“Hey, guys.” I wave to Brady and Kat.
Tori’s head whips around, and the smile that breaks out on her face when she sees her sister is ridiculously sweet. She hops out of her chair and gives her sister and brother-in-law quick hugs. “What are y’all doing here? I thought you were barbecuing tonight. I’m glad to see you, though, because I forgot my phone at Ethan’s, and you said to call you this evening.”
I smile.Tori remembered to pack a bag of toys and diapers and crayons for the kids but forgot her phone.
Brady drops an arm over his wife’s shoulders. “We did barbecue, but Kat wanted some pie, so we decided to make a pit stop.”
“I shouldn’t be eating pie. Trust me, I know this,” Kat says self-deprecatingly.
Brady kisses the top of her head. “You’re perfect, and if my wife and kid want pie, I’m buying them pie.”
She rubs her round belly and grins at him.
The moment between them seems so intimate as they stare into each other’s eyes, I look away.
That. That’s what I never had with Allison.
“Where’s Izzy?” Tori asks, leaning over Cody to wipe his face.
“At my parents’.” Brady motions over his shoulder. “We’re having a date night.”
Tori chuckles. “I’m coming over tomorrow, so get the ‘date night’ out of your system.”
“Oh, my God. Stop.” Kat blushes and turns her face into her husband.
“What? You’re pregnant. Like it’s a secret how that happened? Watch out! I’m gonna tell Mom and Dad you did the deed!”
It’s funny to see how laid-back Tori is around Kat. How much she teases her sister. Makes me realize she’s still a bit buttoned up around me.
“Daddy?” Mila scrunches her nose. “What’s ‘the deed?’”
Tori grimaces and mouths that she’s sorry.
I chuckle and tug on my daughter’s pigtail. “Nothing you need to worry about for, oh, about forty years.”
Everyone laughs.
After we chat, Brady and Kat meander over to the dessert window by the cash register, and Mila and Tori run to the bathroom in the back because my daughter realizes she “really, really needs to tinkle.”
Logan watches the girls go, glances down at his phone, and then turns to the front of the diner.
Cody squirms in his high chair, so I clean him off and settle him on my lap.
“So what’s the surprise?” I can’t deny that I’m curious. Logan went on and on about it this afternoon.
I expect him to tell me he got us a new client or something work-related, but instead of being excited, he sighs. “I didn’t think this through, having everyone here.” He motions toward the bathrooms. “Just don’t be mad.”
Nothing good ever happens when he says that to me.
“How did this go from ‘hey, I have a surprise for you’ to ‘don’t be mad’?”
He shifts and looks over his shoulder again. I follow his line of vision as two blondes strut through the front door. They see Logan and wave.
“You got a date with, what, sisters? Let me guess. You’re taking off for the weekend and want me to do everything we bulleted here.” I tap on the mile-long to-do list we jotted down during dinner.
The blondes stop at our table, and the younger one leans down to hug Logan, while the other one smiles at me. Now that she’s close, I realize she looks familiar.
“Hi, Ethan.”
