“I usually have a special chocolate milk,” Pip said to Scott, before tilting her head. “Who are you?”
“Pip, this is Scott.”
Scott did a shitty job hiding his annoyance. “Belle and I are on a date, so why don’t you go on back and sit with your uncle?”
“What’s a date?” Pip asked Belle.
It was a sad state of affairs that Pip didn’t have a clue what a date was, considering she lived with two single women. Belle clearly wasn’t the only one who needed to get out there. Vivian did too, though Belle worried her beloved boss would refuse, determined to mourn her sweet husband until the day she joined him.
Scott sighed loudly, answering for Belle. “It just means the two of us are having a grown-up conversation. One you wouldn’t understand. So go on now.” Scott made a shooing gesture that had Belle seeing red.
Pip blinked a few times, confused. Probably because Scott’s response, paired with his snippy tone, didn’t make sense to the little girl. Belle, Vivian, and Victor never talked down to or condescended to Pip simply because she was a child. And if she hadn’t already decided Scott was a gigantic douchebag, the way he was treating Pip would have sealed the deal.
“Actually,” Belle said, rising, “our grown-up conversation is over. I’m sure you need to get back to work. It was nice to meet you, Scott,” she said, lying through her teeth.
Scott seemed shocked that she was dismissing him, which told Belle the idiot would have happily ordered another coffee, added yet another shot from his flask, and continued boring her to tears with more of his frat-boy stories.
“Oh. Um, yeah.” Scott rose. He leaned in, like he planned to kiss her.
Belle turned her face so that he only managed to give her a quick buss on the cheek.
“I’ll give you a call,” he said.
Belle nodded, not bothered by his comment, because she planned to block his number the second he left the shop.
Rather than leave immediately, Scott stopped by Victor’s table, asking for an autograph and a photo despite the dirty look the hockey player was giving him. The man really didn’t have a clue when it came to reading the room, too much of a narcissist to realize how much he was irritating the people around him.
To his credit, Victor signed his napkin and let Scott take a selfie of the two of them, though Scott was the only one smiling.
Then, finally, he left.
Jerry rounded the corner, approaching her as Victor stood. “That guy’s an assho—er, jerk,” her former boss quickly amended, cleaning up his language for Pip.
“With a capital A,” Belle agreed, glad Pip had interrupted her stupid attempt at trying to make Victor jealous. Mainly because she’d hate for him to think she’d actually be interested in a man like Scott.
“It didn’t go well?” Victor asked.
“Not even a little bit,” she confessed.
“What’s a date?” Pip asked again, unsatisfied by Scott’s shitty answer.
Once again, Belle didn’t have a chance to respond.
“It’s when two people go out for coffee or dinner to get to know each other,” Victor replied. “If they like each other, they might go out again. And eventually, if theyreallylike each other, they might get married.”
Victor’s response was perfect.
“Oh,” Pip said, eyes wide. “I get it now. So my mommy and daddy went on a date?”
Victor nodded. “Yeah. They went on a lot of dates, and then they fell in love. That was when they decided to get married and then they had you.”
“Are you going to marry that man?” Pip asked, not bothering to hide her disdain, her nose crinkled in a way that reminded Belle of Vivian, and it made her miss her boss/best friend/sister of her heart.
“No,” Belle said. “That was our first andlastdate.”
“Because he was rude?” Pip asked, so sincerely that Belle couldn’t help but laugh.
Prior to her trip, Vivian had a couple of long conversations with Pip about what it meant to be rude. Vivian’s definition was saying things to someone that might hurt their feelings. Those discussions usually followed Pip making loud comments about someone’s looks or the way they talked. Pip wasn’t a cruel kid, but she was inquisitive, so her lack of an indoor voice could be a problem when they were in public and Pip had a question about someone…like the veteran in a wheelchair with no legs. Pip wanted to know where his legs were. Mercifully, the man had been very understanding and kind about it, but Vivian had been mortified.
