Billionaire Mountain Man

Jess ruffled Gina’s hair before sitting down. “This looks great, Noah.”

“It does, but it’s the last time you commandeer my kitchen, love,” Chloe said.

I placed my napkin on my lap. “Duly noted.”

Gina dug into her meal first, and the rest of us followed.

“Did you two have fun last night?” Jess asked.

“The s’mores were so good!” Gina said.

“I had to limit the little one to two. Though I was sure she’d have the entire lot,” Chloe said. “How was dinner?”

Jess and I looked at each other. Her eyes sparkled.

“It was exquisite,” I said. “Thanks for the recommendation.”

“Did you do anything afterward?” Chloe asked.

Gina looked at Jess expectantly. “We walked on the beach. It was a beautiful night.”

“I bet that was romantic,” Chloe said.

Jess’s eyes narrowed at her mother.

“I can’t believe we’re leaving tomorrow,” Jess said in an effort to shift the conversation.

I nodded in agreement. “I had such a good time, though.”

“Me too,” Gina said, chomping on a piece of toast.

“I’m glad you did,” Chloe said. “Maybe it will help you return sooner rather than later.” Chloe darted a look to Jess.

Jess didn’t say anything. She either ignored the look or hadn’t seen it. I knew their relationship was changing so I had a sense that she hadn’t seen it. Withdrawing into herself was Jess’s way of dealing with things.

“I was thinking of taking Gina to the beach this morning for one last time,” I said. “How about you two spend some time together today?” Even though it pained me to be away from Jess, I wanted her and Chloe to part with some good memories. And have the opportunity to finish hashing out their issues.

“I wanted to go to the Farmer’s Market if you wanted to come?” Chloe asked Jess. “It’s nothing fancy, but everything is fresh, and the people are friendly. I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends. Other than pictures, they don’t believe me that I have a daughter.”

“That sounds good,” Jess said and gave me an appreciative look. Over the past week, I started to realize that Chloe’s digs weren’t really digs at all. Her personality made her blunt and sometimes without tact. But at least she was consistent. I hoped the time alone would help draw the two of them together so when we returned home, they would have a better relationship than before.

At the beach, Gina and I built another sandcastle. She was very precise in how she filled the buckets and slowly turned them over to form the perfect structures. Several times, my mind wandered, and I found myself staring out at the ocean, trying to hold onto these moments with Gina. These little snapshots of our time together weren’t going to continue when we got home. My vacation had come at a strange time for work, and I had a lot to make up for when we got back. I briefly glanced at my emails that morning and saw they had doubled in number since the last time I’d checked. I’d quickly closed my laptop and shoved that out of my mind. It wasn’t something I normally did, but I wanted to be in the present with Gina and Jess for one more day.

“Daddy!” Gina’s voice broke through my thoughts.

“Yes, honey?” I said, smiling over at her.

She made a show of rolling her eyes. “You’re doing it again.”

She’d already caught drifting off into my own head twice that morning.

“Sorry,” I said, patting down the sand in the bucket in front of me.

“I wish we could be together like this all the time,” she said.

“Me too,” I said, flipping over the bucket and slowly lifting it from the ground. “But you know that when we get home, I do have to catch up on work.”

“I know,” she said.