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“Sort of,” Bliss said gloomily. “But Granger’s an expert at them by now.”
“And that’ll help. He is your birth partner, after all. A very dedicated one, too.”
“Oh yeah, he’s really into it.”
Dolores shot her a curious look as she packed up her bag. “Seems like a good thing. Is that a problem?”
“No, no, of course not.”I’m just being a hormonal bitch. Wishing he cared about me for more than the baby’s sake.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, we need more like him. I was so happy to hear that he’s going to take over law and order around here.”
Bliss covered her confusion with a yawn. “Sorry?”
“The constable position,” Dolores explained. “My husband’s on the board of aldermen and he said they’ve never had such a unanimous vote before. They usually argue about everything that comes up. It took them three meetings to decide the hours of the public restrooms down by the lake. It only took three minutes to vote to hire Granger.”
“Hmm. Well, he’s a very capable man. They made a good choice.”
“Are you okay?” Dolores put a hand on her forehead. “You look a bit flushed.”
“Naptime. Again.”
“I’ll be back in a week. You can call me any time, though. Not because I’m worried,” she added quickly. “You’re doing great, I promise.”
But no, she wasn’t doing great. She was furious. How dare Granger accept a job in Lake Bittersweet without telling her? Or even mentioning it? The last she knew, they were going to go back to New York when it was safe and there they would co-parent their baby. She’d been going on and on about her knitting line and all her career doubts, and he’d never even once piped up about his unilateral decision to move to Lake Bittersweet?
As soon as Dolores had driven away in her reassuring old Volvo, Bliss hauled herself downstairs in search of Granger. She found him in the swimming pool doing water aerobics exercises. Now that his incision had healed enough, he was working on restoring his muscle function. Important, for sure, but also inconvenient that he happened to be mostly naked while she was furious at him.
Why was he always so distractingly sexy to her? It was like he was entirely made of Kryptonite specifically designed to drive her crazy.
She stomped to the edge of the pool. How unfair that he looked so honed and muscular while she was a balloon wrapped in a laundry bag with ice cream stains.
He glanced up, eyebrows raised, one knee lifted as he balanced on one foot. She knew that look. It was the one he humored her with when she was having one of her fits of hormonal angst. But this was different. She wrestled her emotions into place so he didn’t get the wrong idea about what was going on here.
“We need to talk,” she announced. Uh oh, that sounded too aggressive, too hostile. “When you’re available.”
His lips quirked as he straightened his leg, then lifted the other one. “Should we schedule a meeting?”
“Are you mocking the manatee again?”
“I’m not mocking the manatee. We can talk now or when I get out of the pool. It’s up to you.”
Why did he have to be so goddamn reasonable? Always so logical, and yet, it wasn’t logical for him to move to a new place without telling her.
The baby kicked, as if sensing her upset.Breathe in, breathe out. Calm and collected.She eyed a nearby workout bench, but decided she needed the advantage of looming over him like this. It didn’t happen very often, after all. “Dolores just told me you got a new job. Here. In Lake Bittersweet. Don’t you think that’s something worth mentioning?” Try as she might to keep it even, her voice rose at the end. “I mean, I know we’re not married and we don’t answer to each other, but we agreed that we’re in this coparenting thing together. How am I supposed to coparent with someone who lives a thousand miles away? You could have at least discussed it with me. Pros and cons, that sort of thing.”
She’d never seen someone move so fast out of a swimming pool. After a flurry of splashes, he pulled himself onto the rim of the pool and stood up, dripping.
“You’re right. I mean, you would be right if I’d taken the job.”
“You turned them down? But you’d be perfect for it,” she exclaimed. “And they really want you.”
“I haven’t accepted it or turned it down. I wanted to talk to you first.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Of course.” Water droplets clung to the hard curves of his torso. “But as part of a larger…uh…portfolio of topics.”
“Portfolio? Are you getting into modeling?”
