Lana gave the girl a what-are-you-up-to look before she sighed. “Okay, until a table opens up.” She scooted toward the far end of the bench, leaving a good foot-and-ßa-half of space for him.
“You want coffee while you’re waiting for your burger, Sly? I just made a fresh pot.”
“Sounds good.”
“Be right back.” Dani hurried off.
A frown tugged Lana’s mouth.
“I only told her that you and I danced,” Sly explained.
The teenage girl was staring at him. “You and Lana danced? I wish I could have seen that.” She said it as if she couldn’t believe people their age did that kind of thing.
“I don’t believe we’ve met.” He extended his hand. “I’m Sly.”
“Cool name. I’m Sophie.”
“Nice to meet you. Are you Lana’s little sister?”
The girl looked at him like he was crazy. “No,” she said with a smirk. “Lana and I just met today.”
Interesting. “Then you must be interviewing for a job at her daycare.”
“Not that, either.” Sophie smoothed her T-shirt over her rounded belly. “I’m pregnant and I’m thinking I might pick Lana to adopt my baby.”
Lana seemed to catch her breath.
She wanted to adopt a baby? Sly realized his mouth was hanging open and quickly shut it. “Is that right.”
The girl wore a speculative expression. “I changed my mind about leaving,” she said. “I might stay a while longer. But I need to use the restroom. Excuse me.” She slid out of the booth and hurried away.
“This is awkward,” he said in the silence that fell between him and Lana.
“The part about me wanting to adopt, or about me not hearing from you since you stopped at the daycare?” Her eyes flashed with anger. “Or do you mean because you’re suing my cousin?”
She and Tim Carpenter were related? Sly muttered a choice oath and put his head in his hands. With a look of alarm, Dani approached, quickly filled his cup and left.
“First of all, until this minute I wasn’t aware you and Tim Carpenter were related,” he said. “I didn’t even know your last name until I read it in the paper.”
“That’s understandable, but you’re still suing my cousin.”
Her stony expression made him hurry to explain. “Trust me, it wasn’t my first choice. Tim didn’t leave me any other option.” Wanting to get to other things before Sophie returned to the table, Sly added, “I’ll tell you about that later. FYI, I wanted to ask for your number before I left you in our hotel room, but we agreed we wouldn’t contact each other again.”
“Then why did you come to my daycare?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“For exactly one reason.” Lana glanced around and lowered her voice. “You wanted a repeat of what happened that night.”
“True,” Sly admitted, “but it wasn’t just about sex. I’m not interested in getting serious or anything, but I would like to get to know you.”
“Oh, really? Then why didn’t you ask me for my number when you stopped by TLD or at least act like you were interested in me as a person? You never asked me a single question about myself.”
Sly fiddled with his cup. “You didn’t ask me any, either.”
“I was letting you take the lead!” People were starting to stare, and she lowered her voice. “Forget it.”
“Uh, can I have your number now?” Talk about sounding lame.
