She still couldn’t understand that dynamic.
“Malicious might be my sister’s middle name.”
“Does she work? Or is she a career child support collector?”
“She works,” she said. “She can flex her schedule to work weekends when my mother is home and another two days when my father is off.”
“Free child care,” he said.
“Yep. Ashton is in school now, so it’s Mila and Dutton during the day.”
“Interesting names.”
“Popular names to her. Ashton Kutcher and his wife.”
“I figured as much,” he said. “My mother has some weird names for us, but nothing like that. Dutton fromYellowstone?”
“Yep. Is there a story about the names of you and your siblings?”
“Not everyone. My mother’s maiden name is Westerly. That is West’s name.”
She had read that on some minor research she’d done of the family. “What about anyone else?”
“Foster and Nelson were the surnames of two of my father’s closest friends that had died around the time they were born.”
“That’s sad,” she said. “And a noble way to honor them.”
“It was. I’m embarrassed to tell you where my name came from, but someone might bring it up.”
“Oh boy. Your face is red. This has to be good.”
“That’s the reason right there,” he said, pointing at her. “Rowan means little red one. I guess I was pretty red when I was born. No clue why.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. They hadn’t had a name picked out yet and my mother looked up things that meant red.”
She laughed. “I’m not sure if that is funny or not.”
“Not,” he said, shaking his head. “But my mother has a warped sense of humor.”
“Hey, it’s a great name. Be happy you weren’t called Crimson or Maroon.”
“I hadn’t thought of it that way.”
“Rowan!”
They both turned their heads to where his name was called.
He lifted his hand and waved to the three guys and one woman who walked over.
They all had bathing suits on and either shorts or a T-shirt over them.
“Mitch, Eli, Brian, and Zara, this is Saylor. My girlfriend.”
He pointed them out by name, and she shook all the hands. “Nice to meet you.”
“We didn’t know you were dating anyone,” Eli said. “Since when?”
