“You don’t have to. Here.” Josh pushed over a mug. “Got coffee for you. Do you still take it with double cream and double sugar?”
I nodded. There was no reason to find that charming, just because he remembered how I liked my coffee.
“I’m Daniel, Daniel Astrom,” the stranger said, and my cheeks heated.
“Sorry!” Josh shook his head. “I forgot you don’t know Fitch. This is Katie Baker, my…friend.”
“Nice to meet you, Katie.”
He held out his hand and I shook it. Then, since it seemed I was staying, I sat on a stool and took a sip of life-giving ambrosia, otherwise known as coffee. “This is good, but I should get out of here. You guys have things to do.”
Daniel—Fitch—turned back to the stove.
“Do you have class right away?” Josh was looking at me with those puppy-dog eyes. “If not, you could stay for an omelet. Fitch is a good cook.”
“I shouldn’t impose.”
Josh’s chin stuck out. “You helped me a lot yesterday. Eat something, and I’ll call you a ride.”
I gave in. It smelled good, and I couldn’t say I wasn’t hungry, not after my stomach had betrayed me. “If it’s okay with Daniel.” I wasn’t comfortable calling him Fitch, especially when I didn’t know what it meant.
Daniel set a plate in front of me, then added cutlery.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
I picked up my fork and tried for conversation. “So, how was the game?” I’d mostly ignored it, and then had fallen asleep before it was over.
The two hockey players shared a glance.
“Let’s just say we’re glad it’s the preseason and doesn’t count,” Daniel said.
“Sorry.” Then I let them talk hockey while I scarfed down the food in front of me. “This is really good,” I said when I’d finished and Josh had started his own breakfast on the plate Daniel had given him.
Daniel turned at that, spatula in his hand. He pointed it at Josh. “I’m only considered good if I’m compared to Ducky.”
I swallowed the last of my coffee. “Josh’s mother wouldn’t let him make anything in the kitchen.”
Daniel cocked his head. “No?”
I nodded. “She did her best to make him a stereotypical helpless man.”
Josh sat up. “What?”
Oops. Josh might have decided I was right about his mother not liking me, but that didn’t mean he was ready for my unvarnished opinion of her.
“That explains a lot,” Daniel said, turning back around.
Josh stared at me. “You really think that? Why?”
Was he asking why I thought that, or why she’d done it? If he wanted to be friends, I’d be honest. I wasn’t going to watch my words, not like I’d done before. “I thought she wanted you to be dependent on her. To need her.”
Josh’s jaw dropped.
I shrugged. “It makes sense. Your father left, and she didn’t want you to leave her too.”
Josh’s mouth was still open and he was blinking, like that was fueling his brain to work out what I’d said. Had I crossed a line?
