carrying a handful of trash to the garbage.
When Deacon was gone, Derek rolled his eyes.
I chuckled, keeping his secret. “So…I noticed there’s this cute little girl who is part of your group… Beatrice?”
“Yeah,” Derek said. “She’s awesome.”
“You like her?” I asked.
“I mean, she’s my girlfriend, so yeah.”
I stared at him blankly for a second, unable to believe what he’d said. “You have a girlfriend?”
“I think so.”
“You’re six…”
He shrugged. “She’s a girl and she’s my friend…so isn’t she my girlfriend?”
Okay, that made more sense. “Yeah, I guess. She’s very pretty.”
“She built her own drone. It’s pretty cool.”
“Wow…impressive.”
Deacon came back to the table and took a seat across from us. “What’s impressive?”
Derek turned to him. “My girlfriend built her own drone.”
Deacon stilled, his eyebrows rising. “Your girlfriend?”
“Beatrice,” I explained. “She’s a girl and she’s his friend—so, his girlfriend.”
Deacon nodded, visibly relieved. “Got it.”
I noticed the way almost all of the mothers had looked at Deacon when they picked up their kids, and quite a few of the fathers too. He was impossible to overlook, to not immediately lust after. Sometimes it bothered me, but I knew I had to accept it and let it go. How could I be with such a gorgeous man without everyone else wanting him too?
“Have a good birthday, son?”
Derek nodded. “I’m sad it’s over.”
“I’m sad too,” Deacon said. “I can’t believe you’re six now.”
“And next year I’ll be seven…and then eight…and then nine.”
Deacon smiled. “Yeah. I don’t want to think about how old I’ll be…”
Deacon was not old by any standard, and his accomplishments were all the more impressive because of his age.
“Well, we should get these presents loaded up and get home,” I said. “They’re going to open it to the public in thirty minutes.”
“Alright…” Derek hopped off the chair and dragged his feet as he walked away, miserable that his awesome party had come to an end.
I turned back to Deacon. “Looks like this was a success.”
He nodded. “Because of you.”
“It was Derek’s idea.”
“But we never would have come here if it weren’t for you.” He stared at me for a while before he rose to his feet, his jeans low on his hips, his sweater showing his flat stomach. He pushed up his sleeves to his elbows, showing his chiseled forearms. “I asked my mom to watch him for the evening. Thought you and I could go to dinner and celebrate.”
I looked up at him, touched by the offer. “That sounds nice. What are we celebrating?”
He shrugged. “Us.”
It hadn’t been just the two of us in public in so long that I couldn’t recall the last time it happened. Now there was always a little person to focus on. It was never Deacon and me anymore. But having dinner and sharing a bottle of wine immediately brought that intimacy back.
We went to the same restaurant we’d been to a few times since the food was amazing. Tess was there waiting on other tables, and she avoided us. But I didn’t care whether she was there or not because it was obvious Deacon was only interested in me.
When the meal was over, he left his card on the tray at the end of the table. “No dessert?”
I’d already eaten way too much. “No. I had enough cake today.”
“Alright.” He finished the rest of his wine and didn’t glance at the waiter when he took the check. “You still didn’t eat as much as you normally do.” He was observant of things like that by nature, so it was normal for him.
But it was a little disconcerting. “I ate so much pizza today.”
“That pizza was terrible.”
“Was not.”
He shook his head. “I can’t believe I let my son eat that.”
“Don’t be a snob,” I teased.
He smiled at me. “A snob?”
“Yeah. They’re kids. They can eat shitty pizza for a birthday party. Let it go.”
He chuckled slightly. “I am a snob sometimes, huh?”
“A bit.”
The waiter returned with the tab.
Deacon signed it and added a tip. “Ready to go, baby?”
“Yes.” I loved hearing him call me that, especially in public.
He rose to his feet then extended his hand to me.
I took it and pulled myself up.
“You didn’t like the wine?” My full glass was sitting there.
“I’ve had so much sugar lately I’m kinda repulsed by it.”
His arm circled my waist, and he walked me outside. After a quick text, his driver pulled up, and Deacon helped me into the car before he went to the other side.
“Are we picking up Derek on the way back?”
He shook his head. “He’s