CHAPTER 6
Sara stood on a dock staring out at the very spot that had inspired this fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants trip. The lake had several paddle boaters floating around it. She waited, expecting to feel something. Maybe have an epiphany. A light-bulb moment. Anything. But nothing happened.
She looked down at the worn picture she held in her hand and turned it over to try to see if the inscription would make any more sense now. The ink was so faded it was impossible to make out the entire thing. Certain words were still readable though. The message began with two letters: MT. Five words were clear in the body of the message: Beautiful day, love, never forget. Then it ended with the sign off: Always and forever, YT.
Nope. Sara still didn’t have a clue what it meant. It wasn’t Grandma Betty’s initials. Her grandmother’s name, before she’d married her grandfather had been Elizabeth Casson.
“Mom, can we go on a boat? Please,” Trevor pleaded as he pointed to several paddle boats floating nearby.
“Um, sure.”
Sara glanced over her shoulder, sure that there must be some kind of stand to rent the boats.
Her entire life, she’d been a highly goal-oriented person. She was laser-focused and extremely driven. Which weren’t bad qualities in and of themselves, but the flipside of those characteristics was that she didn’t really take time to smell the roses. She’d plant, water, and prune the suckers, but smell? Not so much.
Having kids had forced her to do just that. Trevor and Charlotte both taught her to enjoy the now. Be present. Live in the moment. If left to her own devices, she’d easily fall into the workaholic category. As it was, she worked for about four hours every night after she got them down for bed, and a couple of hours before they woke up in the morning, and for whatever smaller blocks of time she could manage throughout the day.
Between her consulting business, Priority Financial Consulting and the blog she thankfully was able to work from home. She had a core group of clients that had taken several years to build, and her roster was expanding by word of mouth. And the blog had taken on a life of its own. On average, she worked about sixty hours a week. If it weren’t for her munchkins, she’d miss out on things like spontaneous ice cream parties, running through sprinklers, Nerf gun wars, snuggling on the couch watching Goonies or Tangled, and pizza nights. Or like now—going on a paddle boat.
Basically, all of the little things that made life worth living.
She spotted a small building with blue lettering that read: Whisper Lake Rentals, apparently they hadn’t jumped on the fairytale bandwagon.
As the three of them made their way back up the pier, Sara couldn’t help wonder if her grandma had walked on these very wooden planks and what a day in her life had been like. Or if her Grandma Betty had ever felt the same jolt from a simple handshake that Sara had felt when Austin had touched her. If anyone had ever ignited the instant flame of chemistry that Austin had inspired in Sara.
Honestly, if Sara hadn’t experienced it herself, she wouldn’t think it existed. In movies, TV, songs, books, sure. But not in the real world. The way he’d made her feel, just by being near him, was indescribable. It was like Austin’s sex appeal was on a frequency her body was naturally tuned into.
As they passed a row of paddle boats leaned against one of the pillars beneath the dock Charlotte squealed with delight. Trev tried to play it cool, but Sara could see her son was excited. Not as excited as he’d been when Karen had explained they’d be sharing the Jack and Jill bathroom with Austin, of course. Sara smiled at the memory. Trevor had immediately asked if that meant he could leave the seat up, since now two boys and two girls would be sharing the bathroom.
Sara definitely couldn’t fault her son on his logic. She’d tried to come up with a rational response. It ended up being a lot easier task in theory than in practice. Once she’d found out about their living situation for the next seven days, all of her brain power was being used up by images of Austin. Naked. Austin naked in the shower. Austin naked brushing his teeth. Austin naked combing his hair.
Basically, her mind was playing a looped porn version of Austin’s grooming routine.
If she hadn’t known before this impromptu trip, that reaction had made it crystal clear to Sara she had more issues than Vogue. And if the way her body, mind, and heart were all responding to Austin was any clue, loneliness was at the top of the list.
The kids chatted excitedly about who was going to paddle faster, which turned into a rousing game of I-am, no-I-am! Before they made it off the sandy shore her two little competitors were tearing off ahead of her, as if getting inside the rental shop would somehow make them the winner of who would paddle faster.
“Hey guys, wait for me!” Sara called out.
Charlotte spun around and came racing back to Sara.
Trevor slowed his pace, his shoulders dropped, and he let out a dramatic sigh. Over the past year, Trev had really started to show his frustration over the fact he had to wait for his little sister, or go into the woman’s bathroom, or play video games easy enough that Charlotte could play them, or watch girl shows.
It was just one more piece of evidence in the case of whether or not leaving Arizona had been the right thing to do. The poor kid was surrounded by females all the time. When they moved to California, Trev would have his Uncle Matt, whose wife, Amy, had two brothers, one who was a firefighter and one who was a cop. Not only that, he’d also have Shelby’s husband, Levi, who had two brothers—one of who was a MMA fighter.
Unlike Phoenix, Hope Falls was a small community that the residents joked had adopted the Olive Garden’s slogan—when you’re there, you’re family.
Sara hoped that was part of what she was missing. Family. Community. Support. Maybe if she had that, she wouldn’t be so lonely and her reaction to Austin would’ve been less visceral.
When Sara pushed open the door to the rental shop a little bell dinged.
“Mom! Mom! Mom!” Trevor’s face lit up when the first thing they were met with was an aisle filled with sugary treats. “Can I get a candy bar?”
She’d said no to candy during their three day drive because she hadn’t wanted to be stuck in a metal box going eighty miles an hour when the inevitable sugar crash hit. But they were here now, and they’d just had lunch, and she deserved some chocolate.
“Yes. Let’s see about the boat first, though.”
“Can I get one?” Charlotte whined.