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“What?”
He opened his mouth as if to give her a straight answer, but a child’s playful squeal snagged his attention. He turned, and Courtney followed his gaze to the young boys playing at the edge of the water. Although their cruise was only for adults, apparently the others sharing the port and excursions were not.
As Seth watched the boys, a smile stretched his lips.
“You like kids?”
He lifted one tanned, muscled shoulder. “They’re alright. I don’t have a lot of experience taking care of them, but sometimes I do talks at schools. We get along pretty well.”
“It helps when you’re on the same mental level,” she quipped.
A quick grin flashed across his face, giving her a glimpse of those killer dimples. “Touché. Still, I enjoy talking with them about firefighting and teaching them ways to stay safe.”
She could see him doing that with the same careful consideration he’d used with her on the zip-line earlier. “You ever think about having kids?”
He choked on the water he’d just drank from his bottle.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” She patted him on the back, hoping she’d just surprised him with her question and he hadn’t thought she was asking because she was interested in having children with him.
Coughing, he waved her off. “It’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting that question.”
“Sorry,” she repeated. “I just . . . you seem like you’d be a good dad. I don’t know.”
“It’s okay. I’ve thought about it,” he admitted. “But since I’d probably need a partner of some sort for that and the last woman I was even remotely serious with rightly decided I didn’t have time for her, much less a kid, I probably won’t be doing that anytime soon.”
“Do you still plan to fight forest fires when you start a family?”
He raised a brow. “IfI start a family maybe not, but my ex didn’t like that I also travel all winter.”
“She couldn’t go with you?” Courtney would’ve loved to have had a partner to travel with years ago. Giving up her nomadic lifestyle had been the hardest part of loving Kyle.
Seth opened his mouth, then closed it. As if he’d been about to answer but realized he hadn’t even considered the question. “She could have,” he finally answered. “Maybe not all the time, but there were definitely times she could’ve gone with me and didn’t.”
“You look like you’ve never considered that before,” she told him.
“What?”
“Having a partner that traveled to where you were working so you could have a family and a career.”
“What about you?” he asked, taking the spotlight off him. “Do you ever want to have kids?”
She didn’t have to think long about the answer. She and Kyle had been trying to get pregnant when he died. Part of her had hoped she’d find out she was pregnant after he passed, so she’d still have at least a part of him. The other part knew she hadn’t been ready for a child even before Kyle’s death, and she’d been too much of a mess afterward.
“I used to,” she answered. “But I’m not getting any younger and—”
Seth’s laugh cut her off. “What are you? Thirty-two?”
“Three,” she answered with a huff. “Why is that funny?”
“You don’t have to get younger, you’re young. You have plenty of time to have a kid.”
Yes, she had plenty of time to have a kid. But first she had to find someone who she’d consider dating, then she’d actually have to have sex with them. Marriage wasn’t necessary, but preferable. Then they’d have to take time to just be together before they started trying to get pregnant. By then she could easily be forty, if not older.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she answered instead of explaining.
“Oh yeah, try—”
The rest of his sentence was cut off by a child’s shrill cry. Instinctively, Courtney jumped up ready to act. Seth was also on his feet, scanning the area.
