“Put your clothes back on,” Duke murmured, getting to his feet. “Our food is getting cold.”
Nat scrambled to get dressed, but everything turned out sloppy because he was in a hurry. “Sorry, sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Duke said. “What I have after this is an internal meeting. I can be late.”
Nat grimaced. “I don’t want you to be late!”
“Well, I can make my own decision on that.” Duke grinned and picked up Wanda’s car seat, before ushering Nat out of the shop.
“No one does this much for a new employee,” Nat said disbelievingly. Then he wished he could stop putting his foot into his mouth. “I swear my mouth doesn’t taste like feet.”
Immediately after, he buried his face in his hands.
Duke huffed. “I sure hope you don’t taste like feet.”
“Except for my feet. Those had better taste like feet.” Nat whimpered. “Oh, gods. I need to shut up.”
“I don’t know about that. I enjoy listening to you.”
“You don’t know me!”
“Yet,” Duke said. “This is just the first day.”
Nat wasnotgoing to imagine how much more he could fuck up in one week.
They made it back to the car in one piece. Duke put Wanda in the back seat and handed Nat his food—smoked salmon bagels, a peanut butter cookie, and orange juice.
“I have chips and fries too, if you need more.” Duke gestured at the lunch bag.
“But that’s your food!”
“I ordered extra.” Duke placed the bag on the car roof and tucked into his own sandwich. He was still standing out in the sun, next to where Nat was sitting in the back seat.
“Sorry for taking up your entire lunch hour,” Nat said hesitantly.
“Nat, eat your food.” Duke’s mouth tugged up at the corners. “We don’t have much time left for lunch. Besides, this is fine. I appreciate the change of pace.”
“Okay, shutting up and eating.” Nat unwrapped his bagel and bit into it. The bagel was soft and chewy, cream cheese cool on his tongue. And the smokiness of the salmon... He moaned and stuffed his face, and moaned again.
“Should I have gotten you a third bagel?” Duke asked quietly.
“I don’t know if my stomach has space for it.” Nat made happy sounds, washing down his bagel with some orange juice and starting on the next. “This might be the best thing I’ve eaten in years.”
“Years?” Duke frowned.
Nat jerked his shoulders. “Um. I don’t think you want to hear about my... life.”
“Tell me anyway.”
Nat sighed. “Well, the short version is that I lost my parents and fell in with the wrong crowd.” He twitched his fingers. “More like the wrong person, I guess.”
Duke stiffened. With a growl, he asked, “Someone did that to you?”
Nat hunched his shoulders. “Yeah.”
Something crunched above him. Water splashed down the side of the car.
“Be right back,” Duke said.
