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“Inside,” Evie said.
“Are you sure it’s a good idea? It can be busy on Saturdays,” I said.
“I want to eat inside too,” Leo said firmly.
We followed him inside, where he talked to a hostess, and she led us to a booth in the back.
“This is nice,” I said, realizing I never sat at a table unless the Giovanni family had closed the restaurant for a party. “I don’t usually eat in the dining room.”
Evie was busy coloring on the kid’s menu the hostess supplied.
“Tonight, you girls are my dates,” Leo said, with a wink in Evie’s direction.
Evie’s eyes went wide. “Are you Mommy’s boyfriend?”
The boyfriend-girlfriend thing was going around her school, and it drove me a little crazy. They teased each other mercilessly about it.
Leo chuckled. “We’re not dating. But I’m having fun spending time with you.”
“I think that’s what you do on dates,” Evie said before returning to her coloring.
I shrugged to play it off. “That’s a child’s logic for you.”
The waitress appeared at the end of the table with a notepad and a smile for us. “What can I get you?”
“Hi, Lindey,” I greeted her.
She didn’t act surprised to see us together. “Is it nice to sit on the other side of the table?”
“I have to say it’s easier on the feet,” I said with a laugh.
“You want your usual?”
“I always get the Hawaiian,” Leo said.
“That works for me, but Evie needs a plain cheese,” I said apologetically.
Manny always got annoyed that Evie ate something different from him.
“One Hawaiian and one cheese,” Leo said with a flick of his hand, as if he couldn’t have cared less.
When the waitress was gone, I leaned in to say, “Evie can’t eat a large pizza.”
“Will you share your pizza, Evie?”
Her lips pursed in concentration. “Nope.”
“Evie,” I chided.
Leo smiled easily. “It’s okay. She’ll have some leftover.”
“I can pay for her pizza.”
Leo reached over to touch my hand. “Let me.”
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. He was being a nice guy. I just hadn’t seen many of those in my life. “Yeah, okay.”
Leo smiled widely, and I was momentarily blinded until he turned his attention to Evie. “Play tic-tac-toe with me?”
