Haven Harbor • a.i. •

Chapter 44

"Ender it's your day for dishes." I pointed at the chore chart and he groaned.

"Can I do them later?" He whined.

"Nope. We have stuff to get done today."

"Please, Car? I promise I'll do them tonight."

"No room, Ender. You need to finish your homework and Gracie wants to go out on the boat."

"Fine." He grumbled and began to wash the plates.

"Okay Gracie, let's go get dressed." I took her from her seat and she made her way upstairs to my room.

I opened the drawer that was now hers and dug around for a tee shirt and luckily came up with one pair of blue jean shorts.

Quickly I got her dressed and then found a pair of her tennis shoes.

Next I led her to the bathroom where she brushed her teeth and I ran the brush through her hair and put it in a braid for her.

"You ready to go on the boat?" I asked her and she looked up, giving me the first genuine smile I had seen her give and I couldn't help the excitement I felt. Maybe she was finally starting to like me.

We headed out to the boat and decided to take Bear along with us as well, so this would be his first time on the boat too.

This was also my first time since the accident.

Ender showed Gracie how to climb the four step ladder onto the boat and I stood on board to help her up.

Ashton and Gracie stood aside with Bear while Ender and I did our normal routine to make sure the boat was good to put out on the water. I made sure to get Gracie into a life jacket since she was still so little and didn't know how to swim and tied Bears leash to a post on the lower deck so he wouldn't jump overboard.

Once we were undocked and I had raised the anchor, I pushed up on the throttle and began to drive us out into open waters.

I only took us a little ways out and and then dropped anchor again.

I made my way down to where Ashton was showing Gracie over the side of the boat.

"Maybe when you're old enough, Carter can take you diving so you can see what it's like under the water." He told her and she looked to him with wide eyes.

"It's really cool." Ender piped up. "You can see sea horses and fish and sometimes even Dolphins."

Gracie looked to me with curious eyes.

"Once you know how to swim really well we can go diving." I promised her.

We spent a little more time out there, Gracie and Ashton obviously hitting it off nicely because she followed him around everywhere.

He helped her from the boat when we arrived back at the dock and she walked between us all the way back to the house.

When we got in she went straight upstairs to the bathroom while I turned to Ashton excitedly.

"I think she likes us." I quietly squealed and he pulled me in by wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I mean how could she not like you." He smirked and I giggled.

I leaned up to give him a quick kiss and he winked at me.

Gracie's light footsteps were heard coming down the stairs so Ashton let me go and we watched from the side as she reached the bottom, Bear running up to her.