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“Did the diner get busy after I left?” he asked.
“It was slow for a bit but picked up around three thirty,” Ellen replied. “I was grateful to have Leo there to get customers water and silverware and carry dishes into the back. He did a great job.”
“I did a great job, Hendrix,” Leo echoed, suddenly tuning in.
Leo’s response drew an affectionate smile from Ellen, and the fact that she seemed to have such a big soft spot for him made Hendrix feel a certain amount of affection forher. Which was crazy. Considering how unreceptive and antagonistic she’d been to him in the past, unless he wanted to have it thrown back in his face, it was dangerous to feelanypositive emotion where she was concerned. “I don’t think he was expecting to get paid.”
“But you should’ve seen how excited he was to have his own money to spend at the store,” she said.
Brant set his empty glass on the table. “That’s all he’s talked about.”
Hendrix took a sip of his wine. “I bet.”
“I’m drawing a picture for you, Ellen,” Leo announced. “Because you’re my favorite.”
Ellenwas suddenly Leo’s favorite? “Whoa, what about me, bud?” Hendrix said, pretending he was wounded. “Some pretty girl catches your eye, and you drop me?”
“You’re my favorite, too,” Leo quickly assured him and cast an uncertain glance at Talulah and Brant, making it obvious he was hoping they wouldn’t say anything because he hadn’t included them on his list.
Everyone laughed at how obvious that look was. “I love you, Leo,” Talulah said. “You always tell the truth.”
“Am I being funny?” Leo asked uncertainly.
“Only in a good way,” Hendrix reassured him, and Leo was so used to trusting him to navigate anything he found too confusing that he was immediately mollified and went back to drawing more pictures.
Brant talked about some acreage he was hoping to buy adjacent to his family’s ranch, Talulah talked about a new oven that would make it possible for her to bake more breakfast rolls at one time, since they were so popular, and he and Ellen simply commented on what they said. He wasn’t about to bring up his own business, and he guessed Ellen steered clear of introducing the subject of drilling for the same reason—that could cause some contention between them.
After ten minutes, during which he hadn’t had the chance to text his aunt, Hendrix picked up his phone and stood. He needed to take Leo and go before Lynn started blowing up his phone with calls and texts asking where they were.
But he would rather have stayed, which surprised him. He’d been enjoying himself. He liked seeing Ellen out in front of her own house, relaxed and happy in a yellow sleeveless shirt with tiered ruffles at the bottom and a pair of cutoffs with no shoes. She had her bare feet tucked underneath her and was smiling as she slowly sipped her wine, and he couldn’t help thinking, When did she get so pretty? So sexy?
He let his gaze lower over her muscular, gymnast-type of body but quickly pulled it up to her face when he realized she’d noticed he was looking at her. “Thanks for the wine. But I’d better take Leo and go.”
“So soon?” Talulah said. “Just before you got here, we were talking about grilling some burgers. You and Leo should stay for dinner.”
Ellen seemed slightly startled that her best friend had extended such an invitation, but she didn’t say anything, and Hendrix actually wished he could accept the offer. “It’s nice of you to include us. We can’t stay tonight, but I hope there’ll be another opportunity.”
“We have to go home now?” Leo said, a whine in his voice. “I don’t want to go yet. I’m having fun. Can’t we stay here and eat?”
Hendrix didn’t want to remind him that they were supposed to have dinner with Lynn and Stuart. “Not tonight.”
“If you have to be somewhere, he can stay and I can bring him home later,” Ellen offered.
He shifted his gaze to her with her unusual eyes and pixie-like face. “I’d love to let him, but I can’t.”
“Okay.” She got up and started gathering the chalk. “Leo, you have to go now, but you can come back soon. Do you want to take your chalk with you or leave it here for next time?”
“I can come back?” Leo said, clearly pleased by the idea.
“Of course. Whenever I’m home and not too busy.”
“Okay,” he said and chose to leave the chalk.
At first that surprised Hendrix. He couldn’t imagine Leo wouldn’t want to take it home, if only to show his mother and stepfather what he’d earned. But then he realized Leo probably understood that leaving something that belonged to him at Ellen’s place would help ensure he’d really get to return.
Hendrix helped pick up the chalk and handed all the pieces to Ellen, who put them back into the big plastic bucket they’d come in.
“I’ll store this in the garage for next time,” she promised Leo and set it down before walking out to the truck with them, where she gave Leo a hug.
