Page 43 of Single Dad Christmas

“I was just going to ask if you’re enjoying them?”

“Oh, I’m having a ball,” she said, with sarcasm.

“That’s good. You must be heading into grade eleven next year?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any idea what you want to do after school finishes?”

“No.”

“You have ideas,” Noah corrected. “What happened to studying law?”

“It’s a five-year degree,” she said, shaking her head. “No, thanks.”

“Yeah, but five years goes by like this,” he clicked his fingers. “When you’re having fun.”

“I don’t think I’ll find more school ‘fun’.”

“University is different to school,” he promised her. “Much more freedom, and more people, too. You’ll love it.”

Taylor remained belligerently silent.

“Why did you want to study law?” Louisa asked, sipping her water.

“I just always wanted—,” Taylor compressed her lips, as if she just realized she’d forgotten to be snarky and regretted it. “What does it matter?”

“It doesn’t,” Louisa said with a lift of one shoulder. “I was just curious.”

Taylor stared at her plate. “May I be excused?”

Noah leaned back in his chair. “Taylor,” his voice held a soft growl.

Louisa watched as the young girl stared daggers at her father and then turned to Louisa. “Thank you for dinner,” she said, as though it was the last thing she felt like saying. But then, with more spontaneity. “It was nice.”

Louisa’s heart lifted at the very unexpected few words that had been genuine and somewhat normal. “You’re welcome. Any time.”

Taylor stood up, deposited her plate on the kitchen counter and then stalked from the room.

“I can’t get usedto this,” Louisa said, swimming through the water with unconscious grace.

“Swimming at midnight?”

“Swimming right before Christmas,” she corrected. “Back home, we’ve already had snow in the mountains.”

“You get snow in Moricosia?”

“Only in the mountains to the west, but yes. And not usually this early in the season.”

“Do you miss it?” Noah asked, as he swam up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her wet body against his. Beneath the water, his legs paddled enough to keep them upright, so she could wrap her own legs around his waist and focus on him. And how amazing it felt to be so close and intimate like this.

“No,” she said, finally. “If I missed it, I’d go back.”

She felt him stiffen in response to that and she knew why. The future was an intangible beast, impossible to see clearly. There was the prospect of her returning to Moricosia, but everything had become so much more complex since meeting Noah.

“We could plan a trip,” he said, thoughtfully. “I’d love to meet your family.”

Her eyes widened.

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