Page 94 of Mail Order Splash

“I did. Is this a daily thing?” He looked from me to Josh.

“Ritual?” I looked to Josh with the tiniest laugh that soon exploded into hysterics.

“I knew that would get you out of a mood.” Dalton crossed his arms, proud of himself.

“Josh, what do you say? I see nothing to lose.”

We charged Dalton. Josh was able to pick him up while I distracted him. With a large splash we all landed in the water together.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting picture.” Doc pointed to Scrapper flopping around to get loose. “Your baby is startled.”

“Oh, Scrapper, I’m sorry. Doc, release him, please.”

“Settle him down first.” He lowered the sling so I could climb in. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Or is it that you want to play, too?”

We were submerged enough for him to swim around. I grabbed him in my arms to see if he wanted a hug, but he pushed away. “Ah, so you do want to play.”

“Release him,” I called out.

I grabbed onto the side of the pool and watched as he swam up and down, circling his mother. He tried to jump out of the water like Netty was doing but barely cleared the top. I slapped the water for Netty, hoping he would follow her lead, and he did.

“What a good boy you are.” I dove under, playing with all of them.

“Kleine, you have an audience and now you need a shower.” Josh leaned over the edge to talk to me.

“Thanks to you.”

Dalton put his hand out to help me up. “Did I do something to upset you?”

“No, I upset myself. It’s not worth talking about. We have a wedding soon.” I walked past him. “See you at the altar. I’ll be the one in white.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

DALTON

I’ve never seen this side of her. It’s kind of nice to see the hard shell crack. I need to figure out what the problem is before the church.

“Josh, can you enlighten me on her demeanor this morning?”

“I haven’t seen that Kleine in years. She’s clearly upset.”

“I should go talk to her. Didn’t she give you any indication?”

“She was at the club last night. She saw you with a girl hanging on you.”

“What girl? You were with me all night.”

“Maybe she saw Bridget. She was hanging on you,” Josh shrugged.

“Kleine, can you please talk to me?” I knocked on the door.

“I have to shower. I’ll see you at the church.

“It can’t wait and I don’t want to talk through a door, there has been a misunderstanding.”

The door opened. “No misunderstanding, it’s a marriage of convenience. I only thought you could wait until after the big day before having a girlfriend.”

“Is this the girl you saw me with?”

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