Chapter 24 #2
“I’m getting a Reuben with french fries that you’ll help me eat.”
“If I must,” I say with a laugh.
“You must.” He takes a sip of water. “So tell me more about Kinsley. We’ve talked about the bad stuff, so tell me something good.”
“Hmmm, well, I work part time while my kids are in school, doing marketing for two local nonprofits.”
“Have you been in that field a long time?”
“Since I graduated from college.”
“Where’d you go?”
“The University of Vermont.”
“Oh, I love it up there. Burlington is such a great city.”
“One of my favorite places ever, except for in the winter.”
“So cold it hurts to breathe.”
“Yes, exactly. What took you up there?”
“My in-laws have a place on Lake Champlain,” he says. “My father-in-law is originally from Vermont.”
“Ah, I see. Do you spend much time there?”
“Only in the summer. I can’t do winter in Vermont with four little kids on my own. Too much equipment required.”
“That’s true. It’s a lot to travel alone with kids. I can barely handle my two, let alone four.”
“I’m sure you’re a pro by now.”
“It gets easier as they get older.”
“That’s a fact. Tell me more about your kids.”
We’re interrupted when the waitress comes to take our order. “Coming right up,” she says with another smile for Luke. Honestly… To his credit, he has no reaction to the pretty young woman.
“You were going to tell me about your kids. I know I met them at Iris’s, but there was a gaggle that night.”
“We’re a crowd when we all get together. My son, Christian, is eight, and my daughter, Maisy, is six. They’re in third grade and kindergarten.”
“I need pictures.”
I call up a recent photo of my babies on my phone and hand it over to him.
He takes a long look at them before smiling as he hands the phone back to me. “I remember them now. They’re adorable.”
“They’re good kids. I’m lucky.”
“My Clarissa talked about Maisy after that night. She said she’s very nice.”
“Aw, that’s great to hear.”
“So between us, we have six kids, eight and under. In reality, we should never speak to each other again.”
I laugh at the statement and the grimace that accompanies it. “We really shouldn’t.” Please don’t agree with that. Please don’t agree with that. Shut up, Kinsley.
“Except this is kind of fun.”
I hope I’m not blushing, because that would make me mad. “Yes, it is.”
“Are you going to the wedding this weekend?”
“I’m looking forward to it, and so are my kids.”
“I accepted their kind invite, but I’m not sure if taking four kids to a wedding by myself is the best idea I’ve ever had.”
I’m thrilled to know he’ll be there. Oh, Kinsley… “All the kids are going. Yours will fit right into the madness.”
“In that case, I feel better about inflicting my crew on such a special occasion.”
“Gage and Iris wanted their kids’ friends there because it’s a big day for them, too.”
“Sure is. After reading Gage’s amazing posts, I’m so happy for him—and Iris and the kids, too. They deserve their happy ending.”
“They really do, but we all do after what we’ve been through.”
“Have you dated at all?” he asks.
“A little. Nothing special. It’s rough out there.”
“It sure is. One of my friends has tried to get me to do online dating, but the thought of it is revolting.”
“You’d be very popular on the sites.” The words are out of my mouth before I recall that I was supposed to be shutting up.
His left brow goes up, and naturally, it’s a good look on him. “You think so?”
“Uh, yeah. They’d snap you up so fast you wouldn’t know what hit you.” Great time for diarrhea of the mouth, Kinsley.
“Until they find out I have four little kids and no mommy.”
“Nah, that’d be catnip to them. They’d all want to save you and your babies.”
His curled lip indicates his thoughts on that. “Ew.”
I can’t stop laughing at the face he makes. “Don’t tell me you haven’t heard from any of the PTA mommies yet.”
“A few have reached out to ask if they can help with anything.”
“I’ll tell you what they want to help you with…”
His gorgeous eyes go wide. “No way.”
“Luke, are you serious? They want to be the ones to keep the poor widower’s bed warm.” Take an Imodium, Kinsley. Stat. You’re talking about his bed, for crying out loud.
He gives me a curious glance. “Have the daddies hit on you?”
“Two of them, both married to women I know.”
“Come on.”
“True story, and at the holiday hullabaloo, no less.”
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s an event at school where the kids get to shop for their parents and other people on their list. I was working the bake sale table when one of them asked if I needed any help around the house, and he was talking about my plumbing, not the house’s.”
“Stop it!” He roars with laughter. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I wish I was.”
“What’d the other one say?”
“Apparently, he comes through my neighborhood around midday ‘on his route’ and could stop by if I need anything.”
“What route is he on?”
“I have no idea, and I don’t want to know.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Is it, though?”
“I guess not.”
“People hear about a lonely widow and see opportunity. They think we’re so desperate for any attention we can get that their stupid come-on lines will actually work. And the worst part is they always say something nice at first, like how much they enjoyed Rory and how sad they are that he’s gone.”
“Ruthless.” He shakes his head with dismay. Then his eyes go wide again. “Oh my God, I just remembered… One of the ones who called made sure to mention that she’d worked on a committee with Bella and thought the world of her. She was so sad to hear she’d passed.”
“She was so sad until she realized you’re now single and in need of what she has to offer.”
“Wow, I didn’t see that at the time.”
“Stick with us veterans. We’ll show you the ropes, although please know that sometimes they’re simply offering help and nothing else. It’s just that it can be hard to tell the difference.”
“I’m fine without the ropes.”
When he seems to realize there are a lot of ways that statement could be interpreted, he loses it laughing and takes me down with him.
“Metaphorically speaking,” he adds when the laughter passes.
“Too funny. I knew what you meant.”
“Just making sure, and for what it’s worth, I’ve seen a lot of the sincerity along with the weirdness.”
Our lunch is served, and he pushes the fries my way like the devil he is. We discover we both like them with ketchup and vinegar.
“Bella thought vinegar was disgusting.”
“Rory hated the combination. He’d say, ‘One or the other, Kins. One or the other.’”
“That’s the stuff I’ve missed the most,” he says. “The things that were unique to us, the language only we spoke, the inside jokes, the Seinfeld quotes.”
I lean in a little closer. “‘I’ll tell you what… There’s fifty bucks in it for you if you do it.’”
He stares at me, looking a bit stunned. “You speak Seinfeld.”
“Fluently.”
“Wow. We might require a second date to fully process this discovery.”
Hearing this was an official date makes me giddy, and I refuse to shut up about it. “I’d be down with that.”
“Let’s make it happen. Soon.”