I smile gratefully at her, and she walks away. I know that I’ll have to tell her everything about last night later.
I sit down, as Leah brings over our food, and see Evan through the window, heading towards the café. He comes in and sits down with us right away.
“Hey everyone!” he exclaims, stealing a piece of toast from my plate.
“Late night yesterday?” my mother asks immediately.
Evan shrugs. “Not really.”
“And was your mother home when you got back?”
“Mum! I’m right here!”
“Can we just eat without the interrogations?” my dad thankfully interrupts.
Mum lets it go, and I only realise now that my sister’s not here.
“Where’s Emily?” I ask.
“Your sister’s busy. Something about a study group.”
Sure. On a Saturday morning. I think she might be the first of us to ever wiggle her way out of one of these breakfasts.
“I’m going to go get something to eat,” Evan says, getting up and walking over to the counter. After a few seconds, I hear him exclaim: “Hey, Ryan!”
I whip around just in time to see Ryan give Evan a pat on the back.
“Who’s that guy?” my mother asks, not missing a beat.
“Oh, he’s a…friend.”
“His friend or your friend?” my father’s jumped down from the fence and is ganging up on me, too.
“He’s just a friend,” I say through gritted teeth.
Ryan and Evan chat next to the counter. Evan moves his hands animatedly and Ryan smiles at him. After a few moments, I see Riley and his brothers go and join them. She’s the first to notice me, waving in my direction, before saying something to the guys and slowly making her way over to our table.
And in that moment, Ryan turns around.
It’s one of those moments where the awkwardness of everything that was going on privately between you is brought out in the open, and you’re forced to act like normal people.
I smile and he smiles back, just as Riley appears in front of us. I get up and give her a hug.
“Hey, Chris,” she smiles cheerfully. “I’ve brought my bodyguards with me this morning,” she says, gesturing to the guys behind her.
“I can see,” I comment.
“Ian and I wanted to come out for breakfast, but Ryan turned up at ours at seven a.m., then Nick turned up a little later. I don’t think they have anything better to do than come round and torment us.”
I smile at her.
“Well, this is my life now…an O’Connor is never alone. They always have to bring an entourage,” she says, giving me a cheeky glance. “You’d better get used to it.”
“To what?”
“Darling,” my mother interjects.
I turn to her. “Oh, of course – how stupid of me. This is Riley, one of our regulars and a friend of mine. Riley, these are my parents.”
