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I turned back around to find Carl leaning against the edge of the tub to face me. His demeanor made my stomach sink. “Hmm?”
“Would you be interested in having a drink with me sometime?”
I kept my expression friendly but reserved. “Thank you for the offer, but I’m currently seeing someone.”
The muscles in his face tensed for a few moments before he went blank. “Oh, okay. It was just a thought, you know, if you wanted to. It’s good, though.”
“Thank you again. Please let me know about the tub as soon as you can.”
He nodded once and turned away from me.
Asta sat outside the perimeter of the gazebo, and hopped up to follow me as I walked away. Something about that guy bugged me, but Gram and Sunny seemed to like, or at least, didn’t seem to dislike him. He was a good worker, so I figured it was just my issue.
I followed the path toward the bungalows and stopped short just outside number one. The young couple staying had already thrown themselves into the process of packing their things into the borrowed Radio Flyer, when their little boy ran up to me, smiling and a little bit snotty. “Yamas?”
Asta sniffed his face and gave him a quick kiss. The child giggled but seemed intent on something else. “Yamas?”
“Um…” I looked up, thankful to see his mom trudging toward me, an apologetic smile on her face.
“Chandler!” She reached out for his hand. Mrs. Michelle Zadis, her husband, Tony, and their son hailed from Ellensburg, where Tony was a grad student at Central Washington University.
He didn’t pull his eyes from me. They were blue-gray and huge. “Yamas?”
Smiling, I peered at his mother for a translation, amused but confused.
“The alpacas. He watches that old movie, you know, the Disney one with the llama? He thinks they’re Kuzco and friends.” She looked down at her son. “I’m sure the lady’s busy, honey. We have to finish up and get going. Daddy needs to get home.”
The child’s brows drew together, and I braced myself, but to his credit, he didn’t make a sound.
“I could take him over for a visit, if you’re okay with that.” I offered, a little surprised with myself. I had a niece and nephew in Canada, but didn’t see them enough to have developed any kind of rapportwith them. I made a mental note to fix that. Jeremy was several years older, but, for the most part, we had a good relationship.
“If you’re sure it’s okay…?” The woman looked from me to her son, and back again. “I don’t want him to be a bother.”
“No bother at all.” I smiled down at the kid. “Did you want to say hi to the yamas?”
“Yay!” He slipped his hand into mine while doing this weird little knee bounce thing. It almost looked like he needed to pee, and I hoped that wasn’t the case.
Asta trailed behind as we crossed the pasture to the alpaca enclosure. The little herd made an immediate beeline for me, humming. While I would usually slip inside with them, I refrained this time. I worried the kid would get stepped on.
“Kooz!” The little boy reached through the slats in an attempt to pet one, but couldn’t quite reach, and squawked in frustration.
I scooped him up so he could pet Hades, and he giggled when he touched the animal’s fleece. “Soft.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“Dirty.”
“Yeah, that, too.” I laughed, gave him another minute to pet Euridice, and put him down. He ran back toward his parents while attempting to sing a Rascal Flats song. I watched until he was back with his parents, and his mom gave me a wave.
“You’re pretty good with kids.” Noah appeared next to me, and I jumped.
“You need a cowbell or something.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.” He looked both ways, and leaned in for a quick kiss.
Aware of the handyman lurking around, not to mention the little family within sight, I returned it, but kept it chaste. Noah was difficult to resist, so it was harder than I thought to keep it G rated. “You’re early.”
“I can leave, and come back.”
