but her own.
“You guys have to try Alexis’s food,” Candi boasted. “She makes the most amazing scones.” Candi suddenly sat up straight, as if the solution to world poverty had just come to her. “You should totally make them Christmas morning! We always do a big breakfast Christmas morning. Wouldn’t that be fun? You guys could spend the night and. . .”
Candi’s voice trailed off as the reality of what she was suggesting fell across the table. All eyes swept to Lauren, who was literally trembling. “That . . . would be . . . lovely,” Lauren said. “We can certainly discuss it.”
“I mean, if you don’t have plans already,” Candi said in a more hushed tone.
Once again, Alexis sacrificed herself to save everyone else from discomfort. “I can barely plan a week from now.”
“Right?” Candi said on a relieved breath. “Life gets so busy.”
Then the waitress saved everyone when she showed up to take drink orders.
“Well, I know I’m starving,” Elliott said. “And the food here is amazing. The lasagna is my favorite, if you want to try that.”
“Lexa’s a vegetarian,” Noah said.
“I’ll probably have the eggplant Parmesan,” Alexis said smoothly. “That’s usually my favorite.”
“That’s really good too,” Candi said. “I’ve had that before.”
Things went like that for a while as they waited for their drinks. Stilted conversation pockmarked by nervous laughter and occasional oohs and aahs at how cute the kids were.
Then Cayden leaned forward. “So, Noah. What do you do for a living?”
* * *
* * *
Alexis tensed as soon as Cayden turned his attention to Noah. She knew evil intent when she saw it, and Cayden’s question was far too casual. “He owns a computer security business,” she answered quickly.
Noah’s gaze fell to hers with a quizzical tug of his eyebrows. “I work with businesses and individuals to secure their systems,” he said to Cayden.
“You own the company?”
Alexis bristled at Cayden’s tone. She knew that Noah didn’t give off the traditional businessman vibes with his long hair and casual clothes, but Cayden’s comment was heavy with arrogance. “He’s extremely successful,” Alexis said. “A lot of his clients are celebrities.”
“Really?” Elliott said. “Anyone we would know?”
Noah took his time answering again. “Colton Wheeler?”
Candi made a no way noise. “Holy crap, are you serious?”
“He’s also a good friend of ours,” Alexis said. “We’re all in a wedding together next month.”
“Next month?” Elliott said. “That’s cutting it kind of close with the surgery. Will you be okay by then?”
“I talked to Jasmine about it, and she said I should be fine. I still won’t be able to do any heavy lifting, and I probably won’t have as much energy as I might normally have, but nothing that will keep me from being a bridesmaid.”
Alexis hoped the shift into wedding talk would redirect Cayden, but no such luck. He was on a mission.
“How did you get into that line of work?” he asked Noah.
Alexis held her breath as she looked up at Noah. Some people were fascinated to find out what Noah had done in his rebellious teenage years. Others, not so much. Noah liked to shock people with it sometimes, so her mouth fell open in astonishment when he finally answered Cayden.
“I studied cybersecurity in college,” he said simply.
Cayden sipped his water. “How’d you become interested in that?”
Alexis rested her hand on Noah’s knee.
“I used to be a hacker as a teenager,” Noah said calmly.
“A hacker,” Cayden repeated, as if he hadn’t already known the answer.
Alexis groaned inwardly at the victorious gleam in Cayden’s eyes. She glanced up at Noah and expected to find a bring it on challenge in his eyes, but again, he surprised her. “We preferred the term hacktivists. But turns out I wasn’t very good at it. I got caught, learned my lesson, and have been on the straight and narrow ever since.”
The straight and narrow? Alexis gaped at him. He looked down at her with a half smile and winked. And that’s when she knew. He’d done it for her. He’d passed up a chance to fight the good fight just to keep the peace. For her.
The waitress appeared with a tray of drinks. As she passed them around, Alexis tugged Noah close and whispered in his ear. “You are so getting lucky later.”
He smothered a laugh behind his water.
* * *
* * *
After lunch, they had a weak argument over who would pay the bill. Elliott won, and then the entire group walked out together. This was the awkward part. The goodbye.
They paused