No, not a date. A friendly outing.
The responsible adult portion of his brain reminded him he had that dental appointment early Tuesday afternoon. It had been made before he knew he’d be coming back up here, and it had already been rescheduled once during the darkest days of his writer’s block. He’d been planning to go down and back the same day because he couldn’t put it off.
The restaurant was busier than he expected, so he took a seat at the far end of the counter—the seat least visible from the pass-through window—and pulled out his phone to skim through the various family group chats to make sure he hadn’t missed anything he needed to respond to.
There were a few different group chats, in various configurations. One with just his brothers. One with his parents and his brothers that Ellie, Hannah, and Siobhan had been added to. One that was all of the family in New Hampshire. There was an extended Family Group Chat of Doom that was all of them, plus all of the family in Maine. And then one limited to the family members into snowmobiling, which was fairly quiet this time of year.
He usually kept the notifications for all of them except the one with only his brothers muted, unless something big was going on, and he’d scroll through them while he ate or waited in a drive-through line. Usually, if there was something urgent, he’d get a separate message from one of his brothers or his mom.
So far today, everybody was sending heart emojis to respond to an adorable photo of little Nora reading a story to Ellie and baby Julia, both of whom were sound asleep.
“Are those your nieces?” Kenzie asked, and he looked up from his phone to see her setting a coffee in front of him.
“Yes.” He turned the phone so she could see it better. “That’s Joey’s wife, Ellie, and she’s holding Julia, who is a little over three months old, I guess. And Nora’s six or seven.”
“That’s a sweet picture.”
He dropped a heart emoji into the reply box and hit Send so he couldn’t forget, and then set his phone down. “Joey and Ellie are trying to limit themselves to only the cutest ones now. Back in February, looking at baby pics on our phones became our full-time jobs, and it was a lot, but we actually loved it.”
“Wait until Brian and Siobhan’s baby comes along a month before Christmas.”
He laughed. “According to my dad, there have already been multiple discussions on how to stage Nora, Oliver and the babies for a Christmas photo.”
“Kenzie! Order up!”
“I’ll be back in a sec to grab your order.”
It was well more than a second, but Danny had a coffee and his phone, so he didn’t mind. And by the time he got his popcorn chicken and fries—and took his time eating them—the crowd dwindled until she was free to pour herself a fresh cup of coffee and drink it standing up on her side of the counter.
“I saw the sign.” He nodded his head toward the door. “I guess I’ve been warned.”
She laughed. “Duly notified. My dad’s turning sixty, and his friends booked a deep-sea fishing trip over on the coast.”
“Wow. That’s a pretty sweet birthday gift.”
“It is. He’s always wanted to try it, so when they reached out to me, I told them it was definitely worth closing the restaurant for. I kept it a secret as long as I could, but when we were placing orders with our suppliers, I had to tell him we’d be closed for three days.”
“What about you? Doyouhave any fun plans for the time off?”
She laughed. “Not really. Sleeping? Reading a book, maybe.”
The wheels that had started spinning when he saw the sign kicked into four-wheel drive. “Come home with me. You can spend a couple days hanging out in the city. You can watch shows on my wicked fast internet. Get food delivered to the doorstep. It’ll be fun, except for the quick dentist appointment I have early Tuesday afternoon.”
“I’m sorry, what? You want me to go home with you?”
“No strings. No expectations. Just a little vacation.”
“It sounded like you invited me to Netflix and chill while my dad’s away.”
His face heated. “I—”
Kenzie laughed. “I’m kidding. But Monday, Nathan and I are deep cleaning the kitchen while we have the chance. It’s a nasty, exhausting job, but somebody has to do it, and he won’t lose that day’s pay. That means I really only have Tuesday and Wednesday off.”
“So we can drive down Tuesday morning. After my appointment, we can find something to do and then we’ll go to a fancy restaurant, my treat to thank you for all the great meals you’ve provided for me.”
“Youpaidfor those meals.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them. Or you,” he said. “You can stay in my very boring guest room before we hit up my second favorite restaurant for breakfast, and take our time driving back.”
