Lincoln took it upon himself to snort out a laugh. “Poor guy. We know the challenge in putting up with Sophia.”
Opal swatted her husband’s arm as Sophia stuck her tongue out at him. “Hush and eat your dessert.”
Wes paused between bites of cheesecake. “Sophia’s been an asset to Carolina Pediatrics. Hiring her was a wise decision.”
A warmth spread inside her chest as Sophia stared at him, but Wes kept his focus on dessert. Whether he truly meant it or not, she was grateful he spoke so kindly about her in front of her parents.
“Collin, are you ready for your presents?” Sophia’s mother asked, sending the little guy bouncing up and down in the booster seat that had recently replaced the high chair.
Lincoln and Opal gave him a giant collection of sand toys, promising the little guy a day at the beach the following week. And Sophia wasn’t surprised when August and Josie presented him with an art easel and children’s art supplies. They were more invested in her son than his own father, and that fact both comforted and hurt Sophia.
Papa and Grandma gave Collin a remote-control car, and the rest of the afternoon was spent on the porch watching the little guy crash it into every tree and bush in the front yard. Eventually he began twirling a curl around his finger, so Papa swooped him up and declared it time to watch the race on TV, which meant they reclined in his chair and dozed off before the first pit stop.
The porch swing creaked back and forth as Sophia sat beside Wes in silence. Her mom had stretched out on the couch, making the swing their only option. Sophia hinted that Wes could mosey on home like her friends did, but he didn’t catch on—or pretended he didn’t anyway.
Instead, he sat beside her while she listened to the gritty hum of the race drifting through the open windows. She surveyed the yard and regarded the gardenia bushes planted sporadically around it and beyond. Her parents planted a new bush to celebrate each wedding anniversary. A total of thirty-seven bushes thus far, and the perfume the yard emitted during certain times of the year was so alluring. It was such a beautiful testament to their love. One that Sophia both admired and envied.
“Do you need to talk about it?” Wes quietly asked after a while.
The first time he asked that, at his beach house, Sophia took it to mean that if it wasn’t a needed conversation, he’d rather not have his time wasted on it. But in the last several weeks she’d come to know him a little better. Now she picked up on the sincerity of the question. He recognized that the issue bothering her was important, and that talking about it might be a need, not a want.
She sighed and fiddled with the lacy hem of her white sundress. “Do you ever feel like you’re about to come out of your skin?” She watched him out of the corner of her eye, worried he’d find her crazy for asking, but was relieved when he nodded.
“All the time. It’s why I took up running.” Wes shifted to catch her gaze, jostling the swing before sending it back into a lazy rhythm. “I thought I could outrun whatever was causing it, but it’s taken years to realize the exercise only tamps it down to a more manageable anxiety.”
“So you’re diagnosing it as anxiety and prescribing exercise to treat the symptoms?” She shoved his arm in tease, and unable to stop herself, she added, “Always playing doctor.”
Wes leaned closer. “Now that you mention it . . . there are other, more imaginative techniques proven to reduce anxiety, but I’m too much of a gentleman to share those with you.” Then he followed it with what else but a sultry wink.
Holy moly! The man knew how to flirt. Really?
Surprised by his comeback tease, Sophia sprang to her feet and knocked her elbow against the swing armrest in the process. “Ow!” She jumped around while cradling her elbow, hoping the flapping motion would ease the zing of pain racing all the way up to her shoulder.
“You hit it just right, didn’t you?” Wes asked as he stood and rubbed in a spot that immediately eased the pain to a more tolerable level.
“Then why’s it feel so wrong?” Sophia managed to say through her clenched teeth.
Wes grinned, and it made her heartbeat stutter.
“Are you kidding me?” She reached over and poked the charming dimple in his left cheek with her index finger. “Dimples . . . You’re just too much.”
The man’s boy-next-door looks made her instantly wary. Ty could pull off the exact same innocuous facade when the situation warranted it. Tugging out of his grasp and looking anywhere but at his handsome face, she muttered, “I need to get Collin home.”
Wes scrubbed a hand down his face. “I apologize, Sophia. I was kidding around, and what I said was in poor taste.” He stood staring at his feet for a moment before turning away and descending the porch steps. “Please thank your parents for dinner,” Wes said over his shoulder as he made haste to his car.
Sophia stood and watched the shiny black car ease down the long driveway, barely kicking up dust. She didn’t understand why they had some elastic tether that kept bringing them a little closer only to snap back the progress. Shaking her head, she went inside to gather her baby and hopefully her dignity before heading home.
Later, as she finished giving Collin a bath, Sophia heard her phone chiming with a new message. The notion to ignore it became a moot point when her baby, being the sweet boy he was, grabbed it and brought it to her. She squinted at the name on the screen.
Wes was the last person she would have guessed, and asking to come over to deliver Collin’s birthday gift was also a surprise. After skimming her outfit of damp tank top and yoga pants that were victims of Collin’s splash fest, she sent him a one-word reply, Okay, and hurried to change. But before she made it to her room, there was a knock on the front door. Grumbling under her breath, Sophia did an about-face and went to open it.
“Good evening, Sophia.” Wes was casually dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt with three large Target bags in his grips. They were basically dressed the same, yet she felt frumpy and he looked anything but.
“Maybe you are a vampire,” she mumbled quietly, wondering how long he had been waiting outside.
“What was that?” Wes’s brows pinched as he cocked his ear in her direction.
“Nothing.” Sophia moved back and gestured for him to come in. “Collin, you have company.”
Collin ran down the hallway and yelled, “Hey, Wes!”
Wes raised an impressed eyebrow at Sophia. “Hello, Collin. I’ve brought your birthday gifts.” He sat in the middle of the living room floor and waited for Collin to join him.
“I like gifs.” Collin nodded his head and took the offered bag. Looking inside, he frowned and pulled out pack after pack of underwear. “I not wan’ ’em.” The little guy looked right disappointed.
Sophia gave Wes an exaggerated eye roll, knowing what that gift meant. She crossed her arms and leaned against the armrest of the couch as Wes tore open a pack.
“These are special superhero undies. Only brave boys can wear them. Aren’t you brave?”
Collin shrugged but took the pair Wes held out to him and inspected them. “You got superhero undies, too?”
Wes glanced at Sophia and then angled away from her, but not before she caught a glimpse of the color rising in his cheeks. “I wear big-boy underwear,” he answered. “Don’t you want to try them on?”