“Any other siblings?”
“A brother, Milo.”
“Are they older or younger?”
“Kirsten’s five years younger than me, and Milo’s ten years younger. He’s an architect in Seattle. I haven’t seen much of either of them since we moved to River Falls. Maybe once for Milo, twice for Kirsten.”
“That’s a shame.”
He nods. “I know, especially for Laney. She misses Kirsten a lot. My parents miss both of them. Kirsten visits as often as she can, but her hours are crazy.”
“Yeah, I get that. Cade used to work crazy hours before he changed to family medicine.”
I place my knife and fork on my empty plate and take a sip of my drink, glancing over my shoulder. I don’t need to look to know that we’re still the subject of conversation. I can feel the eyes on me, but I look anyway. You’d think they’d find something more interesting to focus on, but I guess the kindergarten teacher and the older principal are the hot topic of the day.
“I was going to ask if you wanted dessert, but if you’d rather go somewhere else, somewhere we’re not on show…” he trails off, and I turn back around, my eyes finding his.
“No. I’m not being run out of my favorite restaurant. Let them talk. Dessert sounds good. Maybe we can share the brownie sundae. It’s to die for but huge!”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
When we’ve eaten the biggest dessert I’ve ever seen, Ben asks for the check. He pays before I’m even able to offer to split it and stands. Taking my hand, he pulls me up, laces his fingers with mine, and we walk hand in hand out of the restaurant, and I don’t care who sees us.
“Shall we go for a drink?” Ben asks as we stop on the sidewalk. He turns to face me and wraps me in his arms.
I tilt my head back and smile. “Sure.”
“I’ve heard Eden is the best bar in town.” He raises his eyebrows, and I smile.
“Is that so?” He nods. “I get free drinks there.”
He laughs. “Bonus.”
“I guess we’re going to Eden then.”
He leans down and brushes his lips against mine. “Only if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Plus, Seb won’t be there.”
He chuckles. “You know we can’t avoid your brothers forever.”
“I can try.”
He slips his hand in mine again, and we walk the short distance along Main Street to Eden. Ben holds the door open and we walk inside. It’s Wednesday and still fairly early, so although there’s a good crowd in tonight, it’s not as busy as it gets on the weekend. I let Ben lead me to the bar, and I smile when I see Ryder is serving.
I wait until Ryder looks up, and when he spots us, I wave. He smiles, wipes his hands on a cloth, and makes his way over to us.
“Hey, Ash.”
“Hey, Ryder. You working the bar by yourself?”
He shakes his head. “Alex is out back.” His eyes shift from me to Ben.
“This is Ben,” I introduce him. “Ben, this is Ryder, Seb’s bar manager.”
“Good to meet you,” Ryder says, offering his hand to Ben.
