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My lips twitched as I reclaimed my seat and watched as Hastings took hers. Hers that now was directly in line with mine, giving me an unencumbered view of her face.
The grin that split across my face at the sight of her nervousness had her eyes narrowing.
My brows rose in challenge, and she gritted her teeth and looked back at the appetizer that had arrived at their table while we were visiting the bathroom.
She poked the large cheese sticks with one finger, then hauled one onto her plate.
“…thought we could stop by that place with the jerky that’s off of twenty. I’ve been craving it for weeks,” Ford said as he took a drink of his water.
Louis looked at our cousin and frowned. “I think your cravings are worse than your wife’s.”
Ford shook his head.
“You aren’t lying,” he muttered. “I think I’ve gained fifteen pounds during her pregnancy. I’ve tried everything to control myself. But I’m just so goddamn hungry all the time.”
I looked over at him. “Did you show Ashe the Nose Frieda?”
Booth had given Dax the same damn thing at his baby shower. I’d seen the video then and nearly died.
But then Booth had given Dax this goddamn monstrosity, and then showed him how to use it by using it his goddamn self on his own kid. In real life.
Dax’s kid was born about a week ago, and he had the privilege of using it after his son caught a small cold. He’d also brought the kid to the baby shower for Ford and had given him this gift.
And when the time came to open it, Dax had pulled out his own Nose Frieda and had then proceeded to show us all how it worked.
He’d connected this tube to a long straw-like device, then stuck it in his kid’s nose. Then he’d sucked snot out by inhaling and I nearly threw up everything.
“Your time will come.” Ford grinned as he caught my train of thought. “And I showed her the YouTube video. She’s fuckin’ weird. Thought it was the coolest thing ever. She bought two more on Amazon. One for the diaper bag, and one for the extra diaper bag because I refuse to carry that frilly shit that she wants me to carry. So instead, she bought this badass tactical backpack that has places to put patches and shit.”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s wrong with the diaper bag that she wanted?”
“It’s got fuckin’ frills. Lace. Ruffles. I don’t want to carry that. No thanks.” He shook his head. “I’ll stick to the backpack that she found. It’s actually a tactical backpack, too. So, there’s room for my piece in it if I don’t want to conceal carry.”
“I have no fuckin’ idea what y’all are talking about,” my father interrupted.
I looked up just in time to see Louis pulling his phone out of his pocket. He typed in a few things and then turned his screen sideways so that his father and mine could see what we were talking about.
I knew the moment they understood because their faces went disgusted and horrified.
“Fuck no.” Foster shook his head. “I loved you, kid. But not that much.”
Dad chuckled.
“There was one time that Sammy was sick when he was a baby,” Dad said as he leaned back in his chair.
Having likely heard this one a time or two, I listened as I stared at Hastings, who was definitely listening to our conversation and not the one going on around her.
Though it was kind of hard not to seeing as my father spoke really loudly.
“He was about six months old or so and had his first cold. Keep everyone away from your damn baby during flu season.” I knew that he was looking over at me. “People are inconsiderate assholes when they’re sick. They only think of themselves. Anyway, so he was sick because people wouldn’t stop fuckin’ touching him that weren’t supposed to. Kissing his face. Shit like that. And he got really sick. The sickest he’d ever been. And Mercy freaked out. Took him to the doctor. She came home and showed me this photo she took of all the snot that the doctor was able to get out of our son’s nose at the office. I’ve never seen so much snot in a kid’s face before in my life.”
The waitress left Hastings’ table and came to ours, coming right up to my side and leaning in slightly as she said, “Are y’all ready to order?”
I looked down at my menu.
I hadn’t even glanced at it yet.
Picking the first thing that my eyes landed on, I recited what I wanted then looked back up to see Hastings staring at me with her eyes narrowed.
Well, more likely, her eyes were narrowed at the lady standing next to me.
I grinned and leaned a bit closer, causing her mouth to pinch into a fine line.
