Page 36 of Changing Tides

I change into a sundress and send Leia to find her flip-flops when I hear a car pull into the drive.

Pulling open the door to investigate, I’m surprised when I see Amiya’s silver Mercedes.

“What are you doing here?”

“Not exactly the greeting I was hoping for. Aren’t you happy to see me?” she asks as she exits the car.

“Of course I am. I’m just surprised. You’ve only been gone a little over a week,” I say.

“Like I’m gonna miss a moment of this sexy saga you have playing out here in paradise. I told my boss I was going to be working remotely this week,” she says as she reaches into the back seat and pulls out a suitcase.

“Aunt Miya,” Leia squeals as she comes skidding out of the door and down the steps.

“LeLe!” Amiya shouts as she goes to a knee and opens her arms.

Leia runs full throttle into her.

Amiya closes her into a tight hug.

“Now, that’s the way you greet someone,” she calls over Leia’s shoulder.

I laugh. “Next time, I promise.”

She lets Leia go and stands and grabs the handle of her bag.

“We’re going to eat mellows,” Leia exclaims.

“You are?”

Leia nods. “Bastian is making them in the backyard.”

Amiya looks at me. “Oh, is he now?”

“Not now. In a minute, when we get there. You can come too,” Leia says.

“Well, thank you. I’d love to go eat mellows with Bastian,” Amiya coos as she passes me and steps into the cottage.

“You’re gonna have to share a canopy bed with a squirming four-year-old,” I call after her.

“I’ve shared a bed with worse,” she retorts.

Sebastian

Parker and Anson showed up to help Gramps and me finish our project, but Nana put them to work, assembling the new Adirondack chairs she’d bought for the new firepit with a promise of fried chicken and squash casserole for dinner.

After we feed our faces, the three of us haul wood from under the deck and stack it in the wrought iron rack by the patio while Gramps gets a fire going.

Nana arranges the chairs by color and places the last one just as the fence gate opens, and Avie, Leia, and her friend from Hawaii, Amiya, come walking through.

Leia has two bags of extra-large marshmallows tucked in her arms.

“Well, well, look what the cat dragged in,” Anson says as they make it to us.

“Hi, boys. Long time no see,” Amiya quips as she hugs Parker.

“Sebby, Sabel, this is my best friend, Amiya. She surprised us with a visit this evening,” Avie introduces.

“I hope it’s okay if I join you,” Amiya says.

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