Page 20 of Quiet as Kept

“I feel confident.” I mimicked her.

We sat there in companionable silence while the sounds of the ocean provided a playlist. I liked how Xarielle didn’t need me to keep up constant chatter. I didn’t need all of those words. I didn’t need all of that stimuli.

My gaze flitted over to her sleeping form. She never tried to force the conversation. She never seemed to talk just to hear herself speak. She was easy to be around. I liked that. I liked her.

Seven

Xarielle

I was up early on Monday morning. I knew part of it was nerves. It was my first day having the girls alone, and I wanted everything to go smoothly. But the other part was that my bedroom was east facing, so I awoke to the sun shining into my room every morning since I refused to use the blackout shades. I’d never lived so close to any body of water, especially the ocean. I wanted to experience everything about island living, even if it meant waking with the sun blazing brightly in my face every morning.

Waking up to the surf and the sand inspired me, and since Kept wanted me to teach a weekly memory verse to the girls, I did a bible devotion.

Once I was dressed, I walked into the kitchen just in time to see Kept walking in the French doors from the deck, carrying a travel cup in his hand.

“Good morning. You have coffee while you watch the sunrise?” I questioned.

“Good morning.” He held out the travel cup. “Nah, I have my pre-workout while I watch the sunrise. Then I swim for forty-five minutes to an hour.” He checked his watch. “You’re up early. The girls won’t be up for about another hour.”

I tried to hide my smile by lowering my head. “Yeah, I’m excited about today.”

“What’s on the agenda?”

I consulted the Notes app on my phone. “We have Music & Me class over at the community center. Then we’ll head to the park and have a picnic lunch. Nap back at the house. We’ll spend some time on the deck in the afternoon, coloring, reading books . . . stuff like that.”

“Sounds like a full day.” He grinned at me.

I couldn’t help grinning back because the man was a walking toothpaste commercial.

“Yeah.” I pulled myself from the eclipse that was his brilliant smile. “Oh, just FYI, you’ll never have to worry about me taking them swimming. I’m not a swimmer. If they ever want to get wet with me, I feel most comfortable with the thought of spraying them with the hose or something.”

He watched me silently for a moment. Had my employer been anybody but Kept, it probably would’ve made me uncomfortable. But Kept was quiet and introspective. He wasn’t the type to waste words. I figured he was probably sorting out what he wanted to tell me.

“So,” he said finally. “I’m having a private instructor come to the house to teach the girls to swim. I’mma see if he can teach you too.”

“What?”

“You heard me. We live a few feet from the ocean, Xarielle. I?—”

I interrupted him before I could catch myself. “Can you please call me, Xari? Every time you call me Xarielle, I feel like I’m about to get in trouble.”

He chuckled. “I like Xarielle. And if you’re ever in trouble with me, I’ll call you Miss Simpson. Okay?”

His voice was so deep, and his words didn’t really leave room for debate. He liked Xarielle, and he was going to call me Xarielle. I got it.

“Okay.” I conceded.

“Like I said, my house is too close to the ocean for anybody in here not to know how to swim. I’m paying for you to have private lessons.”

I sighed heavily. “I guess so.”

“Cool. I need to get my swim in if I’m gonna be out of here by seven-thirty.”

“Okay.”

I moved on to preparing the things I wanted to include in the picnic lunch that the girls and I were having. I was spooning fruit into bowls when Kept reentered the kitchen. A towel was slung around his neck, his muscular, tattooed chest was bare, and a pair of swim trunks were slung low on his hips.

I never had a crush on Kept as a kid. He was too damn quiet and mysterious for me. Back then, I liked my men loud and rowdy, but I never would’ve denied his attractiveness. He had always been a good looking guy. But looking at him through fresh eyes, eyes with some growth, maturity, and wisdom in them, what I saw was a beautiful, sexy, upstanding man.