Page 41 of Dream Mates (Into The Parallel Omegaverse #2)

Chapter Twenty-Five

Wes

G race dozed next to me in the passenger seat of the rental car as I followed the directions on my phone.

I’d been here many times, but I wasn’t usually the one driving.

It had also been a while. Nostalgia shot through me as I remembered all the good times Lexi and I had here with our grandparents and cousins.

As I drove through a quaint little seaside town, I made note of what stores were still here, and what new ones looked fun. I pulled into a crowded lot at the pier, since it was a Friday afternoon, and parked the rental car.

“Wake up, Peaches.” I shook Grace.

She sat up and looked out the window. Before us was a pier and boardwalk. The sky swing and bubble wheel were in full force.

“Where are we?” she breathed. “I mean, I know we’re on the Northeastern Seaboard, but…”

“Welcome to Seaside.” I grinned, waiting a moment to see if she figured it out.

Grace sucked in a breath as she put on her sunglasses and grabbed her purse. “Boo-bear, really? Where your grandparents have a beach house?”

“Yep.” I grinned. “Grandma even said we can stay there.” Anxiousness shot through me. “I wanted to show you the places I told you about when we were kids. I hope this is good.”

It wasn’t some fancy resort, just a beach town where I spent two weeks a year for a large part of my life. A place I shared things about with her during our seven years of dream visits.

The grin on her face erased my nervousness.

“Are you kidding? I was always so jealous that you got to go to the ocean every year. ” She bounced out of the car. “This is the best. Thank you.”

I joined her as we walked toward the noisy pier that was a core memory from my youth.

“I thought we could spend the afternoon here. Maybe I could win you a toy. We could ride the sky swing, have funnel cake, and do all the things I used to tell you about. I have a place that I want to take you for dinner, too.”

Her fingers entwined with mine. “I can’t wait.”

The sounds of the boardwalk brought me home. But we didn’t stop for snacks or games, yet. Instead, I walked her all the way down the pier to the railings, the smell of popcorn giving way to salt and fish.

“This is the ocean I used to tell you about. The water is cold. But we can go swimming later if you want.” I held her in my arms, the blue-grey of the ocean stretching out beyond us. To one side was a stretch of beach dotted with beach goers.

She’d always longed to go to the beach, so I’d tell her about it. While I was able to bring her some places in our dreams, the beach wasn’t one of them.

“It’s so clean,” she whispered, looking over the railing.

“Well, yeah.” I blinked. Was the ocean dirty in her world? How sad.

She pulled me down for a kiss. “It’s perfect.”

“Tomorrow I thought we could go whale watching.”

Her face lit up. “Really? I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Absolutely.” For a moment I held her in my arms, feeling the sheer happiness radiating through our bond.

This. I needed more of this. Simple silly things, like hugging her while watching the waves.

We took a picture and sent it to Evan.

“What first? Food? I think I should eat something,” she finally asked, gazing up at me with those eyes as blue-grey as the water.

“That sounds like a great idea” I took her hand, and we went back toward the food court, my own belly gurgling with delight at the idea of eating something deep fried. Spencer had us eating healthy.

I looked around, taking it all in. “It’s been a while since I’ve come here. After my grandpa passed we stopped. I miss those summer trips. I would even come for part of the trip if I could back when I was in the military.”

“Really?” She eyed the games of chance and skill as people called out to us.

“Yeah. I don’t know if you remember, but it’s my mom’s family we did this with–not my dad’s.

Something special Lexi and I got to do with our cousins and grandparents each year, all by ourselves.

After our mom left us, I was afraid we wouldn’t get to go anymore.

But my grandparents made it clear that not only did they not approve of her abandoning us, that we were still their grandkids.

Which meant the world to me after so much upheaval.

” I led Grace to the line for funnel cake, popcorn, and pretzels.

She leaned into me, her arms wrapping tightly around me, her head on my chest. “I’m so glad they did that. There’s something about grandparents being like that. My mom had no family that I knew of. But dad–I mean the man that raised me, did–”

“Grace, you can call him your dad if you feel like he deserves the title. Just like you can feel free to call your mom birth giver or egg donor or whatever,” I assured her.

“Okay. He really did love me–and care for me. When he divorced my mom, he and Grandma still remembered me on my birthday and holidays and stuff,” she said softly. “It took some of the sting out of it.”

“It does. My parent’s divorce cut me deep too,” I said softly.

We got funnel cake with powdered sugar, strawberries, and whipped cream, to share, and sat down on a bench with a view of the ocean.

Grace took a bite and made a face of delight. “So good. We have this in my world, too.”

I took a tiny piece of fried doughy goodness and threw it to the waiting flock of seagulls.

“Your mom… did she leave because she found her soulmate?” Grace asked softly. “I’ve been wondering about that. How it might affect your family if you suddenly found them–and how I could have wrecked things for you and your pack if I hadn’t fit the way I could.”

I planted a kiss on the top of her head. “None of that. Because you didn’t fuck everything up. You fit.”

She absolutely could have destroyed us. Which was part of why Brennan had been so wary–and why Evan wanted the integration team involved. I was beyond relieved that it had all worked out.

“It does happen, though, right?” She frowned, shoving another bite of funnel cake in her mouth.

“Sometimes. Usually, if it involves an omega, the Center likes to step in and make sure there’s a compromise and the least amount of fallout. That’s part of why the integration team exists. But there’s nothing like that for betas,” I explained.

She studied me. “Did the Center help with Caroline? She almost joined your pack, right?”

“It should have been a red flag that she didn’t want the Center involved. They did help us deal with the aftermath–especially Evan.” I sighed, because the effects on him had been horrible. “But Caroline was an entirely different situation than you.”

“Because I’m not a heartless bitch?” She snorted.

“Yep.” I gave her a kiss.

And, well, we were bonded scent matches, so Grace had legal rights that Caroline didn’t. Grace loved Evan and he loved her right back. Also, she wasn’t looking to displace anyone and wanted nothing more than love and ice cream.

“My parents were married, but they never bonded. My beta mom didn’t want to.

It wasn’t that unusual where we lived. One day, she proclaimed that she’d fallen out of love with my dad and needed to be happy–and it wasn’t with us.

She picked up and left, then sent the divorce papers .

” My head bowed. “While she made it clear it wasn’t us that caused her to leave, to a kid… ”

“Yeah, I understand.” She scooted closer to me. “I remember you telling me about her calling you sometimes. Did you ever see her again?”

“No.” My voice went bitter. “My grandparents begged her to try to have a relationship with us, but she wasn’t interested.

I know she eventually settled elsewhere, remarried, and had a new family.

I know nothing about them. She didn’t even show up when Evan and I had our mating party–and my grandparents made sure she got the invitation. ”

Grace leaned her head on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. I don’t need people like that in my life.” I sighed and took another bite of funnel cake, tossing another piece to the greedy birds edging closer, as I stared out at the waves.

We finished our snack, and I took her to the row of games.

“What do you want me to win for you?” I asked, as people called to us, trying to get us to play their game.

“One of those.” She pointed to a squishy pink rabbit in a row of toys.

“If that’s what you want, then I’ll try my best. Let’s see what our game options are.”

We continued to look at the games until I found one with the same pink rabbit that I thought I could win. I paid the guy and threw the darts, eventually popping enough balloons.

Beaming, she gave me a kiss as she held her new toy tight. An omega eyed Grace’s toy, and tugged on her alpha’s shirt, pointing to it.

“Sky swing?” I suggested as we walked past the bubble wheel, where the enclosed cars went around in a big circle. At the top you had a great view of the ocean.

“It’s the one with the swings attached vertically to a pole, right?” she asked.

“It is.” Did she still like spinny rides?

Her grin widened. “What are we waiting for?”

We rode a few rides and browsed the shops. The boardwalk grew crowded as people got off work and school. Grace shivered as a chill started to come in off the water

“Getting hungry?” I brought her to me, using my body to keep her warm.

She nodded. I took her back to the car, getting one of my hoodies out of my suitcase for her.

Grace put it on, and I drove toward the fishing docks.

We stopped at a little red shack and found a space in the dirt lot which was crowded with cars.

I led her past the families, teenagers, and packs until I found an empty stone table with a view of the water.

“Sit here, I’ll be right back with dinner. This is one of my favorite places to eat.” I stole a kiss and went inside.

The little restaurant wasn’t much–and was half fast-food window, half-fish shop. I waited in the long line, ordered two of the dinner specials with drinks, then carried it back out on a wooden tray.

Grace looked up from her phone and grinned. “What’s for dinner?”

I put a paper boat in front of her. “For all the fine dining in the world, I have yet to find anything better than grilled lobster with butter in a paper boat eaten at a stone table by the water.”

“Ohhh.” She licked her pink lips as she took in the lobster with butter, potatoes, and corn.

“Yep.” I dug in, regaling her with stories of fishing off the docks with my grandfather, adventuring in town with my cousins, and the other things we’d done here in summer.

“That sounds like so much fun,” she sighed, polishing off her potatoes.

“Because my dad owned a business, we didn’t really go on vacations.

A long weekend at the lake. Driving a day or two to see something special or visit my aunt who lived in the next state.

While my high school cheer squad competed, we didn’t go anywhere that far.

I didn’t fly on an airplane until college.

When I was getting my PhD, I was too poor to do much and never got the opportunities to travel that some of my cohort did. ”

I put my hand over hers. “You’ve got a whole world to see. I mean, first Seaside, next the PIIP conference.”

She giggled. “I know. Wild right?”

We’d take her anywhere and everywhere.

The sun set as the lights came on from the fishing boats on the water.

Gathering up our trash, we deposited it in the garbage, freeing up the table for a group of teenagers.

Taking her hand, I brought her to the water’s edge so we could watch the sunset.

“Can we go for a walk on the beach while you hold my hand?” she asked softly, as the waves lapped.

“Is your foot up to that?” I asked. She’d stopped wearing her walking cast and wrist splint, but I still worried about it being too much.

“Yes. Your dick worked its healing magic on me, and I feel just fine.” She grinned.

“I am here to serve.” I gave a mock-bow.

She took off her shoes and held them in one hand, the other entwined with mine. A look of delight crossed her face as she squished her toes in the sand.

“Are you doing okay with work and everything?” It seemed like it. Though she would ask me questions at lunch and on the way home.

“It’s only been two weeks. Our lunch times help–and the cheat sheet Spencer made for me. The science is brilliant, and my mind isn’t sluggish anymore. Truly, I’m excited. Also, everyone’s sort of weird so I hope any quirks I have will just blend in.” She beamed.

Relief sluiced over me. Also, Grace was right. Special Projects was full of neurodivergent genuineness, of course she’d fit right in. There, quirks were expected.

“What about you? Are you doing okay? You swam a whole lot of laps after your therapy session.” She squeezed my hand.

The sun was setting, and we weren’t the only couple out here, though many of them were sitting on the rocks.

“It’s hard sometimes. But dealing with everything that happened when I was nineteen is a long time in coming,” I replied.

Though part of the difficulty was leaving out the bits about not being able to find her because she was in a parallel world.

More because I didn’t want to be judged. I tried so fucking hard...

“Hey.” Stopping, she pulled me to her. “I’m here and we’re going to have a wonderful life together.”

“Yeah. We are.” I kissed the top of her head. “It’s actually really helpful–both our sessions together and my individual ones. We really need to find someone for you.”

“Bren says that, too. But short of Spencer managing to find a list of all the omegas his dad hid here and figuring out who became a therapist or counselor, I don’t know how we’ll accomplish that.” She shrugged. “I highly doubt that’s what his dad’s encrypted research is.”

I stopped short. “That is a brilliant idea. If there’s no list maybe somehow Evan can use his connections with the Omega Protection people to work backwards since they helped his dad.”

Getting out my phone I texted both Spencer and Evan the thought.

“I mean, if we did manage to find someone it would be sort of nice.” She bit her lower lip.

“It’ll be something Evan and I can work on while you’re at the science fair with Spencer.” It was getting dark so I turned around so we could head back toward the car.

She laughed. “I love that you’re referring to one of the top scientific symposiums in the world as a science fair. ”

I grinned. “It sort of is. Now, let’s go back to the car so we can start that wonderful life you were talking about.”