with children and families, all taking advantage of the good weather. I recognized quite a few people we went to high school with, but I couldn’t remember their names. It seemed Kyle knew everyone, and he made a point to greet them all.
When he arrived at the park, I grabbed the diaper bag, and he put Katie in her stroller. As he pushed her down along the path, he took my hand, holding it lightly in his, our fingers laced together.
My heart speeded up at the contact, but then I remembered—we were in public. We had to make it look good.
I noticed how everyone looked our way. Eyes widening. Whispers going back and forth. We were the talk of the Southport community park. I tried not to pay attention to it, but it was kind of hard when they were being so blatant about it.
“Web, how are you? We’ve been missing this little cutie,” a woman said, leaning down to smile at Katie, who was already trying to make her way back up the climbing wall.
“I’ve had to work the past few weekends,” Kyle was saying to the woman who seemed vaguely familiar. The woman, who had dark hair tied back in a ponytail, looked about my age, and from the way she was making goo-goo eyes at Kyle, and the lack of ring on her left hand, she was very, very single.
She played with a piece of hair that had come loose from her ponytail like a teenager with her first crush. She smiled wide and batted her eyelashes. I had to give her credit for her brazenness. “Well, we’ve all missed you at the kid’s playgroup. You shouldn’t work so hard.” She put her hand on his arm in an overly familiar way that I didn’t like. Not one bit.
Kyle, finally realizing how uncomfortable this was becoming, pulled his arm back and turned to me. “Dani, do you remember Whitney? Meg’s older sister?”
Dani? Oh right! Dani Baker. She was a year older than me in school. A quiet girl who played the flute in the school band if I remembered correctly. It seemed, by the doe eyes she was throwing Kyle’s way, she’d gotten over her wallflower tendencies.
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