I looked at Christy. "How long till lunch?"
"Probably fifteen or twenty minutes," she said, glancing at the clock on the microwave.
"We can go out there for a minute," I said. "We won't swim or anything."
She nodded, and held up a hand as if she was ready to start walking.
"Can you tell Cody we went to the beach?" I asked Dee-dee on the way out. She smiled and nodded as Ryan and I stepped outside.
Logan and Evan were walking up the steps toward us. Ryan and I could see them from the top, and we stood back to let them come up. "Long night?" I asked.
"We slept in the hammocks," Evan said.
Evan peered around me and into the house. "The girls must not be up yet."
"Nope, I haven't seen them. I thought maybe you guys stayed at Travis's."
"We were there pretty late."
"Coffee," Logan said in a groggy voice.
"My dad caught some fish," Ryan said.
"He did? I can't wait to eat them for breakfast, you little princess."
She smiled. "It's lunch, Uncle Evan."
"It's breakfast for me."
"Coffee," Logan moaned, causing Ryan and I to giggle.
"Go get your precious coffee," I said. "We're going to the beach."
She and I held hands on the way out there, but didn't say anything to each other. She pulled me to her sandcastle tools, which had been left outside from the last project.
"Wanna dig?" she asked.
"Yeah, but we only have a few minutes. And I'm afraid I wouldn't be as good as your dad even if we did have more time."
We found a spot and started filling our first pail, shovel by shovel.
"You love my dad?" she asked. Or maybe she said it. Her tone was an exact mix of a question and a statement, and I didn't know how to respond. Maybe I was just too nervous to respond.
"I do love your dad," I said after a few second's hesitation.
"Do you love me?" she asked without looking up at me.
Again, I hesitated, feeling the weight of her questions and knowing I couldn't say the words irresponsibly.
"I do love you, Ryan."
"Are you gonna be my mom?" she asked.
I almost choked. There was a burning sensation in the back of my mouth that made me feel like I needed to cough. I cleared my throat.
"I'd like to be," I said. "I've never tried to be a mom before, so you might have to be patient with me while I try my best."
She shrugged as she continued to shovel sand. "It's not hard," she said casually. "All you have to do is give me lunch and snacks, and brush my teeth, and read me stories and stuff." She looked at me as she reached back to grab her bun with sandy hands. "You already know how to do my hair," she added in all seriousness.
I let out a relieved giggle. "I guess that's a start," I said.
"Yep," she said as if it was gonna be a piece of cake.
I wanted to ask how she felt about it, but I didn't know how to put my question into words, at least not for a three-year-old. Besides, I knew by the way she was smiling that she was okay with it—asking would just be me trying to ease my own insecurity.
"Where are my girls?" Cody asked.
I heard his question before I saw him, and I turned to face him with a smile. He was just as handsome as I remembered. I squinted up at him from my stooped position, waving with the shovel I was holding. He held out his arms, gesturing with his hands for me to come to him. It took about point five seconds for me to spring to my feet and jog over there. When I did, he caught me, hugging me tightly.
"You do smell better," I said.
He laughed. "I told you I stank earlier."
"Not like Uncle Evan," Ryan called. "He smells like a goat."
I looked over my shoulder at her and watched as she packed the sand into the pail and turned it over. Cody turned me so I could face Ryan, but he kept his arms around me securely.
"Your hair looks super beautiful," he said as we watched Ryan scooping sand again.
She smiled and blinked. "Paige did it."
"Ms. Paige," Cody reminded.
"She said she's okay with being my mom," Ryan said.
"She did?"
"Yeah."
"Is that something you two talked about?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Yes sir," he said.
"Yes sir."
"What'd you say?"
"I said she has to tuck me in and read me a story, and she said she will."
"She did?"
"Yes sir."
I turned to the side and directed my words to his ear so Ryan couldn’t hear me. "I love her," I said.
He smiled and squeezed me. "I was thinking about something while I was fishing," he said.
"What?"
"I thought maybe you should go to beauty school. You said it would only take a year."
I shifted to stare up at him, wondering what made him come up with that. "Yeah, but I've already finished college."
"So? Lots of people have degrees they don't use. You could do beauty school for a year, and when you get done, you can decide which skill you want to use. Maybe you can use both. Maybe you can use your business degree to help you open a salon."
I had never even considered such a thing. In my mind, I'd missed my chance to try cosmetology. It was a crazy feeling to have someone looking after me like this. He really wanted to see me happy, I could see it in his eyes.
"I never even thought about that," I said. "That's really sweet of you to think about me, but I'm not sure I could pull something like that off."
"Why not?"
"Well, for one, my student loans are about to start rolling in. Maybe after I get them paid off, I can consider that."
"Is that all that's stopping you?" he asked.
I laughed. "It's a big reason," I said. "I'm pretty sure you have to pay off one student loan before you can take out a new one."
He leaned to the side to look down at me. "We'll work it out if you want to go," he said.
I smiled at him, but I knew that was easier said than done. He apparently had no idea how expensive it was to be a student.
"If it's just about money, then don't worry about it," he said. "You shouldn't waste time doing something you don't love. If you want to try it, we'll make a way… we'll just get married if we need to."
I reached up and cupped my hand around his jaw. "I like you," I said dazedly.
He grinned. "You already said you love me. We can't go backwards."
"It's not going backwards," I said, cuddling into his chest. "They're two different things. I like you and I love you."
He squeezed me. "Then I like you and I love you too."
Epilogue
"Hello, Mrs. Hunt," Diane said, smiling from ear to ear at me as she sat down beside me at Amy's for breakfast.
"Hello Mrs. Hunt," I replied.
She leaned over to hug me once she was settled. "Where's Cody?"
"He couldn't make it today. He had to go to work. It's just us."
"Us is perfect," Diane said smiling sweetly. "When do you have to get to school?"
"Nine o'clock." I glanced at my watch. "I have plenty of time."
"How's it going?" she asked. "School, I mean."
"I love it so far," I said. "It's long hours, but I should have it done in about a year."
"Then what?"
I shrugged. "Hard to say since I'm just getting started. Maybe we'll open a salon. We haven't really gotten that far yet. I might just end up working for the business and doing hair for the family. I'll just see how I feel once I'm done."
"I heard you two took a trip to California to see Logan and Charlotte," she said. "How was that?"
"Cody wanted to take me over there, so we snuck in a trip before school started. It's hard to believe we went on the honeymoon and to California since the last time we had the chance to have breakfast together. Seems like Seth gets to see you more than I do."
"He's doing a good job on the raised be
ds," she said.
I smiled. "To answer your question, LA was great. We had a blast. Logan took us to all his favorite places. It was crazy, though. People were following us, trying to get pictures of him—even while doing simple stuff like riding in the car to pick up food."
"I bet they're all excited about his new girlfriend," she said.
I laughed. "That's an understatement. She was there for part of our trip, and the press went crazy trying to get a shot of them together."
"Is it that same girl form the beach house?" she asked.
I nodded as I took a sip of my coffee.
"I thought she was nice," she said.
"She is," I said. "Cody doesn't think Logan's ready to settle down, though."
"I'm sure he isn't, but sometimes love sneaks up on you."
"You can say that again."
"Sometimes love sneaks up on you," she repeated with a straight face.
I laughed.
Diane smiled as she turned to me. "Hard to believe that just a few months ago we sat right here and discussed you coming to Myrtle Beach with me."
I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'm so thankful we had that conversation."
The End
(till book 2)
Other titles available from Brooke St. James:
Another Shot:
A Modern-Day Ruth and Boaz Story
When Lightning Strikes
Something of a Storm (All in Good Time #1)
Someone Someday (All in Good Time #2)
Finally My Forever (Meant for Me #1)
Finally My Heart's Desire (Meant for Me #2)
Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me #3)
Shot by Cupid's Arrow
Dreams of Us
Coming soon* Hunt Family Book 2
Meet Me in Myrtle Beach (Hunt Family Book 1) Page 15
