~S~
"How is she doing?" Natalie was sitting right next to me on the park bench, both of us staring off into space for a long time before she finally decided to strike up some sort of conversation.
Sometimes it was weird for us and sometimes it wasn't- it just kind of seemed to depend on the day. That afternoon was an odd one, for sure. It was just a few days after the funeral, so almost everyone was still in the city and since Ruth had started bouncing off the condo walls, I pitched the idea that we could take all the kids to the park for a few hours... Enough time to get some fresh air and occupy her mind a little.
She was only six and so confused... it broke my heart.
"Oh..." Shifting lightly, I pulled myself back into reality and pried my eyes off of Ruth, who was going down the slide with Eleanor and Foster. "She's having a hard time," I wasn't sure what she was wanting to know... I think, honestly, she was just trying to make small talk and that was all we had to discuss.
The only thing that we really had in common was the fact that we were both mothers to Lark, in some sense... I was her mom, but Natalie was definitely an important aspect in her life and always played a great role, whether she would admit it or not.
"But I think spending some time with my mom and Suzanna will be really good for her today." I added a second later as my gaze traveled back to find Ruth in the crowd.
Lindsey was out there with them, keeping a closer eye on the three kids in the busy jungle gym, which made me feel a little bit better.
Natalie smiled very softly, nodding her head in agreement as she turned to look at me. "They'll definitely be able to help get her mind off of things for awhile." She was a very gentle woman- soft spoken, calm, kind.... Everything Lindsey needed in a spouse.
And not only that, but she was gorgeous. She had really curly blonde hair- short, but she always clipped it back to show off her flawless face... I think she was only in her late thirties at the time, but I swear, she was aging backwards.
"Yeah," I was trying not to stare too prominently, but I was so curious about her.
Lindsey never talked about what was going on in their personal life, so I didn't know if she was still struggling or if she'd worked through her health issues... I don't know and sometimes I wanted to ask, but I knew it really wasn't my place. And besides, at that time, I had so much going on, I couldn't focus on much more than Lark and Ruth.
"They're going to try to take her out to lunch, which she really needs." I slowly brought my cup of coffee up to my lips to take a sip with one hand as the other waved back at Ruthie, who was coming our way.
Lark hadn't been out of the house in days, not since the funeral and I felt like the longer she sat at home in silence, the more she slipped away.
She was still young and I knew she'd move forward, but I was so scared to leave her like that... I didn't think I would be able to.
"Grandpa and I picked these." She had a sunflower in each of her hands, one for me and one for Natalie.
"How sweet of you." Natalie leaned forward first, carefully taking one as she kept that sweet smile plastered to her face.
