“Yes, ma’am. Cheese it is.” With a jerk of his head to Maggie, he gestured up the beach, then stood and reached out to help her up.
As he drew her effortlessly to her feet, he quickly eyed her form, making Maggie hyperaware of the skin exposed by her tank suit.
Once she was standing, he dropped her hands and followed her up the beach.
Maggie was blessed in the physical department. She’d always been tall and slim, and years of swimming had left her with strong shoulders. But her tummy was no longer perfectly taut and her hips had widened a bit with age. Did Josh find her attractive? Just because a man’s gaze swept a woman’s form didn’t necessarily mean he did. She was in a bathing suit, after all. Probably just a reflex.
Josh stopped beside the beach chairs.
Maggie slipped into her cover-up and crossed her arms. He wasn’t here to ogle her in her swimsuit but to tell her about the tour with Will. “So? How’d it go?”
Josh flashed a smile at her. “He took the job.”
“Really?”
“And he filled out an application. I have his birthday, address, youname it. He lives in Wilmington, which explains why we’ve never seen him around here before.”
The city was thirty minutes away. “We can run a search, maybe discover who his mom is, what his home situation is like.”
“That’s right. Thought maybe we’d do that tonight after Zoey’s in bed.” He cocked a brow. “If you can wait that long.”
It wouldn’t be easy. Now that they had such easy access, she wanted answers.But this was about Josh’s parents now and he deserved to run point on this.
“I’ll be waiting for you.”
Chapter 20
“Mommy, Mommy, help me!” Zoey flung herself against Maggie’s legs. “The tickle monster’s gonna get me!”
Maggie set the plates in the sink and swept her daughter into her arms just as Josh appeared in the doorway, crouched, fingers wiggling menacingly. “I have come to tickle the girl child!”
Zoey let out an ear-piercing scream and buried her head in Maggie’s shoulder. “Run, Mommy!”
Maggie sent Josh a mock scowl. “This is how you get her ready for bed?”
“The girl child is in her sleep clothes,” he growled.
When Zoey peeked at Josh, he wiggled his fingers and snarled, inducing another squeal.
“She’ll never get to sleep after you’ve wound her up, you know.”
“I’m not winding her up. I’m wearing her out.”
“We’ll see about that. How about you put the tickle fingers away and find a nice quiet book to read her.”
Zoey scrambled down. “I want the giraffebook!” she called as she ran toward her room.
“How many pages does it have?” he called after her.
“Two million fourteen hundred zillion!”
He met Maggie’s gaze. “Seems excessive.”
“Yeah. Good luck with that.” She snapped a dish towel at him.
A threatening expression came over his face as he wielded his tickle fingers and let out a snarl.
Maggie pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you dare.”
