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“Oh!” she pouts and I chuckle.
“But—”
“Yay!”
I laugh. “We can try skimboarding.”
“What’s that?”
“You’ll see. If you’ve finished your breakfast go and get ready.”
“Okay!” She dumps her almost empty bowl in my lap, spilling even more milk, and races off to her room. I scribble a note for the others to say what I’m doing. A few moments later, she reappears. “Ready!”
“Nix? You’re still in your PJs.”
“No. These are shorts.”
“But you wore them to bed. You have milk dribbles on them,” I point out, even though I’m hardly one to talk as my crotch area now looks like I had an accident myself. “Hang on. I’ll just change and then I’ll help you.”
Ugh. Parenting is really hard. I have to get her dressed? At what age can she start doing that stuff for herself? Thank god I’ve not had to wipe her arse yet. I don’t think I could do it.
I pull off my dirty shirt and shorts, rummaging through the case I didn’t bother to unpack for replacements. I select some dark blue board shorts and a light blue tee that’s not too creased, along with a hoodie, then head to Nix’s room.
Of course all of her clothes are neatly folded in her drawers, no doubt by Raven or Ace. He’s always fussing over Nix, a natural father figure. I’m way more awkward about the whole thing. But the beach I can do.
“Here put these on,” I tell her, chucking a swimming costume, a light pink tee and some darker pink shorts down on the bed. There’s so much damn pink I don’t know if it’ll go or clash or whatever, but I figure we’re only going to be messing in the sand and shallows anyway so it doesn’t matter.
At the last minute I spy a tiny little hoodie that matches mine hanging on the back of her bedroom door and I snag that up too, oddly pleased that our styles match today, though I can’t say why.
***
It’s not so early that the beach is deserted, but it’s certainly quieter than any other time we’ve visited. We quickly stop at the beach hut we’ve rented to stash our stuff, and to allow me to grab a skimboard. I’m glad Jax suggested the little hut now. It seemed stupid at first because we’re not staying too far from the beach, but it’s nice not to have to lug all the surfing gear home every night.
When I open the door I quickly slam it again.
“What’s wrong?” Nix asks.
“Nothing.” Shit shit shit. It looks like a fucking massacre in there. There’s no way I can let Nix see. “Why don’t you sit there and take your shoes off?”
She smiles happily and complies, so I quickly slip through the door to stash our things and grab the board. It honestly looks like a murder’s taken place in here, only I’m pretty sure that both Raven and Baxter would kill someone with far less mess. Which can only mean...kinky son of a bitch.
I pull out my mobile and text Jax, asking him to send a cleanup crew down here before we get back. He’ll deal with it. No doubt Baxter normally would but I guess he’s otherwise distracted right now. My eyes quickly flit to the mezzanine, worried that they might be up there, but it’s undisturbed. I wonder where they went.
“Thorn?” The door handle begins to turn and I dive for it, slamming my weight against it to prevent Nix from being scarred for life.
“Coming!”
I slip through the door once more, grateful that Phoenix is already distracted, and we head off down the beach together.
Phoenix seems to love the beach quieter like this as much as I do, racing ahead and zig zagging through the sand like it’s her own personal playground. I snap a couple of pictures on my phone, knowing Raven will love seeing them later, and I follow her to the water, glad that the tide isn’t too far out yet so her little legs don’t get tired. Though of course, I’d carry her if they did. When we reach the water’s edge I show the skim board to Phoenix.
“It’s like a tiny surfboard, but we just ride this shallow water here,” I tell her. “I’ll show you.”
I run a few paces with the board at my hip, dropping it down into the sand just in front of me and hopping on after one step. The board slides easily on the sand carrying me forward from the rhythm of my run. Phoenix squeals with delight.
“Do you wanna try?”
“Yeah!” she cries, clapping her hands together.
