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Amused, she snickers, her hands assaulting me, smearing sand and salty water all over my face.
“That is not funny,” I say, feeding her laughter.
Grinning, I pull her into my chest and lean back in the lounge chair. I start to tickle her, and she begins to laugh, her eyes sparkling with joy.
“What did she do?”
Sara’s voice rings behind us.
She sinks into a chair next to me, glancing at us.
“Oh, I see...” she says. “Give her to me.”
“No, it’s fine,” I murmur.
“At least, let me clean your face,” she says.
She wipes my face with a small towel. As she does that, Emma presses her hands on my cheeks again, her chest rocking with laughter.
“Maybe you should start with her hands...” I say, smiling.
“Yeah... No kidding. Stay still, sweetie,” Sara says as she cleans Emma’s fingers.
Minutes later, Emma lays her cheek on my chest and closes her eyes, her breath rolling steadily as she drifts off to sleep.
Sara checks the time.
“We should go now, so she naps in the afternoon.”
“Relax... Let her sleep. We’ll go when she wakes up. Otherwise, she gets all fussy.”
She tosses the napkin into her beach bag and stretches her bikini-clad body in the lounge chair.
Shielding her eyes from the sun, she looks at the horizon.
Seagulls quarrel on the beach over food. The air is warm and dry this time of year, and the water is slightly cooler than last summer.
“Some days, I wish I didn’t have to go back,” she says, looking in the distance.
I study her in silence.
She glances at me.
“I know it’s not possible, but I wish it were,” she says softly, a nostalgic grin curving her lips.
“What if it were possible?”
She searches my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“You and Emma may be able to stay here for a while,” I say quietly.
“How?” she asks, baffled.
“I just received, um... a job offer.”
“You don’t sound very convinced. Besides, what kind of job can pay for all of this?”
