Rosie considered his question as she watched the children tire of the sea creatures and go over to Dottie’s shady spot to pet the little terrier-Chihuahua mix.
“It was all I really ever knew. I can’t say I loved never staying put in one place for long, but it did teach me a lot about the world and about people. That was also where I developed my deep love of books. There was inevitably a lonely time in every new place when I didn’t know anyone, but I always had friends inside the pages of the books I loved.”
“I’m worried my kids will struggle to make friends, with the move. They’ve been through so much over the past few years. Losing their mom, then losing everything we owned in a wildfire. I want everything to be perfect for them here. Finn is doing okay but Zara is still struggling with the move. I hope I haven’t messed them up for life by dragging them here.”
It was an admission she suspected he did not make easily. That he would be so frank and open with her, a woman he had only met once, touched something deep inside her.
“They’ll be fine,” she assured him softly. “They seem like lovely children and this is a very warm community. Once your house is finished, I’m sure they will feel more settled.”
She would have to see what she could do about moving things forward even faster on that front.
“Is that what compelled you to stay in Wood Briar all these years? That warm community?”
“And the lovely surroundings.” She inclined her head to take in the long stretch of beach and the soaring rock formations offshore that added drama and beauty to the area.
“This has felt like home since Mom and I moved here. I met my late husband on the first day of school only a few weeks later. We started dating and never stopped.”
“High school sweethearts, then.”
She nodded. “We were married a year after I graduated and had Emma a month before my twentieth birthday.”
“That’s young.”
She shrugged. “We were in love and both knew what we wanted.”
“The whole hearts and flowers, white-picket-fence thing?”
“Is something wrong with that?” she demanded.
“Not as far as I’m concerned,” he replied.
Okay, perhaps she was a smidge too defensive about the choices she had made twenty-five years ago. She knew she and Gary both had been far too young, but they had known their own minds.
“We had planned to marry after I graduated from college but then I got pregnant with Emma and we didn’t see any point in waiting.”
Those early years had been tough. She would be lying if she said otherwise. They had both been forced to grow up together. Because she had always been a good student, Rosie had earnedenough credits while still in high school to attain her associates degree by the time she graduated and she had been attending college in Eugene, working toward her bachelor’s in business administration, when she found out she was expecting.
Gary had been working in his dad’s drywall business here and working toward his own contractor’s license. Everyone from his parents to Sylvia to their friends had encouraged them to wait a while before settling down.
Rosie could only be glad they hadn’t listened or she would have had even less time with Gary.
“Can we take Dottie for a walk down the beach?” Zara asked her.
Rosie smiled at the sweet girl. “Sure. She would love that. Make sure you walk above the high tide line, though. We don’t want to scare any sea creatures.”
The small dog pranced around them with excitement as they bickered over who would hold the leash first. Zara won by force of will. Rosie suspected that was not an unusual occurrence. The girl struck her as possessing a very determined personality.
As if by tacit agreement, she and Andrew fell into step behind the children and Rosie was again aware of the sheer physicality of the man. He seemed surprisingly fit for a man who probably spent a lot of time at his laptop.
“How long has your husband been gone?” he asked.
She blinked at the unexpected question, hoping he couldn’t read the direction of her thoughts. “Ten years,” she said after a moment. “It feels like a lifetime in some ways and like yesterday in others.”
Though she didn’t really want to talk about Gary, she knew his next question before he even asked it. She might as well spare both of them.
“He was killed in a car accident.”
“I’m sorry.”