car.
“They still had them when I was here on Monday.”
“Awesome.”
“Good evening,” Terri said to the host at the door. “We’re meeting Lucas Hogan for dinner.”
He looked her up and down and then raised an eyebrow. “Really? Wait here.”
As he turned and walked away, Thomas touched Terri’s arm.
“He was really snooty,” he whispered. “He looked as if he didn’t believe you.”
“I suppose I’m not Lucas’s type.”
“He still shouldn’t have been rude like that.”
“I agree. If I tell Lucas, do you think he’ll fire the guy?”
Thomas chuckled. “I hope so,” he said.
Terri wasn’t sure she wanted to get the man fired, even though his attitude had annoyed her. She was still debating the issue with herself when she spotted Lucas striding toward her, the host at his heels.
“Terri, hello,” Lucas said, pulling her into a hug.
For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her, but instead, he winked at her and then released her.
“You’ve met Thomas,” she told him, dragging her son forward.
“It’s very nice to see you again,” Lucas told Thomas, holding out his hand.
The pair shook hands and Terri could see that her son was nervous. Behind him, the host looked even more concerned, though.
“Are you expecting anyone else?” he asked Lucas.
“No, not tonight,” Lucas replied. He offered Terri his arm and then led her and Thomas through the main room and into one of the small, private dining rooms at the back of the room. It took some effort, but Terri kept a huge smile plastered on her face while Lucas waved to half a dozen people as they went.
When Lucas shut the door behind them, Terri sank onto the small couch near the door. “This isn’t going to work,” she muttered.
“You’ve changed your mind already?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t know. That was weird,” she told him.
“Which part?” he asked.
“The host at the door sneered at me when I told him we were here to see you. I’m sure he didn’t believe me. Walking through the restaurant with you was odd, too. Everyone in the room stopped to stare,” she explained.
“So I need to fire the guy at the door,” he replied. “And you need to learn to live in the spotlight, at least some of the time.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand before she could speak. “I realize it’s going to be an adjustment for you. That’s why I reserved a private room for tonight. We can talk and enjoy a nice dinner in here without you having to worry about being on show. Let’s focus on that for the next hour or so and worry about everything else later. I’m hungry, and I’ll bet Thomas is, too.”
Her son had been standing next to the couch, staring at the floor. He jumped when Lucas said his name.
“Yeah, I’m starving,” he said, glancing up at Lucas before looking down again.
There were menus on the table and it only took them a few minutes to decide what they wanted. Lucas pushed a button that almost instantly brought a waiter to the door and they ordered. Once he was gone, they took seats around the table.
“Which sports teams do you follow?” Lucas asked Thomas.
Terri sat back and just listened while her son and Lucas talked sports for the next hour. The food was delicious and Thomas seemed to be enjoying the conversation. As the waiter brought dessert, Thomas changed the subject.
“So, you know all about girls, right? How do you know if a girl likes you?” he asked Lucas.
Lucas frowned. “These days, women aren’t shy about letting me know that they’re interested, but I remember my teenage years. It was a lot tougher back then. I was at an all-male boarding school, which didn’t make it any easier.”
Thomas laughed. “I can’t imagine being in an all-male school, boarding or otherwise.”
“The argument was that there were fewer distractions if the sexes were segregated. In truth, we all spent most of our time trying to find ways to meet girls rather than studying. We were in a small town in upstate New York and we used to try to sneak out of our dormitories at every opportunity.”
“Did you ever get caught?” Thomas asked.
“Once or twice, but my parents were always able to smooth things over with a large donation to the school,” Lucas replied.
Terri sighed. “Which meant you weren’t held accountable for your behavior,” she suggested.
He shrugged. “The rules were much stricter than they needed to be and we were inadequately supervised, as well. The school