Her initial pleasure from his compliment faded. “Hey.”
“Don’t ‘hey’ me.” He mock glared at her, then ran a finger along her cheek.
She froze, battling sensations of desire, pleasure, and mortification he might see how attracted she was.
“Yes, yes, you’re a strong, independent, single woman. But dang it, don’t hurt yourself on my account.” He darted back to finish his drink. “Now, how about we get back to sharing stories? Your turn.”
It took a moment for her brain to fire up once more. Then she frowned. “Hold on, buddy. I want to know details. Like, what did you like about your date before she turned all grabby?”
“Seriously?”
“Hey, I like dissecting things to death. Just ask my ex.” She smiled through her teeth. “Besides, you owe me.”For frazzling me with a touch.“I could totally have lifted that hot pan with one hand.”
He gave her arm a dubious look. “Ah, okay. Sure. I believe you.” He clearly didn’t. “Regina was nice enough, but she was kind of boring. She agreed with everything I said. I guess… It was more about me than her. Sometimes you connect with people.” He stared into her eyes as he said that, and she wanted to believe he meant that abouther.“Sometimes you don’t.”
Shoot, he’s still looking at me. Does he mean he’s not connecting with me? Or he is? He touched my cheek!“Right.” She had no idea what to make of him, so she grabbed some plates and silverware to set the table for four. Reggie took the plates from her but let her set the napkins and forks. At her direction, he moved the pan to the table with some hot pads.
She asked him, “Would you mind making two fancy drinks in those plastic wine glasses for Emily and Sherry?”
“Sure.”
“And if you’d like something a little harder than fruity ginger ale, I think I have a beer or two in the fridge. Maybe a hard cider. Or milk or lemonade.”
“Lemonade for me. What would you like?”
“Honestly? Another Shirley Temple.”
He grinned. “Coming right up.”
***
To Reggie’s surprise, dinner felt comfortable, fun, and had him laughing more than not. Emily proved an impeccable host, taking over for Maggie. The little dictator placed him on the bench next to her mom and seated Sherry next to herself in the chair across from them.
After rearranging drinks, she scooped everyone some dinner. Of course, Maggie then scooped them all real-size servings instead of the tablespoon of food Emily had offered.
Sherry, a cute little blond girl with big, brown eyes, stared at him a lot through the meal. Low chattering accompanied the staring, with her and Emily nodding or giggling while watching him.
“Okay, Emily, that’s enough of that,” Maggie said calmly after the little girls whispered and giggled again. “We don’t whisper in front of people because that makes others feel excluded. If you can’t share it with everyone, you can’t say it, period.”
Sherry frowned. “I’m not supposed to talk about bad things at the table though, Ms. Maggie.”
“Why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind, Sherry?”
Sherry bit her lip, looked at Emily, who nodded, then said, “Emily told me Mr. Reggie stopped your head from blowing up. But we’re not sure if he has medicine for babies.”
Reggie paused with his fork before his mouth. He lowered the food to the plate. “Babies?”
Emily explained, “Sherry just got a baby brother. But her mom was in the hospital when she had it. And she had it in her belly for a long time before that. So do you have medicine for it in Aid 45?” She turned to Sherry. “That’s the name of his ambulance.”
That she remembered the name of the vehicle impressed him. But the baby medicine confused him. “What?”
Emily sighed. “Reggie, Sherry’s mom got medicine to have a baby. Her dad said he got a special pill for her. So can you get that kind of pill for my mom? Or do you have to cut her open and plant it in her? Like a seed, which is what I think her dad really did. He planted a seed in her mom’s belly then had to clean up all the blood after he cut her open. And that would be neat but gross, so Sherry didn’t want to say that.”
Sherry nodded, waiting expectantly for his answer.
He turned wide eyes to Maggie, who looked equally surprised.
“Ah, er, you want a baby?” he asked Emily. That seemed safe enough.
