Chapter Twenty
Jana
We stood on the beach, staring out over the water. The day had started sunny, but it was slightly overcast now. The ocean was calm today, stretching into the distance—a sea, not a metaphorical one, but an actual one, of slate gray water ruffled softly by the wind. Rocks rose up through the mist over to one side. Seagulls called and swooped through the air. We were standing on a beach just beyond an old favorite place of mine. I took a deep breath, savoring the salty scent. Simply being by the ocean itself felt freeing as the wind washed away my worries.
Finn had gamely come along with me, declaring in his proper British accent that he hadn’t been out here before. He’d only visited the ocean along the harbor in Seattle. We were just north of Saltwater State Park at a
