“Okay, that everything?”
“Yeah, we’re gonna share.”
“Great.” She took off, returning a minute later with two steaming mugs of coffee.
I grabbed it from her before she had a chance to place it on the table, blowing on it and taking a big gulp. Drew’s eyes were on me as I put it down.
“What?”
One shoulder lifted in a lopsided shrug. “Nothing. I just like seeing you here is all.”
He held my gaze as I smiled at him.
“I like being here. This place is seriously cute, and it’s so unlike California. It’s like a movie set.”
He nodded as he sipped his coffee. “They’re all like this, but this one is the best for sure. They always go all out for decorations too.”
I glanced out of the window. “I can see that.”
“Do you like Halloween?”
“Yeah, it’s fun. The parties are always good. What about you?”
“I love it. The club usually has a big charity Halloween party, but we can’t this year because of an away stretch, so we’re doing it for New Year instead.” He laughed. “Every year, Felix and I dress in the most ridiculous costumes.”
“Like what?”
He lifted his cap up and rubbed his head. “We’ve gone as so many things. He really gets into it and starts planning our costumes months in advance. One year we went as two guys from the Blackhawks that we have a stupid rivalry with which was fucking funny. The press had a field day with it.” His laugh got louder as he remembered more. “A couple of years ago, we went as giant pumpkins. Giant. They were so big we kept knocking everything over. People were getting really pissed, especially Coop. It was fucking hilarious.”
“You’ll still get dressed for New Year?”
“Yeah, I don’t know what the theme is yet, but we will,” he smirked. “You wanna match with me?”
“Maybe,” I grinned at him.
Our food arrived; the biggest stack of pancakes I’d ever seen was placed on the table. Drew forked a couple off and put them on my plate.
“Thank you.” I picked up the syrup and poured it over.
Drew held his pancakes out for me do to the same, his mouth already full and we ate in silence, both too hungry to speak.
“I fucking love breakfast.”
Soon, our bellies were full, pancakes and eggs washed down with juice and coffee. I was glad I’d worn yoga pants instead of jeans because I was sure I was about to burst.
Drew peeled some notes off a wad of cash he pulled from his pocket and placed them on the table.
“Come on, I want to show you the rest.”
He stood up, holding his hand out and I took it, his fingers threaded through mine as we said goodbye to the waitress and walked out onto the street again. The Saturday bustle seemed to have increased as the brunch crowd started to emerge. We walked along the sidewalk, taking in the stores and decorations, deciding which ones were our favorite.
“Excuse me.”
We stopped and turned. Two boys aged around nine years old, both wearing Rangers hoodies, were looking up at Drew in wide eyed awe.
He towered over them. “Hi, bud. You okay there?”
Their mouths dropped in surprise that he was actually talking to them. They stood there staring before one of them plucked up the courage to speak, his voice shaky. “Are you Drew Crawley?”
