What's Life Without the Sprinkles - By Misty Simon Page 0,17

But that was no excuse, or at least not a good one.

“You are going to take me to the batting cages? You?” Justin crossed his arms and gave her his face of disbelief. It was not one she liked, quite honestly.

“Hey, guy, I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, Justin.” Nate put a hand on her son’s shoulder and squeezed. “If your mom says she’s going to take you, maybe you should just be thankful and not lippy. You know what I mean?” Nate removed his hand, then stood with his arms crossed at his chest, the muscles of his biceps bulging in a way she had never noticed before.

She did not need the distraction.

“Okay, so with that settled, what’s up, Nate?” Maybe he had gotten a clue about her flirting and had come back to get something started. She could go with that distraction. She almost started batting her eyelashes, then stopped herself in time. She did not want any more offers of first aid.

“Yeah,” Nate said, looking like he always had. “I promised you dinner to celebrate your sale yesterday, and you demanded I pay. So I’m here to pay up.”

“I thought you said this weekend.” She leaned on the case instead of batting her eyelashes and wondered if he would notice her cleavage. So much for not acting like a floozy.

He didn’t notice at all. “Tonight works for me, too, as long as you don’t have any other plans. Like with some new guy your mom set you up with now that Edward is history.” He looked adorable with his lopsided grin and hair that should have been trimmed two weeks ago.

“We’d love to go,” Justin said inviting himself along. “And, Mom, you didn’t tell me Edward was gone. Good riddance, as Aunt Zoe says! We should celebrate that, too!”

Jeez. “Honey, we’re going to have to celebrate another night. Aunt Zoe and I have a lot to discuss about the shop. Sorry,” she said turning to Nate. “Can I take a rain check? Maybe it would be nice to have dinner next week after this thing Sunday is done. Can we make it for Monday?”

“Absolutely.” Nate tucked his hands into his pockets, straining the denim in interesting ways. “Rain check it is.”

And then she watched him walk out of Decadence, wondering if she shouldn’t have just gone and taken Justin to Zoe and taken Zoe’s advice. Damn!

****

Nate drove home from Decadence, not sure what to make of that conversation with Claudia. On the surface he wasn’t angry that she had turned him down for dinner. He’d gone in knowing she might have other things to do tonight. However, he was baffled.

He didn’t know what was going on with Claudia, but something was. If he had been a better friend, he would have stayed around or insisted she go to dinner with him. They could have talked out whatever was going on. As much as he was a guy and usually oblivious to a lot of what went on around him—his mother’s words—he didn’t miss the signs that Claudia was in distress.

His first guess was Peter being in town and what a shock that must be. But Claudia was up to anything, as far as he was concerned, and if she said she could handle it, then she could handle it.

But what was with the kinked-up smile? It was vaguely unsettling, and nothing about Claudia had been even mildly unsettling since they were twelve and he realized she was a “girl.” He’d suffered a crush but had put it aside when he realized she saw him as a non-guy, her best friend.

Pulling into his driveway, he rested his head back on the seat while the garage door opened. She was strong, and she would get through this, and as always he would be here for her, no matter what. In the meantime, he would keep an eye out for Peter and try to anticipate whatever she might need, from a shoulder to someone running interference.

And hopefully it would be enough. Peter would go home and they could get back to their regular lives. He was comfortable there. Had been for years. If Claudia was going through a tough time now, she would get over it like she always did, and then they would move on. Like they always did.

If Logan’s words about following after Claudia like a lovesick puppy followed him into the house, he ignored them. They were unfair and untrue. He always helped out

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