AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Wyatt paused at the front door. “I guess we didn’t need so much information after all when Jack Martin turned out to be a direct link.”
“We got lucky,” Anita said. For some reason, she didn’t want him to leave yet. Because when he did, she’d have no more excuses to put off talking to Carly about her dad.
“Call me later?” Wyatt said, his green eyes on her.
She hesitated, and he rushed to say, “Or not. But I’ll be hoping the best for your talk with Carly.”
“I’ll call you.” Her pulse sped up. “I don’t want you home alone dying to know what’s going on.”
His mouth lifted. “That perfectly describes what I’ll be going through if you don’t call.”
Anita folded her arms. “So...you mentioned that you’ve been through heartbreak. What happened?”
Surprise crossed his expression. “You remember?”
“I do.”
He glanced away for a second, then said, “Her name was Cynthia. She basically left me at the altar—well, I did get a few hours’ notice, so I wasn’t actually standing at the altar.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She winced. “How long ago did that happen?”
“Three years.” He shifted the box in his hands. “Long enough to be over the rejection, but not long enough to completely forget it.”
Anita could see the pain in his eyes...He’d obviously really cared for Cynthia. “I’m sorry. It sounds like a rough breakup.”
Wyatt nodded. “The long view is that it was for the best. And life moves on. And sometimes there’s something better waiting.”
ANITA AWAKENED THE FOLLOWING MORNING after a restless night. She hadn’t slept much, and it wasn’t because of her talk with Carly. That had actually gone much better than she could have predicted. Carly was both curious and wary about her father being in town and wanting to connect with her. In fact, she’d called him last night, and they chatted for about ten minutes.
Anita heard her half of the conversation, and after it was over, Carly simply said, “He’s going to visit on Friday. I’m not ready to go do anything with him, but I told him he could come over and visit.”
Anita thought that was a good idea. A baby step. Not that she was looking forward to having Bobby in her home—looking things over—but this was about her daughter. And she had to focus on that.
What surprised her, though, was the phone call she received around lunchtime from Wyatt. Thankfully Phyllis wasn’t over that day. His warm voice coming through the phone somehow settled her circling thoughts.
“How are you?” he asked.
It was a common enough question, but coming from Wyatt, she knew it was genuine.
“I’m doing all right,” she said. “Are you on lunch break?”
“I am, and I guess I was too curious to wait for when you were going to call me.”
“Oh, I was going to call you, huh?”
He chuckled. “Am I being too transparent?”
She sat at the kitchen table. “I think you need to be more transparent after a statement like that.”
She could hear the smile in his voice when he replied, “You’re a taskmaster, Anita. I’m sure that comes with being a parent, but also being both an artist and a businesswoman.”
“Ah, starting out with the compliments, I see.”
“Is it working?”
She smiled to herself. “I won’t turn any down.”
“Good.” Wyatt paused. “I don’t want to pull any punches, Anita. I like you and I’ve enjoyed spending time together.”
