Page 83 of Beach Vibes

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“Solvang?” Jana asked, staring at the picture on Rick’s tablet. “I’ve never been.”

“It’s fun,” he said. “Agatha and Dale took us one summer. It’s touristy, but in a good way. But we’d stay in the Santa Ynez Valley.”

He took the tablet from her and typed for a second, then handed it back to her. She looked at the picture of the Garden Suite at the Hotel Ynez.

The room was glorious. Big with a living room. She flipped through the pictures, then looked at Rick.

“There’s a fire pit and a soaking tub?”

He winked. “A private soaking tub. See? There’s a fence all around. No one can see us. I thought we’d go wine tasting and just hang out. If we leave Friday morning, we’ll be in Solvang by lunch. We can spend the rest of the day there, then go check in to our hotel. I could set up the wine tasting for Saturday. Sunday we’d have a leisurely brunch, then head home.”

He paused, suddenly looking anxious. “Is it too much? Did you want to make changes to the plan?”

His obvious worry and concern touched her. “Everything is perfect,” she told him. “I love the plan. It sounds like fun, and the hotel looks amazing.”

“Yeah?” He smiled. “Okay, good. When I talked to them this morning, they had a cancellation, so the room’s available in two weeks. I can get the Friday off work. What about you?”

Two weeks from now? She wouldn’t be done with finals, but she was doing well in both her classes and didn’t need extra time to study, which meant she could make that part of it work. Teddy had already said he would watch Linnie, so she didn’t have to worry about that. She liked Rick and wanted to spend time with him.

“Let’s do it,” she said.

Rick grabbed her and kissed her. “We’re really doing this. You’re going away with me!”

“You sound happy,” she teased.

“I am.” His smiled faded. “I mean that, Jana. I got the best girl ever.” He grinned. “Ah, woman. I mean woman.”

She laughed. “I know in that context, sayinggirlis just an expression. You’re not in trouble.”

His smile faded a little. “You’ve never been mad at me. Why is that?”

“You’ve never messed up.”

“I think about you a lot. I want to make you happy.”

“I want you to be happy, too.”

He smiled at her. “Of course I am. I’m with you.”

17

Beth sat on the beach, watching the surfers. It was earlyand her day off, but she’d been unable to sleep. The last couple of nights, all she’d done was toss and turn as her mind refused to quiet and let her rest.

The morning clouds weren’t very thick and promised to burn off early, leaving the day bright and sunny. Overhead seagulls circled, calling out to each other. The air smelled damp and salty, and the sand was cold, but she’d dressed in layers and was physically comfortable sitting there. Mentally she was in a very strange place.

She couldn’t stop thinking about her evening with Teddy. Not just the sex, although that had been incredible all three times, but what it had meant to her. She’d never had an experience that came close to what she’d felt with him. It was as if therewere parts of herself she’d never known that had finally been uncovered. The act of making love with him had been transformative. Which sounded amazing but honestly just scared her.

Worse, it had caused her to wonder about his relationship with his late wife. Because if he had been equally transformed by loving Valonia, then how much worse the loss would have been for him. It hadn’t just been ordinary grief, because theirs would have been an extraordinary love.

She was also confused about the kid thing. Specifically his children. She’d enjoyed spending time with them and could see herself getting emotionally involved. A week ago she would have been determined to avoid theSword, but now…maybe…the thought of being a stepmother was something she could imagine.

A realization she would keep to herself, because hey, was it too soon? And yet thinking about his kids made her happy. If only the night with Teddy hadn’t left her so off-balance.

One of the surfers rode his board to shore, then walked out of the surf. She recognized Kai and waved to him. He planted his board in the sand, grabbed a towel and walked toward her.

“Are you making a habit of showing up here?” he asked with a smile.

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