Page 37 of Forever Mine

Chapter 13

I wriggled my toes as I looked at the television, which I’d turned down low. Angel sat at the dining table doing homework and I sat on the sofa with the phone to my ear. Rita, spoke at the other end.

“So, is there a specific reason you don’t want to take Angel to the beach on Saturday? She loves the sea,” Rita said.

“You know how I feel about introducing anybody new into her space.”

“How long have you known Scott?”

From the sound of it, Rita was going into twenty-questions mode.

I answered anyway. “Just over five weeks. The one week we spent at the hotel, three while we chatted and negotiated, and a week and a half since he’s been here.”

“Would you say you guys clicked?”

“How can you ask that?” My voice went up by a couple of notches and Angel glanced at me. I smiled to reassure her all was well. She rubbed her exercise book with the eraser and went back to writing.

Speaking at a lower pitch, I said, “We talk all the time.”

“So, if you get along like that, why would you hesitate to have him meet Angel? It’s not like he’s moving in, or you’re marrying him.”

“True, but I don’t want anybody upsetting the balance around her.”

Rita laughed, a throaty sound that invited me to join her. I pictured her near-perfect smile, long braids, and flashing eyes as she said, “Angel is the most well-balanced child I know, so you’re not making a lot of sense right now.”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

“If you say you don’t want to introduce her to someone who may disappear from her life in a short time, that I understand. Otherwise, you’re just being overprotective. What harm can it do if you take them to the beach?”

“What harm can it do if she stays with you and Renée?”

She snickered. “Renée and I will be happy to have her visit. You know that. I just think you’re being silly.”

“It’s easier and less messy, in case anything happens.”

“You’re aware that people will come and go in Angel's life, right?”

My gaze went to my daughter and affection welled inside me. I stared at the television screen, then said, “Stop treating me like I’m a five-year-old child.”

She laughed again. “You're reasoning like one.”

“I just like keeping things simple, that’s all.”

“Mmm. No problemo. Just let me know what time you plan to drop her off, but you better not tell her you’re going to the beach without her.”

My eyes shot to Angel, whose head bobbed as she wrote. “Is this some kind of guilt trip now?”

“Nope, I’m just keeping things real. She'd give you a hard time if she knew.”

A sigh passed my lips and I ignored the worry trying to creep over me. “I appreciate it. Talk to you later in the week.”

“Yeah. Kiss Angel for me.”

“You do the same to Renée and tell Hugh hello.”

“Sure.”

A moment after I put the phone on the cushion beside me, it rang. One look at the display had my heart pumping. “Scott, what’s up? Didn’t you say you had stuff to do?”