Page 29 of A Beach House Beginning

“We left the kitchen a mess, though.”

“We don’t mind the work, do we, girls?”

The girls looked as if they minded very much but they didn’t argue, simply went to work clearing away the table and carrying the dishes to the sink.

The cleanup did not take as long as Jenna seemed to think it would. After they had finished, Brielle and Addie asked if they could play a new board game Jenna had recently purchased.

He couldn’t come up with an excuse, since he had nothing else planned for the evening with his daughter and it was too early for bedtime.

The game was fun and challenging and much giggling ensued as they tried to figure out the rules.

“Looks like Theo needs to go out,” Jenna said after the second round. “You three keep playing. I’ll take him out.”

“It’s still raining, though,” Addie pointed out.

“Yes. We live in Oregon. It tends to do that. But unfortunately for us, dogs still need to go outside occasionally, especially when they’re being trained.”

“I can take him,” Wes offered.

“You’re the one who told me how important consistency is in puppy training, remember? I need to reinforce the training. I don’t mind.”

He rose from the table, undeterred. “Can I come with you anyway? After all those carbs, I could use a stretch.”

He wasn’t lying. For reasons he wasn’t ready to explore, his muscles felt tightly coiled. She hesitated briefly then nodded. “Will you girls be okay in here? We’ll just be outside for a few moments.”

Addison rolled her eyes. “I’m eight and Brie is nine. We’re fine. Can we playMario Kart?”

“Fine with me. We won’t be long.”

The girls were already moving to the sofa and pulling out the game controllers as Jenna reached for her raincoat. Wes took the coat from her and held it out, manners drilled into him by his mother coming to the fore.

“You don’t have a raincoat?” she asked as they headed for the door.

He shrugged. “I have one but it’s upstairs. I’ll be fine. I’ll stay on the back porch.”

He would actually welcome a little rain right now to cool his skin and his overheated imagination, though he didn’t share that information with her.

She picked up a small towel he assumed was for wiping down the wet dog and handed Wes an umbrella from a container by the door. When she opened the door, Theo trotted happily down the stairs to lead the way.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle, he saw when they walked outside to the rear of the house and the dog yard. The moon even peeked out from behind the clouds to cast a pale light onto the shrubs and flowers.

She inhaled deeply as she walked down the steps with the gangly puppy still leading the way. “Oh, I love that smell. Don’t you?”

He drew in night air scented with rain and flowers and the sea.

“It’s nice,” he had to agree.

“When I was a kid, we lived in one apartment building that had a very small playground with a patch of grass no bigger than one of the flower gardens here. I still loved to go out every time it started to rain and stand on that little patch of grass to sniff the air. My friends all thought I was weird.”

“I don’t think you’re weird.”

Funny, warm, appealing. Definitely not weird.

“Since I’ve moved to Cannon Beach, I’ve decided everything smells even more delicious here, when you add in the ocean and all the pine and cedar trees around, plus the Brambleberry House flowers. It’s magical, isn’t it?”

Shewas magical. Wes found her sweet and refreshing and unforgettable. How was any man supposed to resist her, especially a man who had known far too little sweetness recently?

He could not disagree about the air. It was intoxicating. Something told him he would never be able to smell this particular combination of scents, rain and flowers and the ocean, without thinking of this night and this woman.

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