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“Well, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to because they’re necessary.”
“Careful, they’re hot,” I warn Tennyson, taking my fork and placing one on the appetizer plate in front of him. I scoop a little marinara sauce onto his plate as well and then cut up his stick. “Blow on it.”
Gabriel watches with fascination. “Where do you learn that?”
“Learn what?”
“To be a Mom.”
I smile. “It just comes naturally, I guess. Lots of trial and error, for sure.” I can think of countless times Tennyson stuck food in his mouth that was too hot.
“You’re good at it. I can barely remember my own mother.”
I pull apart a mozzarella stick as I watch his face grow somber. “I’m sorry,” I say, knowing Gabriel lost his mother and father when he was very young.
“It’s fine.“ He selects a fat mozzarella stick from the plate and dips it into the red sauce. “She’s the one who introduced me to kites.” He takes a bite and sets the remainder onto the little white plate.
“I have a kite,” Tennyson adds.
“You sure do,” I say. “He may love them as much as you.”
I grin at Gabriel and his return smile is breathtaking. Sometimes I forget how good-looking he is.
Thankfully, he turns his attention to Tennyson. “We’ll have to fly a kite soon.”
All the words Ronin said to me come rushing back, and I pay more attention to the mozzarella stick in my hand than the gorgeous man sitting across the booth from me.
We’re in danger. I need to stop living in a fantasy, and remember we’re in the real world. Gabriel makes it so easy to forget about the world around us.
The next afternoon,I watch the second hand on the clock float around the clock on the wall, waiting for Gabriel to show up. It’s like watching and waiting for water to boil. I have a few sampler cakes fresh from the oven, ready for him to taste test.
The shop is closed, and it’s eerily quiet in the back kitchen. My phone rings, and I pick it up from the countertop. My hand shakes as I flip it over in my hand. There’s no number, and I debate letting it go to voicemail, but instead I swipe to answer, in case it’s Gabriel calling from somewhere.
“Hello.”
“I’m coming…” a male voice says and then the call drops.
My heart immediately thumps faster.
I glance around, making sure I’m definitely alone here before I send a text to Erin.
“Hey. How’s Tenny?”
A few minutes tick by before she answers.
“Good. He and Troy are having a superhero battle.”
I smile. This paranoia is really getting to me.
“Thanks for picking him up,” I send back.
“Of course. I’ll bring him home around seven. In case you’re busy licking frosting off of Gabriel.”
“Oh my god, stop! He’s tasting cake. That’s all!”
“Mhm.” She sends a series of x-rated emojis that make me laugh, and I tell her I’ll call her later, just before my phone rings again. This time Gabriel’s name flashes across the screen.
I let out a deep breath of relief. “Thank God,” I say into the phone.
