Page 21 of Love is Grand

Like a rocket, Weezie was off and running toward the deep end, leaving me little time to jump up and follow her. At least I didn’t have time to agonize over Sophia, because now I had to worry about my daughter drowning. As Weezie pinched her nose and jumped in, feet first, I tried not to think about how I’d gone and gotten myself pregnant for the second time without being married.

I picked up my pace when I saw a fully dressed Cal jump up from his seat and dive into the pool in slow motion. Weezie’s head broke the surface and she trea­­­d water as best she could, dogpaddling to the side before Cal swooped up from below, capturing her in his arms.

I was at the side of the pool as he said, “You okay, tiny mogwai?”

Weezie wrapped her arms around Cal’s neck and nodded at him, her eyes wide and sparkling.

Yeah, I get it, baby girl.

With my daughter in his arms, Cal kicked toward the side as she asked him what a mogwai was. He plopped her on the side of the pool, her wet tush making a puddle underneath her.

“I think you lost something,” he said to me before lifting himself out of the pool in soaked khaki shorts and a polo. I swore I could see his eyes dancing behind his mirrored shades.

“Thank you. She was okay. I was on my way.” The fragments rolled from my mouth as Cal stood up next to me, dripping water everywhere.

“I wasn’t sure if any little kids should be jumping in the deep end like that,” he said.

Of course he wasn’t. Cal was a confirmed bachelor. He’d never met Weezie, had no idea she was taking swimming lessons, and there was a reason for that. Kids craved attachments, and Cal avoided them.

I’d wanted to call Cal every day for the last two weeks to tell him I was pregnant, but I chickened out, partly because I’d never called him between visits before. The other reason was this—Caleb Stern wasn’t made to be a father. Knowing he was coming to his brother’s wedding, I’d decided it was a better idea to wait and give him the news in person.

That was all before I knew he was bringing Sophia to Rylan’s wedding. Maybe if I hadn’t been lying to Rylan about my relationship (or lack of one) with Cal, I could have asked her for her opinion. And now I’d gone and made myself an awfully messy bed to lie in.

“What’s a mogwai?” Weezie hopped to her feet, yanking on Cal’s soaking-wet polo. He didn’t know she was a dog with a bone when she wanted to know something.

Surprising me, he knelt down. “A mogwai is a tiny critter that if it doesn’t go to bed on time, it turns into a wild and furry creature who does naughty things.”

“Am I bad?” Weezie asked, looking to this strange man for confirmation. A man I knew intimately, yet she’d never met. It wasn’t like he meant anything to her, but since Ricky abandoned us, she’d been seeking the approval of every man we came into contact with at school, the restaurant, and now, apparently, here.

“No, you’re not. Your mom wasn’t worried about you ... I was. That’s all.”

Weezie nodded. “I’m learning how to swim at the community center, but my mom works nights, so my abuelo takes me, and he gets nervous too.”

Glancing to the side, I noticed Sophisticated Sophia was watching the whole scene unfold from a chair at the bar, sipping a Pellegrino, no doubt. Not like she would have jumped in to save my daughter.

Cal stood and brushed Weezie’s wet hair from her eyes. “That’s your grandfather’s job, to be nervous. Sounds like he’s doing it well.” Giving me a quick scan, he murmured, “Nice anklet.”

Oh no. A man like him couldn’t know that kids home in on a murmur more than the normal speaking voice.

“It was a special, special gift from a guardian angel,” Weezie blurted just as Sophia decided to grace us with her presence.

Taking a quick look at my daughter before sliding her gaze to me, she said, “You’re the girl who works here, shlepping coffee, right?”

I wanted to shrivel up and die, but refused to let my daughter see me cower. Reminding myself that I was a proud, working single mom, I lifted my chin. “Yes, we met. And my dad owns that coffee shop and beanery. He supplies the hotel, and I was making a delivery for him.”

Ignoring what I’d said, Sophia went right for the jugular. “So, are you staying here?”

When her nose turned up in the air, I changed my mind. She wasn’t Sophisticated Sophia at all. More like Snobby Sophia or Shitty Sophia.

“No,” I said with a very tight, very fake smile. “We’re just here for the day.”

“Yeah, Rylan invited me to swim and have a Shirley drink,” Weezie said helpfully.

Sophia raised a brow, gesturing between my daughter and me. “You know Rylan.”

“Yes,” I said with a nod.

“Oh, I thought you were helping a stranger,” she said to Cal. “But you know this girl and her child. Rylan will be happy. Maybe that will win us some points with your mom. She was certainly surprised to see me here.”

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