Page 99 of Changing Tides

“We saved you some, Mommy.”

“You’d better have.”

She wiggles out of my arms and sprints up the steps. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

“Where did the hula hoops come from?” I ask as we follow her.

“Sabel bought them for her.”

“She spoils her.”

“Yep, just like a grandmother.”

I make a pot of coffee to stave off the raging headache.

And then I get dressed, and the three of us ride out to the park for the local artisan market.

“If I had a beach house, I’d be buying all the things,” Amiya muses as we peruse the rows of vendor tents, and Leia sprints ahead of us, chasing a butterfly.

“Don’t go too far,” I call to her.

I run my hand over an outdoor table made from an old surfboard. It has four attached stools and a foot bar. “I love this. Wouldn’t it look good on the pier behind the cottage?”

“Very cool,” she agrees.

“Maybe I should get it as a thank-you gift for Sebby and Sabel.”

Amiya looks at the attached price tag. “Whew,” she whistles.

“That bad, huh?”

“Definitely not cheap.”

She turns it around so I can see the number.

Whewis right.

“That’s another thing to consider. If I do move here, I’ll need furniture for a house,” I say.

“True. You wouldn’t want to haul all that crap from the city down here. It’d cost a fortune. Besides, you don’t need to fill a new home with that pretentious crap Conrad made you buy and suffuse it with bad juju.”

“Yeah, better to sell it with the apartment. Let the new owners deal with the juju.”

“You’re seriously considering it, aren’t you?”

“I think I am.”

She throws an arm around my shoulders.

“Good, because I’m not sure fate could have made its point any clearer.”

“Divine intervention,” I mutter.

“Divine intervention.”

Avie

“Hey, ladies.” Sebastian throws an arm around me and plants a lingering kiss on my lips.

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