“Wow, that’s the first compliment I’ve ever gotten about my job in correlation to me. I think my dad hates it, and asks weekly when I’m going to find a real job.”
“Then he’s not a good dad.” He shrugged again.
I hated that I couldn’t disagree with him.
My dad wasn’t all that great.
At least not anymore.
He’d married my stepmother, and our entire lives had changed.
And he hadn’t changed for the better.
“That’s not good.”
Understatement of the century.
The manager, Phil, called our names, and Meo got up to grab our food.
I started to as well, and he waved me off. “Someone stays here, and your dog won’t be knocking our drinks over while we’re gone.”
The fact that he knew my dog so well sent another pang through my heart at having missed the last six months.
I fucking hated Birdee.
Meo grabbed our food, coming back within seconds as he placed it on the table between the two of us.
I reached for my plate of food while he reached to pull his off the tray and then return the tray to the worker at the counter.
When he came back, he took a seat and looked at me.
“What?”
He shook his head. “Just curious if you are going to be able to eat that entire plate of food or not.”
I snorted. “Watch me make some magic.”
We were otherwise quiet during the meal.
It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, either.
Brawny stayed lying down, his big head still on my feet, the entire time.
“You got him not to beg,” I said after I’d shoved another fry into my face.
He snorted. “I got him to have some manners because he once stole my sixteen-ounce ribeye steak right off the table. From that point, we worked really hard at making sure he knew right from wrong when it came to table manners. If I give him food, that’s fine. But if I don’t, then he knows not to beg.”
My hand covered my mouth. “He did not!”
“He sure did,” he confirmed. “It was one of the good steaks from Brussel’s, too.”
That made me feel even worse. “Oh, man.”
Those steaks cost a fortune.
There was a reason they did, sure. The meat was the best in the area, and they had Wagyu.
“I’ll bet you didn’t react well.”
