“Oh, to be young again,” she said more wistfully than she’d intended. She looked from Tiffany to Adam’s suddenly serious expression.
“Youth isn’t everything,” he remarked, seeming to sense the trace of heartache in her tone. “There’s a lot to be said for the wisdom that comes with the years.”
“Let’s hope so,” she replied. “I’d like to think something gets better with time.” She raised her cup. “Thanks for the coffee.”
He nodded. “You’re welcome. Are you free this Thursday to come to Heather’s lesson?”
“I’ll check my schedule,” she answered and then nervously cleared her throat. Suddenly she felt the need to find some conflict on her calendar. She’d seen enough of Adam Dalton for one week. The very last thing she needed was interest—however remote—in a man. Even if he did have the warmest eyes she’d ever seen.
“I’ve enjoyed talking with you,” he commented quietly. “Very much.”
The first part was an obligatory remark, Angela knew. The last part was not. She nodded her head slightly before acknowledging. “Me, too.”
“Maybe I’ll see you Thursday,” he said before excusing himself to join Tiffany and fulfill his role as the director.
Angela drank the last of her coffee, dropped the empty cup into the trash receptacle beside the door, and went in search of her children.
Heather saw her mother approaching and came to meet her. “We’ve been having fun, Mom. The boys are over here talking about video games.” She clasped Angela’s hand and led her to where Nathan and David sat, eating popcorn and talking with other youngsters.
“Time to go, gang. We’ve got things to do,” she announced. After some stalling, her children had found their jackets, said goodbye to friends and were on their way out the front door.
Against her better judgment, Angela did not resist glancing back into the thinning crowd to the spot where she’d last seen Adam speaking with an older gentleman. And he stood there still, listening to whatever the man was saying. But, to Angela’s surprise, his gaze returned to her at that moment
She wasn’t sure who smiled first, but she hoped it was him. Otherwise, she was openly flirting, and she hadn’t meant to do that. What would come next? she wondered miserably. She saw Adam give a slight nod of farewell before she returned her attention to the matter at hand—getting three children home.
Later that evening, all homework done, prayers said and children asleep, Angela finally sank into the comfort of her own bed. And that’s when her thoughts returned to Adam just as surely as his gaze had returned to hers when she was leaving the center.
“Lord, I’m too old for a silly schoolgirl crush and too new at this sort of thing to know how I should feel. I’m not ready for an Adam Dalton in my life. Let someone else have him.” She murmured the words before the sleep she needed finally came.
But Adam was not quite as quick to turn his back on new feelings. It had been such a long time since he’d felt this pang of interest in anyone, and he was relieved to know that he was still capable of it. Angela Sanders. She was pretty, independent, strong but still a little unsure of herself at times. And her eyes…Adam poured himself a cup of decaf and walked toward the window, where he stood staring out at the few stars shining in the September darkness. Those eyes of light blue were filled with a tenderness he’d not seen before tonight. Intelligence, humor, vulnerability, caution—all that and more lay in those depths, he felt certain. Suddenly, Adam wanted to know all the thoughts behind those eyes and the soft angular lines of Angela’s lovely face.
It had actually been difficult to walk away from her this evening. There was a sense of familiarity with her that far exceeded any earned by their brief and unpleasant encounter the night he’d taken Heather home. It was more than that, more than anything he could explain. He wondered, for the first time in years…if he made the effort to get to know this woman better…if he gained her trust, however long it took…would she be willing to accept him for what he was—just the way the Lord had done years earlier?
Thursday came quickly. As the afternoon hours advanced to evening, Angela weighed her excuses to miss Heather’s swimming lessons—and avoid Adam Dalton—against her daughter’s need for support and encouragement.
“Oh, all right, I give up.” She spoke aloud to herself as she gathered up her coat and purse and shut off the lights in her office. “I’ll go. I dread seeing Adam Dalton, but Heather needs me. I’ll go.”
And Heather was delighted. After eating a quick dinner at the children’s favorite fast-food restaurant, Angela dropped the boys and their homework at her parents’ house. Then she and Heather headed for the recreation center.
Soon Heather had changed into her hot-pink swimsuit, and Angela had looked over her own dusty pink skirt and jacket and ivory blouse in the mirror in the women’s locker room. They looked a little wrinkled and weary from the day—both she and the clothes, Angela mused. But maybe that was a good thing. She didn’t need any further interest from Adam Dalton, and he surely wouldn’t take notice of her—not looking like this. And not with all the young female employees in and out of the center daily. And maybe he hadn’t had any interest in her in the first place. Maybe it had all just been her imagination. But still, the way he had looked back at her as she was leaving the Open House that night…
“Mom! Let’s go!” Heather exclaimed, cutting into her mother’s thoughts. She draped a towel around her bare shoulders.
They hurried to the pool area, and Heather quickly joined her group of a dozen or so boys and girls at the shallow end. Angela turned to take a seat in the nearby bleachers to watch the two young women who were coordinating the class as they began working with the children.
Angela glanced around briefly and saw no sign of Adam. That was good, she thought. Easy. Simple. And she must have been wrong about his interest in her. After all, he hadn’t said that he would definitely be here on Thursday for Heather’s lesson. She’d assumed more than she should have and, she thought with a sigh, it certainly hadn’t been the first time in life she’d made that mistake.
Angela leaned back against the bleachers and enjoyed her daughter’s antics in the water. Heather was swimming very well, just as Angela knew her girl could do—if she wanted to. But getting Heather to “want to” had been the struggle all along. Angela waved when Heather looked up a couple of times for Mom’s approval. It certainly appeared to Angela that Heather was more than ready to move on to the higher level with the rest of her class. She followed every request of either instructor without problem or hesitation.
The door opened at the side of the pool, and Angela looked over her shoulder to find Adam walking toward her. He smiled before he spoke.
“I’m glad you could come. You’ve been watching her?” He sat down beside Angela.
“Yes. She seems to be doing everything they ask,” Angela remarked, turning her attention to her little girl.
Adam nodded his head. “She can do everything needed to complete this level—including the dive. But she needs more confidence…maybe some more encouragement.”
Angela agreed. “I’ll talk to her again, but I won’t force her to dive. She has to want to do it herself.”
“Fair enough,”