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Beckett asked, “How do you know?”
“I read it,” she said. “And I looked up the menu of the Buffalo Café. They have a kid’s cheeseburger that Troy can have, but they also have all kinds of weird hamburgers. And they have bison meatloaf. They say that’s the specialty. Bison is more nutritious than beef. I don’t know what meatloaf is, though.”
“Delicious, is what,” Quinn said. “If you like meatloaf.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Beckett’s daughter’s friend—wait, she’d forgotten both their names—said.
“Meatloaf can be polarizing,” Quinn said. “Many people have opinions. So—” She looked around. “Are we ready to go?”
Beckett got that amused look, and she said, “Oh. Was I supposed to wait until you said it? Sorry. It’s already out there.”
“It is,” he said, “and you’re right. Let’s go.”
* * *
What happenedwhen they got to the Buffalo Café, though? Martin and Ezra were sitting at the bar, that’s what.
Not that she saw them at first. She wasn’t even planning to go in. When they walked up to find the cluster of little groups waiting on the sidewalk, she said, “Oh. I should have known it’d be busy on Saturday night. Never mind. We can go have pizza instead. There are about four places. Abruzzo’s is the best, but it’ll be crowded too, so I’d better call …”
She had her phone out, but she didn’t call, because Beckett’s mouth twitched, and he said, “Hang on. She’ll be right.” He had Troy by the hand, but somehow, his other hand was just brushing Quinn’s low back. Through her sweats, which couldn’t be hot, and still was, because he was ushering her through the restaurant door, and she was so aware of that hand, she was practically holding her breath. He gave his name to the host and told Quinn, “I booked, no worries. One more chair, that’s all.”
“Oh.” She felt confused. Her evening kept upending itself, as if she were being carried along in a flood. She gave up trying to figure it out and followed the host to a round table in the back. She also tried to forget about the gray sweats.
It was hard to forget about the gray sweats with him right behind her. Yes, the shirt said “Stanford,” which you could argue bumped it up a notch, classiness-wise. On the other hand, the sweats were over fifteen years old and had been stuffed into too many gym bags. Not all that classy.
No, there was no getting around the sweats. And as she was wearing the black lace underwear with them, she probably had a visible panty line, too. If she’d worn the Fruit of the Loom ones, now …
She sat down in a bit of a daze, looked across Troy at Beckett, and thought,Why should this be hard? It’s a hamburger.With hischildren. It’s casual!
That was when Martin’s voice came from behind her. “This is not the outing we discussed.”
“Oh,” she said weakly. “Hey.” At least she didn’t have goggle marks. That was about the only silver lining she could think of. “Beckett, this is my friend, Martin. Martin, this is Beckett. And his kids. Troy and …” she looked at the girl. “I’m sorry, I forgot.”
“Janey,” she said, full of all the composure Quinn had lost. “And Alexis. She’s my friend. I’m very pleased to meet you,” she told Martin.
Beckett had stood and was shaking hands. “Beckett Hughes. Wait. Martin. You’re the matchmaker.”
“I’m close to being at a loss for words,” Martin said. “I’m not there, but I’m close.Why? How? Did you murder the dentist?”
“Orthodontist.” The laughter bubbled up in Quinn like champagne. Face it, she’d been dying to laugh about Ryan falling in ever since it had happened. Well, shehadlaughed. She’d wanted to laugh more, though. “And no. I may have wanted to, but all I did was get him a little wet. And annoy him, of course.”
“Tosser,” Beckett said. “That the best you could do, mate?” He was still standing up, and now, he gestured at the table. “Join us?”
Martin said, “I’m here with Ezra,” and looked over at the bar. “But … possible delicious revelations, from two of the three parties at once. It’s a dilemma.”
“Join us,” Quinn said, absolutely recklessly. You never knew what Martin would say, but they were here with three kids. How bad could the conversation get?
And it wasn’t like this was romantic anyway, right? Beckett would probably be glad. No confusion. Easy discussion topics. Casual.
It would be perfect.
10
FEEL YOUR WAY
He did not know how to be single.
He’d thought he was taking her out. Granted, with three kids, resulting in minimal adult conversation and less flirting than that, but still. And here she was, urging her friends to join them?
