I pause and turn toward him, hair in the straightener. “You want to take me to lunch?”
“Unless you have other plans.”
“I don’t. But why do you want to take me to lunch? Do you need to tell me something, and breaking the news over a soup and salad combo seems like the better thing to do? If so, please don’t take me out in public to break the news to me. You know how emotional I am right now.”
He places his hands on his hips as his head falls forward. “I just want to spend some time with you as a friend. That’s all. There’s nothing behind the request, just wanting to take a friend out to lunch.”
“Oh.” I chuckle and then face the mirror again. “Well, if that’s all, you should have just led with that instead of creating all of this nonsense.”
“You were the one creating nonsense. I didn’t even have a chance to get a word in.”
“Well, lesson learned for you.” I finish up and then set the straightener down and turn to him. “Ready. Where are we going?”
“That would be up to you, the puker.”
“Hey.” I hold my finger up to him. “Don’t call me that. It’s not my fault this spawn you inserted inside me is making me sick.”
“Pretty sure I didn’t insert a spawn in you.”
“Fine.” I roll my eyes. “Leaked a spawn in me.”
“Ew, come on.”
I laugh out loud and move past him to my dresser, where I spritz myself with perfume and then slip on my boots. “I was planning on going to the bookstore. Think we can stop there as well?”
“Sure, oh, you know, there’s a deli right around the corner from the bookstore on Commercial Drive that’s really good.”
“I can’t have deli meat,” I say.
“Oh shit, that’s right, I read that somewhere. Uh, then what are you in the mood for?”
“Soup,” I answer. “And bread. Can we get that?”
He smiles softly. “Soup and bread, it is. I know the perfect place. A French café if that works for you.”
“That seems charming. I’m in.” I head into the main living space, where I grab my brown leather jacket that’s draped on the back of my chair and zip it up. Eli is standing at the entryway, leaning against the wall, eyeing me. “What?” I ask as I fluff my hair out of the collar.
“You look cute.”
I quickly glance at my black jeans, brown boots, and now covered-up white sweater. “This is nothing to write home about.”
“Just take the compliment, Penny.”
My cheeks flame with embarrassment. He’s right. I should. “Thank you.” And just to toss one his way, I say, “You, uh, you always look nice.”
He chuckles and shakes his head while walking over to me and looping his arm around my shoulders. “Come on, let’s get going.”
* * *
“If you havesomething you want to look for, you can go peruse. No need to follow me,” I say when we enter the bookstore.
“I don’t need anything.”
“Are you sure? Because I’m just going to be looking at pregnancy books. You know, boring stuff.”
“Oh great, I’ll look with you.”
Not exactly what I wanted, but I have to give him credit for being interested. I’m not sure how many non-romantically attached fathers would be walking into the pregnancy section of a bookstore excited to peruse.
