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“You’ll still see her,” Misha promised. “We’re not going far.”
“I hope that’s true,” Janessa said. “It’s been great having you here with us.”
“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” Aria asked.
“I’m sure.” Misha glanced at her mom, who nodded.
“Do you want me to come with you, Jay?” Gareth asked.
Jay shook his head. “I think we’ll be fine. All the big stuff is in place, and I can manage the suitcases.”
“Okay.” Gareth slid his arm around Aria’s waist, then looked at Misha. “Please don’t hesitate to ask us for help with anything. Just because you’re not living here anymore doesn’t mean we don’t care about how you’re doing.”
“Thanks.” It was hard to agree to asking for help, particularly because she felt like they’d been helped so much already. Not just by the Halversons, but also by everything Doctor Martin had done for them. “We appreciate everything you’ve helped us with already. It’s made the transition here a lot smoother than we had expected.”
Her mom nodded and added her own thanks to Misha’s.
“I guess we’re ready to go,” Misha said, accepting hugs from the three women before heading to her car to strap Ciara into her car seat.
They waved goodbye as Misha pulled away from the curb, and even though they weren’t going very far, it very much felt like they were leaving yet another home.
Once they arrived at the townhouse, Jay and Misha unloaded the suitcases while her mom took Ciara and wandered through the space. It didn’t take long before everything they owned was in their new home.
“Thank you so much for all your help,” Misha said to Jay as she stepped out onto the small porch outside their front door. “I don’t think we could have done it without you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad I could help.” He gave her a smile that made her feel warm and fuzzy. Like he really had viewed it as a pleasure rather than a chore to move their things. “And like Gareth said, if you need anything, just let us know.”
“We will.”
After a nod, Jay stepped off the porch and, with long strides, headed to his SUV. Misha watched him go, standing with her arm crossed against the slight chill that the late afternoon air held. She waved as he drove away, then waited until he’d disappeared from view before going inside.
Back in the townhouse, Misha found that her mom had put Ciara in her bouncer and was tackling the boxes with the kitchen stuff in them. “Does it still look as nice with all our stuff in it?”
“It looks even better,” her mom said, abandoning the dishes to come give her a hug. “This is wonderful.”
Her mom’s words settled something inside Misha. Personally, she’d been willing to accept whatever, just so they could be safe. But if this made her mom happy, that was truly a gift.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“How’s it been in your new place?” Jay asked Misha when he saw her at work on Monday.
“It’s great.” The beaming smile added weight to her words, and he was glad.
He hadn’t really thought much about everything they had given up to come to Serenity until he’d spent time with her during the move. He’d experienced a similar adjustment when they’d moved to Serenity from Seattle after his mom had passed away, but years had dimmed that memory. However, any major changes like that would take some adjusting, regardless of age. The only person Jay knew who seemed to thrive on frequent changes in his life was Wilder.
Janessa had voiced that she wished that Misha and her mom could have continued to stay with them, but Jay understood why they needed their own space.
“Hopefully you didn’t discover anything broken as you unpacked.”
“Everything was fine,” Misha said. “The movers in Atlanta did a great job of packing everything.”
“That’s good.”
“We also met some of the neighbors yesterday.”
“Oh? Were they nice?”
Misha shrugged. “They seemed to be. On the right, there’s a single mom with two kids. The other side is an elderly woman and her son.”
