Anyone that stumbles on the quaint coastal town of Shelter Bay might call it sleepy. They may even mistake it for a place where nothing much happens.
Perhaps that's because it's a tight-knit community full of happy families and local businesses go...
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It would have added fifteen extra minutes to Noah's drive if he dropped me off at the Moon's house on the Reservation, so we went straight to his place in Shelter Bay. I knew he was anxious about the situation his mom and niece were facing and I didn't want to be a source of added stress.
For some reason, I wasn't that surprised to learn that the Taylors lived in a lovely home.
It was a three-story, craftsman-style house at the end of a tree-lined cul-de-sac nestled between two other well-kept properties. With a separate two-car garage, a basketball hoop over their concrete driveway, and beds of fresh flowers out front, theirs was the sort of house I secretly envied growing up.
It looked like the sort of household that was lovingly decorated for every holiday while hosting countless Cub Scout meetings in between.
Noah's mother was waiting on the front porch when we pulled up wearing a look of mild concern and one of the prettiest peasant skirts I'd ever seen.
I vaguely remembered her striking green eyes and Scandinavian features from the bake sale, but I mostly recalled her bright crackling laughter. Her mouth was drawn into a concerned frown as she waited for her son to park.
"I'm so sorry, Noah," she fretted as he exited the truck. She took the concrete steps carefully, as if it pained her hips to move that way, to meet him in the driveway. "I don't know what happened!"
Noah made it to the passenger side of his truck and opened my door before I even had my belt unbuckled.
"Twenty years of neglect happened," Noah chuckled affably while helping me down onto the gravel driveway. "No sense in apologizing for the inevitable. Ma, I'd like you to meet Ava Smith."
"It's very nice to meet you, Ava, I'm Lindsey Taylor," Noah's mother offered me a lopsided smile. "And I'm so sorry we spoiled your date."
"I'm so sorry about your carpet. Water damage can be a nightmare," I replied. "Can I help with any of the cleanup?"
"Really?" Lindsey's shamrock eyes widened in earnest. "Jesus Noah, she's a keeper!"
"Ma!" Noah exhaled and lowered his head into his hand to knead his forehead. "Can we focus? Please?"
It was probably past her bedtime, but a lanky, sandy-haired blonde child danced into the hallway when we entered the front room of the Taylor house.
If she weren't wearing Disney Princess pajamas, I would've sworn she was some sort of magic sprite. Her wondrously large eyes sparkled like precious stones under a mess of curls as she sized me up with a gap-toothed grin.
"Is this your friend, Uncle Noah?" She had a lisp (which made her extra endearing).
Noah bent down and scooped the tiny girl up into his hulking arms to make her squeal so loud and so adorably, that I felt it in my ovaries.
