“It’s less than a half hour’s drive, lass,” said Sorcha, taking both of our hands and leading us over to the table. “Have you not seen it?”
“Never.”
Doc’s mother put her hand on Flynn’s cheek. “Something tells me you’re going to be seeing quite a lot of it in the days to come.”
“Does she know something I don’t?” I whispered in Flynn’s ear.
She shrugged. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
I had no idea how much time had passed while Flynn and I sat at the table, talking to Burns and Sorcha. The entire time, I either held Flynn’s hand or had my arm around her shoulders.
When she excused herself to use the restroom and Burns left the room too, Sorcha got up and came over to sit beside me.
“You love her, don’t you?” She put her hand on my cheek that I was sure was bright red.
I leaned forward. “I think I should tell her first, don’t you?”
She sat back in the chair and clapped her hands. “I knew it.”
“Sorcha,” said Burns, shaking his finger at her. “What are you up to?”
She stood and grabbed his hand. “Hush, you, and help me clean up the kitchen.”
I got up to help too.
“Not you,” she said over her shoulder. “It’s a lovely time of day for you and Flynn to take a walk in the vineyards.”
“Would you like to?” I asked when I saw her come around the corner.
“Are you sure we can’t help?”
“Go on now, lass. You helped cook. We’ll take care of this.”
“I knew you had,” I said once she and I were out on the porch.
“You did not.”
“Yes, I did. I could even tell you which part.”
“Okay, Mr. Smarty, what did I help with?”
“You made the cornbread and the chili.”
Flynn laughed. “You just knew it wasn’t my potato salad.”
“Or coleslaw.”
“Isn’t it beautiful here?” she asked as we walked from the porch to the gravel path that wound through the vineyard.
I stopped walking and pulled her into me. “You’re beautiful,” I said before kissing her. “I wanted to do that at least a hundred times while we sat at that table.”
“I did too.” She kissed me back.
We walked toward the sunset and stopped when we came to a bench.
“Wow,” Flynn gasped, taking in the view.
We sat quietly until we couldn’t see the sun any longer.
“How long are you staying?” I asked.
“Me?”
I laughed. “Yeah, you.”
“I have no idea. I thought maybe you did.”
“I didn’t even know you’d be here. I mean, I’m thrilled that you are.” I pulled her close to me when I saw chill bumps on her arms. “Let’s go back to the house and see if Burns or Sorcha know.”
“Sorcha will know,” said Flynn, laughing. “I don’t think anything happens in the world without her knowing about it.”
“There you are,” said Sorcha when we came inside. “Naughton will be here soon. Laird has brought your things.” She motioned to a small suitcase and then walked closer to me and took both my hands in hers.
“Paxon, I want you to let Stella write your story. The world deserves to know it.”
“I think she’ll write it with my permission or without it, not that it’s my story alone, to begin with.”
“It is and she won’t. Tell her you want her to, and she will.”
I studied her, not sure what to make of the formidable woman whose grasp on my hands was so tight and radiated so much warmth. It was easy to see Doc in both her and in Burns. He was the best of both of them.
“Promise me.”
“I’ll talk to her.”
Sorcha beamed. “Good.” She turned around and took Flynn’s hands like she had mine. “Laird is bringing a basket of food for you to take on your journey.”
“Thank you.” Flynn looked over at me and then at Sorcha. “Um, do you know where we’re going?”
“Only the first place. After that, it’s up to the two of you.”
“Where are we going tonight?”
She patted my cheek. “You’ll see.”
Flynn gasped when she saw the helicopter approach and land. “Are we going in that?”
“You’ll love it, I promise.”
45
Flynn
Instead of sitting in the one front passenger seat, Paxon sat next to me in the second row.
“There’s still enough light that I can show you some of the coast before we land,” said Naughton, who I’d met earlier when he picked Stella and me up from the airport and drove us to the ranch.
“I guess you know where we’re going,” Paxon joked.
“Let’s just say I know where you’re going first. After that, it’s up to the two of you.”
“Your mom said the same thing.”
“Ready?”
I grabbed both of Paxon’s hands when I felt us leaving the ground, and squeezed my eyes shut.
“Open,” I heard him say through the headset. “You don’t want to miss this.”
The helicopter didn’t go up too high, which meant we had a great view of the vineyards. “Look, there’s our bench,” I said, loosening my death grip on Paxon’s hands. “Oh my gosh,” I gasped when we went over a crest and I saw nothing but water on the horizon. My eyes filled with tears. Of course I’d seen photos, but nothing came close to the real thing. Not that it even looked real from up in the air.
“It’s breathtaking,” I said, looking over at Paxon.
He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “You are.”
“I can swing by the rock so Flynn can see it if you’d like.”
“That would be great,” Paxon responded.
“The rock?”
He smiled. “You’ll see.”
When Naughton veered to the left, my stomach sunk like I was on a roller coaster. Paxon pointed.
“What is that?”
“Morro Rock,” Naughton answered. “As I told your boyfriend, it’s a much better view from up here than it is from the ground.”
Wow. Naughton called Paxon my boyfriend. My first boyfriend. God, I loved the sound of that. “What’s on it?” I asked. I could see movement but couldn’t make out what it was.
“Seals. Thousands and thousands of seals. A little farther up the coast, you’ll see sea lions.
