Baze escorts his daughter to the beach. They are getting close to the Oregon border, but he wanted to make this one stop before heading back into Portland. He can't help but smile at the questioning look on his daughter's face.
"Baze, this is beautiful and all, but why are we here?" she asks.
"I thought you might want to see my favourite place when I was a teenager. You wanted to know more about the younger me. This might tell me a little bit more."
Lux looks all around the area. It's a gorgeous spot. The sand is the most beautiful colour, and the water is the most glorious blue, it looks as though it had been painted.
"I can understand why you would want to spend time here, but what made you want to get so far away from Portland?" she asks as they move closer to the seashore. They find a nice spot to sit and talk while watching the water pound against the sand.
"Well, you've met my parents, so that's one part of the answer," he says, not willing to allow his mind to go back to what it was like to grow up in the hell that was the Bazile household.
"Yeah, I wouldn't want to spend too much time with them either. Were they the only reason?"
"My parents were the main reason, but I was in a bit of a rut. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. My friends were going to college, or getting jobs. But I didn't have the interest to do anything like that. I just wanted to bum around. I didn't have any goals or anything I wanted to achieve in my life."
"I'm sure your parents were delighted about that?"
"Oh they were ecstatic. My mum just wanted me to be happy, but dad wouldn't let it drop. At the time, I wanted to be as far from him as I possibly could. A friend had taken me to this beach when we were still in school. He taught me how to surf, so every time I needed to get away I would come here, surf for a few hours, and have a little barbecue on the beach. I had some of the best times of my teenage years here."
"Did you think things over? Everything that had happened with Cate?" ponders Lux.
"I tried not to. To my teenage mind, it killed my buzz, so I didn't want to think about Cate and you unless I had to. But sometimes, I couldn't help it."
"What did you think about?" she asks, reaching into her bag for a bottle of water and some chocolate. She's going to need some sustenance for this.
Baze sighs heavily. He's not a man who enjoys thinking about his emotions, especially when they are as difficult to think about as this, but if it gives his daughter a bit more of an understanding of him, then he's prepared to do it.
"I thought about what happened with Cate, and about the pregnancy. I wondered what would happen with the baby, um, you. I thought about what would happen in the future, where I would end up."
"Where did you want to end up?"
"I wanted to run my own business, funnily enough," he smiles.
"Did you know you would eventually end up with a bar?"
"That was always the big goal, yeah. I always felt comfortable in bars. Not just for the alcohol, although I'd be lying if I said that wasn't a part of it. I just liked the atmosphere and hanging out with the guys. I figured that is where I am at my best, so why not turn something I love into my job."
"Definitely a good idea. How did you convince your dad to give you the building?"
"It took a lot of talking and convincing, but I finally managed to talk him around. I think he did it mainly to get my off his back, but I knew I wanted it, and I knew how to go about it."
"Didn't entirely work out as planned though. Not at the beginning, anyways."
Baze can feel a stab in his heart. It's bad enough he thinks of the bar as a one-time failure, it's even worse when his daughter has the same assessment.
"No, it definitely took longer than expected for it all to come together, but look at it now, right?" he says, beaming. For all the faults and failures, it has come together beautifully.
Lux smiles back at her father. He has come along nicely. She feels as though she knows him a lot better than she did when they started this trip, and for that, she will be eternally grateful.
They sit in silence for a few moments, enjoying the views around them, and just being together.
Cate is just heading out of the radio station when her husband comes up behind her.
"Hey, you're leaving without me?" he asks.
"Sorry, I thought you were heading over to Julia's to see Matthew?"
"That had been the plan, but her parents are going over, so I want to avoid the place. I thought we could head out to lunch. Lux will be back soon, and we haven't had as much alone time as we had hoped."
"That sounds fantastic, but I am actually meeting Alice for lunch. She needs to talk to me about something, I'm thinking it's about Math."
"Oh," he replies, unable to hide his disappointment.
She throws her arms around Ryan's neck, reaching up to kiss him.
"How about I come straight home and make us something to eat? I shouldn't be all that long," she offers.
A little smile pops onto Ryan's face.
"Perfect. I'll see you then," he says, kissing her quickly on the cheek before heading back into the station.
Cate is already on her second mug of coffee when Alice walks into the little café. She sits down with her friend in a flurry.
"Hey, what's going on?" asks Cate. She hasn't seen her friend like this in a long time, and she can't quite make out if it's a good thing, or a bad thing.
"I need your advice on something," she answers, managing to keep calm long enough to order a latte and a chocolate chip muffin.
"All right. What's going on?" she laughs. Alice is so smiley right now, and Cate loves it. After everything she has been through with Jeff, she is overdue some happiness.
"I am thinking of asking Math to move in with me. What do you think?" she asks.
Cate is a little taken aback.
"I didn't know the two of you were that serious? And what about Jeff?"
From the smile on Alice's face, they clearly were. "Jeff is going to have to accept that we're over. I can't worry about him anymore. What do you think?" asks Alice again.
"I think it's a great idea. Math is an amazing man, but just take it easy. I don't want you to leap into something before you're ready."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that you and Jeff haven't been separated for long, and I don't want either of you to get hurt. Math is a delicate flower, after all."
Alice grins. "Oh he isn't all that delicate, believe me. Look, we aren't going to rush into anything before we're ready, but I think we're in a good place, and I want to move forward. Hopefully Math is in the same place as me."
"I hope so too. I know how much he adores you," she says.
The waitress comes back with Alice's order, refilling Cate's drink while she's there.
"So what's happening with you? I saw you and Ryan talking before you left the station. Is everything all right with you two?"
"Yeah, things are ok. We had planned to spend a lot of time together since Baze and Lux have been out of town, but it didn't quite work out like that."
Alice nods her head in sympathy. She understands how difficult it can be to spend time with loved ones, especially when everything is going mad.
"Are you going to have the chance to spend some time together before she gets back?"
"That's the plan. When I leave here I'm heading home, and we're going to have lunch together."
"That'll be nice," gushes Alice.
"Yeah," replies Cate, almost absentmindedly.
"You don't look very keen on the idea."
"It's not that, it's just that things are so difficult at the moment. It seems to be one drama after another. We had such plans for our alone time without Lux, and we haven't been able to do any of it because of everything with his sister."
"The two of you have hit another rough spot?" asks Alice, concerned.
"We just never spend time together. We are trying so hard to make our marriage work, especially after the miscarriage, and finding out about Julia and the baby."
"It's been a lot. Too much, actually. Here's an idea. How about, when Lux comes back, you and Ryan take off somewhere. A little weekend away somewhere."
Cate thinks things over.
"That's a fantastic idea. Get away somewhere, and a place where we can't be interrupted by phone calls and family members."
Cate beams widely. She's excited just thinking about getting away with Ryan.
