Healing Hearts (New Hope Falls #6) - Kimberly Rae Jordan Page 0,144

loved how she embraced things that not every woman would. He wasn’t even sure his mom would have gone along with a wet picnic on the beach.

“We’re going to the beach?” she asked a short time later as he drove past a sign for their destination.

“We are.” He quickly found a parking spot, which wasn’t too difficult since apparently the beach wasn’t a destination for people that evening.

Once they got out, he handed her the blankets to carry, then grabbed the bag of wood and the picnic basket. Together, they made their way to the beach area where the fire pits were located. Though there were other people around, it wasn’t so busy that there were no fire pits available.

They found one that was distanced from other people and began to set things up. Sophia helped him spread the blanket out then set the basket on it. He quickly set about starting the fire, since it chilly enough to warrant one.

“I love this,” Sophia said as she sat down on the blanket, crossing her legs and zipping her jacket up to her chin.

Ryker smiled at her. “So do I.”

Once the fire was started, he opened the basket and began to remove the food his mom had prepared for them. When he’d asked her if she’d be willing to prepare a picnic basket for them, she’d said yes, on the condition that he let her pick the menu. Since he trusted her—and really didn’t want to try and prepare the picnic himself—he’d agreed.

They had some fun deciphering his mom’s notes on heart-shaped post-its on top of the different containers. First up was an assortment of cheeses and crackers.

“I’m wondering if there might be peanut butter smeared on bananas somewhere in there,” Sophia said as she picked up another cracker and a piece of cheese.

Ryker chuckled. “There better not be. She needs to save that piece de resistance for the one person who truly appreciates it.”

They moved on to some chicken kabobs that his mom had wrapped in aluminum foil and packed with heat packs to keep them warm. Along with that were some potato wedges.

Since he’d been expecting sandwiches and potato chips, he was pleasantly surprised by the items in the basket. Everything was tasty, and it looked as though Sophia was enjoying it all as well.

Though he loved having Bryson with them, Ryker cherished the moments when it was just him and Sophia since it gave them the chance to converse more intimately. To share things about themselves that they just couldn’t speak openly about when a five-year-old was around.

When it was just the two of them, they’d had conversations about their pasts, with Sophia sharing more about her time with Ezekiel. The therapy had helped her begin to come to terms with a lot of it, and Ryker was glad that was the case, particularly because it meant she was willing to talk more freely about it with him.

Ryker kept adding wood to the fire, but then began to allow the flames to die down a bit once they were done with their meal. At that point, he pulled the few remaining items from the basket.

“S’mores?” Sophia asked as she reached out to take the bag of marshmallows from his hand. “Did you bring sticks?”

Ryker chuckled as he reached into the wood bag. “Not just any old sticks. These are special telescoping sticks.”

“I think that’s cheating,” Sophia informed him. “We had to use whatever sticks my dad could find on the trees that would reach the fire while still keeping us kids at a safe distance from it.”

“Tonight,” Ryker said, stretching out one of the sticks with a flourish. “You don’t have to worry about getting burned. Well, unless you try and eat a marshmallow directly out of the flames.”

Sophia moved to sit right next to him as she put marshmallows on the tips of the sticks. While he held them over the fire, she prepared the graham crackers with pieces of chocolate bars.

“First one up,” Ryker said as he pulled back what he considered a perfectly cooked marshmallow.

Sophia held out the prepared graham crackers, sandwiching the marshmallow and gently pulling it off the stick. She put it on the clean plate he’d set on the blanket in front of him, then helped him with the second one.

As he took a bite, Ryker hummed his appreciation of the soft marshmallow and melting chocolate. “Best dessert ever.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” Sophia agreed as she lifted her finger to