Part 20 (1/2)
When dinner was over, and Ana had listened to Jessie's exploits at school, along with those of Jessie's new and very best friend, Lydia, she announced that she and the child were a.s.suming kitchen duty.
”No, I'll take care of it later.” He was very comfortable in the sunset- washed dining alcove, and he remembered too vividly the mess he'd left behind in the kitchen. ”Dirty dishes don't go anywhere.”
”You cooked.” Ana was already rising to stack the dishes. ”When my father cooks, my mother washes up. And vice versa. Donovan rules.
Besides, the kitchen's a good place for girl talk, isn't it, Jessie?”
Jessie didn't have any idea, but she was instantly intrigued by the notion. ”I can help. I hardly ever break any dishes.”
”And men aren't allowed in the kitchen during girl talk.” She leaned conspiratorially toward Jessie. ”Because they just get in the way.” She sent Boone an arch look. ”I think you and Daisy could use a walk on the beach.”
”I don't-” A walk on the beach. Alone. With no KP. ”Really?”
”Really. Take your time. Jessie, when I was in town the other day I saw the cutest dress. It was blue, just the color of your eyes, and had a big satin bow.” Ana stopped, a pile of dishes in her hands, and stared at Boone. ”Still here?”
”Just leaving.”
As he walked out in the deepening twilight with Daisy romping around him, he could hear the light music of female laughter coming through his windows.
”Daddy said you were born in a castle,” Jessie said as she helped Ana load the dishwasher.
”That's right. In Ireland.”
”A for-real castle?”
”A real castle, near the sea. It has towers and turrets, secret pa.s.sageways, and a drawbridge.”
”Just like in Daddy's books.”
”Very much like. It's a magic palace.” Ana listened to the sound of water as she rinsed dishes and thought of the squabbles and laughing voices in that huge kitchen, with a fire going in the hearth and the good, yeasty smell of fresh bread perfuming the air. ”My father and his brothers were born there, and his father, and his, and further back than I can say.”
”If I were born in a castle, I would always live there.” Jessie stood close to Ana while they worked, enjoying without knowing why, the scent of woman, and the lighter timbre of a female voice. ”Why did you move away?”
”Oh, it's still home, but sometimes you have to move away, to make your own place. Your own magic.”
”Like Daddy and me did.”
”Yes.” She closed the dishwasher and began to fill the sink with hot, soapy water for the pots and pans. ”You like living here in Monterey?”
”I like it a lot. Nana said I might get homesick when the novelty wears off. What's novelty?”
”The newness.” Not a very wise thing to suggest to an impressionable child, Ana mused. But she imagined Nana's nose was out of joint. ”If you do get homesick, you should try to remember that the very best place to be is usually where you are.”
”I like where Daddy is, even if he took me to Timbuktu.”
”Excuse me?”
”Grandma Sawyer said he might as well have moved us to Timbuktu.”
Jessie accepted the clean pot Ana handed her and began to dry, an expression of deep concentration on her face. ”Is that a real place?”
”Um-hmm. But it's also a kind of expression that means far away. Your grandparents are missing you, suns.h.i.+ne. That's all.”
”I miss them, too, but I get to talk to them on the phone, and Daddy helped me type a letter on his computer. Do you think you could marry Daddy so Grandma Sawyer would get off his back?”