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I rounded the corner and stopped dead in my tracks as Kyle’s blue eyes—or were they green? I swore they changed colors for just a second—locked on me.
With a clipped nod, he said, “Ah, there she is.”
I braced myself, ready to be hit with another lecture. But even though he still wore that permanent scowl, his tone was laced with a hint of amusement, like he was teasing me.
Whoa. The one-eighty from yesterday gave me whiplash.
“Theodore.” I moved my cart out of the way and pinned my four-year-old with my best mom look. “Isaidwait for me.”
Teddy lowered his chin and gave me the most adorable look of chagrin. “I sorry, Mommy.”
The chuckle Kyle let out had me dragging my attention to him. Though his eyes held a twinkle of humor and the corner of his lip twitched, there was still no sign of a smile.
It was a shame. He would probably be even more attractive if he didn’t look so angry all the time. Tall and lean, his body was a work of art. His wavy blond hair almost reached his ears. And the blue of his irises was speckled with a bit of brown.
Heat crawled up my neck and into my face then. Because, dammit, I was blatantly checking this man out. It had been almost two years since I’d been intimate with my husband, and this was the first time I’d noticed another man in a physical way. I wasn’t sure how to process that.
In typical Teddy fashion, he took off down the aisle and away from us. So without a word, I grabbed my cart and followed.
Kyle caught up and fell into step behind me. “Can I apologize for yesterday?”
“You don’t have to.”
He could have been nicer about the whole thing, but thebottom line was that I had been distracted and not paying attention.
“I should’ve been more vigilant. Teddy likes to test every boundary I’ve set for him lately.”
“I could’ve handled it better.” He stopped beside me and rubbed at his leg when we caught up to Teddy in the cereal aisle. “But I still think it’s important for your kids to learn how to swim. This town has seen its fair share of drownings. When I was in high school, my best friend’s sister was one of them. Because of that, my whole family is crazy about water safety.”
“Thanks. I’ll look into it.” I couldn’t fathom convincing Teddy to participate, but after the way he’d fallen in the water, I would eventually have to make that a priority. Maybe in a year or two, he’d dislike the water a bit less and would be more likely to participate. “In Fort Bragg, there was a Y. They offered classes. I guess there isn’t anything like that here, is there?”
Levi was the one who thought about stuff like this. He’d gotten a membership to the local YMCA and had taken Callie swimming somewhat regularly for a while. Probably when she was about Teddy’s age.
Kyle froze, stuck in the same spot as I moved forward, continuing to follow Teddy. But he quickly recovered and shook his head. “Not really. The closest is about thirty minutes from here.”
“I figured.” The lack of access to big box stores and places like the YMCA was one of the drawbacks to living in a small town in the North Carolina mountains.
“I could teach them.”
I dragged my focus from Teddy, who was still browsing the sugary cereal options, and frowned at Kyle. This grumpy man who’d done nothing but lecture me so far wanted to teach my kids to swim?
He shrugged. “We could meet at Pointe Beach. I could at least teach them both the basics.”
Half Moon Lake’s public beach was small but well maintained. We’d only been there once this summer with my parents. I loved that we could see them more now that we lived closer.
Callie had loved swimming with my dad. They’d had so much fun together that day. Teddy wasn’t a fan, though. He’d refused to get in the water, and he wasn’t fond of playing in the sand, either. I ended up taking him home while my parents stayed with Callie.
“I have an in-ground pool, but I still don’t see the point. Teddy hates the water?—”
“Wait.” He straightened. “You have a pool in your yard, and you still don’t see the importance of water safety?”
With a huff, I narrowed my eyes at him.
He took a small step back and raised his hands in surrender.
“It has a gate and an alarm. I’ll know if anyone gets inside.” I wasn’t oblivious to the risks, and frankly, I didn’t even want the pool. It had been one of the drawbacks when I’d looked at the house. But Callie had lit up when she saw it, and the property was listed under market value and within my budget.
“What if Teddy climbs the gate?”
