Making It (On Hold Indefinitely)

3.1

3.1

I stop staring at the crackling aglet of my shoelace resting again the hard linoleum floor of the gym as clapping hands echo around me. Quickly I lift my head, force a smile and clap along with the ladies around me. A few are teary eyed and wiping away the stray tears with their thumbs while others look just as oblivious as me. Clapping along just for the sake of it.

Once the clapping dies down I focus my gaze on the strawberry blonde who rubs her palms along her painted jeans. There's a tender smile on her red lips as her eyes move around the circle. Red flyaways curl at her temple and with her high round cheeks bones and perfectly cut jaw she reminds me of Ms. Frizzle. The her hair was even tied in a messy bun and she wore big dangle earrings that draws attention away from her polk-a-dotted shirt that was actually little clouds instead of dots against a navy blue background.

"I just want to thank you all for coming," her voice is light and raspy, "and for sharing your stories within our circle. Please feel free to help yourself to refreshments laid out and mingle. If not I hope to see you all again next week, have a great rest of your week." Her smile gets wider and she makes an effort to quickly wave at every one of us as we stand from our chairs and gather our things.

Hiking my crossbody bag over my shoulder, I try not to let the weight of the items pull down one half of my body and instead hold my posture steady as I weave through a couple bodies and chairs to get to the refreshments table. I had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and then high tail it over to campus to pick up Brooke. Alec's car was in the shop and we were heading to spin class together.

Now that I was done with the movie and I had adjusted my availability at work, I had a lot of free time on my hands. I just about finished making the most recent round of edits to my manuscript before sending it off to my editor so she could mark it up to hell again. I had more time to focus on both my physical and mental health, hence why I'm at this meeting before spin class.

I'm piling a few sugar cookies onto a napkin, while cradling a water bottle against my side with my arm, when I'm nudged on my free side. I stumbled just a bit and quickly fold the napkin over my cookies and stuff them into my bag while turning to look at a familiar face.

"It's good to see you here again," Mackenzie smiles at me, eyes shining. Shifts her gaze to the table and grabs a cupcake, peels back the wrapper and takes a bite.

"Yeah, not quite ready to share yet. But I'm here." I shrug my shoulders and grab for a cupcake myself after tucking away my water bottle as well. I knew I should be reaching for the items in the vegetable platter but I would be burning off the calories in an hour anyway.

"That's totally fine." Mackenzie nods while wiping away a bit of frosting from the tip of her nose with her thumb. "I didn't share until my fourth meeting." Her smile returns and I nod as well.

When I walked into the gym of Riptide Elementary for my first miscarriage support group meeting I didn't expect to see a familiar face, let alone Mackenzie's. Mackenzie had been my body double in the movie and I watched her endure a lot more than myself. So it was strange to hear that she had a miscarriage while shooting the film also. I hadn't known and I'm pretty sure nobody knew. I wanted to ask her if the miscarriage was due to the amount of stress she had put on her body, but it wasn't my place.

After that meeting she caught up to me just before I climbed into Taylor's truck and she gave me a hug. She didn't say anything before or after. It was comforting in a way that my friends and family couldn't provide. It was the hug of someone who understands. So I decided to return the week after and that meeting made me want to come back this week.

"Welp maybe four is my lucky number as well." My voice isn't as cheery as hers, but her smile doesn't waver. She just nods her head again.

"What are you doing after this? I need a brunch partner." She shoves the rest of her cupcake into her mouth and I'm slightly impressed.