“Two.” Shade smiled at her.
They’d had a fling.
I remembered that now.
Maybe that was why he wanted to come here…
“Have a seat anywhere you’d like,” she suggested.
Shade, of course, went to the one that was in perfect view of my family.
“Can’t we sit over there?” I asked through my teeth.
“Nope,” he said. “We’re not hiding, Birdee.”
When he put it like that…
“Okay,” I said as I took the seat with my back to them.
The table that was previously filled with laughter went quiet.
“What are they even doing here so early, anyway?” Shade asked. “It’s the morning. Don’t they have jobs?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“It’s also ridiculous that you don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “He’s your father. You should know this.”
I should.
Only, they’d never given me that information.
“The least they could do was let you drive a snowplow,” he muttered. “They make a fuckin’ killing.”
They did.
By the end of the winter, Cody had enough money saved up to not have to work for the entire summer.
I’d never know what that was like.
“Whatever,” I said as I looked at the menu.
The waitress came over and took our order. The moment she was gone I heard a throat clear from behind me.
I looked up and over to see Mable with her arms crossed, forcing me to turn around to face her otherwise I’d have to stare at her through an awkward angle.
“What do you want?” Shade asked.
“Shade,” I chastised him.
He rolled his eyes, but got up to give me privacy anyway.
Then Cody joined Mable.
Each of them stared at me with disappointment. “Why would you do that?”
“Do what?”
Even though I had a fairly good idea what they meant.
