“They colored in the lines, and you didn’t,” Lucy said,slapping down our bill on the table. “Come see me at the register when you’re done so I can take care of this bill for you.”
“You’re cruel,” I said as she walked about. “This was rigged.”
Across the table, Charlie and Harper wore smug expressions. “Looks like we’re off dish duty for the week.” Then they turned to one another and did some kind of handshake that looked like a strange secret code.
“Braggarts,” Duke mumbled, looking down at his empty milkshake glass.
Harper leaned forward and placed one hand behind her ear. “What’s that?” she asked. “I can’t hear you over the sound of sweet, sweet victory.”
I turned toward Duke in horror. “Who raised these monsters?”
“Yours is the ringleader,” he said.
Charlie beamed at his distinction. Typical. Only my daughter would take something like that as a highly distinguished honor.
As I reached across the table for the check, Duke grabbed it first.
“You ran errands with me all afternoon,” I said. “The least I could do is pay. Especially since I got you stuck on dish duty.”
While I knew he wouldn’t give it back, I thought he’d put up more fight than he did. Instead, his lips quirked, and he said, “Running errands with you isn’t something I need to be paid to do. I enjoyed it.”
“You enjoyed running errands?” I asked, brows furrowed.
“With you,” he corrected, sliding out of the booth. “I said, I liked running errands with you.” Before I could utter another word, he strode to the counter to pay our bill.
I was vaguely aware of Charlie asking me something, but I wasn’t sure what I said. I wasn’t even sure I replied at all. While she was talking, my attention was elsewhere. I knew I shouldn’tgawk at Duke in front of our kids, but I couldn’t help it. I loved watching him, seeing the occasional tilt of his lips, or hearing a smart-assed quip.
Surprisingly, I loved doing normal, everyday things with him. And he apparently loved them, too.
“Earth to Mooooom,” Charlie sang.
“Huh? What?” I turned toward my daughter. “Sorry. Zoned out again.”
She rolled her eyes playfully. “Yeah, you seem to be doing that a lot today.”
“Alright, you have my full attention. Hit me with it.”
“I asked what we were going to be doing after this, and if Harper could come over? I want to show her the treehouse Uncle Luke is building for me.”
“Uh,” I said, chancing a glance back at Duke. He was tucking his wallet in the back pocket of his jeans. “We’ll head back to John’s after this so Mr. Bennett can get his truck, but it’s fine with me if they come over.”
The girls whooped again as Duke turned toward the table. They flew past him to the quarter machines at the front. He stopped in front of the table with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “I swear to god if you bet them anything else…”
“Not this time. The girls were asking if you wanted to come over once we got your truck from John’s. Charlie wants to show Harper the treehouse Luke is building for her,” I said, sliding toward the end of the seat.
“And what’d you say?”
I wasn’t sure why, but I was suddenly worried he thought that I’d committed him to something he didn’t want to do, so I hurried to offer assurances. “I told them it was up to you, I swear. You’re not obligated to?—”
“The answer’s yes.”
For what felt like the millionth time today, I wondered whothis man was and what happened to the Duke Bennett I thought I knew. Because the one I met a few weeks ago wouldn’t be caught dead spending more time with me than was required. “You don’t have to?—”
“I know I don’t. Iwantto.” As if remembering himself, he added, “Plus, I think it’d make Harper happy.”
“Yeah, it’d totally make Harper happy.” We were trapped in a moment, neither of us willing to break eye contact.
It’d make me happy, too, I thought. However, I kept that comment to myself.