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Monday would be her grand opening. It was also the official first day of summer vacation and the unofficial start of the tourist season.
She had a lot riding on it, but ever since her talk with Lana, she had a peace about it.
She just hoped that God knew what He was doing.
She thought that a little sarcastically. Of course He did. She supposed what she really hoped was that He wasn’t going to take her through anything that was especially difficult. She felt like she’d already been through a lot of difficult things.
Ryan ran along the beach, trying to get his kite in the air, and then, just as she thought it was going to catch, it went up, flipped, and went straight down and did a nosedive into the sand.
Maddie and Rachel both laughed, while Ryan stood there with his hands on his hips, shaking his head with a smile on his face.
There was no doubt that everyone was having fun.
As Dakota had the last two weeks. She hadn’t gone with Ryan every time he’d taken her girls, and he hadn’t taken them every single day, but they definitely spent a lot of time together, and it was past time that they told Maddie about her father.
She appreciated the fact that Ryan had given her plenty of time to come to grips with that.
Now, her prayer was that Maddie would be happy and not worried, since Maddie had her own tendency toward anxiety.
She didn’t want to model that for her children, and seeing it in her daughter made her double her efforts to trust God and not allow her fear to win out over her faith.
“Watch me!” Rachel said, running by where her sister was trying to get her kite out of the sand without breaking it. Her own kite was in the air, her little legs churning as fast as they would go.
The feel of the sun on her face, the breeze from the lake, the fresh air, and the laughter she was sharing with people she loved made Dakota’s heart warm as she watched her daughter try with all her might to get her kite to fly.
It was a day to remember for the rest of her life. Her girls would grow up, her life would change, but she would have these beautiful memories tucked deep in her heart. Just a month ago, she might not have thought she’d ever have good memories again, but... Ryan had pulled her out of that place and shown her that while they were working on getting her store ready, they could still have fun.
He’d taken her girls and won their hearts.
She appreciated that more than she could say. She smiled as Ryan clapped his hands and encouraged Rachel as her kite caught the air current and soared.
But her legs must have grown tired, because she slowed just a bit, and her kite dropped.
It didn’t nose plant quite as hard as Ryan’s had, but it still lay sadly on the sand as Rachel came to a stop.
“You know, I seem to recall that your mother is pretty good at this. Maybe she’ll show us how it’s done.”
“I recall several times that you needed my help to get your kite in the air. Maybe I should be the one teaching you how to fly,” Dakota said, with plenty of humor in her voice. She did seem to recall that he had been terrible at flying kites, and it was something she was good at. But she was sure that he had figured it out eventually. It would be almost impossible to live beside the lake and not be an expert at kite flying.
“Bet Mom can get her kite up first,” Rachel said, holding her hands on her hips.
“And I bet she can’t,” Ryan said, lifting his brows and rising to her challenge. “If your mother wants to rise to the challenge, I can prove it.”
“Okay,” Rachel said, looking skeptical.
“You can borrow mine, Mommy,” Maddie said, walking over and offering Dakota her kite.
Dakota took it with a smug look that she didn’t quite feel. Ryan might have been terrible when they were younger, but she hadn’t flown a kite in years and didn’t know if she remembered how.
“It seems like he needs me to show him how this is done,” Dakota said, lifting a brow, as she wound the string up to a length she was comfortable with.
It felt familiar under her hands, even if it had been more than a decade since she’d flown one.
“I think if you lose, you need to go to church with me tomorrow,” Ryan said. “After all, we can hardly have a challenge without the winner getting something.”
“And an appropriate prize is me going to church with you?” Dakota said, humor in her tone. That wasn’t exactly what she would have guessed he would have suggested.
“Yeah. That’s actually a really good prize,” Ryan said, and all the humor had fled. She was close enough that she could hear his low tone and hear something that underlay it. She wasn’t quite sure what.
