Chocolate Beach (Chocolate Series Book 1) by Julie Carobini

Author:Julie Carobini
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, beach, faith, california, chocolate, motherhood, girlfriends, ventura

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

I slept with the windows open last night, sucking in fresh air to offset the paint smell wafting up from the first floor. I’m sure the chaos and stink will be worth it eventually, but living the HGTV life is just not my thing. As long as I live in this eclectic beach town, though, I’ll never get some of my neighbors. Around here, it’s abnormal not to have some type of remodeling going on. The retired couple at the end of the block even ripped out a palm tree and paved over the spot just so their contractor would have a permanent place to park his truck.

Call me crazy, but I’d rather spend our money on an island hopping trip.

Along with the thick smell of wet paint, the sea’s waves rode fiercely onto shore all night long, keeping me awake. With every swell heaving onto land a new thought careened into my mind. So along with clean ocean air in my lungs, my head had its fill too.

Crash … is Douglas busy because he has to be, or because he wants to be? Crash … is Ty the upright person I’d hoped him to be, or have I done my best girlfriend wrong? Crash … will my home end up with a Divine Design, or will I be left In A Fix?

It’s no wonder that I’m dragging this afternoon like a U-Haul trailer with a flat. It’s late afternoon and I’m sitting outside in a meager sliver of sun, avoiding the commotion going on inside my house, trying to keep my eyes ajar. Flopped open in front of me is the Sunday school lesson I must consume and digest by this weekend.

Nathan’s been quiet all afternoon. My eyes pop open as I repeat that thought. Nathan’s been quiet all afternoon. All is not right in teenager land. I break out of my malaise and head inside to his bedroom.

I tap on the door. “Nathan. You all right?” Hearing no response I quietly turn the knob and step inside.

Nathan’s got his back to me, and he’s wearing earphones. On his desk sits a new bottle of glass cleaner and a wadded up bunch of used paper towels. I watch him as he admires the mermaid decal he’s just finished sticking onto his mirrored closet door.

“A-hem.”

He jumps. “Whoa! Mom!” He looks cross, as my Aunt Dot would say. His face is screwed up into a pout and his arms flail at his side. He pulls off the earphones and drops them onto the floor. “Why’d you do that?”

“Just checking in on you.” I glance around the room. It’s the neatest I’ve seen in months—except for the earphones sprawled on the carpet, that is. It even has that chemically-induced fresh scent. “Guess the ocean’s taking a rest from its big party last night. Waves flat today, huh?”

He shrugs, and turns back toward his closet. “Dunno.”

I take another step into his room. “Hey, how ‘bout them Dodgers?”

He tosses me another look with that scrunched up expression.

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