“I guess,” he groaned, throwing a wink at Ethan. The other Little laughed at the motion before turning back to his coloring page.
Koa considered it a win. He’d have to find other ways to make his friend happy through the night.
He managed to turn around to face the front right as Briar came to a stop. She began making introductions, but he couldn’t hear a word of it. Because standing in front of him was the handsome stranger Ethan called “Manny.”
“Koa,” Briar called in a way that told him she’d said it more than once.
“Huh.” He rubbed his throat. “I’m here. What’s happening?”
His bestie sighed gently. “I’m trying to introduce you to Roman, our new Monday Mixers host. He’s going to coordinate and schedule activities for the munches moving forward.”
Roman held his hand out. “Nice to meet you, Koa. I’m excited to be here.”
“Ethan said you were Manny. Did you lie to him?”
The words came out his mouth before he could stop them. He would have to apologize later if he was wrong. It just seemed too weird for this man to have more than one identity.
Unless there was a twin here.
Koa spun in a circle, wondering if he’d missed the fact that more than one handsome man had arrived. When he found nothing, he turned back to look at Roman.
Briar had a scowl on her face. Koa ignored her in favor of getting an answer to his question. He didn’t think he was being unreasonable. If Roman, Manny, orwhoeverthis was turned out to be a liar, they needed to know upfront.
“My full name is Roman McKeen, as I outlined on my application. When I meet Littles, I use Manny because I find it is less intimidating. It’s not a lie. Merely a preference.”
Koa’s shoulders dropped. He had been all wrong. There was no twin. They hadn’t been tricked.
“I’m sorry,” Koa murmured.
Briar hummed, then put her hand on his neck. “I think you might need some corner time for your rudeness.”
He shook his head quickly. No! Koa hated corner time. It was so lonely and cold.
Manny held his hand up. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to intervene here.”
“Be my guest.” Briar stepped back. Koa could see she was still close. No way would she leave him alone with a new Daddy they barely knew.
“Hi, Koa,” Manny said in a gentle tone. “It’s nice to meet you. I’d like for you to call me Manny, if that’s ok with you.”
“Ok, Mr. Manny. Sorry for being a meanie.”
He gave a throaty chuckle. “It’s ok, sweetheart. There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s good you called me out. I imagine it was scary to do so.”
Koa quickly bobbed his head.
“Then it sounds to me like you’ve already experienced some not so fun times. Why don’t you go back to color with your friend Ethan. Briar and I can finish going over the business stuff.”
“Really?!” Koa asked the question, then turned to face his friend.
She smirked. “I guess we can this once. But next time you need to stop and think before you speak. Ok, bud?”
Koa smiled widely. “Yes, ma’am! I go play now. Bye!”
He rushed back to the table. His body collapsed into a heap, which startled Ethan into a yelp since he’d been lost to his Little side. A few people turned their way at the sound.
“Is ok,” Ethan declared. Once everyone went back to their mingling, Ethan tapped Koa on the shoulder. “You have fun talk to Manny?”
Koa groaned. “No. I was rude. Now he’s never gonna like me.”
