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Ryan went to do just that in the kitchen behind Blake, but Tommy approached him slowly.
“It’s great to meet you, Thomas,” Lauren said. “Your dad calls you Tommy. Can I call you that?”
He blinked and said, “Sure.”
“Great.” Lauren stuck out her hand when he got within arm’s length, but he just stared at it.
“You shake her hand, son,” Blake said. He worked very hard not to roll his eyes.
“Oh, right.” Tommy shook Lauren’s hand, and that seemed to break him out of his trance. “Can we take some popcorn too? Ryan’s mom is at work, and they have like, zero snacks.”
Concern spiked in Blake. “Does he have food?” He kept his voice low. “Like, real food? Should I order pizza or something?”
“She left pizza,” Tommy said. “But their fridge is pretty bare.” He’d leaned forward, but he straightened as Ryan re-entered the living room. “We’ll just take two each.” He handed two cans of soda pop to Tommy.
Blake nodded and smiled. “Sure,” he said. “Take some popcorn or chips or something.”
“Can we?” Tommy asked, and Blake released Lauren’s hand to go help his son pull down some snacks.
“Can I sleep over there, Dad?” Tommy asked. “He has a bunk bed in his room. I don’t even need a sleeping bag.”
Blake had met Ryan’s mom and dad, and he looked to Ryan. “Is your dad okay with it?”
“He said yes,” Ryan said. “My mom will be home in an hour too. She said it was okay.” He wasn’t the type of boy to lie, so Blake nodded.
“Fine,” he said. Tomorrow was Saturday, and Blake didn’t have to work. He and Tommy would likely end up somewhere for breakfast, and then they’d go to the beach. “Get some pajamas and stuff them in your snack bag.”
Tommy’s face split into a grin. “Thanks, Dad.” He hustled down the hall to his bedroom to get his pajamas, and Blake handed Ryan another box of cheese crackers. Ryan took everything he was given, and several minutes later, Blake sent his son back out the front door, each of them carrying a plastic grocery sack full of snacks.
He sighed as he closed the door, and he turned on the spot and leaned into it. Lauren had taken a seat in the living room, and she looked up from her phone. Her smile only increased her beauty, and she got to her feet.
“Well,” she said. “I think that’s my cue to leave.”
“Aw, come on,” he said. “You don’t have to do that.”
She approached him, her smile slipping in measures until it was gone. The sparkle remained in her eyes though. She ran her fingertips lightly down the side of his face. “I sure do like you, Blake Williams.”
A glow started within him, and he smiled. “I sure do you like you too, Lauren Keller.” He wanted to ask her to sleep over with him, but he wasn’t sure they were to that spot yet. She certainly didn’t need to leave now, not when Tommy had already come home and left again for the whole evening.
“Is he going to be mad at you later?” She nodded to the right, as if toward Ryan’s house.
“Probably not,” Blake said. “I did tell him about us. He knows I don’t introduce my girlfriends to him until later in the relationship.”
“He didn’t seem thrilled.”
“He’s thirteen, and he thinks I’m an idiot.” Blake smiled at her. “He’s a good boy. I love him dearly, but I don’t think he cares who I date.”
“No?” Lauren’s eyebrows went up. “What if you marry someone he loathes? What if you then die, and he’s left with this evil step-mother who forces him to live in the basement, tending to the fireplace?” She revealed her straight, white teeth as she smiled.
Blake burst out laughing. “That’s not going to happen.”
“It could,” she said.
He gazed at her as she dropped her hand. “First of all, this house doesn’t have a basement.”
She backed up a step and said, “I want to do things with him, Blake. I don’t want to be the unknown step-mother.”
He pulled in a breath. “You’re talking like we’ll get married.”
