Page 70 of Forgiving Her First Love

Glenda was sailing south with friends; otherwise she would have to spend another three days here, waiting for the ferry.

“Thanks so much for coming. I couldn’t have got through this without you.” Sophie meant it. In every way possible, Glenda had always tried to fill the void that had been left after Sophie had lost her mom. She loved her endlessly for it.

“Anytime. I mean that.” Glenda gave her hair a smooth, exactly as Sophie did to Biyen. “Give Biyen my love.”

“I will.”

The whole Fraser crew had turned up so Glenda went down the line, hugging Logan and Trystan, then Reid and finally Emma, ending with a kiss on Storm’s cheek.

“You all be good now,” she said with a wave as they cast off.

“Has she met us?” Logan mused. “That’s a pretty tall order.”

“Are you sure you’re ready to go back to work, Soph?” Trystan asked her as they filed up from the wharf and paused on the grassy overlook. “I’m here until tomorrow morning. I can cover for you today, if you want.”

“It’s your only day off and your only time with Storm. I’d rather stay busy anyway.” And out of that too-quiet house. She was dreading going back to it tonight, even though Logan would be there with her.

He had slept with her last night, asking first if she wanted to talk. She’d said no, she just wanted to sleep so that’s what they had done, but she sensed something heavy building between them that she wasn’t ready to study too closely.

“But thanks, big guy.” She nudged Trystan’s arm with her shoulder. “I’m more concerned with what I’m going to do with Biyen once he’s back from camping.” He was at the awkward age of being too old for a sitter, but not old enough to be left alone for a full day.

“I’ll take him,” Emma said promptly.

“I know.” Sophie smiled at her. “And I won’t hesitate to ask you to take him if something comes up, but unless you’re starting an out-of-school program, I couldn’t impose. Not every day for the rest of the summer.” Unless she left. If she left, everything would change.

The marina needed her, though. In a month, by mid-August, the traffic would begin to taper off. At that point, she could consider leaving without causing too much disruption.

She noticed that Logan was looking at her. Did his gaze briefly measure the distance between her elbow and Trystan’s? He was being very circumspect and hard to read.

“Running an after-school program sounds like fun,” Emma was saying with a bright smile to Reid. “Technically, I’m not allowed to work until my residency is sorted, but I’m going to look into what’s involved. What do you think?”

“I think that would be a great program for you to run at the community hall, not in our basement,” Reid drawled.

“There’s a day camp in Bella Bella,” Trystan reminded Sophie. “My cousin runs it. I’ll get a number for you.”

“I forgot about that.” Some of Biyen’s school friends went, but she’d always had Gramps here so she had never looked into it. “Thanks.”

“Okay, if I’m not covering for Sophie, how about you and me go for a walk?” Trystan held out his hands to Storm.

She tipped herself from Emma’s arms toward him.

“I see who the favorite is today. I’ll go to the garden and eat worms, then,” Emma said.

“Or we could talk more about this after-school idea of yours.” Reid snagged Emma’s hand and turned her toward the house. “That sounds like resort business that needs further discussion at home.”

“Everything’s in the pram,” Emma said over her shoulder as she let Reid tug her toward their empty house.

“Spoiler alert,” Logan said dryly. “They are not going to discuss business. You know what else is going to happen?” he added with annoyance as he pointed to the office window into Reid’s office. “Everyone up there is going to use the new door into my new office to ask me where Reid is.”

“You better get to work then,” Trystan said as he strapped Storm into her fancy all-weather, all-terrain three-wheeled buggy.

“Does that thing have a seat warmer?” Sophie asked facetiously.

“And heated handlebars.”

“Are you serious? The company truck doesn’t even have a heated steering wheel!”

“Tiffany ordered it, but I gotta say, I don’t hate it.” He zipped the bug screen around Storm and straightened. “We’re going to see what the trail is like to the upper falls.”

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