“No apology necessary,” I assure her. “Bash knows he has to eat a good dinner before marshmallows, don’t you?”
My son eyes me. “Mama doan.”
My ears get hot. I’ve just been put in my place by my toddler. “Mama had a cheese stick at the office before coming for scones.”
Begonia grins at me. She starts to rise,oofs, and then accepts the hand that Hayes has offered like he saw this coming. “I could do it on my own yesterday,” she mutters. “Hayes, this is my friend Emma and her son, Bash. Emma, my husband, Hayes.”
The locals are watching curiously.
The out-of-towners are oblivious.
Jonas told me Hayes is rarely recognized these days. That seems to be holding true.
“Nice to meet you,” I stammer out while Hayes takes my hand and nods back.
“Likewise.”
“Bring that cute doggy over here,” Zen says. “We’ll push the tables together.”
I slide them a look.
Am I being ambushed?
Laney and Sabrina both give me the subtle headshake ofno, you’re not being ambushed, but you should get your ass back over here so you have backup.
I think.
It’s either that, or they’re telling me to make excuses and leave because this is a terrible idea.
“Aw, that’s so sweet of you,” Begonia says to Zen. “Can I have extra room between my chair and the table? Turns out, I don’t fit in booths anymore. Who knew? Marshmallow. Hayes. C’mon. Let’s go make friends.”
“As you wish, my love,” Hayes murmurs.
The resemblance between him and Jonas is remarkable. It’s like they have the same eyes, chin, and nose, but if you weren’t looking for the similarities, you’d miss it entirely.
Jonas is so affable. Very approachable.
Hayes looks like my statistics professor in college who’d glare at you for asking for clarification on complex mean deviation, which I still don’t fully understand.
Bash trots along next to the dog, who pauses and sniffs at a clean table with nothing more than a vase of flowers on it.
“Don’t even think about it,” Hayes says to him.
Marshmallow whines softly and continues to our table—no,tables.
Zen’s quick.
The two window tables are already pushed together, and Sabrina’s afternoon staff is on the way with another plate of pastries.
I end up between Laney and Begonia with my back to the window. Zen takes the seat on the other side of Hayes, across from me.
They look him up and down. “You don’t like people.”
“Accurate.”
“We’ll pretend you’re not here.”
“For now,” Sabrina agrees. “If we weren’t in public, we’d have alotof questions.”
