“I think there’s some red pandas over there,” I said and pointed down another path.
“Red…pandas?”
I laughed. “They look more like raccoons than bears. Do you want to see?”
“Yessie.” He slid his hand back in mine and we walked toward the next exhibit. And as soon as the exhibit came into view heran off again to get closer. But this time I held back. Because the little red headed girl next to him at the red panda enclosure had started talking to him. She was a little shorter than him, but they must have been close to the same age.
They laughed about something.
I swallowed hard. As hard as it was to believe, this was the first time Jacob had ever spoken to someone his own age. And he didn’t have stranger danger at all. They both laughed again and started jumping around like monkeys together. I felt tears welling in my eyes.
“Is that sweet little boy yours?” a woman asked from beside me.
I nodded and looked over at her. She was pushing a stroller and her hair was the exact same shade of red as the little girl’s. There was no doubt in my mind that she was her mom. “I guess everyone always knows you’re her mother without having to ask?”
She laughed. “Yes. But if anyone looks closely, she actually looks much more like her father.”
I doubted that. She was a spitting image of her mother, minus the fact that the little girl’s eyes were brown and her mother’s were blue.
“And she’s certainly less shy than I was at her age. She gets that from her father too.”
“Well, I thought Jacob was shy until about two minutes ago when he started talking to her.”
“I’ve always loved the name Jacob. It was actually one of my top choices when we had this little guy.” She gestured toward the sleeping baby in the stroller.
I bit the inside of my lip as I looked down at her baby. And for just a second, I wanted to cry at his adorably peaceful face. He reminded me of everything I’d lost. Everything I’d never have now. I bit my lip even harder and looked away. “And what name did you land on for him?”
“Liam.”
I smiled, even though it was forced.
“And the hyper little redhead flirting with your son is Scarlett.”
I laughed, and it wasn’t forced at all now. Flirting was probably an exaggeration, but the two of them seemed to be having a blast.
“You know…you look so familiar,” she said.
“I get that a lot. I must just have one of those faces.” Why did complete strangers keep saying that to me? I had a feeling there was some woman with a similar face to mine who posed for paintings that was very popular right now or something.
“And I’m being incredibly rude. I didn’t catch your name. I’m Penny.” She put her hand out for me to shake, but at the exact same time her son started crying. “Oh, sorry. One second.” She leaned down and lifted him out of the stroller, and in a couple minutes he’d fallen back asleep in her arms.
“The red pandas are Scarlett’s favorite exhibit,” she whispered. “She’s convinced she’s related to them.”
I laughed and kept my eyes on my son. It seemed like anything could set me off these days. And I hadn’t been expecting to be standing next to a baby. But I should have. We were at a zoo.
I would have wandered off, but the woman genuinely seemed nice. And it would be rude to run off when our kids were chatting.
“One of my friends told her that she could actually pet one.” She rolled her eyes. “I could kill him for that. Now every time we come here, she runs straight to this exhibit and asks if she can pet them.”
Scarlett turned to look at her mother.
“Oh no. Just wait for it. It’ll probably happen in three, two, one…”
“Mommy, Mommy!” Scarlett yelled and ran up to her. “Can I pet one today?”
“Not today, sweetie.”
“But Uncle Matt said I could.”
