“If you ask me that way, how can I say no? I’d love to.” Lena squeezed Jess’s arm. Before the touch fully registered, it was over, and only traces of warmth remained. “Thank you.”
“Great. Wonderful. No need to thank me. I’ll pack everything we need, and when you come back from the market on Saturday, you can take a nap in the car, like Ella does.”
Chapter Fifteen
The radio screeched as they moved out of the station’s reach. Jess quickly switched it off before it could wake her passengers. For most of the two-hour drive, Lena and Ella had both slept soundly. Jess didn’t mind; traffic had kept her busy but never stressed her enough to temper her good mood.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to sleep that long.” Lena yawned and half-turned in the passenger seat to face Jess. Her eyes were still adorably small and sleepy, and her smile was more relaxed than Jess had ever seen.
She pulled her gaze away from Lena and back to the road. Was that how Lena looked when she woke up in the mornings? The urge to find out leapt at her like a deer crossing the road. From one moment to the next, she wanted to wake up next to her. Wanted those hazel eyes to be the first thing she saw in the morning.
What’s wrong with you? The couple of hours of soft rock and lovely views must have switched her brain to a sappy setting. “That’s okay. You seemed to need it. Could you do me a favor and see if Ella’s still asleep? I haven’t heard her for a while.”
Lena unhooked her seatbelt to completely turn around. “Her eyes are open, but she’s busy studying the fish.” She let herself fall back into the seat and buckled the belt again. “I think she likes them.” Her tone was filled with pride.
And she should be proud. For at least fifteen minutes, Ella hadn’t stopped reaching for the string of handmade wooden fish in rainbow colors Lena had brought home from the farmers market. Another of her long list of friends had made them. “Maybe she’ll take after her grandma and study biology but specialize in marine life instead of botany.”
“Or maybe she’ll move to Alaska and work on a fishing trawler.”
“Uh…I hope not. I don’t want to have a smelly daughter.”
Lena sniffed. “I didn’t want to say anything, but…you already do have a smelly daughter. She needs a pit stop soon.”
Laughing, Jess nearly missed her turn when the GPS announced it. She looked at the display. “Five more minutes. I’ll open the window.”
A warm breeze carried salty air and the scent of pines.
“Oh. I can smell the ocean.” Lena opened her window and held out her hand.
When they reached their destination, Jess parked in the well-kept space next to the small bungalow and shut off the SUV.
Ella protested the end of their journey. Before Jess could reassure her, Lena got out and opened the door next to the baby carrier.
“Don’t worry. We’ll move you around again in a second. We’ll clean you up and feed you and walk around this amazing place.” Lena’s singsong voice caught Ella’s attention.
Smiling, she fixed her gaze on Lena’s lips and reached for her with both arms.
Jess was as mesmerized as her daughter. With an internal sigh, she tore herself away. “Could you take her while I get our bags?”
“Sure.” Lena waited with Ella at the front door until Jess came with the bags and key.
The entrance opened directly into the living room. An oversized couch dominated the room and stood with its back to them, facing the large window and the inviting seat beneath it that was built into the wall. To both sides, a pair of mismatched but comfortable-looking armchairs rounded out the seating arrangement.
To their right, beyond the armchair, an open door revealed dark-red kitchen cabinets and a sturdy table. Jess set their duffle bags down near the door and reached for the carrier. “I’ll use the table to change Ella, and you can go ahead and pick a room.”
Lena neither moved nor answered. She had taken a few steps inside the house and then stopped, staring out the window.
Following her gaze, Jess could see a patch of grass and several old pines on the plot behind the house. Between them, a few pink clouds streaked over a dark azure sky, and the low-hanging sun reflected off the blue-gray waves of the Pacific Ocean like strands of molten gold.
“Do you think we can get close to the water?” Lena whispered in awe.
Jess grinned. “Sure. Diana said something about cliffs, but she texted me directions on how to get down to the beach. It involves a staircase, so maybe we shouldn’t risk it in the dark.”
“Oh, right. But can we go tomorrow morning? I’ve always wanted to touch the ocean.” Wonder and excitement colored Lena’s voice as if she was about to visit the Mona Lisa.
“But Seattle is right next to the water. Puget Sound isn’t the ocean, but surely you’ve been on one of the islands or somewhere up and down the coast?”
Lena shrugged. “I only moved here four years ago and haven’t had the chance.”
“And before?”
“I lived in the middle of the country, nowhere near a coast.”
Jess couldn’t imagine living to her age without having seen the ocean. Okay, the list of places in the US she’d visited was much smaller than most people’s, but she’d always taken the ocean for granted.
Ella’s protest saved her from finding a response. Jess slung the bag with Ella’s stuff over one shoulder.
“Let me take her. Maybe one of the rooms has the same view?”
After Jess changed Ella, safely stored the dirty diaper in an airtight container, and heated a bottle with formula, she went looking for the best place to feed her.
Lena had removed their bags, probably to their respective
