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Trevor smiled and paused, his fork hovering over his plate. “I’m surprised you’ve never visited before. I bring my parents here every time they come to Rhode Island.”
Considering the atmosphere, Mon Soleil wasn’t the type of restaurant one would stop in alone. It also wasn’t the type of place you’d go to for a dinner with friends after work. Perhaps if her family visited Providence more, it may be a place to take them, but most of the time she traveled to Connecticut to see them instead. “I certainly plan on coming back.”
“Fantastic.”
Something about the way he said the word had her wondering if he assumed she’d meant they should come back here together. She hoped he hadn’t taken it that way because they hadn’t spent enough time together yet for her to know if she wanted a second date.
“Do your parents visit often?” During the short drive from her apartment to the restaurant and then over appetizers, they’d shared some information about themselves, but the topic of family hadn’t come up. Since he’d mentioned his parents, it seemed like a logical place for their conversation to progress.
“About once a month. They always coincide their visits for the weeks Katelyn is with me. She’s their only grandchild. They love spoiling her.”
“How old is she?” She’d refrained from asking anything about his daughter so far. Some people guarded any and all information about their children and she could understand that. Since he’d mentioned Katelyn though, Brooklyn assumed asking about her age was an unobtrusive question he should be comfortable answering.
“She turned ten last month. I took her down to Florida for her birthday. I wanted to take her to London, but she insisted on Florida. Her heart was set on the parks in Orlando.”
She didn’t know many ten-year-olds, but she guessed most would much prefer a trip to Florida rather than a visit to London. Heck, given a choice between the two, she’d probably rather visit Florida too most days. Cities like London and Rome were fantastic, but there was something about the parks in Orlando that brought out the child in everyone. “I imagine she had a fabulous time. I do every time I go.”
“We both did actually.”
“You sound surprised.” Everyone had fun down there. She’d never met a person who hadn’t.
Trevor adjusted his glasses before he said, “I’d never been
before. Even when I was a child, we didn’t take family trips there. So I assumed it was more for children. Turns out I was wrong. Katelyn’s already asking me to take her back. I’m sure Laurie will take her before I get another chance.”
The entire evening his voice had been friendly, but when he mentioned his ex-wife it changed and became bitter. She wondered what type of relationship existed between them. She knew enough divorced couples to know some hated each other following their divorce, making you wonder how in the world they got together in the first place. Others remained friends. The bitterness she heard pointed to the first being the case for Trevor and his ex-wife.
“Although perhaps not. She’s expecting this summer, so a trip down there might be too much for a little while,” he said, the bitterness more or less gone now.
Unsure of the proper response, she nodded in agreement and took another bite of her dinner.
“I’d like for you to meet Katelyn sometime. She spends every other week with me. Right now she’s with Laurie and Declan, but Sunday night they’ll drop her off for the week. Then next Sunday night, I’ll bring her back to Laurie. It’s not a perfect arrangement, but it’s the best we can do considering the situation.”
Meeting the man’s daughter seemed premature, so rather than agreeing to anything, she moved the conversation away from his comment. “Do they live nearby?”
“Yes, on the East Side. When we separated, Laurie kept the house there. Since Katelyn goes to the Wheeler school here in Providence, I wanted to be as close as possible.”
She hadn’t learned a lot about Trevor so far tonight, but it did seem as if he was a devoted dad. In her scorebook, that was a definite plus in his favor.
“Does she ever spend more than a week with you or her mom?” Hopping back and forth each week must be hard on his daughter.
Trevor nodded. “Occasionally, but more often in the summer. Laurie and Declan enjoy traveling, especially to the beach. The past two summers they’ve stayed at her family’s beach house in Key West for a month, and Katelyn has spent the time with me.”
A whole month on the beach sounded fabulous. One of these days she planned on getting a house on the beach herself. It didn’t need to be huge, but it did need to have direct access to the water. For one reason or another, she’d never gotten around to finding the perfect place.
“Katelyn hates the beach almost as much as I do, and she asks to stay with me rather than go with them. The arrangement works out perfectly for everyone.”
How could anyone live in New England and hate the beach? “What types of things do you two do during the summer?”
“She loves amusement parks, so we visit those. Sometimes we’ll head to Boston or New York and visit the museums. We both love art. We often go to the theater together too.”
So far much of what he mentioned involved being indoors. Perhaps that explained his pale complexion. Even though it was only early June, she’d spent enough time outside that she now had a nice golden tan. Trevor, however, looked as though he rarely stepped outside his university office.
“This summer she wants to go hiking. She’s never been before. I promised we’d give it a try one of these weekends.”
Hiking she enjoyed, although not as much as swimming and being at the beach. However, if Trevor enjoyed it, they’d have something in common. So far it didn’t sound like they had many shared interests. “I usually go hiking in the fall. There’s something about being surrounded by the colorful trees. Sometimes I’ll go in the summer too.”
Trevor’s brown eyes widened behind his glasses and he said, “Do you hike a lot? When Katelyn and I go, it will be my first time too.”
