Daddy’s Picky Eater (Blue Collar Daddies in the City #8)

6. Augie

6

AUGIE

“That’ll be twenty-two dollars, Mr. Johnson.” One of my favorite customers at the barber shop I managed liked to share his comic books with me. He went through them like water and always brought me a few during his weekly shave.

He laughed as pulled out some cash. “Woo, it’s getting expensive to be bald these days. Give the change to Maurice.” He dug into his bag and pulled out a Fantastic Four and…

“Absolute Batman!” I reached for it with grabby hands. “For me? Really? Thank you, Mr. Johnson!”

He chuckled as he handed them both over. “You’re gonna like that one. And I might have the next one coming in the mail, so be ready for it when I see you next.”

I wanted to jump over the table and give him a hug, but Maurice told me I wasn’t supposed to hug customers unless they initiated it and I agreed, so no hugs for Mr. Johnson. “Thank you so much! I’ll read it tonight and have it ready for you next week.” Oh, that reminded me. “I have last week's books here for you.” I reached under the counter and grabbed the comics I had waiting for him. “Now I can’t wait to get home and read it.”

Mr. Johnson chuckled as he walked out the door.

I turned away to go sweep up the stubble hairs that were shaved off Mr. Johnson’s head when I heard a throat clear behind me.

“Excuse me, Augie.”

My spine straightened, and I froze for a moment before slowly spinning toward the deep voice I’d been hearing in my dreams for the past several nights. “Oh, Mister Dexter. Hi.”

He held up a cardboard box. “I was just getting bagels for lunch and was thinking that maybe you’d like some too.”

“Bagels?” I was excited for just a brief second, and then I remembered that most people liked gross bagels. “Um, what kind?”

“Plain. With plain cream cheese. But you’ll have to put it on yourself. They aren’t pre-creamed.” He winked when I looked up at him.

“Just plain? Or are there other kinds in the box? Blueberry or onion, maybe?” Those flavors were the worst offenders of cross-contamination. It was bad enough they had to share a display case. I couldn’t handle when they touched in the box and my plain bagel suddenly had sweet or sour spots.

He furrowed his brow like I might be upset by his choice. “Yeah, just plain. Is that okay? Do you prefer a different flavor?”

“No, not at all.” I finally relaxed. “Come into the break room.” I waved to Maurice as we passed. “Maurice, this is my friend Mister Dexter. He brought me bagels, so I’m gonna take my break now.”

Maurice looked Dexter up and down and then nodded to me. “Take your time, Augs. I’ll handle things out here.”

I went into the breakroom with as much controlled anticipation as I could handle. Getting my hopes up was the natural response but it was also the response that always got my heart broken. And in one case, got me in a very dangerous situation with my friends.

But Dexter wasn’t a bad guy, and I didn’t need to think about bad things when he had a box of yummy plain bagels in his hand. “What do you need? A knife? Plates?” I reached into the cabinet and pulled out two plates.

“Yup, that should do it.” Dexter put the box in the center of the table and pulled out the container of cream cheese.

I brought out the rest of our supplies and waited to see what he wanted me to do next.

Dexter stepped aside and waved his hand over the box. “You can pick your bagel first.”

“Okay.” I was glad he let me go first because I liked the lightest color ones, and I wanted to make double sure there weren’t any other flavors touching the one I picked. When I peeked inside, he was right and only a mountain of plain bagels waited for me. I picked one right in the middle because it looked extra fluffy and delicious.

Dexter chose one too, and we both sat down.

“Would you like me to cut yours in half or would you like to do it yourself?”

I could cut mine just fine, but it was nice to have somebody offer to do it for me, so I pushed my plate toward him. “You can do it, please.”

Like the expert chef that he was, he sliced down the center of the bagel in two saws and gave me back exactly even halves. He did the same for his own and then handed the knife back to me. “You can put your cream cheese on, just the way you like it.”

“Alright.” I put on a thin layer that covered the full flat surface of each side, not too thick but enough that I could taste it.

Dexter put on a thicker layer on his pieces and then he closed them together like a sandwich while I ate mine in two halves.

After a few bites, I had the courage to ask what he was really doing there. “Did you know that these are my favorite kind of bagels?”

He glanced at me and smiled. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Brayden what you might like. I really enjoyed our date the other day, and it seemed like maybe I did something to upset you when you didn’t respond back to my texts.

“I responded. Mostly.” I looked down at my bagel and sighed in frustration. “You didn’t upset me. I…upset myself.” I didn’t really know how to explain why. It doesn’t make sense to me, so it definitely wouldn’t make sense to him, but I figured I owed Dexter some kind of explanation. Especially since he brought me yummy bagels. “It’s just that…I’m a really hard person to date. Guys are usually fine going out once or twice, but then they get really tired of dealing with me so…I figured it was better to end things on a high note.”