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She wondered how she’d feel if her father ever started dating someone seriously. Or at all. After her mom had left, he’d gone through a lot of women, but none of them had been real relationships. It had been a way for him to blow off his steam and deaden himself to what his wife had done to him.
AJ understood that. She’d been using sex that way for a long time—until she’d met up with Matt again a couple of years ago.
“Girls.” Kristen practically leapt in front of Theo. “This is Theodore Sands.” She indicated him as if the three of them had gone blind in the past five seconds. “Theo, these are some of my girls.”
“I’m not,” Laurel said automatically.
Her voice almost sounded robotic, and Kristen chastised her and said, “Of course you are, Laurel. You may not have done the Seafaring program, but you are mine.”
AJ loved Kristen with her whole heart in that moment. She stepped forward and out onto the squat, square cement block in the garage. “Hello, Theo. I’m AJ Hymas.”
He pumped her hand as his gravelly voice said, “It’s my pleasure to meet you.”
No wonder Kristen was currently braiding her fingers together and pulling them apart. With his salt and pepper hair, that voice, and his height, even AJ would be attracted to him…in twenty years or so.
“Wow,” she said. “I hope my husband ages as well as you, Theo.”
“AJ,” El said, pulling her back into the house. She stumbled over the lip, and everyone reached to steady her, what with Asher strapped to the front of her and making her weight unbalanced.
“Who’s this little guy?” Theo extended his hand as if to tickle the baby, but AJ stood out of his reach now.
“Oh,” AJ said. “My son, Asher.”
“He’s adorable.” Theo’s smile filled the garage with light, and he looked to El.
“Eloise Sherman,” Kristen said. “Married to the Police Chief.”
“Yes, you mentioned her.” He shook El’s hand too. “She came to help Clara the other day.”
“Were you there?” El asked.
“No, no.” Theo chuckled. “Kristen just told me about it.” He looked at her with those blue eyes, and they sure seemed to say how much he liked her. AJ didn’t know what to make of it, but it was just about the cutest thing she’d ever seen.
“And Laurel,” Kristen said. “She’s a cop and married to a cop. Due with their first baby in October.”
“September,” Laurel said. She wore a smile that said she didn’t care which month Kristen said. “Nice to meet you, Theo. You said your last name is Sands?”
“That’s right.”
She exchanged a glance with Kristen, who cocked one hip. “You’re not going to run a check on him.”
“Of course not,” Laurel said as she turned back to the house. “Aaron already did.” She giggled as she retreated into the house.
AJ’s smile filled her whole face when El said, “You knew he would, Kristen. I’m happy to report you came back clean, Mister Sands.”
“That’s a relief,” Theo joked. They all came into the house, and the garage door had just slammed when the front one opened.
Clara led the way inside, and AJ had a feeling Clara led the way in everything she did. Her daughter came after her, clutching a big brown stuffed monkey, followed by Scott in the rear.
“Hello, dear,” Kristen said to Clara, and she quickly swept a kiss across her cheek.
“Jennifer said she’d be here,” Clara said. “Her car is out front.”
“She’s here,” AJ said. They all moved past the steps leading up and into the back of the house, which held the kitchen, dining room, and a decently-sized living room. It had a fireplace and a mantle, and the backyard was huge and well-maintained. If it wasn’t on the opposite side of the island from the golf course, AJ would covet it.
She didn’t have much of a yard for Asher to grow up in, and her house was so old, it was segmented into a lot of tiny little rooms. Still, she and Matt lived there for a nominal amount of rent, as his father owned the house. She couldn’t complain, so she didn’t.
Asher started to fuss, and AJ started to remove him from the sling. “You’ll have to go back in the seat, buddy.” He wore another of Jean’s one-of-a-kind tees today, this one with a big sailboat on the front of it. It read “Mommy’s best sailor” across the top, and she’d had a woman in the grocery store ask where she’d gotten it the first time he’d worn it.
