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“That’s why I love you.”

I kissed him on the nose and then Hunter was demanding attention, forcing me to turn to Hayden to ensure he didn’t get left out until we were all cuddled up, right before we shut the door. The girls were exhausted and so were we, so we retired to our own room just down the hall.

“So we’re leaving in the morning to head for the coast,” Brock said. “We better get some sleep. It’s gonna be a long drive up to Canberra.”

“We’re stopping for a surf on the way, just so that’s clear,” Hunter said.

“We can’t stop?—”

“We can.” I smiled at Brock until the line between his brow smoothed away. “We can do anything we want to because we’re all on leave right now, so…” I glanced down the hallway to our bed, then took off at a run. “Last one in bed sleeps in the wet spot!”

Chapter 65

Hunter

The next day

Sun, sand, surf and my girl, nothing could be better. Well, getting her up on this board would be an improvement. Hayden and I had been trying to teach her how to surf for weeks now, in preparation for our holiday. Luckily this was a pretty remote beach off the highway and there weren’t a lot of people around, but still. Jamie’s legs wobbled as she tried to pop up and ride a tiny little wave, but I knew she was gonna wipeout before she even got started. Her balance was off, she was too far forward on the board, but mostly, she doubted she was gonna make it. Sure enough, she fell over into the water, emerging with a splutter.

“Maybe we need to have her ride our boards first,” Hayden said as we paddled over.

“That’s not how we learned,” I told him.

“Maybe she needs that kind of help.”

“She doesn’t need help,” I insisted. “She needs to trust herself.”

Jamie knew how to do that now. She’d always been capable, but it was only after standing up to her parents that she seemed to recognise it in herself. With that in mind, I jumped off my board, wading through the shallows to get to my frustrated girl.

“I can’t do this!” she snapped, tossing the board out onto the sand. “I’m too gumby.”

“You’re not.”

“I trip over everything!”

“You’re so close, Jamie.”

“I’m not.” She kicked the waves and then headed towards the sand. “Let’s just go. We’ll get to the Summernats earlier and…” Her voice trailed away as I grabbed her arm.

“Jamie, you’ve got this.” Her eyes met mine and I saw the simmering frustration there, but I pushed on. “Anyone who can fix problems in tiny little parts in complex machinery like a car’s engine can learn how to do something like surf.”

“Pretty sure they’re different skills. By your logic, you’d be awesome at doing oil changes.”

I grinned.

“Babe, try again for me. Once you learn how, it’ll be amazing. We can go on surf holidays?—”

She looked sideways when Hayden came running up.

“Oh, so that’s what this is about? Getting me on board when you bully Brock into going to Bali rather than Detroit to see the Ford factory?”

“We’re going to Detroit to look at old cars?” Hayden tried to cover his disappointment, but failed.

“After we go to Bali.” My smirk had her lips twitching and seconds later she smiled. “With what you’ve been through this year, a little wave is nothing to you. Less than nothing.”

Jamie knew I was talking her up, but it didn’t stop her from looking back at the waves. A long sigh and I knew I had her, so I wasn’t surprised when she headed back towards the surf.

“Find your centre of balance,” I said.