“Ohh! The sand is cold too!” Everly bounced around for a few seconds until her feet got used to the temperature.
Ronan headed down the beach, marveling at the way the pink sunrise turned the water, sand and everything around them the same color. “I saw you and Dad talking last night. I didn’t want to interrupt since it looked so serious.” Ronan couldn’t decide if he was hurt by Ten confiding in Everly or not. He hated feeling insecure like this.”
“You give really good advice, Daddy. I think you’ve done everything you could to help Dad get over what happened with Autumn Miller. He needed a different kind of advice last night.”
“What do you mean?” How much different could Everly’s advice be from what Ronan had been telling Ten for the last few weeks?
“It’s different because I have a different perspiration than you do, Daddy.”
“Perspiration?” Ronan bent over and sniffed. “Ohhh, girl, you stink!”
“Daddy, I do not!” Everly giggled. She gave Ronan a shove, sending his feet into the water.
“Do you mean perspective?” Ronan asked, loving the feeling of the water between his toes.
“Yeah, that. I reminded Dad of good advice he’d given me over the years and mentioned he should use them himself.”
“Advice like what?” Ronan asked.
“Like being brave enough to be himself again.”
“You said that to Dad?” Ronan had said very similar things to Ten over the course of his healing journey, but it really was a different perspective hearing those words from Everly.
“You’ve done so much to help him, Daddy, but you’re not able to see the whole picture.”
“You’re talking about what you can see with your gift?” Ronan hadn’t given Everly’s gift a thought in this situation.
Everly nodded. “I remember how excited Dad was to go to work every morning. He had this happy energy that always got me off to school on a good note even if I was feeling grumpy or was worried about a math test. After the Autumn Miller thing, that was gone. All I could feel from Dad was fear and sadness and it made me think about all the times he helped me when I got bullied at school or was afraid to try a new thing.”
Ten was always great at talking about things like that. Ronan had wanted to knock skulls when someone came after his daughter, but Ten was always able to calm the situation and offer Everly advice that would not only help her situation, but keep her out of the principal’s office and the Salem City Jail. “You’re right. Dad is really good at that stuff.”
“Not every reading is going to come true. There are times when Dad is wrong, but even when he’s right, the universe has a funny way of doing things the way she wants, even if Dad saw it differently.”
“The universe is a she?” Ronan asked with a chuckle.
“Of course she is, Daddy. If a man were running things, the world would be covered in dirty socks and gobs of toothpaste in the sink, piles of dirty dishes and open cabinet doors.”
Ronan didn’t have the heart to tell her there were much worse things than dirty laundry and messy bathrooms going on in the world. Hell, he didn’t have the heart to remind himself. He’d wanted this vacation to take place in a bubble, away from the madness and chaos of the world. “Do you think dancing with Dad helped last night?”
“Did you see him twerk?” Everly giggled. “We had so much fun. I could feel Dad’s old magic. I didn’t realize how much of him was missing.” She sighed and wrapped her arms around Ronan.
“I noticed that too last night. We were all watching you guys from the windows. I was so happy to see Dad having fun again and not looking over his shoulder.”
“He’s gonna be fine, you know.”
“Oh, I know, honey. It will take some time, but he’ll get there.”
Everly shook her head. “No, that’s not what I mean. Yes, Dad’s going to eventually get over this Autumn Miller thing, but I’m talking about the future. No one else is coming after him for a bad reading. He’s never going to be arrested again.”
“Have you told Dad this?” Ronan wished he would have been in on this little bit of news. He knew it would have made him feel worlds better, but that didn’t mean much if Tennyson was still feeling the need to hide himself away.
“Yes, about two weeks ago. He just kept telling me that the future is fluid, just like Mimi Bertha said.” Everly stopped walking and bent to pick up a blueish clam shell. “I didn’t tell you, Daddybecause he wouldn’t believe you the same way as me. I hate that. I’m sorry.”
Ronan wrapped his arm around his daughter. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. You and your Dad speak the same language when it comes to your gifts. Sometimes I feel a little left out, but that’s on me, not on you.”
“You’re the protector of our family, Daddy. I know how much it upsets you when you feel like you didn’t do your job. When I got bullied at school, you blamed yourself. There wasn’t anything you could have done to stop Kenny P from being an asshat.”
Ronan snickered. “I know. You were hurting, which made me hurt for you. I can’t explain it better than that except to say you’ll understand when you have a child of your own.” He paused and poked Everly in the side. “That’s not gonna be anytime soon, is it?”
