My phone started to beep, so I pulled it away from my ear to check the call-waiting.
“Shit.” I fumbled, trying to put it back against my ear. “I gotta go.”
“What? Why?” Kate asked in confusion
“She’s calling me.”
“Morgan’s calling you?” Ani asked.
“That’s what I said,” I replied. “Gotta go.”
Then I hung up on them without a second thought. I’d call them both back later, preferably separately so I didn’t have to hear them talking over each other again.
“Hello?” I said, crossing my fingers that Morgan hadn’t hung up yet.
“Hey,” she said, sounding a little nervous. “So, I have to work for the next few days.”
“Oh, uh, okay,” I replied dumbly.
“I was thinking if you were serious about the swimming, we could do that today? Or not. Whatever. We just won’t have time tomorrow. It’s really no problem if you’re busy—”
“Morgan,” I said, cutting off her chattering. “I’m not busy. I came down here to see Etta.”
“Oh. Right.”
“So, yeah. Come whenever you want. I’ll be here all day.”
“Cool,” she said, her voice calmer now. “Then I’ll just pack her up and we can head that way. Where are you staying?”
* * *
I’m not going to lie, I started to get nervous the second I hung up the phone. It was embarrassing, even if no one was there to see it. My palms were kind of clammy and I stood in the middle of the room, looking around like a lunatic. I didn’t even know what I was looking for.
I’d been less nervous when I’d knocked on their door earlier. At least then I’d felt like I had a purpose. I was there for a specific reason, and I’d gone into the situation with a plan.
I didn’t have a plan now.
No, now I was just going to spend time with a niece I’d just met and a woman I didn’t know. Normally I was cool around people I’d just met, but this situation was out of my comfort zone. I was seriously attracted to this woman, and it made me feel all sorts of guilty and freaked out, and that wasn’t even the worst part. It was really important for Morgan to like me and trust me. I had to make sure she did. The stakes were so fucking high.
Striding to my bag, I tried to remember if I’d packed a pair of swim trunks. I hadn’t exactly planned on acting like I was on vacation while I was in California. I pulled everything out of my duffel and swore as I searched. I hadn’t brought any. Why had I invited them to go fucking swimming of all things? We were in Anaheim, for Christ’s sake. I could have taken them to Disneyland fully dressed.
The only pair of shorts I had that even resembled something I’d wear swimming were some black board shorts. They’d have to do. I didn’t have time to go shopping for something better, and the hotel’s amenities didn’t include more than snack food.
I looked down at myself after I’d changed into the shorts and swore again. “Fuck!” I’d slid them on bare-assed, and they were practically indecent. There was no way I would be climbing into a body of water in those things the way they were unless I wanted everyone in the pool to know that I was circumcised. Grimacing, I took them back off and pulled on a pair of boxer briefs to wear underneath.
I wondered what Henry would say if he could see me stressing about my meet-up with what should have been his family. Would he have been pissed at how attracted I was to Morgan? Proud of Etta? Jealous that I was getting to spend time with them? Regretful? Would he have even cared at all?
Twenty minutes later as I was pacing in front of the hotel like an idiot, I saw Morgan walking toward me, wrestling with a huge bag as she tried to lead Etta across the parking lot. The baby was interested in everything, and I couldn’t help but laugh as they made it to a little landscaped area and she tried to sit down so she could look at some rocks.
“You could help, ya know,” Morgan called, laughing as she tried to shoo Etta along. She said something I couldn’t hear, and then they were moving again.
Chastised, I met them halfway and took the heavy bag off of Morgan’s shoulder. “Good Lord, woman,” I mumbled, pretending to stumble. “What’s in this thing?”
“Clothes,” she said, lifting Etta into her arms. “Snacks, diapers, wipes, blankie, a stuffed animal, towels, some arm-floaty things, and some bricks.”
Her face didn’t change expression, making me snicker.
“Not sure if the arm-floaties are going to work if you’re planning on adding the bricks.”
“The bricks are for me,” she deadpanned as I held the lobby door open for them. “I need the cardio.”