The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,23
loved eating al fresco with his family. This was a place that generally left him with a great sense of peace, especially after a long day of wrestling with subcontractors and struggling with suppliers.
It was hard to feel peace with Jess Clayton around, especially given the awkwardness of their last meeting.
He wanted to apologize now to clear the air between them but couldn’t figure out a way to do that while his mother and daughter were there.
To his vast relief, Sophie managed to put away her new surliness toward him for the evening, too busy being fascinated by their guest. Gone was the moody, intense thirteen-year-old girl he walked on eggshells around these days. Instead, she was bright and animated.
He had forgotten how funny and vivacious his daughter could be. He found himself just watching her and marveling that she was his child, this amazing human who had somehow survived being raised by a clumsy single father and her grandparents, losing her mother before she could even remember and her beloved grandfather six months ago after a long illness.
Nate was damn lucky to be her father and didn’t take enough chances to tell her that.
“That was delicious,” his mother said, pushing her plate away with satisfaction. “Thank you for being so thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome.”
“It really is a lovely evening,” Jess said, looking out at the ocean. “If this were my terrace, I think I would eat out here every night.”
“We should, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate. We are often chilly, so close to the coast, and we get plenty of rain,” Eleanor said. “But you’re right. I’m afraid we take the view for granted sometimes. Sometimes entire days go by when I only have to pinch myself once or twice a day that I really live here.”
Jess laughed, a low, enticing sound that slid across his skin like a warm breath.
“I love it here,” Sophie said. “I know Sunshine Cove isn’t really our own private beach and other people can use it if they want to. But hardly anyone ever does so it kind of feels like ours.”
“It is one of the best things about Whitaker House,” Eleanor agreed.
“The tide is out,” Sophie said suddenly. “We should go see if we can find a sea glass stopper. It’s been forever since we’ve even looked.”
Nate felt a pang in his chest at her suggestion, which reminded him so much of the days when she used to adore him.
They used to love beachcombing on their beach at low tide to see what new treasures the sea had delivered to them.
She was right. It seemed like forever since she had wanted to.
“It’s one of the most elusive of beachcombing treasures,” Eleanor explained. “The stopper from a bottle or a jar. It’s easy enough to find agates and your average, everyday sea glass washed smooth by the ocean. But an intact stopper is almost impossible to find. We’ve been on the hunt for years.”
“We never find one, but it’s still fun. We might not find what we’re looking for, but we always find something,” Sophie said.
“What a good idea and the perfect end to a delightful day,” his mother said. “Let me change into my beach shoes.”
“Are you sure you feel up to that?” Jess asked.
Again, his mother looked slightly perturbed at the question, though she quickly concealed it.
“I’ve been traipsing up and down that path since long before you were born. I’ll be fine. You can go ahead without me, if you want.”
“We’ll clear away the food while you change your shoes,” Nate said.
While they carried the dishes and the take-out meal inside, Sophie kept up a long-running conversation with Jess about surfing, about the end of the school year in a few more weeks, about her plans for the summer.
In about five minutes, she freely spilled out to this virtual stranger more info about her world than Nate could drag out in a week.
“Okay. I’m ready,” his mother announced as they were loading the last few dishes into the dishwasher.
They set out on the walk that made three hairpin turns down a fairly steep hill to reach the bottom.
California’s beaches were all public up to the high tide mark but access to them was sometimes closed when they were surrounded by private property. In the case of Sunshine Cove, the only egress was through the land surrounding Whitaker House.
The Whitaker family had always allowed townspeople to park on the road and walk through to reach