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“A good one,” Wyatt says. “But we promised we wouldn’t say anything.” He glares at Colton. “You’re such a blabbermouth.”
Before they can come to blows, I tell them, “You can all have french fries.” Turning to Ethan, I ask, “What would you like?”
“Same as the boys,” he says with a wink. “But I might need extra fries for fuel.”
By the time I turn around to put their order in, five more tables have sat themselves. Abigail has already been to most of them.
Luckily, the rest of the day flies by and it’s four o’clock before I know it. Taking off my apron, I call out to Ethan, “See you tomorrow.”
“You’re heading out?” He scoots out of his booth. “I should probably be going, too.”
“You got big plans or something?”
He laughs. “Big plans for Lily,” he tells me. “I promised I’d take her out to get her toenails painted. She claims she doesn’t get enough one-on-one time with me.” Putting his laptop into a tote, he asks, “You wouldn’t happen to know a good place to get your nails done in town?”
“The Rinse ‘n Repeat is the only place that does manicures and pedicures. I’ve never had one there though, so I don’t know if they’re any good.”
“Lily’s not picky,” he says.
My whole nervous system fills with warm fuzzies. “You’re pretty close to Harper’s kids, aren’t you?”
“I’m their godfather.” Then, in a Marlon Brando-esque tone, he says, “Nothing is more important than family.”
The more I talk to Ethan, the more attractive he gets. Which is bad,sobad, as we clearly aren’t meant for each other. “You two have fun,” I say. “And tell Lily I’m jealous.”
“Why don’t you join us?” he asks, his eyes flicking down to my lips for the briefest of moments.
Blushing, I say, “I wouldn’t want to horn in on Lily’s time with you.” Looking down at my nails, I realize how in need I am of a little TLC. “Besides, I need to relieve Edna. She likes to get home soon, so she has enough time to put dinner on the table for Ed.”
“In that case, I should let you get going.”
Not wanting the conversation to end just yet, I ask, “What color are you getting?”
“Excuse me?” he asks, looking confused.
“Nail polish. I’m wondering what color of nail polish you’re getting.”
“I think I’ll just get them trimmed. As much as I love Lily, I’m not about to walk around Gamble with pink sparkly nails.”
“That would be a good way to get the small-town tongues wagging,” I tell him.
“I bet, and as I’d like to avoid that, I think I’ll stay with my original plan.”
Leading the way out the front door, I tell Ethan, “Good luck with that. When these people want to gossip, nothing stops them.” Realizing I sound like a negative Nelly, I change the subject. “Have a great night.”
“You, too.”
Neither one of us seems to want to walk away. We just stand in front of the diner staring at each other. I finally say, “Thanks for being nice to my boys. But please feel free to tell them if you’re too busy to eat lunch with them. You’ll have to be firm though, because they don’t pick up on subtlety very well.”
“I enjoy hanging out with them,” he says. “I bet they’re a great influence on Liam.”
“Ah, yes, the little man in socks and sandals,” I tease. “I think my boys are making an impact on him. Just last week Liam burped at the table so loudly, I thought Harper would faint.”
“I would have paid money to see that,” Ethan laughs.
When we finally part ways, Ethan goes to his car, and I head to mine. I think about how lucky Harper’s kids are to have a man like Ethan in their lives. He would make a great father. A pang of something that feels like longing rips through me and I start to wonder if I might enjoy having a husband again. I miss adult conversation in the evenings. Not like Everett and I talked about much more than his job and random gossip that was spreading around town, but it was nice to have another adult around.
On my way home, I decide tonight is going to be what Grandma Adele used to call Emergency Supper—which is essentially any box of cereal you have accompanied by a piece of fruit. I just don’t have the energy to take care of another person today. In fact, I might just crawl into bed and give that romance novel another crack. Becoming someone else for the night sounds like just the ticket. Heck, I’d even take an hour.
