Page 81 of The Lighthouse at the Cove
Becca swiveled toward the back seat where the girls were fast asleep. “Do you need help carrying Piper in?”
“No, I’ll just wake her up.” She climbed out of the passenger seat and opened the back door. She rubbed Piper’s arm as she unbuckled her. “Hey, Piper, time to wake up. We need to walk into the house.”
Piper groaned and snuggled deeper into the seat.
“Come on, sweetie. I need you to walk into the house, and then we’ll get you in bed, okay?”
“Nooo,” Piper groaned.
Becca shut off the SUV. “You carry her, and I’ll unlock the door.”
“Good idea.” Kaiah hoisted the sleepy girl into her arms and then carefully walked up to the house, where Becca had the door unlocked and opened. “Thank you.”
“No, thankyou,” Becca said. “You made this festival happen.” Then she paused. “And thank you for helping my brother smile again.”
Kaiah shuddered as a quick thrill slipped down her spine. Then Piper shifted in her arms and moaned in her sleep.
“You’d better get her in bed. See you tomorrow.” Becca jogged down the front steps and out to her SUV.
Kaiah carried Piper to her bedroom, where she managed to pull on her pajamas before tucking her into bed. Ariel curled up in her usual spot at Piper’s feet, and Kaiah rubbed the cat’s ears before ambling across the hallway to the guest room.
She hopped onto the bed and pulled the small bag from her pocket. Inside she found a dainty beaded bracelet with the words “Coral Cove” spelled out in beads.
Her eyes stung as she pulled the bracelet onto her wrist. Then she flopped back on the bed, held her arm up over her head, and studied the piece.
“I could never forget this place,” she whispered.
Chapter 20
Piper ran over to Reid and dropped a handful of wrappers into the bag before dashing toward the water once again.
Reid pushed his sunglasses on top of his head, and his eyes roved over the beach. It seemed the entire town had come out to clean up the beach. He bent down and picked up a disposable smoothie cup and dropped it into the trash bag, which was already half full.
Beside him, Kaiah plucked an empty soda bottle and added it to the bag. When she moved her wrist, he caught a flash of beads out of the corner of his eye. She’d worn the beaded bracelet he’d purchased for her. The realization made his chest tighten.
“You like the bracelet?” he asked.
She touched it. “I love it. Every time I see it, I’ll think of this wonderful place and all the wonderful people I met.”
“Good. I’m glad. I wanted you to have something to remind you of Piper and me.”
It was Saturday, and Kaiah had been in Coral Cove for two weeksnow. He expected Bill from Coral Cove Car Care would call any day to tell her it was time to pick up her car, and he was planning to find the perfect time to ask her to stay.
“Daddy, look!” Piper held up a take-out bag from a local restaurant. “Why can’t people just put their trash in a trash can?”
“That’s a very good question, pumpkin.” Reid held the bag open, and Piper tossed in the trash.
He turned to look at the sand, cupping his eyes to shield them from the strong morning sun (andwow, had the weather forecast been wrong!). They had started their beach cleanup a few hours ago, and he could already see a difference in the shoreline. Although the beach had always been appealing, now it was almost pristine.
“How’d the rest of your night go?” Kaiah asked while adding a handful of cigarette butts, along with an empty carton, into the bag.
“It was fine,” he said. “We had a couple of emergency medical calls, but then it was quiet. I did some paperwork and filed a few reports.”
“Glad to hear it.”
He added a couple of empty cans into the bag.
Kaiah pulled out her camera. “Smile, Reid.”
