want him hurt, but I couldn’t say anything. I’m his guardian, but you’re his dad.”
“We could remedy that, just say the word.”
“Stop changing the subject.”
Declan sighed. “You know what? Maybe that’s the first thing we should talk about. It’s hard to orchestrate the parenting thing from the cheap seats.”
“Excuse me?”
He gritted his teeth, but tried his best not to snap at her, laying his hands gently on her shoulders even if all he wanted to do was throttle her. “You can’t tell me what to do as his dad, if you’re not going to step up as his mom.”
With those words he left the room and let her stew. Declan would get pissed at Gabby, but it never lasted. Not when he remembered her heartbreak all those years ago. But she’d known Theo was her son for almost three weeks, and there was only so much he could take before he blurted out the truth. They should be talking about how to break it to him.
Not this hovering over his shoulders telling him how to be a dad.
Fuck that.
Declan wasn’t an idiot. He and Levi planned a meeting with the production crew. They were filming in an indoor set that was made to look like a cave. The flooring was padded, and the fake rocks were made of foam. Concussion or not, that would have been the case anyway. Gabby should have known better.
And yet he could see where she was coming from. She’d lost someone close, and her job dealt with death, so she was jumpy.
“Roarke! Levi!” Theo’s arm was around Emma, but he released his girl and pushed through the people giving him a pat on the back to get to him and Levi. They exchanged fist bumps.
But that wasn’t enough. This was his son and he was a badass.
“Come here, Ace,” Declan muttered. He hauled the teenager up with one arm before engulfing him in a bear hug. “So proud of you, Theo.”
Son.
When they pulled away from each other, Theo’s face was etched in a slew of emotions and Declan imagined his was the same. Rehearsing fight scenes involved a level of trust and it paved the way in their own personal relationship as father and son. Theo was thawing in viewing him as a mere sperm donor, but they still had a long way to go before Declan could measure up to Peter as his father. He may never measure up at all, and Declan was okay with that.
“Thanks,” the teenager said sheepishly. Then he glanced away, looking for his girl, spotting her behind him and tugged her close.
Declan cleared his throat. “You guys wrapping up for the day?”
“Yeah, the crew wants to go out to Chateau Marmont, but Gabby’s been harping about this Korean cafe on Beverly Boulevard and my girl here”—he gave Emma an extra squeeze—“wants to try it.”
He’d heard Gabby rave about the restaurant. “Scoop by Pi?”
“That one,” Emma piped in.
Levi immediately brought up his phone and searched. Glancing up, he said, “It’s a family restaurant. Think you’d be okay to just walk in?”
Theo checked his own phone. “Gabby said she could do an early dinner. It’s a Wednesday. Hopefully, it won’t be as crowded.”
“Spam fried rice and Kimchi? Seriously?” Kelso eyed her plate of steaming rice, the popular canned cooked pork, and the smelly preserved cabbage. “You know we’re going to Beverly Hills after this, right? We’ve got to interview a witness who may or not be an accessory to murder.”
“She’s guilty,” Gabby said, ignoring her partner’s first statement and digging into her plate. “How’s your Kimchi pork in cold noodles?” she asked Theo.
The teen held up his hand as he slurped the end of one noodle. “Spicy, but damn, this pork belly just melts in your mouth.”
“Save room for the Oreo cheesecake, baby,” Emma said.
“Says the girl who ordered the kimchi carbonara,” Theo teased back.
These two would give her a toothache, Gabby thought with a smile.
She glanced over to the counter where Declan and Levi were waiting for the rest of their order.
Scoop by Pi was a family-owned Korean restaurant which started as a dessert cafe. The visual displays reflected this. But there was a secret menu where the chef’s creativity highlighted savory dishes. Scrumptious Korean-culinary creations were plated with a skill one would expect from a fine dining restaurant, which clearly this place wasn’t.
Case in point, it was located in a strip mall. Gabby was pleasantly surprised that Theo and Emma had no qualms meeting at this restaurant.