Chapter 14
“Look, Yummy, I know you want me and I really can’t blame you, but I’m not interested,” she said with a heartfelt sigh as soon as their waitress walked away, making his lips twitch, but not for the reason that she thought.
She was full of shit, but since it was more than obvious that he made her nervous he was going to have to play along.
“Are you trying to tell me that you’re not madly in love with me?” he asked, drumming his fingers against the table as he watched her, noting that the woman who blushed and hid from him was gone and in her place was the woman who loved to tease him and called him “Yummy.” As he watched her, he couldn’t help but wonder which one was the real Kasey.
“Yes,” she said solemnly with a nod, “I’m afraid that’s the problem.”
“Really?” he said, blinking, “Because I’ve already named all ten of our children.”
“What are their names?” she asked, playing along.
“Thomas, Scott, Dennis, Andrew, Patrick, Jennifer, Melissa, Tobias, and Zachary,” he said without hesitation.
“That’s only nine.”
“Did I forget little Nathaniel?” he asked with a rueful shake of his head.
“I believe you did,” she said with a smile.
“It’s an unforgiveable oversight,” he said, making her laugh, which pleased him.
“I’m sure he’ll forgive you,” she said, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“We’ll never know,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“No,” she agreed, “I guess we never will.”
“Unless you’re ready to admit that you want me?” he asked, earning another smile.
“And give you false hope? No, no I couldn’t do that to you,” she said with a sad shake of her head that had him chuckling as he glanced over his shoulder to check on the boys only to find Eric glaring in their direction.
“What did you do to piss them off?” he asked, shifting his attention back to the woman who intrigued him more than she should.
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t let him call in sick so that he could help with the renovations.”
“And Mikey?”
“I’m making her go to summer camp so that she doesn’t waste the entire summer sitting on the bench,” she said with a yawn as she leaned back when their waitress appeared with their food.
“Ah,” he said, accepting a plate from the waitress and moving it aside so that she could put the rest of his order on the table.
“Can I get you anything else?” their waitress asked, shifting nervously as she shot another glance over her shoulder at her entourage that was waiting for her, which normally would have caught his attention, but right now his attention was focused solely on the woman sitting across from him.
“I think we’re all set,” he said, eager to have Kasey all to himself again.
“Yell if you need anything,” she said with one last lingering look before finally walking away.
“She wants you,” Kasey said, reaching for the bottle of syrup.
“But, I don’t want her,” he said with a pointed look at Kasey, which earned him a chuckle and an eye roll.
“Because you’re desperately in love with me?” she teased with an easy smile as she grabbed the bottle of maple syrup.
“Desperately,” he agreed with a wink and a chuckle that seemed to please her as he plucked the bottle of syrup from her hands and poured it on his pancakes and French toast.
“That’s what I was afraid of,” she said, nodding solemnly.
“Is this where you let me down easily?”
“Yes, I’m afraid that I don’t have a choice,” she said with a sniffle.
“What about the children?” he asked, matching her solemn expression as she stole his orange juice and took a sip.
“I think that with time, a new puppy, and of course a rich step-daddy that buys their love that they’ll be able to move on someday,” she said with a wistful sigh as she finished off his orange juice and signaled for the waitress, who promptly turned her back to her and walked away.
“I don’t think she likes you,” he murmured as he signaled for another waitress.
“Well, we can’t all be Yummy, now can we?” she said with a sad shake of her head that ended with a chuckle and a wink as a new waitress walked over and took their order for more orange juice.
“I’m sensing a story behind that,” he said, gesturing with a forkful of pancakes in the direction their waitress had scurried off to.
Pursing her lips, she shook her head. “Not one worth sharing.”
“It’s not good to keep secrets in a relationship,” he said with a forlorn sigh as he took a bite.
“Then, I’m afraid that we’re doomed from the start, Yummy,” she said, helping herself to a bite of his food, which he took as an invitation to steal her bacon.
“It’s a damn shame,” he said with a sad shake of his head as he popped the last piece of bacon in his mouth.
“It really is.”
“Now what will we do?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the boys were okay only to look back and find Kasey, once again, finishing off his orange juice.
“Somehow find the willpower to move on,” she said with a wink as she pushed the rest of her breakfast towards him.
“I guess we don’t have a choice,” he said, finishing off her toast.
“We really don’t.”
“Our love was doomed from the beginning.”
“It really was,” she said, nodding in agreement.
“I guess the only thing to do is to move on and finish this renovation that you started,” he said, pulling out his wallet.
“It’s for the best,” she said, reaching for her purse, but one glare from him had her rolling her eyes even as she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he murmured absently as he looked over his shoulder to signal for the bill and check up on the boys, who were laughing at whatever Mikey said while Eric continued to sit there glaring in their direction, which reminded him…
“What does Eric do?” he asked, returning his attention back to Kasey, who was staring wistfully at the empty glass of orange juice. Chuckling, he picked up the empty glass and signaled for a refill, absently noting that she had a bit of a juice addiction.
“Besides annoy me?”
“Yes, besides that,” he said, chuckling as he sat there, enjoying the most relaxing conversation that he’d ever had with a woman.
“He’s an accountant,” she said, squishing her face up adorably at the admission.
“Sounds fun,” he murmured absently, searching her features for any resemblance to the man in question and coming up short.
“Well, he seems to really hate it,” she said, chuckling as she stacked their plates and pushed them out of the way.
“And he’s your brother?” he asked, still wondering about that.
“No, he’s Michael’s little brother and my best friend,” she said with a fond smile that had him nodding absently as he considered his next words.
“And Michael is Mikey’s father?”
“Yes.”
“I see,” he murmured, not really sure how he should take the news that she was living with a man, but before he could ask any more questions their waitress was there, placing a large glass of orange juice in front of him and shooting him a wink as she said, “It’s on the house, Officer Bradford.”