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He shrugged. “Then I guess you need to ask him.”
“I will.” I turned on my heel and stormed out of the house.
* * *
Practice had ended early,so I texted Boone and told him where we were going. I’d promised Joey and Grandma G lunch, and I figured Boone and I could talk while Grandma kept Joey busy.
I was more furious with myself than I was with Boone because he’d never actually said he was staying in St. Louis.
I’d made an assumption and we all knew how that usually went.
“You okay?” Grandma G asked quietly once we were sitting down.
“I don’t know,” I muttered, handing Joey the crayons the waitress had brought over.
“Talk to him,” she whispered. “Tell him how you feel.”
It was probably a bad idea to have Boone come meet us, but the day’s plan had already been set in motion and I felt helpless to stop this freight train that had begun to roll over my life.
“Hey, guys.” Boone walked over to the table with a smile. He scooped Joey up since he’d run to meet him but immediately held out his hand to Grandma G. “You must be Marjorie. Michael Boone.”
“Well, hello.” Grandma G grinned as she shook his hand. “It’s so nice to officially meet you, although I feel like I know you from watching all the games.”
“You a hockey fan?”
“Is that even a question?” she asked, shaking her head. “I raised a hockey player, you know.”
Dad had played until a knee injury forced him into retirement.
“Forgive me.” Boone chuckled.
Boone leaned over to brush his lips across mine. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I couldn’t look at him and forced myself to concentrate on the menu even though I wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Granny bought me a train!” Joey said excitedly. “But Jolie wouldn’t let me bring it in the rest-rant.”
“Rest-aur-ant,” Boone said, enunciating carefully.
“Rest-er-ant.” Joey repeated, making us all chuckle.
“You can show me the train later. Thank you,” he said to Grandma G. “You don’t have to buy him things.”
“Ah, I like seeing him smile,” she responded.
We ordered and I picked at a Cobb salad while Joey talked nonstop about everything we’d done today.
“Everything okay?” Boone asked at one point, his voice low as he reached under the table to gently squeeze my thigh.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
He frowned, but there was no way for us to talk now, leaving me more and more agitated.
“I have to go potty,” Joey said.
“I’ll take him.” Grandma G was out of her chair faster than I’d seen her move in years.
“Oh, you don’t have to—” Boone began, starting to get up.
