by Claire Adams
“Most people around the world care for their own kids. It’s in the bigger cities that those jobs are more frequent.”
“Are you saying I should move to a bigger city here?” I asked.
“Sydney isn’t too far away,” Mom said.
“You want me to leave already?” I asked, bewildered.
“No, love. It’s something to think about in the long run. I know how much you love the little ones.”
“I do love them.” Gina in particular. Her little face lingered on my mind all day, every day. I wondered how long it would be before she faded away just like my life in St. Paul did. “And I do miss it, but I have to find the right kid.”
“I understand,” she said, pulling out the filled carafe of coffee. She brought it to the table and filled two empty mugs with coffee.
I added a dab of milk to mine and swirled the liquid around with a spoon.
“Let’s sit out on the patio,” Mom said. “It’s a lovely morning.”
We went outside, and she was right. Outside was a little cooler, but the scent of the ocean tickled my nose.
“Bobby’s treating ya okay?” she asked, sitting down. Bobby was her friend who owned the antique store. He was given the store after his grandfather passed away and never looked back. He was a grandfather himself, so I wondered which of his seven grandkids would inherit it as only two of them worked there.
“Yes, he’s very kind,” I said.
“Use this as a learning experience,” Mom said. “Maybe you could teach your next kid about antiques.”
“I’m sure he or she would be very interested,” I said, keeping my tone light.
“If you get a young ‘un then I’m sure they would be. Though it seems every kid now has a cell phone attached to their palm.”
If I had my choice, I would choose an older kid, any age after five. I wasn’t sure I could do another three-year-old. I would be reminded too much of Gina.
“I know you miss them,” Mom said, sitting down next to me. She placed her hand down on my arm, squeezing it lightly.
“I do miss them,” I said, finally opening up. Since coming down, we’d avoided talking about Noah and Gina at all. It hurt too much. But now I felt as if I needed to talk about them. To get over them. To heal. “And I’m worried. I hope Noah can find someone who will take care of Gina. Someone who really cares for her. Like I do.” Then quickly amended, “Did.”
“You can still care for her,” Mom said. “She had an impact on you, just like you did for her.”
“Not enough of an impact for Noah to keep me.”
“Yeah, well, that’s how life works sometimes. You’re going to have to get over it.”
I nodded and sipped my coffee. I would get over it. Someday. But for now, I had to heal. And for me to heal, I had to think about them. Enough that maybe I’d wake up one morning and it wouldn’t hurt so much.
The phone rang from inside, and Mom got up to get it.
I sat back and peered out through the slats of our fence toward the beach in the distance. This was my life now.
I was out there for a few minutes before Mom returned.
She stood in the doorway, staring at me with the strangest expression on her face.
“Who was on the phone? Does Bobby need me to work today?” We didn’t have any other relatives so there was no emergency situation that would warrant that sort of look from her.
“No,” she said. “I suspect you’ll already have another job shortly.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She waved me over. “You have some visitors.”
Mom wasn’t making any sense.
“Just come ‘round front,” she said then closed the door.
Out of pure curiosity, I set down my mug and crossed the patio to the gate. As I came around the house, the first thing I noticed was a black sedan driving away from the house.
“Jess!” someone called, the voice flooded my body and my head whipped toward the source.
Gina came bounding across the front yard. I dropped to my knees and my vision blurred.
Her little arms wrapped around my neck and she squeezed. “We’re here!”
“You are,” I said, closing my eyes. I rocked her for a few minutes and inhaled her scent. God, I’d missed her. Tears welled behind my eyelids.
“Are you happy?” Gina asked.
I opened my eyes and wiped at them. I glanced over a Noah, who stood with Mom at the edge of the lot. His hands were in his pockets, and his shoulders were tense. His expression gave nothing away. Had he wanted me to come back to Minnesota and watch Gina? I knew him and the way he threw away his money. And as much as I was happy to see Gina, I wasn’t going to be someone he could buy.
“Gina, love,” Mom said. “Let’s go inside and get you sorted.”
Gina kissed my cheek then ran off with Mom. Mom winked at me and then took Gina’s hand before leading her away from Noah and me.
Once they were inside, I stood up. Then, I realized I was in my bathrobe. I tightened the robe around me and stood there, waiting for Noah to make the first move. The feelings and thoughts I had of him since we broke up swirled around inside of me like a hurricane. Flashes of anger moved through me like lightening while the core of the storm wanted to hear what he had to say.
He took a step toward me, and I matched it. We came together in the middle of the yard, neither of us saying anything.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hey,” I said back.
“So, I bet you’re wondering why we’re here,” he said with a small smile.
“Among other things.”
“First of all,” he said, taking another step toward me. This time I stood, rooted to the ground.
We were close enough that I felt the heat coming off his body, but I didn’t dare get any closer. Noah had a way of clouding my judgment. This was the opportunity I wanted to hash out everything, and I needed to keep a clear head.
“I’m so sorry for everything I said,” he continued. “I was out of line and a total ass.”
I snorted. “At least we agree on that.”
He grinned.
“Did you come all the way down here to tell me that?” I asked. “You could have called.”
“I did call,” he said.
Did he? I didn’t get any missed calls from him.
“I didn’t leave a voicemail,” he said. “I wanted to surprise you. To make my grand gesture.”
“Well, I’m surprised. But I’m not coming back.” I had to stay firm to my decision even though my heart wanted to remain with Gina and Noah forever.
“I don’t want you to come back,” he said.
“Oh,” I said, a little surprised and a little hurt at his frankness. Why the hell was he here then?
“After Sierra told me that you moved away, I realized that I didn’t want to be in a place that you weren’t.”
I crossed my arms, still confused about what he was doing here.
“So, I followed your advice and sold my company,” he said. His eyes locked on mine and his expression softened.
“You, what?” I asked.
“I sold my company,” he repeated. “You’re right. I have enough money saved up to give Gina everything she’s ever wanted while living comfortably myself.”
“You’re officially retired?” I asked.
He shrugged. “For now. One thing I did before selling the company was open a branch here in Australia, closer to Sydney. So, if I ever want to work again, I can work sales. Which is my real passion. No amount of paperwork or supervisory work is worth missing out on Gina growing up.
I shook my head. “I can’t believe this.”
Noah took my hands in his, and I let him. “Well, believe it. I’m here to stay. That is if you want me.”
“Of course I want you!” I said and embraced him.
His arms were warm around my body. All of my feelings of resentment and anger were gone. He had made the biggest gesture, the one thing I�
��d wanted for their family.
He leaned his head back and reached up to move my hair away from my face. “I want you, Jess. I want you to be a part of my family. Will you have us?”
“Yes, I will,” I said and then kissed him.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Noah
Even after a week of living in Australia, I still wasn’t used to waking up next to the most beautiful woman in the world. I took to retirement a lot quicker than I thought I would have. Jess quit her job at the antique store and took to taking care of Gina alongside me. I had more money in the bank than Jess knew, and if she was going to work, it would be doing something she loved. I no longer needed a nanny for Gina, but at the moment we were content living unemployed and being with Gina.
After making up, we made the mutual decision to tell Gina about us. And in typical Gina fashion, she was thrilled. So, there wasn’t any reason to hide our sleeping arrangements.
“You snore anyway, Daddy,” Gina had said after I told her I was going to sleep in Jess’s room.
But even after a week, Chloe’s house was a little cramped. Most of our stuff was in storage, but we didn’t bring clothes for a week. We brought all of them. Chloe was kind enough to let us stay, but I wanted to show everyone how serious I was about our life change. We needed a place for ourselves. A place we could call home.
I broke the news to Jess and Gina at breakfast. Chloe already knew since she helped hook me up with a real estate agent in the area. She left early that morning to go to work and encouraged me to look at some places outside of Mona Vale. Little did she know that I wanted her in our lives too, so most of the properties I looked at were nearby. Besides, I wasn’t ready to give up the fantastic ocean views in the area. Also, Jess’s relationship with Chloe was better than it had ever been before. Giving Jess the option to stay with us would make it easier if we were close to her mom.
“Can I pick my room?” Gina asked with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.
“Absolutely,” I said.
“Yay! Yay!” Gina said, bouncing in her chair. “New room!” She threw her hands in the air and swung them around.
Jess snorted into her coffee, and I laughed along.
“Are you excited, Jess?” Gina asked.
Jess pumped her hand in the air and said, “Whoop whoop!”
Gina mimicked her, and before I knew it, they both stood up and started dancing around the kitchen.
I sat back in my chair, watching them, shaking my head and smiling. This was the family I’d always imagined for myself. Even though it started off much differently, I wouldn’t have wanted any of my past to change. Even with the awful two weeks without Jess, that was the push I needed to get to where we were. Gina and Jess’s happiness were my number one priority now. And that sure felt good.
Each of the houses we looked at were beautiful. As I intended to stay in Australia for a long time, I didn’t skimp on my budget. I had more than enough from my account and would get even more from the sale of the business and my house soon enough. The real estate agent, Sami Moore, was a professional and really listened to the ideas I had for what I wanted out of a forever home.
While they all had beautiful views of the ocean, it wasn’t until the last one that I was indeed taken away.
“Is there a reason you showed us this one last?” I asked Sami.
She had a wicked grin across her lips. “Because I figured that you’d want to stop looking after seeing this one.
We stood in the living room. As in every other house, Gina went straight for the bedrooms, and Jess was closely behind her. Jess had no idea I was going to ask her to move in with me, so she hadn’t invested a lot of her input even though I pried it out of her at each possible home.
I stepped forward, and Sami stayed behind me, giving me the space to explore. I opened the sliding doors to the terrace that overlooked the ocean. Below the terrace was a private beach with cement walls on either side for even more privacy.
“I thought you’d like the private beach,” Sami said from the doorway.
I turned around and smiled at her.
On the way back to Chloe’s house, Jess slipped her hand into mine and said, “Which houses did you like best?”
“I think that last one would be perfect,” I said.
“I liked that one too,” Gina said.
“Then it’s decided,” Jess said. “Did you tell Sami that?”
“Not yet,” I said, squeezing her hand. I glanced back through the rear view mirror at Gina who was busy playing with two small dolls. We’d brought them to keep her busy during the house hunt, but she’d barely played with them while we were inside any of the houses. Though by the way her eyelids drooped, I knew she wasn’t going to play for long. We’d spent all morning and most of the afternoon on a non-stop house hunt.
“How about we drop Gina off at your mom’s and we can go back to see the house again?” I asked Jess.
Jess glanced behind her at Gina. “That’s fine with me.”
When we arrived at the house, Chloe was in the living room watching television. She loved her soap operas and never missed an episode. Jess and I tried to convince her to record the episodes, but Chloe said that it was a ritual of hers that she was unwilling to break.
From what Jess said about Chloe’s alcohol recovery, there were several “routines” in Chloe’s life that she wasn’t willing to cut for fear of relapsing.
“Did ya tire out the little one?” Chloe asked.
Gina dragged herself over to the couch and laid her head on Chloe’s lap. Chloe covered her with the afghan that regularly sat on the sofa.
“Mom, we’re going to look at one more house.”
Chloe waved her hand. “I’m not moving my tushie for a while. Have fun.”
I took Jess’s hand and led her out of the house, gathering the courage for what I was about to do.
I had driven for a little while before I decided to come out with it. “Jess, I already made the decision to buy the house. Sami is drawing up the paperwork this afternoon.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “Then why are we going back?”
“I want to make sure that you like the house too.”
“Don’t take my word for it; you’re going to be the one living there. Besides, Gina is pretty easy, but she really liked that one.”
“That’s the thing,” I said. “Gina and I were talking, and we wanted to make sure that all three of us liked it.”
“Why?” she asked.
I had her full attention now.
“Because we want you to live there with us.”
Her mouth fell open. “You’re asking me to move in with you?” Her voice shook slightly.
I glanced at her then back to the road. “Yes. Will you?”
“Is that why this house is so close to Mom? You wanted us to stay near her?”
“That’s part of the reason,” I said. “Gina and I came here for you. And we want to be close to you and Chloe. This house is exactly what I’m looking for in all aspects.”
“I didn’t get to look around much,” she said. “Gina was all over the place, unable to pick her room. You might want to watch out because she was eyeing the master bedroom.”
I chuckled. “She must not have seen the ocean views from the room next to the master.”
“She did,” Jess said. “She liked the bigger terrace off the master and the private bathroom.”
I shook my head slowly. Maybe if I told her Jess and I needed the space, I’d be able to get her to give it up. Or I’d have to bribe her with something else. There was no getting around her stubbornness sometimes.
I pulled up the driveway to the house. I imagined pulling up every night ready to see Jess and Gina after the end of a day. I couldn’t wait.
“Where’s Sami’s car?” Jess asked.
“She left me the key,” I said. “Come on.”
Looking at the house again with fresh eyes made me love it even more than the first time.
“Welcome home,” I said as I let Jess inside the house first. “Now, there’s no pressure,” I said quickly, “but if you like it, you can move in. Or you can wait until later.”
“I’ve never heard you babble before,” Jess said with a smile.
I laughed and scratched at my chin. “Asking a beautiful woman to move in with you is a big deal.”
Jess kissed me, and I pulled her close while we stood in the foyer for a few moments together.
“That should give you my answer.”
“Hm,” I said. “Maybe you should try that again. I couldn’t hear you.”
She swatted at me and then turned toward the inside of the house. There wasn’t any furniture, but I’d researched several interior designers to contact after the house was officially in my name. I imagined what it would look like fully furnished to Jess and my standards. I glanced over at the fireplace and could see Jess and I snuggling by the fire with Gina.
Jess went into the kitchen. I could just hear Gina’s laughter as the three of us made meals together. This place was perfect.
I walked several steps behind Jess, just as Sami had done for me, giving Jess the time to experience the house on her own.
But unlike Sami, Jess turned and held out her hand for me. I took it.
“If this is going to be our house,” she said, “let’s talk about it together.”
“Sure,” I said.
“I love the fireplace,” she said as if she read my thoughts earlier.
“Over here is my favorite spot,” I said, bringing her out onto the terrace. We stood against the railing, both of us looking out into the distance.
Jess closed her eyes and inhaled. “It smells like home.”
“Let’s check out the rest of the place,” I said.
We walked through the living room into the family room. The sizes of the rooms were a bit smaller than what I was used to, but I would trade that house any day for this one. We could have lived in a two bedroom shack, as long as we were on the ocean, I didn’t care. I’d never been a beach kind of guy, but with retirement came relaxation. And I loved spending time on the warm sand when I was on vacation. Now I couldn’t live without it.