I drop to my haunches beside the kid’s seat and make eye contact with Cute Guy to ask silent permission to interact with his kid. His eyes are wide and his expression torn between bewildered and cautious as he nods.
I gently touch the kid’s back. “Hey, bud,” I greet him, and the new voice is enough to startle him from his continued wailing. I smile as he goes quiet and looks at me with wariness.
He’s ridiculously cute, even with skin turned blotchy pink from crying, and his eyes look really green against the red, too.
“I hear Ma’s out of nuggets. But,” I hold up my index finger to forestall a relapse into tears, “I’ll tell you a secret.”
“D-Daddy said secrets are naughty.”
I consider that. “Your daddy’s right. Secrets can be naughty.” I can’t help pausing to shoot Cute Guy a quick smile and a wink. Then I grin at the kid again. “But this one isn’t, I promise. In fact, it’s notreallya secret. Everyone here knows it.”
The kid squints at me. “What is it?”
“It’s that Ma’s mini pizzas are the best in the whole state,” I tell him very seriously. “She makes the dough from scratch and everything.”
“She scratches the dough?” His innocent, horrified question has me struggling to keep a straight face.
Cute Guy laughs first, and the sound makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. “No, buddy,” he tells his kid, “it’s a turn of phrase. It means that she makes the dough herself, she doesn’t buy a pre-made base from the store.”
“Oh,” the kid nods, “youbuy the ones at the store, Daddy.”
Cute Guy blushes as he glances over at me, then up to Ma, then looks at his kid again. He clears his throat. “Well, it sounds like we have to try the mini pizzas here now. What do you say?”
The kid bites his lip, then looks up at Ma. “Do the pizzas have pepperonis?”
She beams at him and nods. “They sure do, honey. I can make sure we put extra on yours.”
“Wow,” Cute Guy says with exaggerated excitement. He gives his kid a tiny nudge. “What do we say, Owen?”
“Thank you,” he replies dutifully.
“It’s my pleasure, sweetheart,” Ma says, scribbling on her notepad and then scurrying off to the kitchen.
Cute Guy slumps back in his chair, then looks at me. “Thank you,” he says emphatically. “I’m sorry we disturbed your meal. Like I said, it’s been a long day.”
“Not a problem.” Instead of heading back to my friends like I know I should, I slide into one of the two spare seats at their table. I extend my hand towards Cute Guy. The fact that he’s got a kid probably means he’s off-limits, but, just like when I’m on the ice, I’m going to shoot my shot anyway. “I’m Gabe, by the way.”
He arches an eyebrow at me but shakes my hand anyway. “Justin. And this one,” he lets go of my hand to pat his kid’s back, “is Owen.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” I cock my head. “How’d you stumble into Ma’s anyway?” It’s a tiny suburban diner, nowhere near the main part of town. “Did you get lost driving around Phoenix? That happened to me when I first moved here. It’s how I found this place, actually.”
“We walked here,” Owen answers for Justin. “It was hot.” He peers up at his dad. “When can I have my trucks, Daddy?”
Justin lets out a weary sigh. “After we unpackourtruck,” he answers in a tone that tells me he’s repeating himself for the umpteenth time. Then he looks back at me. “We just moved here.”
“It was a long drive,” Owen pipes up. He picks up his napkin and starts playing with it, twisting the ends and scrunching it. “We slept in a motel.” The way he says ‘motel’, drawing out the ‘o’ and the ‘el’, is just the cutest thing ever.
“Hotel,” Justin corrects, “and yeah, we did, buddy. Daddy needed to sleep along the way.” He scrubs a hand over his face and mutters, “Daddy needs to sleepnow.”
My curiosity gets the better of me, and I’m dimly aware of my friends waving their hands and trying to get my attention. I ignore them. “How much unpacking do you have left to do?”
“All of it,” Owen answers again. He turns to Justin and pouts. “We can’t sleep without our beds. You said I can have my bed.”
Sensing another meltdown, I smoothly interrupt, “You’ll get your bed. My friends” —I finally swivel in my seat to wave back at them, and they all freeze and stare at me as if sensing that I’m about to do something they’ll hate— “and I will help you out.”
“Wait…” Justin blinks, jaw dropping as I turn back around to smile at them. “What?”
***
