Anchored: A Lake Series Novella by AnnaLisa Grant Page B

I’ll see you soon. Love you!”
    “Love
you, too, babe!”
    I
watch Will until his car disappears and then go inside to finalize
everything. I feed the girls and get little bags of snacks prepared
for them along with their dinner so Gramma Ellie doesn’t have
to worry about it.
    The
doorbell rings and I practically jump out of my skin. I’m so
excited and nervous, which is crazy because today is totally not
about me.
    “Hey,
you!” I say to Caroline. She crosses the threshold and hugs me
fiercely.
    “Hey!
I’ve missed you! Today is going to be so fun!”
    “It’s
going to be the best!” I tell her. If she only knew! “We
have to multitask a bit, though. I hope that’s okay.”
    “Sure,
what’s up? Something with my girls?” Caroline hears the
babbles of Natalie and Claire and makes a beeline for the back room
where the girls are laughing with each other in their play yard.
Unable to resist, Caroline picks Claire up and smothers her with
kisses.
    “No,
actually. Eliana is on her way over to watch them for me. Will has
some business out at Rachel’s and he left something here that
he needs. Some file or something that he says he left in my car.”
That seemed like the most plausible lie we could tell her. “So,
we’re going to have to take the first part of our planning
session on the road.”
    “Oh,
that’s cool. You drive, I’ll talk!”
    Within
minutes Eliana is there and mostly ignoring me, as happens when the
grandparents get around these two girls. She’s been helpful
enough that I don’t have to do anything to prep her except
point to which food item comes next.
    We
get in the car and are part way down the road when Caroline’s
wardrobe choice finally registers with me.
    “What
are you wearing?” I say.
    “What?”
    “What
is that on your shirt?”
    “Um
… it’s Barbie. You know, the silhouette logo of the
iconic doll.” Her tone is sarcastic and confused. “You
don’t like Barbie, or something?”
    “No,
I love Barbie,” I tell her. I need to think. Do I fake a gas
stop and text Rachel to see if she has something Caroline can wear,
or do we let this day be captured for all eternity with Caroline
wearing a Barbie t-shirt?
    I
take the ramp onto the highway and round the sharp curve into the
merge lane when we hear a thud from the back of the car.
    “What
was that?” Caroline turns around in her seat looking for the
source of our startle. That’s when I find the solution to the
impending problem.
    “That’s
a box of clothes I’m taking to the Help Center. Some stuff that
doesn’t fit any of us anymore, and a few things I just don’t
wear.” I remember now that there is a black and red
houndstooth, thigh-length trench coat in that box that Caroline
mentioned liking. It will work perfectly!
    “Oh,
well that’s good. I thought you were hiding a body back there
or something,” she laughs. “So … here’s what
I’m thinking. You know how Tyler loves paintball?” I nod
and wonder where in the world she is going with this. Paintball does
not scream romantic
proposal . “Well,
I was thinking Will could get the guys together and they could go
play paintball during one of the open-play times. They do this thing
where you don’t have to be part of a group. It’s kind of
a free-for-all. When enough people are there, they play an
every-man-for-himself game.”
    Paintball?
Really? “Okay.
So how does the proposal fit into that very non-romantic scenario?”
I question.
    “It’s
not about me, Layla. It’s about what would be meaningful to
Tyler.”
    “And
you don’t think Tyler wants the moment you two get engaged to
be romantic?”
    “I
want it to be memorable for him. Are you going to fight me on this?”
Caroline’s doe eyes look up at me. It’s hard to resist
them as she begs me to help her create what she truly believes is
going to be an epic proposal.
    “No,
I’m not going to fight you. I’m sorry. I just want to
make sure that you have an experience that is so