I’m still breathless.
“Do you know the best games for boys who are perpetually hungry to win food that isnotcake?”
“I—”
“Mum!” Charlie suddenly shrieks in joy. “It’s Mum! She’s here!”
“Mom’s here?Mom’s here!” Eddie whoops too.
I turn and spot a short, slender woman approaching from the opposite direction of the burger bus.
Both boys charge her.
Simon watches them, that perpetual smile settling deeper on his face, like he’s even happier for seeing his boys’ mom and how happy they are to see her.
And I suddenly feel like the most awkward person in the world.
I’m not his date. I’m definitely not his girlfriend. I’m—I don’t actually know what I am, but I know Lana Kent is more intimidating to me than Simon could ever be.
She’s put together in a cute summer dress with perfect blond hair and a light coating of makeup, and she’s easily hugging both boys back at once, despite both of them being taller than she is by at least six inches.
Eddie probably by nine or ten. He’s nearly as tall as Simon is.
“You came to see us win all the games!” Charlie says.
Eddie’s nodding along. “The burger bus has onion rings and you should get us some. Dad won’t let us have any more because he says we were rude.”
“He’s starving us.”
“It’s so unfair.”
“We’re still learning our boundaries.”
“How are we to know what’s inappropriate if he doesn’t teach us?”
“I learn better when I have more onion rings.”
I glance at Simon again, who’s now wearing an exasperated smile.
“They’re always like this, aren’t they?” I say.
“Even in their sleep.”
“That’s fabulous.”
“You’re far too gleeful about this.”
“Did my time. This is funny now.”
Lana disentangles herself and joins the little circle made mostly by the security agents standing behind us. “Starving them again, Simon?”
People are starting to pull out phones.
Probably expecting a fight.
“I don’t believe there is enough food in the world to keep them from starving,” Simon says to his ex.
Still pleasant.
