“Mr. Geraldo is sitting there,” Cal ambles her way, thecorner of his lip tugging, like he’s the one watching a scene he can’t get enough of.
“Time for me to be off anyway.” Gerry stands, then pats his seat. “It’s all yours, Miss Juniper.”
She pulls herself onto the seat, swatting away the hand Gerry offers while she scrambles to not sit, but stand on the swivel chair. The seat shifts under her while Gerry sways nervously behind her. Barry’s next to her. Both of them with hands up ready to catch her. Flo grabs a dish towel and rushes over.
Meanwhile, now that Junie’s been found, Cal’s as calm as the best of the pros facing a gnarly wave. When he reaches the counter, he shoots me a grin. “Thanks for catching her.”
I wonder if he knows what his lopsided smile tugging at one side of his mouth does to women. I can’t be the only one who gets a charge of adrenaline from it.
“No worries.” I talk softly so I don’t have to hide my accent. “I feel like a bit of hero preventing the disasters she nearly caused.”
He snorts. “I don’t doubt you earned your cape.” His eyes sweep over me, gentle and smooth, but powerful enough to loosen the hold LA’s had on me since I got back.
Next to me, Flo pries Gerry’s coffee cup from Junie’s hands half-a-sec before she almost gets it to her lips. “Last thing you need is coffee, June Bug. Gimme a sec, and I’ll get your pancakes started. Now sit yourself down.”
“No chocolate chips if you’re not on best behavior.” Cal takes Junie by the waist and helps her sit.
“Okay, Daddy. Best haviors.” She smiles sweetly, but with a hint of defiance I have to admire.
“That’s my girl. You want to sit on Daddy’s lap?” He kisses the top of her head, then takes the seat on her other side.
Junie shakes her head. “No Daddy. I a big girl. I can’t hold you right now.”
“Okay, but when your pancakes come, Daddy will help you.”
“No. I a big girl. I do it all by self.” She can hardly see over the counter she grips to swivel her chair back and forth, thumping the counter with each turn.
“Now, Juniper, you listen to your daddy,” Flo warns without any real threat in her voice.
Junie may be her great-niece, but only one of them is comfortable in that relationship. Flo looks like a surfer getting thumped on the inside of a wave.
I nudge Flo aside. “I’ve got this.”
With a relieved sigh, she hands me her dishtowel and wipes her hands on her apron. “Thank heavens. There’s a reason I never had kids. Or got married, for that matter.”
“You’ll marry me one of these days, Flamingo,” Larry says calmly from his spot at the counter just outside the Tassie devil habitat.
“We’d be a nightmare together, Larry. Now eat your oatmeal,” Flo answers on her way back to the kitchen without a second glance at Junie.
“I ordered eggs and fried ham.” Larry pokes at his oatmeal and watches it slide in a fat lump off his spoon.
“Pancakes, pease!” Junie calls.
“And your doctor ordered you to lose twenty pounds to keep from having another heart attack,” Flo growls at Larry, ignoring her great-niece.
“Don’t give up, mate. She’ll come round,” I whisper to Larry with a wink before reaching under the counter where we keep the booster seats.
“I hope not. Chasin’ her is what gets me out of bed in themorning,” he says loud enough for Flo to hear from her spot at the grill.
“A weak bladder’s what gets you up in the morning, old man,” Flo shoots back.
When I pop back up with a booster, Larry’s cheeks are pink, but the corner of his mouth pulls into a crooked grin. He lives for Flo’s daily burn.
I carry the booster around the counter to Junie. “I have something special for big girls.”
“No boosters,” Junie says as firmly as a No Entry sign.
“She got you there,” Larry says with a laugh before squeezing out of his chair and hitching up his overalls. “See ya, tomorrow, Flo! Hope you change your mind about marrying me. I may not ask again.”
