Grace looks at me and flushes a bit, but then heads off through the crowded restaurant, leading us to a terrace.
A young kid dressed in black jeans and a white button-down shirt carries a booster seat in one hand and looks from Grace to me like he’s completely lost about what to do with it.
Grace thanks him and points to where she wants the seat, and then she waits while I settle Cora and help Luke into a chair. I start to pull out the chair between the two kids and then stop.
“Is this okay?” I ask. “I feel like I should pull your chair out for you.”
She grabs the back of the wooden chair and drags it across the smooth wood flooring.
“No…I mean, yes. This is great. I’ll sit here. It’s not really a date,” she clarifies. “I mean, not that you’d have to do the chair thing even if it were.”
She drops into the chair, and I sit. And then it’s just the four of us.
Two strangers across the table from one another with my kids. At her brother’s restaurant. It freaks me out even to think it, but this feels familiar. Easy. Almost too easy. Like family.
I’m not sure I believe in signs, but I’ll take all of this as an omen of good things to come.
5
GRACE
The second we sit down,I set a kids’ menu and a paper cup filled with crayons in front of Cora. Ryder takes one of the menus and the second cup, then holds up an extra menu.
“Did you want this?” he asks, grinning wide.
I can’t help the massive, goofy smile that takes over my face. “Yeah,” I tell him, then turn to Cora. “Can I borrow a few crayons from you? I promise to share.”
Cora is a seriously cute kid. She’s got light brown curly hair that just reaches her chin. She has a perfect set of baby teeth, and when she smiles, every one of them is on full display.
“Here,” she says, holding the whole cup out to me. Her hand shakes a little, and I take the cup gently so the whole mess of colors doesn’t spill on the floor.
“Thank you.” I look over the rounded, dull points and scowl. “This sucks.” I flick a look at Ryder. “Pardon my language.” I make a mental note to watch what I say around the kids. It’s been a while since I’ve been around kids this age. Probably since I babysat in the neighborhood for cash in high school. I don’t see the need to censor myself normally, but with kids, I should probably set a little bit of an example.
I hold up a red with an unacceptably flat tip. It’s like somebody dropped and snapped the end off and then tried to chew their way through the crayon. I grimace and stick the thing back in the cup. “We need a crayon sharpener or something. Hang on.”
I turn around to dig in the purse on the back of my chair and turn back at Ryder’s sexy chuckle. “What?”
“If you have a crayon sharpener in that purse, I might just have to marry you.”
If the words surprise me, they look like they shock him.
“Inappropriate. I’m sorry. I’m going to stuff my face with bread and look at the menu,” he says before I have a chance to say anything.
I twist my lips into a grin and grab the phone from my purse. I punch in a text message, and a few moments later, Rita comes walking toward the table with two brand-new boxes of crayons in her hands.
“Let me see those,” she says, peering down the end of her nose.
I hand her a cup of crayons and shake my head. “You tell my brother if I have to come in here and sharpen the crayons, I’m charging him my hourly rate plus.”
Rita cackles. “You do that, Gracie.” She takes the cup from me and the second one from Luke, and then leaves us with two brand-new, unopened boxes.
I crack open a pack and breathe the familiar, waxy scent. I pull out a soft shade of salmon pink and admire the sharp tip. “Hmm,” I sigh. “Now that’s bliss. Nothing beats a brand-new crayon.” I return the pink to the box and hand it to Cora.
While she dumps every single color onto the table in front of her, I tuck her chair closer to the end of the table and bend over to grab two strays that have fallen to the floor.
Then I lift up the kids’ menu in front of me. “Luke,” I call out. “See this?”
I point to a piece of pasta drawn in a cartoon style, complete with a bow tie, big eyes, and a happy smile.
