“There’s no way this will be as good as Butch’s burgers,” Charlie says around me to Eddie.
Eddie nods and talks with his mouth full of fries. “But it’s food.”
“I’m starving. There’s nothing to eat at home.”
“I wasn’t like that, was I?” Hudson says to Bea.
“You once made yourself an omelet with a dozen eggs, a half-pound of cheese, and six slices of bacon, then went to a friend’s house for a birthday party and cleaned out the pizzaandthe cake. I sent the parents apology money since they had to order three extra pizzas so everyone else could eat something.”
“No, that had to be Griff.”
“Hegot a job stocking the cheese shop before school because I told him if he was going to eat that much steak, he had to pay for it himself.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“He told me he got steak because you liked him better and his nutrition was more important.”
“You believed that?”
“No, I thought you were compensating because you likedmebetter and didn’t want him to feel insecure.”
She smiles at him, and my brain once again betrays me by wondering how it would feel to have Bea Best smile atmelike that.
She undoubtedly has no idea she has this effect on me, but there was something about watching her interact with her customers the other day and the way she ran the small staff that has stuck with me.
“Go make more burgers so we can solve the hangry security people problem too,” Bea says to Hudson.
“Can I do it after I call Griff and tell him I’m your favorite and that I was Mom and Dad’s favorite too?”
“No.”
He grins. “Too soon?”
“You’ll be in your fifties before it’s not too soon.”
While I stand there smiling at this fascinating relationship of siblings who are also parent and child, both of my boys moan.
I sweep a gaze over both of them, ready to rush them to the nearest hospital if something’s been done to their burgers, but?—
It appears the only thing wrong with their burgers is that they’re delicious.
Burger juice drips down Charlie’s chin as he moans again and eats a full third of the burger in one more bite.
Eddie’s conquered half of his burger, and his eyes are rolling into the back of his head. “Dis ishoooguh.”
“I nee anuvva,” Charlie says.
“Mo fies.”
“Awwa fies.”
“Do you speak teenage boy with their mouths full, or do I need to interpret that for you?” Bea asks me.
“Four more burgers to our order, please, with extra fries. And naturally, I’m happy to pay for it.”
The success ofIn the Weedscouldn’t have come at a better time.
