moment before smiling. “We might have something for you that isn’t in the kitchen. If you’re interested.”

A flutter of excitement filled Bonnie’s chest. Helping kids was what she lived for. She had been so excited to ask Mia about the spaghetti pool, and she had so many other ideas after seeing what the kids were eating. There was so much she could help with.

“I’d love to!” Bonnie grinned, then pulled it back. She had to remember why she was here. “But, I did tell you that I’m kind of on the run. I can’t guarantee how long I’ll be able to stay here.”

Mia frowned. “You know we can help you with that, right? We have a lot of resources around here.”

“Thank you, but it’s complicated.” If that wasn’t the understatement of the year, Bonnie wasn’t sure what was.

“It always is,” Mia agreed. Mia checked her baby to make sure she was still sleeping and then looked over at Bonnie. It felt like she could peer straight into Bonnie’s soul and see exactly what she had hidden there. “I’m going to take a chance on you, Bonnie. I have a pretty good track record with people, and I have a good feeling about you.”

“Are you sure?” Bonnie asked. She fiddled with her hands in front of her. “I mean, I would love to work with these kids, but I just don’t want to put you in a difficult position if I have to leave suddenly.”

Mia chuckled. “One thing I’ve learned since starting this is that there’s always some sort of difficult position with everyone. Employees are hard work.”

“Thank you for believing in me, Mia,” Bonnie said softly.

Mia reached out and put her hand on Bonnie’s shoulder and smiled. It was the first time since leaving the police station she’d let someone get close enough to touch her. It was nice to have the connection. She’d missed interacting with people, and she was surprised by just how much the simple touch made her chest ache for friendship and belonging.

“I’ll let you know when your background check clears.” Mia smiled and then turned to continue her walk. “Keep on working hard. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Bonnie stared after her. Her heart felt heavy and light at the same time, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.