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“I’m fine. It’s just the buzz is a little more intense.” Carly’s teeth aren’t chattering as she drops her things by her belongings and begins to strip. “I just wanted to soak it up a bit more.”
“You do know we can go into the pool inside instead of coming out onto the lake,” I point out.
“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, the scenery is pretty awesome, and it’s quiet outside.” Carly makes a face. “We would have to deal with everyone filling up the lane and not getting out of the way while we’re trying to swim.”
She does have a point; the indoor pool is always very busy. I grab my jumper and tug it on. The warmth is wrapping around my body, and it feels really nice.
“So, with Amy in kindergarten right now and you have the day off from the studio, what are you planning on doing today?” Carly asks, grimacing as she unzips her wetsuit and peels it off down her body. “Are you going to pig out with lots of junk food with awful movies? I’m down for that if you are.”
“Awful movies?”
“Well, rom-com movies are awful.”
I laugh.
“It’s only because you don’t like them.”
“You’re just proving my point.” Carly manages to get the wetsuit off her legs and wraps her towel around her. “Anyway, do you fancy doing that? I need to do something with my time off.”
Watching awful movies, curled up under a blanket while my daughter is at pre-school, sounds really tempting. But I have something that I need to deal with. It’s the day Dad and I have finally organized to see each other, and I’m really nervous about it. We have things to talk about, and I have to get my point across about Megan and how we need to focus on our relationship and not with her involved. I know Dad isn’t going to be happy about it. But I’m going to stand my ground.
Hopefully, being in public will mean that Dad won’t get really upset and I can do damage control without any attention being drawn to me.
“Actually…” I hesitate, watching as Carly begins to take off her swimsuit under her towel, holding the ends between her teeth. “I have something to do at lunchtime, and I might need someone to come with me.”
“Really? What…” Carly’s frown clears when realization dawns. “”Oh, you’re meeting your dad, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. He says he wants to talk about coming back into my life and getting to know his granddaughter.” I shake my head. “I’m not comfortable about it, but I can get my point across and we can talk about what we should be doing going forward.”
“He’s had six years to get back into contact with you, to apologize for the way he behaved. Doing it now doesn’t really make sense.”
“To be honest, it doesn’t really make sense to me, either. Although I can have a good guess, if what Grandma told me is anything to go by.”
“What did she say?”
I pick up my wet swimsuit and wrap it into my towel with my hat and goggles.
“She said that Megan’s been trying to get pregnant for some time, but she hasn’t been able to carry a baby to term.”
“Ah, I see.” Carly raises her eyebrows. “You think because she can’t get pregnant, she’s trying to find a way to be around a baby.”
“I don’t know about that, but it could be why Dad’s reaching out. No way would I let that woman anywhere near me or Amy.”
“Well, speculation isn’t going to help anyone. You’re going to have to find out from the source.”
“I plan to, but I don’t feel confident going alone anymore.”
“Does Luke know about this?”
“No. It’s already complicated without Luke being there.” I watch my friend as she tugs on her leggings. “Can you come with me? Dad wouldn’t dare do anything stupid with you around.”
Carly is nodding before I’ve finished speaking.
“You try and stop me. This is my goddaughter we’re talking about who’s going to be affected. I’m not going anywhere as far as she’s concerned.” Carly shivers as she wraps her towel around her and burrows into her bag. “Just let me get dressed first. I think that was a little too much for me.”
I laugh.
“I did warn you.”
