“How about I hold your hand and help you up where the path gets steep?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll take your bucket and umbrella, too.”
“Thanks.”
She handed them over to him and then she and the older girl went ahead with the McBride family dog on a leash.
Ava was slow but cute. While she took each step one at a time, she chattered to him the whole way up, keeping up a steady stream of observations, stories, even a song or two during the five-minute walk.
A few times, he thought he caught Jess turning around to give him a sideways look, as if she couldn’t quite figure him out.
What? He was good with kids. He had managed fine with Sophie so far—the past month notwithstanding.
“We’re having a slumber party with our auntie Jess because our brother has a doctor appointment a long way away tomorrow,” Ava informed him.
“I know. She told me. She’s been looking forward to it.” That might have been a stretch. She had mostly been in a panic about it but Ava didn’t need to know that.
“She’s our mom’s sister but we don’t see her that often.”
“How fun that you can spend some time with her now.”
“Yes. Can you do a cartwheel? I can. Want to see?”
“Not right now when we’re on a hill like this. How about you show me when we get to the top and you have a flat area.”
“Okay.”
A minute later when they reached the top of the path, she broke away from him and did a cartwheel in the grass.
“Wow. Impressive.”
“I can do one, too,” Grace said. She took a little skipping run and then cartwheeled after her sister.
“You’re both great,” Jess said. “I had no idea you could do that.”
“Mommy taught us,” Ava said. “Can you do one, Aunt Jess?”
“Um. No. Sorry.” She set the blanket onto the folding bistro table beside her trailer and took the bucket and umbrella from Nate, then started brushing the considerable sand off the girls.
Ava whispered something to Jess, who suddenly looked panic-stricken and handed the dog’s leash to Grace.
“She has to use the bathroom. Watch Freckles, okay?”
Ava danced around as if on the brink of an accident and Jess lifted her up into the trailer and shut the door behind her.
“Do you want to see my new bike?” Grace asked eagerly. Only now did he notice the girl’s bike and the adult bike and trailer, tucked behind her Airstream. So that’s why he hadn’t seen her truck when he hurried over looking for Sophie and why he hadn’t realized she was at the cove with his daughter until he was about halfway down the path.
“That is a great-looking bike,” he told the girl, admiring the retro banana seat and the tassels in the handlebars.
“Aunt Jess rode our mom’s bike. She didn’t ask before she borrowed it either.”
“I’m sure your mom wouldn’t mind.”
“That’s what Aunt Jess said.”
Something seemed off on the bigger bike. He was giving it a closer look when Jess and Ava walked out of the Airstream looking much more relaxed now. The girl had apparently made it to the bathroom on time.
“Bad news,” he said apologetically. “Your bike tire is flat. Looks like you ran over a nail.”
She looked at it with dismay. “Oh no. Rachel will kill me.”
“You should have asked her,” Grace muttered, earning a dark look from her aunt.
“Not to worry. It’s easily fixed.”
“Sure. If you have the right tools and a new inner tube. Which I don’t.”
She looked at the girls and the dog and the bikes, and winced. “Looks like we’ll have to walk back to my sister’s place, get my truck and run to the bike store.”
He suspected Ava would never make it, walking all the way to the McBrides’. The bike trailer was similar to one he’d had for Sophie that converted to a jogger stroller with the right accessories, but he suspected Jess didn’t have those with her.
“How about this? We can load up the bikes into the back of my truck, run to the bike shop for a tube and have them fix it while we grab a pizza for dinner. It’s the least I can do to thank you for watching over Sophie.”
She looked shocked at the suggestion. “That’s not necessary, really.”
“Maybe not, but I would enjoy it. If you already have dinner plans, that’s fine. I’ll drive you home and pick up a tube on the way back, fix your bike and get it to you tomorrow.”
“I would rather have pizza,” Grace said.
“Pizza!” Ava exclaimed.
Even their dog seemed to agree, jumping around and giving happy little yips. He might have been picking up on the girls’ excitement, though.
Jess looked uncertain, though he could see her beginning to weaken. “What about Sophie?”
“I’ll go talk to her and tell her the plan.”
“She wasn’t very happy with you when she left. I’m not sure she’ll be in the mood to hang out with us.”
“Has it been longer than fifteen minutes?” he asked ruefully. “With the way her moods go lately, she’s probably done being mad at me about the surfing thing and has moved on to something else completely.”
She would still be mad at him, of course. That was a given. But maybe she would unbend long enough to enjoy more time with Jess and her nieces.
“I have to go talk to her anyway. If she doesn’t want to help us with the bike, I can always bring her back some pizza, if it comes to that.”
“How about this? If she wants to go along, we’ll have pizza. If not, I’ll just ask you to take us and the bikes back to Rachel and Cody’s place, where I can look around for an inner tube or a patch kit.”
“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll meet you back here in ten.”
“Long enough for us to wash up. Thanks,” she said, ushering the girls toward her Airstream steps as Nate headed for his place.
He found Sophie in the family room playing her favorite video game. She looked up when he entered but seemed too distracted by the game to glare at him. That was progress, at least.
“Hey there,” he said with a smile. “I’m sorry I treated you like a baby. I was worried about you. I know you can take care of yourself in most situations but you know how unpredictable the ocean can be. You made the right choice in the end not to surf by yourself. I should have focused on that instead. I’m sorry.”