Page 45 of Between the Shady Groves
Their kids played in the background, squealing and yelling andsounding like they were having a great time, not paying any attention to the adults at all.
“All right. We’ll let you guys get back to your family time. But I just wanted to say a little thank you.” To his surprise, Lauren took hold of his hand as they walked away.
He loved the way her fingers felt in his and tried to recall the last time they’d held hands.
To his shame, he couldn’t remember.
“I’ve missed this,” he said, holding up their linked hands.
“Me too,” she said, smiling over at him.
They went a little farther until she said, “Instead of going into the healing garden, you take this path right here. It does get a little steep, and it’s probably best to do it single file.”
“All right. Do you want me to go first?”
“I can. It’s not very far.”
She was right. It was a short path, maybe fifty yards or so, although there was a switchback, and it was definitely steep.
Once they hit the bottom, there was a little bit of a grade until they reached the pebble beach, but the waves were louder, and the view of the lake was beautiful. The deep blue sky and the slightly more mysterious blue of the lake complemented each other, accented by the white of the breaking waves.
“Wow. There really is no sand.”
“No. I told you. Now, it does get sandy up that way, but this is probably my favorite beach anywhere.”
“The pebbles are all smooth, worn away by the waves, and it would be a good beach to go barefoot on.”
“Why not?” she asked, kicking off her flip-flops.
He had been wearing socks and shoes, and it took a little bit until he got them off. He’d rather walk with his shoes on, but it seemed more in the spirit of things for him to go along with the carefree nature of his wife.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you walk anywhere barefoot,” she said, watching in disbelief as he took his shoes off.
He was glad he had, just so he could see that look. Like she didn’t think he was going to, and he’d just proved her wrong.
“I’ll get used to it,” he said, winking at her.
She laughed outright at that.
He set his shoes beside her flip-flops and deliberately took her hand again, looking into her eyes as he did so.
She smiled up at him, and he felt content. Like…maybe things were going to work out.
He had ordered her something, and it was supposed to come that afternoon. Maybe it would be there by the time they got back. He had been checking on it on his phone before they left.
He thought that it would say to her that he was thinking of her and cared about her. At least, he was hoping it would.
“So George is unable to get the money to buy my company.”
“That’s too bad. But I wasn’t sure I wanted you to sell it anyway.”
Did she really mean it? Half the time, he thought maybe she was just saying it, but Lauren wasn’t the kind of person who just said things, so she must have been sincere.
“Why not?” he finally settled on. The beach was beautiful, the breeze felt good on his face, but even better was the feeling that he and Lauren were right with each other again. He couldn’t believe how much he’d neglected her trying to build his business.
“It just represents a lot of years of work for you.”
“And I’ll get that back in money. It might be enough that it won’t matter whether or not your bakery is successful. We might be able to do it just for fun. You know?”
