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“I only eat them in the morning. I think you’re right. I do feel a jolt from them, but they’re so good.” She looked at the last one she held in her hand. “That was five. I could probably have a couple more.” She put one in her mouth and walked to the bag, carefully pulling out two more and looking at Clara after she did so, as though she were checking to see if she were being watched or not. Like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar, trying to figure out whether she could get away with taking two cookies instead of just one.
“I only got two,” Lana said.
Clara wanted to say she didn’t care how many chocolate-covered espresso beans her mom ate, but it was interesting to see her mom go a little crazy over something so simple. She was happy to see her happy.
Of course, with that thought, she remembered the night before, riding with Alex on the beach. He made her own heart happy.
Funny how finding someone who seemed to understand a person, or seemed to really care about them, could make a person’s life so much...brighter. They hadn’t even really talked too much last night. The long moment that they’d spent staring into each other’s eyes as she walked out of the school had been the only thing that could be considered romantic in the entire evening.
Beyond that, their attention had been on Becky, like they’d determined without saying anything that Becky would have a fantastic evening with them together. Maybe they just wanted to let her know that people cared about her. Clara wasn’t sure, but she felt like Alex and she communicated without talking. She felt like that before when they were working, but it was one thing to work with someone and work well with them, it was a completely different thing to hang out with them and feel the same way.
She hoped her mom found someone like that. She deserved it after so many years alone and after what her ex had done to her. She was an amazing woman, and she deserved someone who appreciated her and loved her for who she was.
Not the lighthouse dude, who was way too old. Even if she did love his chocolate-covered espresso beans.
“You know, you guys should try these. I think you’ll both love them. Especially you, Sunday, because you love coffee so much, and chocolate.”
“I would try them, Mom. But I see how addicted you are to them already, and you only had them a day. The last thing I need in my life is more addictions. Or bad habits.”
Clara didn’t say anything, but she felt a little bad for her sister. Her life hadn’t quite gone as smoothly as she had hoped it would, and she had scars from it.
She supposed along with her mom, she wished things would go well for her sister too. Maybe they would both find a lifetime love that they could share their lives with.
“Are you ready to go, kiddo?” she asked as Becky pulled a doughnut off the table and stuck it in her mouth.
“Yep,” Becky said around the doughnut.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, sweetie,” Lana said, and Clara appreciated that. She hadn’t been sure whether she should correct the child or not. She hated to, since the kid wasn’t hers, but at the same time, since she didn’t exactly have a mom and dad to guide her as she grew, maybe she needed that kind of discipline from whoever was in her life.
Regardless, her mother took care of it in her lovingly casual way. Becky nodded and obediently kept her mouth closed until after she swallowed.
“I know I shouldn’t, but I just forgot.”
“That’s okay. Nobody’s perfect, and I know what I should do all the time too, but sometimes I forget, and sometimes I can’t get myself to do the right thing. We just have to keep trying.”
She nodded, and Clara figured that was probably about the best thing that her mom could say. After all, who didn’t like to know that other people made mistakes too?
She opened the door, and Becky went out in front of her. She wasn’t exactly the carefree little girl that Clara wished she could be, but it did seem like she felt like there were people who cared about her now, where before she had been a little more withdrawn and secretive. Maybe it was because she was afraid of being found out.
“Kristin gets you next.” She started the conversation as they walked down the driveway and sidewalk, turning toward Kristin’s house where she lived with her gram and her gram’s two friends. It was almost a private assisted living center, with all of the older ladies that lived there.
She had a feeling that it might be a little bit boring for Becky. Although Kristin was super sweet, and Kristin could probably use a bit of a distraction from her gram constantly trying to match her up.
“I like Alex. You and he make a nice couple,” Becky said as they walked across the street.
“We’re not really a couple. He’s just my boss. And we’re going to be working together here in Strawberry Sands now.” She wished they were a couple. And she liked hearing Becky say they made a good one. But even though she hoped that was the direction the relationship was taking, she wasn’t quite sure, and she didn’t want to give any illusions that it was more than what it was. First of all, she didn’t want to upset Alex, and second, she didn’t want to get her own hopes up.
Which was harder and harder to do. She loved the idea that maybe her dreams were coming true.
“You weren’t acting like a couple last night.”
“No. We were going riding with you.”
“Why did you ask him to go with us?”
“Well, he’s a city boy, I guess. And he’s my boss, so I did hope he would agree to go for a ride. I think he enjoyed it. He’s the kind of person who has a tendency to work too hard.”
“I guess that’s probably true, especially since he was working way after everyone else had already quit for the day.”
