with your boyfriend.”
She cringed at the word boyfriend, but Kal laughed and slipped his arm around her waist, so it obviously didn’t bother him.
“Thanks, Paige,” Kal said. “See you later.”
“Bye, Mom.”
Once in the truck on the way to Kal’s house, he asked, “So she won’t divulge the goods on the mystery date, huh?”
Hannah shook her head. “Nope. Not a word.”
“Huh.” He turned onto the highway and sped up to merge with traffic. “Maybe it’s new so she doesn’t want to say any more about him in case it doesn’t work out.”
“That could be. She hasn’t dated much since my dad died. She’s never had a serious relationship since my dad, as far as I know.”
“She loved your dad. I imagine it’s been hard for her to meet people.”
“For her it has been.”
“But she is getting out there now, so it’s a good thing, right?”
She looked over at him. “It’s a very good thing. I’ve been encouraging her to have a relationship for years. She just hasn’t seemed interested.”
“Or maybe the right man hadn’t come along yet.”
“Maybe.” She wanted her mom to be happy. If that meant she was alone, that was fine. But alone was lonely. Hannah knew that since her divorce.
Of course, Hannah didn’t need a man in her life. She had her friends, her family, her work and Oliver. She was plenty busy. Fulfilled. More or less.
But now, being with Kal made her realize how much she’d missed dating. Just hanging out and having fun and sharing her life with someone.
And sex. The sex part was definitely a good time. She wanted a lot more of that, especially with Kal.
“Hey, can we stop at the grocery store before we go to your place?” Hannah asked.
“Sure. What do you need?”
“I know Becks said not to bring anything, but I want to make a watermelon salsa.”
“Okay, now I’m hungry.”
She grinned.
After she picked up what she needed at the store, they headed to the house. When they walked into the kitchen, Becks saw the bag Kal was carrying.
“I told you we had everything covered.”
“Hannah’s making a watermelon salsa,” Kal said.
Becks smiled. “Then by all means, carry on.”
Hannah washed her hands and, with Kal’s help, sliced up watermelon, mango, cucumber, jalapeno, onion and basil, then added lime juice, a little sugar, some garlic and salt. She scooped a bit onto a spoon and slid the spoon between Kal’s lips for a taste test.
“I’m about to go run out the front door with this bowl and eat all of it by myself.”
“No, we’ll share.”
“Why? I don’t even like my brother.”
“Yes, you do. And you like Becks, too.”
“Glad you added me in there,” Becks said.
He sighed. “Fine. Sharing sucks, though.”
She laughed and tucked the bowl into the fridge to cool.
“Anything I can do to help you?” she asked Becks.
“Nope. Everything is on the skewers and ready for Jackson to grill.”
The kabobs looked great, with chicken, pineapple and green peppers all strung along in neat rows. After the guys went outside to grill, Becks poured wine for Hannah and herself.
“It was a good day. And your son is adorable, Hannah.”
“Thank you. He’s a good kid. I’m very lucky.”
Becks took a sip of wine. “I’d say a lot of that has to do with having a good mother.”
“It’s been a rough ride for both of us. Deciding to divorce and then relocate wasn’t easy on either of us. But Oliver is a smart kid. And he wasn’t happy living with his dad any more than I was. Landon liked to pull disappearing acts, or didn’t show up for important occasions. Reliability isn’t his strong suit.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I got used to it. Much harder for a child to accept. It was easier to remove Oliver from Landon’s presence than to have his heart broken all the time. And once I sat down with Landon and explained to him that he couldn’t keep shirking his duties as a dad, and how much he was hurting Oliver, he agreed. He really does love his son. He’s just not father material.”
Becks shrugged. “Some men aren’t. At least your ex realized that. He gets props for that and for letting go of Oliver without a fight.”
“I give him huge points for that. Oliver misses him—theoretically, I think. He doesn’t miss being hurt by him. He has more stability in his life now than he had before, and that’s more important than having a father who wasn’t around half the time.”
“Agree. My parents were . . . well, let’s just say