I glanced at Noah who had already wiped out in the water.
“You can do it, Gina!” he called out to us.
“I’m doing it!” Gina said with a squeal of delight.
“You are,” I said. “Now, twist your body to the side. Yes, like that. Use your arms for balance.”
As the wave moved from under us toward the shore, our momentum slowed.
“I’m going to put you in the water now,” I said.
“Okay,” she said.
I lifted her and slowly dipped her into the water. I wanted to show her there was nothing to fear from falling, and how the life vest would keep her afloat. I held onto the board and hopped off too, making my way over to her. Her little feet treaded water like a pro.
She reached up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I did it.”
“You did,” I said, unable to help the broad grin on my face. “I’m so proud of you.”
“I was scared. It wasn’t bad.”
“See, the life vest helped,” I said.
“I love you,” she whispered into my ear.
I looked over at her, and she was smiling. Those words made my insides flutter. I stroked my hand through her hair. “I love you too.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Noah
The wind whipped through the sides of my helmet as we descended down the hill toward Chloe’s house. It was about a ten-minute drive to our house from Jess’s mom’s but a little too far to walk, especially with all the hills involved. Gina had the idea of getting bicycles for all of us to give us exercise while going back and forth. Since it was on the warmer side that Saturday morning, we opted to ride together.
Even though in Minnesota I had a home gym and tended to work out a lot, there was something different about being outdoors and exercising. I even took it a step further and made a daily ride every morning that I was able. Most of the time I returned from my ride and Gina and Jess were still sleeping. It was a great start to my morning.
When we arrived at Chloe’s house, she was out back on the patio starting up the grill.
We propped our bikes next to the house and greeted Chloe.
“What’s for lunch, Mom?” Jess asked.
“It’s a beautiful day, and I wanted to cook outside today. I got some shrimp from the farmer’s market and was going to cook it up on skewers.”
“Sounds great,” I said.
Gina wrinkled her nose at the thought of shrimp. She always tried foods that I gave her, but she hadn’t been fond of seafood as of yet unless it was fried and she wasn’t able to see what was under the crunchy breading.
“Don’t worry, love,” Chloe said to Gina, “I have chicken for you. It’s been marinating all morning.”
Gina hugged Chloe. “Thank you!”
I glanced over at Jess, who was watching the two of them. Gina wasn’t the type of kid to make strong bonds with people in a short amount of time. But since Jess came into our life, Gina latched onto her. And then she did the same thing with Chloe. It was as if these two were meant to be with us from the start. It only took some time to get there.
“Want to help me out?” Chloe asked Gina. “I’ll need you to have really steady hands.”
“I can do it!” Gina said. They both went inside.
Jess sat in one of the chairs at the table, and I plopped down next to her. “Your legs are looking real nice lately.”