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“Hey. I wasn’t that bad.”
“Sure…” Amelia made a joking face, and Liam chuckled.
“Liam, Amelia, Grace, let me introduce you to my wife, Laurie, and our kids, Summer, Briana, Patrick, and Thomas.”
The kids popped out of the pool to wave and call their hellos. Liam and Amelia waved back. Liam estimated that the kids ranged in age from eight or nine to around fifteen.
“It’s lovely to meet you.” Laurie put down the barbecue tongs she’d been holding and came to shake Liam’s hand and give Amelia a quick hug. “Please, have a seat. Food will be on shortly.”
“It smells delicious,” Liam said appreciatively. He found a spot at a nearby picnic table and gestured for Amelia to sit. She did, Grace still wrapped protectively in her arms, and Liam sat beside her.
“Thank you. It’s an old family recipe — meat and heat,” Stanley joked. “We always grill up some vegetables, too, which the kids love. Right, kids?”
There were various shouts of distaste from the pool.
“Speaking of which, you guys should all get dried off for lunch,” Laurie called. There were some grumbles, but as one, the pack of kids scampered off towards the house. “Sorry about them. I told them to be presentable when you arrived, but it’s such a nice day that they couldn’t resist staying in the pool until the last minute.”
“I can’t blame them,” Liam said, chuckling.
“Neither can I,” Amelia said. “The pool does look lovely.”
“I should have told you to bring your suits,” Stanley said. “You’ll have to come back another time and take a dip.”
“I’m sure we can arrange some time for that,” Liam replied. He and Amelia exchanged a glance. This was going better than he’d dared to imagine.
“Poow?” Grace said. Her small head lifted from Amelia’s shoulder and she gave Liam a pleading look. “Poow?”
Liam felt a sting of panic. He wasn’t sure what his daughter was saying, which wouldn’t exactly look good. Luckily, Amelia was on top of it.
“Honey, we can’t go in the pool now,” she said gently. “We don’t have our suits with us.”
“Poow,” Grace repeated. Her small face hardened, and Liam felt the winds change. They were about thirty seconds away from a full-blown, screaming tantrum. Liam knew that tantrums were normal. He knew that Stanley and Laurie probably wouldn’t have any problem with Grace being a little fussy. But he still didn’t want his daughter to cry, especially not now.
“How about we dip your feet in?” Amelia suggested. “We can sit on the edge and your feet can go swimming.”
Grace seemed to consider, then nodded. “Poow.”
“Okay. We’ll be right back.” Amelia sent Liam and their hosts an apologetic glance, then got to her feet and carried Grace to the pool.
“We’re sorry about that,” Laurie said. “We shouldn’t have let the kids swim when Grace couldn’t.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Liam glanced over to where Amelia was taking off Grace’s shoes, then getting her settled on the side of the pool. Grace’s face had smoothed into an expression of wide-eyed excitement. “She looks like a happy camper now.”
“She’s really a sweetheart,” Laurie said. She pressed a hand to her chest. “It makes me nostalgic for the days when they’re so little. Our youngest is nine now, which is a great age, but not exactly a cuddly one. I hope you’re soaking up every minute with your little one.”
“I am,” Liam said. This time, it was true. He’d spent the last week enjoying every second with Grace — and with Amelia.
“Are you thinking of having more kids?” Stanley asked. “It’s nice to have them close in age, so they become playmates when they’re older.” As if on cue, the Jefferson children came running out of the house and tossed themselves onto the picnic tables. They were all red-faced from running and were grinning huge grins.
“Stanley,” Laurie chastised. “You can’t ask that.”
Liam chuckled. “Honestly, I thought I’d have my hands more than full with just one child, and I do, but I’ve started to wonder if more kids wouldn’t be so bad.”
In fact, the thought of a child who was half him and half Amelia wasn’t half bad. Liam gave himself another mental shake. This was the second time today his thoughts had drifted too far from his usual priorities.
“Can I play with your baby?” one of the Jefferson kids, an older girl Liam assumed was Briana, asked.
“You can go introduce yourself,” Liam said. “But Grace is a little shy.”
