Keeping an arm around me, he walked me back to his workbench.“Look at my sketches and tell me what you think.”
He had plans for cribs and a changing table.“I decided it made more sense and was less confusing as to where stuff was if the changing tables were identical, other than the wood.I want to do a weathered gray wood for the gallery nursery so it matches the rest of the wood over there, and a dark walnut here.”
I ran my finger over the drawing.I could almost feel the grain of the wood.“I love that idea.”
“Good.I told you about the crib I want to do for the nursery upstairs.For the second one, I was thinking of something like our headboard, but with the trees cut out, so you could add green glass.”He scratched his beard.“Then she’ll have an ocean crib in her room with a forest view and a forest crib in her nursery on the ocean.”
I nodded slowly, thinking.“The gallery nursery has no windows.Instead of a mural, I think I’ll have Cam’s crew paint in there and I’ll fill the walls with photos.I need to think about that.”
Declan looked over at the large open freight door that led to the back of the property, hearing what I couldn’t.“That’s Bracken’s SUV.And that’s Elizabeth’s car right behind him,” he said.
A moment later, Bracken parked by the open door and Elizabeth pulled in right next to him.They all walked in together.
“Good morning, Arwyn,” Elizabeth said.“Look, Faith.You and your cousin both chose purple today, and you both look gorgeous.”Faith wore black pants and boots like I did.On top, though, she wore a white lace camisole under a lilac wrap-around sweater.The color was striking against her warm brown skin.
Declan grinned at Faith.“You look like a beautiful ballerina in that sweater.”
She waved away the compliments, looking both embarrassed and pleased.
“And here’s your mom,” Declan said.
When Mom walked in a minute later, wearing a trim, plum silk dress, we all laughed.It took her a second to register what Faith and I were wearing before she shook her head.“I see the Three were all on the same wavelength this morning.”
“Is this weird?”Faith asked.“Should one of us change?”
“Don’t do that,” Declan said.“You make a strong, coordinated front.”He turned to Bracken.“No impulse for purple?”
The corner of his lips turned up, and he adjusted the handkerchief in the breast pocket of his tweed jacket so it was visible.Violet.The laughter started again.
“All right,” Mom said.“Do we have everything we need?Does anyone want a drink for the road or a bathroom break before we go?”
I rolled my eyes.“Now that you say it, I do.”I ran to the bathroom Declan had in his workshop.When I came out, Declan had his hand in my backpack.
“I added a few more protein bars, in case you get hungry,” he told me.“I also refilled your water bottle.The octopus is still pretty full.”He studied the front of my sweater.“Are you wearing your pearl?”
I nodded and moved my hair so he could see the earrings my dad had given me when I’d graduated from high school.At the time, I hadn’t known they were from him.A lustrous pearl sat in the center of fiery blue-green opals.They looked like magical flowers on my ears.They were also like a walkie-talkie to my dad, if I was in trouble.
“Good.”He closed my backpack and shouldered it.
“I’m going to need that now.”I held out my hand.
He took it in his own and said, “This is heavy with all the equipment in it.Besides, I’m walking you to Bracken’s ride anyway.”
We all went out to my great-uncle’s Bronco.Faith and I sat in the back seat, Mom and Bracken in the front.
Declan passed me the backpack and leaned in to give me a kiss goodbye.“Don’t forget to call,” he murmured.
“I won’t,” I told him.“Faith, remind me to call Declan when we all leave unharmed.”
Declan gave me a look as Faith laughed.He squeezed my gloved hand and then closed my door, stepping out of the way.I waved as Bracken backed up and drove toward the gate.Declan stood with his hands on his hips, his expression solemn as he watched us go.
“He worries,” Mom murmured.
“I know.”
Bracken pulled out onto the road, heading north.“Sybil, can you give me the address so I can program it in?”
She did it for him.When the directions popped up on his dashboard screen, he said, “Pacifica?I thought we were going to San Francisco.”
