The Path to Sunshine Cove (Cape Sanctuary #2) - RaeAnne Thayne Page 0,46

sound like fun but I’m afraid I don’t have a bike.”

“Mommy has a bike,” Ava said. “She rides her bike and Si and me and Freckles sit in the trailer. You could use that one.”

She calculated that bike riding to her Airstream and back to the house would probably take them all the way to dinner. Exercise and fun at the same time. Seemed like a win-win.

“Good idea. Let’s check it out. Is it in the garage?”

“You shouldn’t borrow things without asking, though,” Grace said with a worried look. “Maybe you should text Mama and ask if you can use her bike.”

Grace was definitely the rule-follower in the family. That was obvious. Jess supposed every family needed one but the girl was going to have some serious mental health issues later in life if she didn’t relax a bit.

“I don’t want to bother her right now while she and your dad are busy driving to your brother’s appointment. I’m sure she won’t mind a bit. Can you tell me where we can find bike helmets?”

Grace jumped on the chance to be helpful. “They’re always hanging on the bike handlebars in the garage. I’ll show you.”

Soon after, she and the girls were on their way, the dog and Ava in the bike trailer already attached to Rachel’s beach cruiser and Grace riding along on her cool-looking retro banana-seat bike.

“Are you okay riding up the hill?” she asked Grace as they started toward Whitaker House.

Her niece nodded, offering up her gap-toothed smile. “I have strong leg muscles from all the swimming we do. That’s what Mama says.”

Her sister was a good mother. These girls were lucky to have Rachel on their team. She would never put her own fulfillment, her own obsession, above their happiness.

Jess considered herself healthy. She ran, she lifted weights, she jumped rope. Not to mention that her job was usually physical, moving boxes, carrying out furniture, hauling bags of trash to the garbage.

When she was in the military, staying fit had been a necessity and she had carried many of those healthy habits with her after she left the service.

Still, pedaling a bicycle she wasn’t accustomed to up a hill pulling a trailer containing a little mixed-breed rescue dog and a particularly adorable preschooler was harder than she might have expected. By the time she reached Eleanor’s house, she was sweaty and her leg muscles ached.

Grace didn’t seem at all fazed by the exertion. In fact, she kept up a running commentary about her school, about her friends, about the trip she wanted to take to Disneyland someday.

Her conversation was punctuated by Ava’s occasional contributions, usually centered around when she saw a dog or a cat or a pretty bird at a house they passed.

Jess should have brought water along, but at least she had cold water in the Airstream.

“The ride down will be easier,” Grace said cheerfully as they turned into the Whitaker House driveway. “We won’t even have to pedal!”

Just as she pulled up to the Airstream, she spied a figure in a black wet suit walking toward the path down to the cove with a long, curved surfboard.

For a wild instant, she thought it might be Nate and her heart rate accelerated. All day, she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that incredible kiss.

As soon as she got a true glimpse of the surfer, she realized her mistake. It wasn’t Nate, it was his daughter.

“Hey! That’s my friend Sophie,” Grace exclaimed. “Hi, Sophie!”

The girl paused at the top of the trail, her surfboard under one arm and her cell phone in her other hand.

“Hey there. What are you guys up to today?”

“This is our aunt Jess. She’s our mom’s sister. She’s staying over with us tonight,” Ava announced.

“Cool.”

Something was wrong. Jess could see Sophie looked distracted and her eyes were edged with red, as if she had either been crying or trying to keep herself from crying. Had she been fighting with her dad again? And what was she doing heading down to the cove by herself?

“What about you?” she asked, trying for a gentle tone. “Are you waiting for someone?”

Sophie looked at her surfboard, down the path and then back at Jess. “Oh. Yeah. I was telling this kid at school, Tyler, about the waves we have here. He’s a ninth grader. He just moved here a few months ago and hadn’t heard about the cove and said he might come over after school to check it out. I guess he changed his