But the thought lingered all through the week. Silly thought. Marriage and babies and a family with her and Mick and Nathan and a child they created together.
Really dumb thought. Mick had his life, which was football and beautiful young women. Her life was her career and her son, who was now fifteen. The last thing she wanted was to start over again. She was thirty years old. In a few short years Nathan would be off to college, and she’d be free to focus on her business, unencumbered. She’d sacrificed so much to raise Nathan, to put herself through school, to climb the ladder, and get her business off the ground.
She didn’t need a husband, and she sure as hell didn’t need to start over at ground zero again, saddled with a child.
A child with Mick’s deep blue eyes and dark hair. A daughter, maybe. Or another boy. Someone for Mick to watch grow, to toss a football with.
Good Lord. Put a baby in her arms, and her hormones got all whacked out. That’s all it was. She and Mick were dating, and she was suddenly having babies with him?
Right, like that was going to happen. Her baby days were long over.
Focus, Tara, focus.
With effort, she regrouped and turned her full attention to the charity event. The rides had all been set up, the booths were in place, there was plenty of food, and all the players had arrived. The kids were pouring in, and the media was spread throughout the fairgrounds. Having the venue in one of the East Bay cities allowed for easy transportation, the chance for great attendance, plenty of parking, and great weather.
She’d put all the wives and girlfriends working the carnival in pink team jerseys today so she’d be able to spot them. She’d given Nathan a red and white team jersey to wear since Mick had told her Nathan could hang next to him today, something Nathan had no problem with for obvious reasons. Nathan would be helping out the team by running for drinks, pens, opening up boxes of footballs and whatever else they might need, and assisting the team staffers. He was ecstatic just to be hanging out with the team today, so she was sure he’d act the gofer for anything they wanted, and Tara was happy Mick would be keeping an eye on him so she wouldn’t have to worry about where he was or what he was doing. One thing off her list.
Now she could focus on the charity’s kids, who were so excited about the carnival she could see it on their faces. They were all troubled youth ranging from elementary school age all the way to middle school and early high school age, so having a free day to just have some fun, ride the Tilt-A-Whirl or the Scrambler or the roller coaster, walk through the fun house, play skee ball or try to hit the ducks in the shooting booth would be a great way to decompress from their everyday lives. And they’d have the bonus of some one-on-one time with the team players. The kids had brought their parents or foster parents and siblings along, so it wasn’t long before the fairground was full, plus the charity organizers and staffers were there, too. Tara was running from activity to activity to make sure everyone was having a good time.
She stopped off at the players’ booth, which had a huge line of kids waiting to have their pictures taken and footballs autographed. Mick was hanging out with some of the guys.
“Hey,” she said. “Everything going okay?”
He kissed her and put his arm around her. “Going great here. How about you? You look hot and sweaty.”
She laughed and pushed her hair away from her damp face. “Busy. Do you all need anything?”
“Quit worrying about us. We have team staffers here to take care of us. And try to relax. I wandered around a little, and everything looks perfect.”
She inhaled, let it out. “I’ll relax when it’s over.” Her phone buzzed. She grabbed it from her pocket, listened, and laid her hand on Mick’s chest. “Gotta go and take care of something.”
“Try not to kill yourself over this.”
She laughed and darted off, met up with Roseanne and a few of the other wives, and they took care of the food serving issue. Once that was resolved, she wandered through the fairgrounds to make sure the kids were being entertained. Everyone seemed happy.
“Miss Lincoln?”
She whirled around, and a microphone was shoved in her face.
“Alan Terlin, Channel 8 news. We’d like to interview you for the local broadcast.”
“Oh. You don’t want to interview me. Why don’t you go talk to the team.”
His lips lifted. “Already did that. They pointed me in your direction, said you put this event together.”