“Did what?” She placed Poe on the counter, who decided it was now time to give the sandwich bags a good sniff.
“Don’t play dumb,” Annie said. “You totally made it seem like you and Dorian were together.”
Delphine glanced at her daughter and then at me and then Poe. “Consider this my way of asking to go steady.”
“With me?” I asked.
“I’m certainly not going to date Poe, as cute as he is.” Delphine patted his head. “And no, Poe, you cannot have a sandwich.”
Poe sighed, plopping down next to the bag with his chin in his front paws, looking woebegone.
“Do you want me to write you a note?” Delphine asked me. “Do you want to go steady with me, yes or no?”
“That won’t be necessary,” I said.
“You’re the first man I’ve kissed in six years, which means you have to say yes,” Delphine said. “Otherwise, it might be another six years and by then I’ll be so old no one will want to kiss me.”
“Mom, did you have wine for breakfast?” Annie asked.
Delphine sniffed. “Certainly not. I’m simply high on life.”
“I’ve never really seen you high on anything,” Annie said, grinning. “But I like it.”
“You’ll never be too old to kiss,” I said. “I don’t care how many years go by.”
“I should be grossed out, but I’m just so happy,” Annie said. “And starving. Can we eat now?”
“I have an appointment, so I must run,” Delphine said. “You two enjoy your lunch.” She headed toward the door, avoiding several tourists perusing the staff picks table. When she reached the entrance, she turned back. “Dorian, I’ll pick you up at seven. I have somewhere I’d like to take you.”
“Um, sure. I’ll be ready. At my house?”
“Perfect. Bye for now.”
“Send me your address, please.” She swept out the door. Poe meowed sadly. Annie and I simply stared at each other.
“What just happened?” Annie asked, starting to laugh. “Other than my mother’s been invaded by an alien.”
“A very pretty alien,” I said.
“And fast thinking. As my third grade teacher used to say, she made short work of that. Camille won’t be buying her books from here anytime soon.”
“But she’s happy to sell one of our houses,” I said, laughing.
“That was awesome.” Annie snatched one of the bags. “Can I take my lunch break now?”
I glanced around the store. There were only a handful of customers. “Go for it. I’ll hold down the fort.”
She tilted her head, peering at me. “You always do, don’t you?”
“What? Hold down the fort?”
“Yeah. You’re made for it.” She nudged me with her shoulder. “Sometimes you don’t know you need a person until they show up.”
She disappeared into the back office, leaving me with Poe, who wasn’t anymore enamored with me than he ever had been. Even if a certain mother and daughter team seemed to like me quite a bit.
“You have good taste, Poe. I’ll give you that.”
In answer, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
