Chapter 10
Denise smacked Tim on the upper arm with the back of her hand.
“Ow.” He grabbed his bicep as if it had it hurt.
“Quit antagonizing him,” she said.
“But it’s fun.” He pushed the chair back and stood, slapping Chris on the shoulder. “Nice of you to show up.”
He took a chair from a neighboring table and sat at the end of theirs, putting Zoe on his left. Too bad Chris had shown up—Tim’d had a great view of Zoe. If he could only figure out why she’d avoided looking at him. Was she still embarrassed that he’d witnessed her sister spilling coffee on those shirts?
She looked between him and Chris with a look of confusion.
“Zoe, this is my husband, Chris,” Denise said.
“Husband? I thought…” She glanced from Denise to him, a faint blush staining her cheeks.
“Oh, God no!” Denise said.
Tim clutched his chest. “Oh! Straight to the heart.”
“Whatever.”
He could actually hear Denise roll her eyes.
The young girl, who he’d figured out was April from their earlier conversation appeared with another menu, followed by Elba.
“I know most of you have ordered. I was going to use Zoe and Gabby as guinea pigs for some new menu items. Would y’all be interested or would you prefer to stick with what you ordered?”
Everyone glanced around the table at each other.
“I’m game,” Bree said.
Denise shrugged. “Sure.”
“One question,” Tim said.
Elba raised her eyebrows. “Shoot.”
“Does it include dessert?”
“It’d better,” Zoe said. “That’s the only reason I agreed to this.”
Elba poked her in the shoulder. “Shut up. You love my food. I’ll put some platters together.” She looked at April. “Can you get them plates and then go check on the other tables?”
“On it.”
Tim watched mother and daughter retreat, then shifted his attention back to Zoe. “So back to my question before we were so rudely interrupted—did you grow up in Brazil or the U.S.?”
Gabby set her water glass on the table. “Both. Our birth father passed away when Zoe was five. Our mom worked at the American Consulate in São Paulo and met our step-father a few years later when he was assigned there. He adopted us after they married.”
“You didn’t take your step-father’s last name when he adopted you?” He hadn’t felt comfortable asking the one and only time he’d met Brian and Marianna in person.
“Our mother wanted us to keep a part of our father,” Zoe explained. “Brian, our step-father, understood.”
“I’m so sorry to hear about your father,” Bree said. “I know how hard it is to lose a parent.”
Jase kissed her temple.
