“That’s a family trait on my side. Sorry,” he said apologetically.
She looked at him in surprise.
“I always woke up hungry,” he said. “The first thing I did, as soon as I was old enough, was get to the cupboards and into the fridge to get myself something to eat.”
“Great,” she said. “I’ll have to start putting snacks out for Sari, so she’ll get them first thing in the morning.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” he said. “It’s what my parents did.”
She shook her head and poured herself a cup of coffee while he watched. He looked down to see Sari staring up at them. Her eyes were huge and deep. It was as if she had decided to withhold judgment on him, depending on how he behaved over the next little while.
“Good morning, Sari. I heard you talking to yourself this morning.” She looked at him, her gaze widening at the sound of his voice, and then her face split into a big smile. “That is a much nicer greeting than the first one I got from you,” he said, smiling back at her.
She was astonishing and quite substantial. He didn’t know what he’d expected her to weigh, but she was so small, he figured he wouldn’t really notice it. But suddenly she was leaning back against his arm because she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to get any closer. He could actually feel her weight now. “No wonder women get such strong muscles from packing kids,” he murmured.
Just then Daniela stepped back outside, holding her cup of coffee. She looked up at the sun, closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.
“How long have you been in Alaska?”
“About five years,” she said. She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “Why do you ask?”
“I was just wondering if this is where you wanted to be,” he explained. “If this is where your family and friends are, or if you were open to moving somewhere else.”
“I came here because of Charlie. As it happened, my sister was here already. Our parents live in Maine.”
“That’s a long way to come,” he said.
She nodded. “It is,” she said. “I’m sure more employment opportunities are in other places, but I do like it here.”
“Like as in a lot?”
Her lips kicked up at the corners. “Like,” she repeated. “It’s hard to love the winters.”
He grinned. “For that reason alone, Maine sounds like a better deal,” he said.
“But then, there’s the people,” she said with a shudder. “And very high real estate.”
“True, but there are plenty of other states. New Mexico, for one. How about Oregon? Anything along the West Coast or in the Southwest. You could do quite well in those areas.”
She nodded. “But I’d have to have a reason. I can’t just pick up and move for no reason. It’s hard to uproot her, and I’d still have to have the money to make it happen, which I don’t.”
“Quite true,” he said in agreement.
“Where do you live?”
“I was in New Mexico,” he said, “and that’s where the group of guys are that I ended up working with before I came here. I was raised in Colorado, but we all left as soon as I was a teenager. My parents live in Arizona.”
“I don’t think I want to go that far south,” she said. “I don’t mind four seasons. I think it’s stunning to have fall and spring.”
“Agreed,” he said, “but I’m in the position of having to find a job too.”
She studied him for a long moment.
He dropped his gaze to the backyard, where he’d seen a small garden she had tried and then either gave up on or it just wasn’t warm enough yet for the sprouts to come up.
“Are you asking for a specific reason?”
“Of course,” he said. “We’re both facing an uncertain future and are at odd ends. The question is whether we want to align some of our future, so we can make a parental relationship work.”
“Oh,” she said, then gave a clipped nod. “Of course that makes sense. I’d never considered moving away.”
“But you did consider me moving up here?”
She gave him a half grin. “Yeah. Selfish of me, wasn’t it?”
He shrugged. “It’s reasonable, I think, to expect or want other people to make a change instead of yourself.”
“I hadn’t considered that,” she said, sitting down on the step with a rather hard thump. “I would certainly miss my sister.”
“Of course,” he said. “I don’t know that living in another state is what you want. Or if that would be any easier for you.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Sometimes I think it’s better to stay because the memories are here, and then other times I think I’d be better off to get away from the memories. I just get through that day, and then all I can see is getting through the next day, so I don’t really think about down the road to some different future.”
“Understood,” he said with a smile.
As soon as she finished her coffee, she stood. “Let’s bring her inside, so we can get breakfast.”
He took Sari in, set her in her high chair, and she grinned up at him. He pulled up a chair beside her and sat down. “What does she normally have for breakfast?”
“Her favorite is toast.” It wasn’t long before the toaster popped up.
Sari picked up a piece and started munching away.
Weston laughed. “Does she get most of it in her mouth?”
Daniela’s laughter made his smile even brighter. “She does eventually,” she said. “But, in the meantime, there’ll be butter everywhere, particularly in her hair.”
And just as she said that, he watched Sari run her mucky fingers over her head. He grinned. “You must spend a lot of time with her in the bath.”
“Washcloths do a pretty good job,” she said
