A Wedding In The Family. Kathryn Alexander

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       Chapter Three

      Thursday came quickly. As the afternoon hours advanced to evening, Angela weighed her excuses to miss Heather’s swimming lessons—and avoid Adam Dalton—against her daughter’s need for support and encouragement.

      “Oh, all right, I give up.” She spoke aloud to herself as she gathered up her coat and purse and shut off the lights in her office. “I’ll go. I dread seeing Adam Dalton, but Heather needs me. I’ll go.”

      And Heather was delighted. After eating a quick dinner at the children’s favorite fast-food restaurant, Angela dropped the boys and their homework at her parents’ house. Then she and Heather headed for the recreation center.

      Soon Heather had changed into her hot-pink swimsuit, and Angela had looked over her own dusty pink skirt and jacket and ivory blouse in the mirror in the women’s locker room. They looked a little wrinkled and weary from the day—both she and the clothes, Angela mused. But maybe that was a good thing. She didn’t need any further interest from Adam Dalton, and he surely wouldn’t take notice of her—not looking like this. And not with all the young female employees in and out of the center daily. And maybe he hadn’t had any interest in her in the first place. Maybe it had all just been her imagination. But still, the way he had looked back at her as she was leaving the Open House that night…

      “Mom! Let’s go!” Heather exclaimed, cutting into her mother’s thoughts. She draped a towel around her bare shoulders.

      They hurried to the pool area, and Heather quickly joined her group of a dozen or so boys and girls at the shallow end. Angela turned to take a seat in the nearby bleachers to watch the two young women who were coordinating the class as they began working with the children.

      Angela glanced around briefly and saw no sign of Adam. That was good, she thought. Easy. Simple. And she must have been wrong about his interest in her. After all, he hadn’t said that he would definitely be here on Thursday for Heather’s lesson. She’d assumed more than she should have and, she thought with a sigh, it certainly hadn’t been the first time in life she’d made that mistake.

      Angela leaned back against the bleachers and enjoyed her daughter’s antics in the water. Heather was swimming very well, just as Angela knew her girl could do—if she wanted to. But getting Heather to “want to” had been the struggle all along. Angela waved when Heather looked up a couple of times for Mom’s approval. It certainly appeared to Angela that Heather was more than ready to move on to the higher level with the rest of her class. She followed every request of either instructor without problem or hesitation.

      The door opened at the side of the pool, and Angela looked over her shoulder to find Adam walking toward her. He smiled before he spoke.

      “I’m glad you could come. You’ve been watching her?” He sat down beside Angela.

      “Yes. She seems to be doing everything they ask,” Angela remarked, turning her attention to her little girl.

      Adam nodded his head. “She can do everything needed to complete this level—including the dive. But she needs more confidence…maybe some more encouragement.”

      Angela agreed. “I’ll talk to her again, but I won’t force her to dive. She has to want to do it herself.”

      “Fair enough,” Adam commented. “But maybe if she believed in her abilities a little more strongly, she would want to try.”

      “Maybe. You did say someone would be there in the water waiting for her, right?” Angela asked.

      “Yes, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” he assured her.

      “Maybe she needs to trust her instructors more. I’ll ask her. Maybe that’s what’s holding her back.”

      “Maybe you’re right. Could be she doesn’t have enough confidence in the instructors.”

      Angela smiled. Heather was too much like her. “Trusting people doesn’t come easily to her.”

      “Did she learn that from her mother, too?” Adam asked quietly, the warmth in his eyes never wavering. A warmth she’d never seen in Dan’s gaze.

      But Angela looked away without answering. Uneasiness settled over her. It had been a long time since she’d really trusted anyone except family members. And she hadn’t planned to allow herself to be in such a vulnerable position again. Ever.

      “Mom!” Heather climbed out of the pool and reached for her towel.

      “Hi, hon!” Angela waved. “I’ll be right there.” She glanced back at Adam to say goodbye, only to find him looking over at her daughter.

      “Good job, Heather.” He stood up, walking with Angela around to the other side of the pool where Heather was drying her face and hair with a beach towel. “Would you and your mom like to go out for some ice cream?” Adam asked the young swimmer.

      Heather’s face lit up, just as Angela frowned.

      “That would be great!” the child responded. “Can we, Mom? It’s not very late and I don’t have any homework to do when we get home.”

      Angela looked from Heather’s bright eyes to Adam, who stood studying her thoughtfully.

      “Think you can trust me enough for that?” he inquired with a half smile. He was not at all certain she’d agree.

      “Do I have a choice?” she countered as Heather wrapped her arms tightly around Angela’s waist.

      “Can we, Mom? Please?”

      “I guess we could go for a little while,” Angela replied. She regarded Adam’s expression of satisfaction with irritation. “You cheated.”

      “Next time, I won’t need to,” he responded, and reached for Heather’s hand as they headed toward the door. “I want to lock up my office. When Heather is changed, meet me at the front door.”

      “See you in a minute,” Heather said, pulling free from Adam’s grasp and running into the locker room.

      “All right?” He tilted his head to the side, awaiting Angela’s reply.

      She nodded. “See you in a minute,” she echoed her daughter’s comment. “Ready or not.”

      “I’ll be ready,” he responded, then disappeared through the door to his office.

      But would she ever be ready to have another man in her life after living through twelve years of the mistake she’d made in marrying Dan Sanders? Was her judgment of men good СКАЧАТЬ