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Birdie and I both notice the way that Gem leans in and pats his arm. Birdie raises a brow at me, and I stifle a smile.
“So glad you are here. Pearl is off today, so it’s just me and Diego in the kitchen. Ay me.”
Birdie grins and elbows me. “It’s nice to see you, Gem. Could we all get coffee?”
“Coming right up. You want a few slices of pie, too?”
“And vanilla ice cream, if you have it,” I suggest.
“Mmm, pie à la mode,” Grandad says. “I just realized that I’m hungry.”
Gem beams at us, and rushes away. Soon, we’re all sipping our coffee and listening to Birdie tell a story about Dex’s school. Grandad makes eye contact with me, and reaches across the table to pat my hand. I give him a sad smile. He doesn’t understand me. But that doesn’t mean he’s not trying.
The door chime rings as people enter. I hear my name shouted.
“Sav!”
I look up and see Charlie rushing toward me at a million miles an hour. Barely catching him before he crashes against my body, I release a muffled squeak.
“Charlie!” A petite, elegant woman with dark hair, and an expensive pantsuit chides him. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what has gotten into him.”
“Mommmm! I know Miss Sav! She works for Daddy. Right, Sav?”
My throat is suddenly as dry as sandpaper. I look at the woman, who can only be Charlie’s mom. Which makes her Cole’s ex. I gulp.
“Right.” I force a smile to my lips. “I’m Savannah.”
I don’t offer her my hand. She sizes me up with a smirk, and tosses her hair.
“I’m Holly.” She tugs at Charlie’s arm. “Come on, Char-Char.”
Two seconds later, Cole bursts into the restaurant. “Hey, I found the–.”
He stops abruptly when he sees Charlie trying to escape Holly and climb into my booth. The alarm on his face is almost funny to see.
If I weren’t personally in the middle of a cardiac event, that is.
“Hiiiiiiii,” I greet him stiffly. “Umm, how’s it going?”
He shoots his cuffs and I notice that he is wearing a black suit, a gray tie, and a starched white shirt. Funny, he has been wearing jeans around me for a couple of weeks now. Then his ex appears, and Cole is dressed to the nines.
“Hello, Savannah.” He extracts Charlie from my booth and puts him down. He looks distinctly nervous. “Have you met Holly?”
I squint at him. “We were just introducing ourselves.”
Holly peers at Cole and me, then offers a bland smile. She curls her hand around his bicep.
“We should get a booth in the back.”
She bats her eyelashes at him. Cole looks at her like she is spouting incomprehensible gibberish. He shakes her off, and grabs Charlie.
“Nice to see y’all,” he says, reddening. He ushers them both ahead of him, his footsteps hurried.
“Whoa.” Birdie puckers her mouth as if tasting something disgusting and spreads her hands down on the table. “That was a surprise for me. Sav, did you know that Cole’s ex was going to be in town?”
I shrug a shoulder. “Not really. I think Cole said something about her planning a visit a couple of weeks ago. He’s been pretty mum on the topic.”
Grandad purses his lips. “She and Cole seemed close.”
