Chili’s was decked out for a NASCAR race in town, and together they admired the décor and the car hood signed by a driver with terrible handwriting.
“You a NASCAR fan, Dean?” Rob asked.
“Not at all. I could name maybe one driver. Dale Earnhardt. I guess that’s two, because there’s Dale Earnhardt Junior. What about you?”
“Same. I’m a hockey fan.”
Dean shrugged. “I know even less about that.”
“And now we can’t be friends.” Rob said it jokingly, but the words had them both sizing each other up, like they’d known that was never gonna happen anyway.
“I’m ordering a salad,” I announced, needing to fill the conversation with something.
“Good for you, Grace.” Rob put his forehead against Piper’s. “Your mom thinks the salads here are healthy. Are you going to steal her salad?”
Piper shook her head. “I don’t like tomatoes.”
“That’s my girl.” He put her down and let her tug on his hand while she towed him around the waiting area.
Dean came to my side, and his fingers laced with mine. I squeezed his hand, letting him know I approved. This didn’t need to be stressful. I repeated the phrase in my head, hoping my body would believe it. It sort of worked. Until Rob glanced over at our joined hands, and then quickly looked away, his mouth pursing with dislike.
“Rob, party of four?”
Rob held up his hand, letting the hostess see us, and we followed her to a booth. Dean and I took one side, with Rob and Piper on the other.
Our waitress came over moments later. “Hi, guys. I’m Amy. Anyone interested in a margarita today?”
“Little early for that, Amy.” Rob winked. “You don’t want to see me after a few of those. I’ll have a Coke.”
“Same,” Dean and I said.
“And what would you like?” Amy asked Piper.
She looked up from her kid’s menu. “Chocolate milk.”
“Oh, good choice. I’ll be right back, guys.”
After she left, Rob leaned over to talk to Dean. “Grace is the reason I started drinking and the reason I stopped. She told me we couldn’t afford my habit, and she was right. She ran a tight ship, back in the day.” He said it like he was giving advice to a rookie.
Dean stared back at him, opened his mouth, closed it, and then turned to Piper. “What are you coloring there?”
“A chili pepper.” She handed him a red crayon. “You can color his sunglasses if you want.”
“Thanks.” With his eyes on her paper, he said, “Grace is the reason I smile when I wake up in the morning. And she’s the reason I smile when I’m falling asleep.”
Rob snorted. “Now that’s a line, if I ever heard one.”
“Maybe.” Dean’s gaze moved back to Rob. “I’m a morning person, so I smile a lot. I guess a better way to say it is she’s what I’m smiling about these days.”
Rob’s eyes met mine, a look of, “can you believe this guy?”
I couldn’t believe either of them. But this was my fault. I was the one who broke the everything-is-fine truce with Rob. And then smashed it by bringing along Dean in his assistant coach shirt. He was the literal embodiment of everything Rob was not doing and hadn’t been doing for a long time. And as despicable as Rob could be sometimes, I felt for him.
This was why I’d told Dean to stand down. He didn’t need to defend me with words. He’d already done it just by showing up with us and being himself.
“Can you believe this heat already? It reached ninety-three in my car yesterday.” I gave Dean’s arm a gentle tug until he looked at me.Easy, tiger.
He sighed, getting the message. “Yeah, it’s getting hot.”
