The Path to Sunshine Cove

by RaeAnne Thayne

  He made a face. “She told you that?”

  “Yes. She told me about the miscarriages and the stillbirth of your sister. It breaks my heart to think of all the pain your parents went through.”

  “Yeah. Makes me wish I hadn’t been such a shitty teenager.”

  “You’ve more than made up for it in the years since, from what your mother says.”

  He raked a hand through his hair, concern again edging through him. Despite the doctors’ claims that the pacemaker would help, he still worried. He also couldn’t believe his mother had had what appeared to be a mild heart attack and even she hadn’t known it.

  In the past thirty-six hours, he had learned more than he ever expected about how women experience heart attacks differently from men and often discount their symptoms or attribute them to something else, like acid reflux or normal aging.

  He had learned that while heart disease was the number one killer of women, it often went undiagnosed.

  His mother might have had another more serious, even fatal, heart attack, if Jess hadn’t been there to call 911. He didn’t even want to think about it.

  Jess must have sensed some of his turmoil. She rose and rested a comforting hand on his arm. “Your mom will be all right. Eleanor is tough.”

  “Not as tough as we think. Or as tough as she thinks.”

  Jess was much the same. He suspected she wanted to put out an aura of invincibility, of toughness and strength and independence, but he sensed a softness at her core, a sweetness she probably would do everything she could to deny.

  “Can I do anything else to help get Whitaker House ready for her to come home? Did the doctors say anything about her needing special accommodations?”

  “You’ve spent two weeks doing that. Having the excess clutter cleared out will make a huge difference during her recovery and rehabilitation.”

  “I’m glad.” She folded up her laptop and slipped it back into a simple khaki messenger bag. “Sophie and I finished up the last few things at the house this afternoon. I also put her to work mopping the kitchen and vacuuming where she could, just so it’s sparkly clean when Eleanor comes home.”

  “Thank you. That will help.”

  “I won’t be around tomorrow, unless you need my help with Eleanor coming home. I promised Rachel I would spend the day with her and the kids. We’re driving to Redwood National Park.”

  That would be good for her, especially after their fight the night of her birthday. They must have made up, but he hadn’t had the chance to talk to her about it.

  “No. Go with your sister. We’ll be fine. Thank you so much for all your help with Sophie. You saved the day. Again.”

  “I was happy to spend time with her. She’s pretty terrific.”

  “She thinks the same of you.”

  He almost mentioned that Sophie had given him permission to date Jess but wasn’t entirely certain she would appreciate that information.

  “She told me you lectured her about her moodiness the past month and told her she should be grateful instead of resentful. Thank you for that. She was like a different person this morning.”

  “Don’t be too hard on her. Being a thirteen-year-old girl is hard work.”

  “I will try to keep that in mind. I don’t think fourteen through eighteen will be much easier.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  She smiled, though he thought it looked a little sad. She picked up her bag and threw it over her shoulder. “I should take off so you can get some rest. I’m glad your mom is doing better.”

  He wanted so desperately to ask her to stay but knew he couldn’t, not with Sophie in the next room.

  “I’ll walk you to your trailer.”

  She made a face. “You don’t have to do that. I’m a big girl and can probably manage to walk two hundred feet by myself.”

  “Humor me. Maybe I just don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  She looked startled by his words but finally shrugged and opened the door. Cinder and Charlie immediately came out from the TV room, as if they had been waiting for that signal. They both hurried out into the darkness to take care of business.

  The night was clear and lovely, the ocean murmuring just down the path as they walked to her trailer, gleaming in the moonlight.

  “I really would have been lost without you these past few days,” he said when they reached her door. “Thank you.”

  “I’m glad I was here to help.”

  “So am I.”

  Though he knew it would only leave him aching for more, he leaned down and kissed her. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and returned the kiss.

  He didn’t embrace her. Didn’t touch her with anything but his mouth, just like the first time they had kissed. It was still one of the most emotional, intense kisses of his life. It was soft, sweet, tender, and he never wanted it to end.

  They stood together for a long time, while the sea breeze swirled around them and he fell a little harder.

  She was the first to break away. He couldn’t clearly see her expression in the moonlight but her eyes looked huge in her face.

  She opened her mouth to speak but hesitated, swallowed and turned away.

  “Good night,” she said.

  Somehow he had the impression that wasn’t what she had been about to say.

  “Jess.”

  He knew what he wanted to say. Stay. Please stay. But the words seemed to jumble up inside him in a tangle and he couldn’t figure out how to make them work.

  She took a step up into her trailer to stand in the doorway. “I’m glad your mom is doing better. I’ll try to check in with her tomorrow and then again Monday before I leave.”

  She hurried inside and closed the door behind her, leaving him standing alone with only the night and his regrets to keep him company.

  38

  Jess

  She had to get out of here. Fast.

  Monday couldn’t come soon enough. Jess sat on her sofa, wishing with all her heart she had been able to drag him inside with her to spend the night.

  That kiss.

  She was still reeling, a full half hour after he had walked back to the house. She could still taste him, still feel the tenderness and intensity of it.

  She knew she needed to leave Cape Sanctuary but had no idea how she was supposed to walk away from a man who kissed her like that, as if she were everything he had ever wanted or needed.

  She was in love with him.

  If she had any doubt, that kiss had sealed it. Somehow Nate Whitaker had burst past all her careful defenses like they were nothing.

  When she went through basic training, she had faced one obstacle course that had kicked her ass time after time, a ridiculously complicated thing with insane jumps, climbs, nets.

  Some of the soldiers she trained with didn’t even seem to work up a sweat as they made their way through.

  Nate would have been one of those soldiers. Somehow, she knew it.

  She thought she had been so careful to protect herself but she had fallen for him anyway.

  What was she supposed to do now?

  Nothing.

  Jess let out a shaky breath. Nothing at all. Okay. So she was in love with Nate. What did that change? Exactly nothing. Monday, she would hitch up her trailer and drive away from Cape Sanctuary. It was her only option.

  Yes, leaving him would hurt, but she would get over it, eventually.

  Wouldn’t she?

  * * *

  “I so wish you didn’t have to go.”

  Jess, sitting beside Eleanor’s bed at Whitaker House on Monday morning, picked up her friend’s hand and pressed it.

  The older woman still seemed frail, with no makeup on and her hair not as carefully fixed as usual. But her color was much better and she was obviously happy to be home in her
own bed.

  “I know. But my job here is done. I have to move on to the next one.”

  She was aware that every passing moment was leading her inexorably toward that moment when she would drive out of town.

  Not yet.

  She had promised she would say goodbye to Eleanor first, so here she was, though she had been half-tempted to slip away in the pearly predawn, when she wouldn’t have to face any of them.

  Eleanor turned her hand over and squeezed Jess’s fingers. “This old house won’t feel the same without you. I will miss our long talks.”

  Jess mustered a smile. “So will I,” she answered. It was true. This had been her most enjoyable job ever. She had loved every moment of helping Eleanor.

  “If only I had four or five more rooms for you to clean out. But I suppose you’re tired of Whitaker House by now and ready to move on.”

  “I’m not tired of it at all. I’ve loved the house, the town, the scenery. I’ve especially enjoyed getting to know you. Thank you for sharing your life with me. But the job is done now. It’s time for me to go.”

  “You’ve been so wonderful. Whitaker House has never looked so good. It’s almost like a new place, now that you’ve cleared away all the extraneous things.”

  “Amazing what a difference decluttering can make, isn’t it?”

  “Such a difference.”

  Eleanor shifted to a different position, sitting up more. “I’ll tell you the truth, before you came, I had been thinking I should sell this old house and move into something smaller without all that upkeep. Or even trade houses with Nate and let him worry about all the things falling apart here while I live in that cute house he has fixed up so nicely.”

  “Were you?”

  “Yes.” Eleanor looked around. “But here’s the thing. I don’t want to sell Whitaker House, especially now that everything seems so fresh and new. Those two nights I was in the hospital, I could only think about coming home. Sleeping in this bed that Jack and I shared for all those years. I want to die in this house. Even if I’m too old to walk to the mailbox and have to hire people to look after me, I don’t want to go anywhere.”

  How would it be to feel a connection to one place, to have lived within these same walls nearly all one’s life, with the same view and the same trees and the same people?

  Once, Jess would have thought that was a cloying, mundane existence.

  She was beginning to wonder if she had been completely wrong.

  “Your focus right now needs to be on resting and healing, especially after you get your new pacemaker. Before you know it, you’ll be running down the path to Sunshine Cove with Sophie and the dogs.”

  Eleanor huffed out a laugh. “Who knows? Now that I’m going to have all this new energy, maybe I’ll take up surfing.”

  Jess had to smile. “You should. I would love to see that.”

  Except she wouldn’t be here to see it. She might be in San Jose or Boise or Omaha. But she wouldn’t be here.

  They visited for a few more moments, until Jess could tell that Eleanor was tiring. She rose. “Thank you for everything. I promise, I’ll stay in touch.”

  “We both know I’m the one who should be thanking you.” Eleanor sniffled. “I will miss you, darling. You’ve brought so much sunshine and joy back to my house.”

  “It has been my pleasure.”

  She hugged her, inhaling the scent of lavender and vanilla that Eleanor favored. She would never be able to smell that particular combination of scents without thinking of this woman who had been so very kind to her.

  “Have you said your goodbyes to Sophie and Nate yet?” Eleanor asked when she pulled away.

  Jess tried to ignore the hard kick to her chest. “No. I knocked on their door earlier but no one answered.”

  “They slept here last night to watch over me but Sophie had a special end-of-year awards assembly this morning at school. I told them I would be fine by myself for an hour. They should be back shortly. You could wait.”

  It would probably be easier not to see them before she left, though she knew that was the coward’s way out.

  “I don’t think I can wait. It’s time for me to go.”

  “Oh. They’ll be so sorry to miss you. You’ve touched all of our lives, darling.”

  “I won’t ever forget my time here with you,” she said quietly.

  “You know you’re welcome back anytime.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I have something for you. It’s in the bottom drawer of my chest. Would you mind grabbing it?”

  Curious, she opened the drawer and pulled out the knitted throw Eleanor had been working on at various times during her stay here. It was made of soft, chunky yarn in colors that perfectly matched the interior of the Airstream.

  “Oh. I can’t take this.”

  “Yes, you can. I insist. I wanted to give it to you for your birthday but I didn’t quite finish it in time. I came home after your party last week and completed it.”

  “It’s beautiful.” She ran a hand over the textured knit, already imagining a storm beating against the aluminum of the trailer while she was safe and warm with a mug of cocoa and this blanket.

  “Thank you.”

  “It’s a small thing but I hope when you use it, you can remember there are people here in Cape Sanctuary who love you.”

  Jess hugged Eleanor one more time, trying hard not to cry. Leaving a client had never been so hard. She had been running Transitions for years and this was the first time she felt so shredded at finishing a job.

  This place and these people would live on in her heart.

  After she said her final goodbye, assuring Eleanor she would check in with her after the pacemaker surgery later that week, she walked through the house one last time.

  She wanted to be like Eleanor someday. Strong, generous, kind. She admired her dignity, her compassion, her sharp, orderly mind.

  This job and these people had made lasting imprints on her heart, whether she liked it or not.

  She walked outside, to where her pickup was already hitched up to the Airstream. She was almost tempted to walk down to the cove one more time but knew she was only delaying the inevitable. Better to go now, while she could.

  She was checking the hitch one last time when she heard a vehicle drive up to the house and saw Nate’s truck pull in alongside hers.

  Oh. If only she had left five minutes earlier, she could have missed him completely.

  As soon as he stopped, Sophie rushed out of the passenger side of the vehicle. She wore a coral-colored dress with a white sweater and an expression of dismay.

  “Your trailer is all hooked up.” She glared at Jess and then at the hitch.

  “Yes. It’s time for me to go, especially since you and I finished everything at the house the other day.”

  “Already? Can’t you stay a little longer?”

  “I have a long drive and don’t want to arrive home too late. I thought you would be in school.”

  “I came home after the awards ceremony so I could be with Gram this afternoon, since we weren’t really doing anything at school. You were going to leave without saying goodbye?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t get back from Redwood National Park with my sister until late last night. I didn’t want to wake you up last night. I tried to see you this morning but I waited too long and you were gone.”

  Sophie looked as if she wanted to cry, ripping off a few more layers around Jess’s heart.

  “I don’t want you to go.”

  To her shock, Sophie threw her arms around her. As she hugged her back, Jess realized she hadn’t only fallen for Nate. She had fallen for Sophie, too. And of course, for Eleanor.

  She loved all of them.

  “It’s not forever,” she said gently. “My sister and her family still live in tow
n. I’ll be through again. Next time I’m here in Cape Sanctuary to see them, I’ll call you and we can meet up. Maybe we can build another sandcastle or go beachcombing.”

  Sophie sniffled and pulled away. “That would be good. It won’t be the same, though.”

  “You have my phone and my email. You can reach out anytime. In fact, I insist you let me know if you ever get that delivery of postcards and the gift from Japan.”

  “I will. I’m going to miss you so much.”

  “I’ll miss you, too, Sophie. Take care of your grandmother for me, okay? And your dad.”

  She hadn’t looked at Nate once. She couldn’t.

  At that, Nate finally stepped forward. He had on a gray dress shirt and darker gray tie, which he must have worn for Sophie’s awards ceremony. It was the first time she had seen him dressed so formally and she had to swallow.

  “Why don’t you go in and check on your grandmother?” Nate said to his daughter.

  Sophie sighed. “Okay. Bye, Jess. Drive safe.”

  “Goodbye, honey.”

  The girl hurried into the house, leaving Jess and Nate alone. Jess wanted to call her back, needing the buffer. She hated having to say goodbye to Nate.

  Why, oh why, hadn’t she left five minutes earlier? Was it possible she had been subconsciously dragging her feet so she could see them one more time?

  “So where are you headed next?” he asked.

  “Back to my place in Mission Hills for a few days to take care of administrative stuff before I drive to Las Vegas to help clean out a house for a couple who are going into assisted living.”

  “Fun.”

  “Not very. He has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t want to leave their house but she can’t care for him there anymore. I have to help her figure out how to condense a five-bedroom home where they have lived for decades to a two-bedroom assisted-living apartment.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. After that, I’m going to St. George, Utah, where a widow is moving in with her son in Salt Lake City and needs help getting her house cleared out and staged to sell. I’ve got other jobs lined up all summer.”

  She loved her job and knew she did important work, helping people. She still didn’t want to leave.