Chapter 5 #3
“If he presses charges against, uh, Pumpkin ,” Dosia stumbled over the name, “then I’ll press charges against him. He grabbed me earlier and was threatening me.” The latter was a bit of an exaggeration, but she hoped it was enough to keep Bart ley from pressing charges.
Danny nodded at her. Then he bent down to assist Bart ley to his feet. “Come on, Mr. Anderson. Let’s you and I have a talk outside.”
As the two men started towards the exit, Dosia thought she heard something along the lines of “arrest them” from Bart ley .
Dosia’s jaw dropped. “What did I do?”
“Nothing but be your amazingly sexy self,” Pumpkin answered, his body still trembling.
Frankie rushed forward. “Will you please sit? You’re about to fall over.”
Pumpkin scowled at her. “What happened to not babying me?” he asked her.
Frankie met his eyes and scowled, all shyness she’d displayed with Dosia gone. “Fine. Fall flat on your face. See if I care. SJ and I are going to have a nice dinner now that you’ve taken care of the Big Bad Banker.”
Dosia realized then that others recognized Bart the Banker.
The cop, Danny, had called him ‘Mr. Anderson’.
With a town like Mount Grove only having two banks, it made sense that the locals would know him.
And it seemed like there were a lot of residents of Mount Grove in the restaurant tonight, even though they were about forty-five minutes outside of town.
Pumpkin groused, “I’m not going to fall on my face.” But when he made to turn around towards the table, he stumbled. Dosia had a hard time keeping her hold on him. Pumpkin was a big guy, even bigger than she remembered.
“Let me get your cane!” Frankie quickly said, moving around the table to the chair closest to the wall.
“I don’t need my fucking cane,” Pumpkin groaned.
As he gritted his teeth and started to walk forward with his arm still around Dosia’s shoulders, it occurred to Dosia that he wasn’t drunk . He was hurt .
“What happened to you?” she asked before she could stop herself.
Pumpkin snorted. “Long story. Short version is Hummer versus motorcycle.”
Dosia winced. As they made their way slowly around the table, his body continued to tremble. Frankie stood there with his cane, but he refused to take it, walking right past her. “If you’re hurt, why the hell did you get between me and Bart the Butthole?”
Pumpkin lifted an eyebrow at her nickname before lowering both eyebrows in a glare. “I will be six feet under before I sit back and allow a man to speak to a woman the way he spoke to you, let alone touch you as he did.”
Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck… There went her ovaries again. Somehow her nipples tightened even more, and she hadn’t even known that was possible!
They stared at each other for a long moment, Pumpkin not fully seated yet with his arm still around her shoulders. Dosia had to actively remember how to breathe.
Piper coming over with drink glasses, a bread basket, and salads broke their connection. Pumpkin sat fully in his chair as she set the tray on the corner of their table. “Here. You guys haven’t ordered yet, but I figured this could get you started.”
Dosia quickly stepped away. Noticing the third large glass and salad on the tray, she quickly shook her head. “Oh, I’m not staying.”
“She’s staying,” Pumpkin argued.
Dosia glared down at him. “No, I’m not. I’m going to call an Uber?—”
“And how much is that going to cost you to get back to Mount Grove?” he shot back. “You are going back to Mount Grove, right?”
Her cheeks flushed, wishing she had the disposable income that didn’t make calling an Uber for such a long ride make her have to count pennies the next time she was at the grocery store.
“Look,” he said, his voice softening, “just stay for dinner. I promise to only bite the food.” Dosia’s eyes widened in both horror and arousal.
He did not just say that! In public, no less.
But he continued, either not noticing or ignoring her reaction.
“We’ll drive you home. You’ll get a free meal and a free ride. Seems like a win-win to me.”
Her stomach took that inopportune moment to growl like a fucking lion. Dosia cursed as Pumpkin’s dark eyes dropped to it and then he arrogantly smirked up at her. Motherfucker.
Taking a deep breath, and resolving to find some way to get even with her aunt, Dosia pulled out the chair catty corner from Pumpkin and took a seat. He grinned at her, the expression showing off his impeccably straight teeth .
“Thank you for the ride home,” she said in advance, “but you are not paying for my dinner.”
Frankie let out a sound that was akin to a snort as she took her own seat across from Dosia. SJ was in a highchair at the corner between his father and nanny.
Pumpkin ignored Frankie and turned to Dosia. “No woman sitting at my table will ever pay for a meal.”
Dosia felt like this was a good time to clarify one point. “I am not your woman.”
She thought he’d get mad at her declaration, but instead he just raised an eyebrow. “I said no woman. As in any woman.” Sitting back, he picked up the water glass that Piper had placed in front of his seat and took a sip. “But interesting that you would jump to that conclusion.”
Her cheeks flushed, and she realized that somehow she’d walked into that one. “Look,” she stumbled, trying to regain control of both herself and the situation, “I just… I have to pay for my own meal. Okay?”
“If you say so,” Pumpkin conceded.
Piper came back with menus. The silence that fell was a bit awkward as the three adults looked over the options quickly, not wanting to wait another minute to place their orders.
After Piper took her order, Dosia said, “And I’m a separate check.”
“Oh!” Piper’s eyes widened and then she looked to Pumpkin in question.
He was still looking over his menu and didn’t even glance up. “No, she’s not.”
“Um…” Piper started.
“Yes,” Dosia insisted through gritted teeth, turning her anger on Pumpkin and not Piper, “I am.” She was not letting him pay for her dinner.
Pumpkin looked up at Piper. “I was going to do the challenge, but I honestly don’t think I’m in the right company for that. I’ll bring the guys back in a few weeks and do it then.”
Dosia’s eyes dropped to her menu to see the challenge was a sixty- four ounce steak, plus sides.
If the customer could eat it all, they not only got their meal for free, but they got their picture on the wall and a t-shirt.
Not to mention bragging rights. Her jaw dropped, because holy crap!
He was not actually considering eating that ?
“Oh, call in advance and I’ll make sure I’m here,” Piper told him. The pitch of her voice changed to excitement, and Dosia’s eyes narrowed.
Pumpkin cleared his throat, snapping Dosia out of her haze as she unintentionally glared at Piper. Straightening as she dropped her gaze, Dosia caught the immense amusement on Pumpkin’s face as he answered Piper.
“Definitely. I’m sure I won’t be the only one going to try it, so we’d call in advance anyway.
” He tipped the menu with his thumb. “I’ll take the boring, normal-sized ribeye tonight.
Medium-rare, please. Mashed potatoes and the steamed veggies.
Could you make them extra soft so I can give some to SJ, please? ”
“Of course,” Piper answered, sending an adoring smile SJ’s way. “Mac-n-cheese for him?”
“Please,” Pumpkin replied, handing over his menu. Then he handed over his credit card. “Keep our tab open. I’m sure we’ll want dessert too.”
Dosia’s jaw dropped. The audacity! “Wait! Don’t charge—” But Piper was already scurrying away. She hadn’t even taken Frankie’s or Dosia’s menus, she was in such a hurry to leave. “Damnit,” Dosia cursed, and then slapped a hand over her mouth as she glanced at SJ. “Sorry!”
Pumpkin chuckled. “Trust me, he’s heard worse. There’s a good chance his first words are going to be ‘fuck you’.” He shrugged. “Not really proud of that, but he’s been raised around bikers who curse worse than drunken sailors. I’ll still put it in his baby book that his first word was ‘da-da’.”
JJ’s first word had been ‘boom’, which Calliope thought hilarious and was convinced to this day that JJ had been trying to say ‘b r oom’.
Dosia shook her head, not letting him change the subject. “Look, thank you for the offer, but I really can’t have you pay for my meal. ”
“Why not?” he asked.
Dosia looked across the table but Frankie was busy helping SJ count his fingers and not paying attention to them. Well, there went any potential buffer between them. Which Dosia was aware was ironic, since she hadn’t been able to stand the idea of Frankie touching Pumpkin a few minutes ago.
Dosia scratched her forehead. There was no way she could explain that her witch of an aunt had proclaimed Dosia would fall for the man who bought her dinner tonight.
“It’s just…not right,” she decided on.
Pumpkin studied her for a moment. Absently, he lifted his right hand to put on the tray in front of his son.
Despite that his focus seemed solely on her, he was still paying attention to his son, who was now playing his daddy’s fingers like they were a coveted treasure.
He even dropped his mouth and started gnawing on them, but Pumpkin’s gaze never left hers.
It was…odd. Of all the things Dosia had ever thought about this man, potentially being a good father had never been one of them. But there was something entirely precious about watching Pumpkin’s attention be split between her and SJ. Like they were his priorities.
Dosia immediately shook that thought from her mind. Godsdamn it.
“I’ll tell you what’s not right,” Pumpkin finally said.
“Meeting a woman whom you think could be the one of your dreams, having unimaginably passionate sex under the stars with her, not once but twice , and then waking up with the intention of asking her out, only to find yourself cuddling a pumpkin instead of said woman.”
Dosia’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe he’d just put their history out there for anyone around them to hear, including Frankie! SJ wouldn’t know what his father had just said, but still. Holy fuck!
Then she blinked. “Why were you cuddling a pumpkin?”
“Wait,” Frankie interjected. “ She’s pumpkin girl?”
Dosia felt like she should blush at those words, but she still had no idea why .
Pumpkin nodded at Frankie, though he didn’t take his eyes away from Dosia. “She’s pumpkin girl,” he confirmed to Dosia’s perplexity.
Frankie let out a laugh, which she quickly muffled. “I’m sorry,” she said to Dosia. “But I’ve heard that story a hundred times! You literally have made his life miserable every fall!”
Dosia shook her head, completely confused. “What? How?” It wasn’t like she’d left him with a baby.
“ The pumpkin ,” Frankie emphasized, like she was revealing a huge secret.
“What pumpkin?” Dosia asked. Her eyes fell on Pumpkin’s cut for the first time and she took in the new road name, despite that everyone tonight had been calling him ‘Pumpkin’ instead of ‘Vodka’.
Pumpkin’s eyes narrowed on her as if he was studying her. “You really don’t remember?”
Dosia shook her head, because there was a lot she didn’t remember from that night, but she had no recollection of any pumpkin. “I have no idea what we’re talking about.”
Shoulders slumping slightly, Pumpkin pulled out his phone. He turned the lock screen on her and Dosia blinked at what she saw.
It was a younger Pumpkin. One she recognized without the full beard. A very, very naked, younger Pumpkin. Nothing explicit showed because of how his legs were bent. He was lying on his side on what looked to be concrete, cradling a large pumpkin to his chest like it was a teddy bear.
In the top corner of the picture by the time display was a pile of clothing she recognized too. Fuck, this picture was from that night.
She tried to recall if there’d been a pumpkin around them, but frankly, she had no idea.
She’d been in too big of a hurry to get out of there without waking him.
She vaguely recalled tripping over something, but she’d thought it had been the foot of a picnic table.
Had she knocked the pumpkin over? Or maybe it had been a pumpkin she’d tripped over? She had no idea.
Either way, it didn’t explain why he was cuddling it.
And yet, of all the questions she could have asked him, “Um, why is that your lock screen?” was the one that came out of her mouth.