Dani’s eyes shifted to me and became decidedly frosty. “Whitney? Oh, right.” And that was it. Her lip curled slightly. Woah. What had I ever done to piss this woman off? I didn’t even know her.
“Which one’s yours, Dani?” I asked, trying to be polite even if she wasn’t.
Dani pointed to a little boy climbing after Katie. “Saville over there is three. He just loves Katie. They’re the best of friends, aren’t they, Web?” Then she was looking at Kyle again, batting those eyelashes of hers, putting her hand on his arm.
“Aren’t all toddlers best friends at that age? I’m sure they’ll grow out of it.” I hadn’t meant to sound bitchy, but her proprietary attitude toward my husband was getting under my skin.
I needed to take a chill pill. He wasn’t my anything. Not really. Only on paper. But if she didn’t take her hand off his arm, I was going to rip her fingers off one by one.
Kyle gave me a strange look. “Yeah, well maybe,” was all he said. “Anyway, I’m not sure if you heard, but Whitney and I just got married.” He took my hand again, and I wanted to preen like a peacock.
Take that, Dani.
“Oh, right. I had heard something about that. I thought it was only a rumor. You know how people like to tell stories in this town.” Dani looked as if she had sucked on something sour.
Kyle lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles, making my stomach flutter wildly. “It’s true. This beautiful lady here decided to make an honest man of me.” He looked down at me, the corners of his eyes doing that crinkle thing again. His dimple on full display.
God, he was laying it on thick. My throat clicked as I tried to swallow.
“Oh, well, congratulations then.” Dani turned to a woman who had just arrived with her two screaming children. “Oh, there’s Lydia. I’ll talk to you later, Web.” Her eyes flicked over me, but she didn’t say anything.
“Bye,” Kyle called out to her retreating back.
I rolled my eyes once Dani had left. “Are all these moms lusting after you? Am I going to have to don my armor and fight them all off?”
Kyle feigned surprise. “Lusting after me? What are you talking about? Dani is a good friend.”
“So, it’s common practice for good friends to eyeball your package? Do Adam and Jeremy give you the ol’ sex eyes when you hang out?
Kyle choked. “Excuse me? Eyeball my what?”
I gave him a playful shove. “She wants in your pants, my friend. She was definitely thinking about you naked.”
Kyle laughed. A deep, rich sound that I felt to my marrow. He still held my hand. It was nice. More than nice, actually.
“Yeah, so these moms can be a little ... um …”
“Predatory?” I filled in.
“Friendly is what I was about to say,” Kyle corrected with mock indignation. “I told you about the playgroup that meets here on Saturdays. I’m the only dad. So it can get a bit much sometimes. Dani means well, though. Her husband died right after Saville was born. Do you remember Kurt Handle? I think he might have been a couple of years older than you.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I do. He was on the golf team, right? I hadn’t realized he passed away.” I was so out of touch with the news of Southport. I hadn’t known Kurt well, but I had known him. You couldn’t live in a small town without being familiar with most people’s names, even if you didn’t know them well.
“It was a car accident. He had been working the late shift at the processing plant over in Kirksville. He fell asleep behind the wheel.”
Okay, now I felt bad for imagining ripping her fingers off.
“Oh, my goodness. That’s awful.” I covered my mouth with my hand.
“Yeah, it was pretty bad.” He looked around before dropping his voice. “But she was sleeping with three other guys at the time he died. The deputy that came to the house to tell her about Kurt found her there with Steve Young, the mechanic over at Hampton Tire and Auto.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, thank God. I don’t have to feel like a bitch for wanting to smack her then.”
Kyle laughed again. I almost wished he’d stop doing that. It did crazy things to my insides. “You can feel bad for her, but also want to smack her. It doesn’t make you a bad person. She’s a good mom, but a less than loyal partner it seems.”
We spent the next couple of hours running around after Katie, who seemed to have an endless supply of energy.
Finally, we convinced her to take a rest by bribing her with goldfish crackers and apple slices. Kyle pulled a blanket from the endless depths of the diaper bag and unrolled it beneath the willow tree beside the tennis courts.