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From his expression, Nick seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. “It’s a hard lesson.”
The compassion and understanding in his voice felt like a gentle balm. “Will you be seeing family over the holidays?”
“No, but that’s all right. My daughter Jenna and her husband are expecting in late January and they don’t want to travel here. They’d rather have me come back to St. Paul after their baby is born.”
She smiled. “I think you’ll be a wonderful grandfather.”
“Inside, I feel more like a young man than a grandpa.” He flicked an amused glance at her. “I have friends who feel life is slipping away from them and want to be called anythingexceptgrandpa. But I think it will be great. The cycle of life, and all that. What about your Christmas?”
“This is it. Bree is spending Christmas break with her boyfriend and his family at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort in Vermont. Adam hasn’t come home for Christmas in three years, and I’m lucky if he talks to me on the phone. So rather than sitting home alone, I figured this trip would be my celebration.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t doubt for a minute that you did the best job you could with him. But he made his own choices. And he doesn’t yet understand how precious every moment is with the ones you love.”
Nick’s phone chimed. He glanced at the screen, then opened his door. “The food is ready. I’ll be right back, and then we can head to the beach. It’s only a few minutes away.”
When he returned, he handed her the two take-out boxes and dropped the bottles of soda in the console cup holders. The aroma was unbelievable, and even Sniper sat up in the backseat and took notice.
The food was still hot when they parked in the beach parking lot, grabbed a couple of beach chairs and a big umbrella from the back of the SUV, and traversed across soft white sand to a spot near the gently lapping waves.
Sniper romped at the end of his leash, frolicking in the sand and trying to reach the water’s edge.
“This is so beyond what I imagined.” Lucy breathed in the crisp ocean breeze as she settled into a chair and dug her toes into the powdery sand. “I could just sit here for days trying to take it all in.”
Way out in the water she could see colorful windsurfers rising into the air and jet skiers zipping across the cerulean-blue waves. Wakeboarders were closer in, trying to catch the small waves.
Along the shore, families were playing in the water, sunbathing, or building sandcastles with their little ones.
Nick positioned the umbrella so they’d have shade and handed over her take-out box of garlic chicken and her Coke, then settled down beside her.
At her first taste, she had to suppress a moan of pure delight. “This isamazing. Thank you so much for the recommendation.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If you love this, then I definitelyknow of another place you need to visit before you go home.”
“Yes, please!” Sitting on this white sand beach with the glittering azure waves stretching out to the horizon and Nick beside her, going home early no longer had much appeal.
It was just so peaceful here, with the lulling sound of the gentle waves coming to shore. Several couples strolled along the beach with their leashed dogs. A man jogged by with a golden retriever gaily waving its flag of a tail.
Sniper gave the passersby a cursory glance, then rested a paw on her lap. The hopeful expression in his eyes was impossible to resist. She broke off a small piece of chicken, dusted off the coating, and gave it to him.
“Would you like to walk along the shoreline? It’s about two miles long. But the Maunawili Falls trail is close, too. It winds through tropical foliage and leads to a beautiful waterfall with a great swimming hole below.”
“Where people can jump in?”
“Some climb up even higher to make a bigger splash. But that hike takes around five hours. If you want, I can check the website to see if the trail is open.”
“I’d love that. But five hours is a long way for a little dog. How about staying here on the beach?”
After disposing their trash, they walked along the warm, damp sand until they could go no farther to the north, then turned back toward the far end of the beach.
Sniper barked and pounced on the waves as they rolled in, then gleefully rolled in the sand and was right back at it.
Lucy laughed. “Just watching that pup makesmetired. Have you seen any shells? I’ve been watching for them, but all I see are fragments.”
“I haven’t seen much on Oahu, but then I’m not really looking. You could find some good beaches using Google, though.” He surveyed the sand in front of them. “Maybe next time you come to Hawaii, you could do some island-hopping. I’ve heard Tunnels Beach on Kauai is good for shells.”
“Maybe.” If therewasa next time.
But when she got home, she needed to take stock of her life and figure out her next move. Her nursing degree and experience could be used in so many ways, yet right now it was hard to imagine going back to it at all.
