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Carly shrugged. “It was fine. He’s not going to visit next week, which I’m not surprised about. But we agreed to talk on the phone every week.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t really know him, and I don’t want to all of a sudden be dealing with awkward visits.”
Anita blew out a breath. “Is there anything I can do?”
Carly raised her brows. “Get changed. I want to go swimming.”
Anita smiled. Everything about this trip had been amazing, even with the harder things. Her relationship with Carly had matured and felt stronger than ever. She was handling her absent dad situation with grace. Sam and Susan had found closure. And Wyatt...he was quickly finding a place in her heart, and she didn’t feel afraid about it.
Twenty minutes later, Carly and Wyatt were swimming against each other in some sort of very short lap race, and Anita sat on the edge of the hot tub.
She smiled when they finished, and somehow Carly was declared the winner even though from Anita’s viewpoint, Wyatt had finished several feet ahead of her.
“I’m beat,” he said, hoisting himself out of the pool. Dripping with water, he walked toward the hot tub.
Anita had trouble keeping her eyes off of his long frame and defined physique, but to be fair, Wyatt was looking at her too. “Nice swimsuit,” he said.
“Is that a joke?” she asked.
He chuckled. “No. Like I told you, you look beautiful in anything.”
Anita glanced down at her very basic black swimsuit with a sweetheart neckline. It was a bit frayed, but swimming wasn’t really her thing, so why should she invest in it?
Wyatt slipped into the hot tub. “Are you coming in?”
She moved lower in the water until she was sitting on the protruding bench.
A young family arrived at the pool, and the two young kids immediately started talking to Carly and asking her questions.
“Looks like Carly has some fans,” Wyatt said.
“She loves little kids.” Anita moved her fingers along the surface of the bubbling water. “I’ve always felt a little bit guilty that she doesn’t have any siblings. I mean, not that I wanted another baby with Bobby. But for Carly’s sake, she would have been a great big sister.”
“I get it,” Wyatt said, his gaze moving to those in the pool. “Does she babysit other families?”
“Once in a while.”
Somehow they’d migrated closer together, and their conversation felt almost private.
“I think a couple of kids would have been great, at least at one point,” Wyatt said. “I’m probably too old now.”
Anita scoffed. “Men don’t age out like women do.”
The edge of his mouth lifted. “True. Would you ever consider having more children, you know, if you found the right man?”
She knew her face had heated up, and not from the hot tub. “I don’t think so. I mean, I’m thirty-five and would be considered high risk.”
Wyatt didn’t seem fazed at her reply, so she wasn’t sure what all he meant.
“So . . . tell me about the woman who broke your heart.”
He raised his arms and rested them on the edge of the hot tub. “Cynthia was a concert pianist. She also had an ex-husband she was still in love with. After we broke up, she went back to him, or maybe it was the other way around.”
“Ouch,” Anita said.
“Yeah, ouch.” He held her gaze. “It was rough, but I think you’ve had it a bit rougher.”
