I picked Seraphina up at noon. She came bounding out of her house wearing a white sundress paired with white sneakers, her hair in a high ponytail. I held open the passenger side door of my truck and helped her climb in, then stole a quick kiss.
“You smell amazing,” I said. “And look amazing.”
Her gaze slid down the length of my body. “You look pretty good yourself.”
I suddenly wished we were headed indoors. But I kept my wits about me, and told her to put her seatbelt on.
“Where are we going?” Seraphina asked as I pulled out of the driveway.
“I found a little cove on a run one day and always wanted to go back there.”
“And today we’re doing it.” She let out a happy sounding sigh. “It feels good to be dressed and out of the house instead of tied to my desk.”
“Did you write this morning?”
“I did. Got a decent chapter.”
We chatted about her latest book as we headed to our destination. I was fascinated to hear how she thought of a premise and characters. It was both like songwriting and not at all like songwriting. She told me about the chapter she’d written that morning before pilates. “The scene went in a different direction than I’d planned, which is really fun. Keeps me from getting bored.”
When we reached the parking lot above the beach, I grabbed the basket and Georgia from the back. The night before, I’d been seized with an idea for a new song. They were coming fast and furious the last few days. I’d played it for Ivy before I left, and she’d cried.
“You have to play it for Seraphina,” Ivy said. “You’ll wreck her.”
So, I’d made sure to bring Georgia on our date. Hopefully Seraphina wouldn’t mind that I’d brought another woman.
The path down was narrow enough that I went first with the basket and Georgia, turning back every few steps to make sure she had good footing on the loose rock. She didn’t need the help. She navigated the path like a local.
However, she took my hand anyway when I offered it at the steeper section and didn’t let go until we reached the sand.
We spread the blanket in the shelter of the largest rock, out of the wind, the sun coming in at the angle that meant it would stay on us for another two hours before the cliff shadow reached us. The ocean was calm and a beautiful shade of blue. Temperatures were in the mid-seventies. A pretty near perfect day if there ever was one.
Seraphina took off her shoes and sat cross-legged, leaning against the back of a log. She tipped her face up to the sun with her eyes closed. In the bright light, her freckles were more visible. I wanted to kiss every one of them.
Instead, I kicked off my shoes and buried my toes in the sand. We ate without hurrying, pairing the bread, meat and cheese to make mini-sandwiches. The strawberries from the store were actually quite good, juicy and sweet. Margaret had slipped a cold bottle of pinot gris into the basket, so we had something to wash it all down with.
The ocean ebbed and flowed. Pelicans came to watch our picnic, hoping for a crumb or two.
“Enough sun for me,” she said, tugging a sunhat from her bag. “I burn too easily, but it feels so good on my skin.”
“An example of something that feels so good but is so bad, right?”
“Kind of like this wine.” She held out her glass for a refill.
I poured her more, then set it back in the cooler. “I have a new song.”
She sat up straighter. “Are you going to play it for me?”
“If you want.” I shrugged like it was no big deal.
“I very much want.”
I reached for my case, pulling Georgia onto my lap, sitting cross-legged on the blanket with the sun on my shoulders andthe ocean behind me. I found the opening chord and started to play.
I sang the first verse. I could tell by her face that she understood exactly what the song was about.
By the time I reached Delphine’s verse—because her baby girl needs to get to soccer practice—her eyes filled.
I kept playing.
