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“Hey,” I answered as I started for the entrance of Duke’s.
“Dad’s taking Mom out for a date night, so I’m stuck with the rug rats, and I don’t want to cook.”
Pulling open the door, I stepped inside the restaurant, only to spot a couple of girls that I was taking a pre-med class with sitting at a booth and eating. When they spotted me, they sat up in interest as if they’d been waiting for me to arrive.
I bobbed my head at them vaguely as they called my name and waved. And to my sister, I said, “Okay, just bring them here. I’ll pay for it between runs.”
“Really? Great. Thanks.”
Getting what she wanted, she promptly hung up on me, and I pocketed my phone before slipping past the counter and into the back to see what was up to deliver next. Glad I had a new order waiting and already bagged, I slid it off the shelf and hurried back out of the store, glancing over briefly at the crestfallen faces of the girls, who’d obviously wanted me to go over and talk to them.
It reminded me of Keene’s advice to get over one girl by getting under another. But I just couldn’t. Raina was still the only one for me.
By the time I returned from my next delivery, my siblings had arrived and found a table to wait at for their pizza. I didn’t have anything to deliver at the moment, so I went over to sit with them.
Little immediately crawled into my lap for attention while Reed and Brey talked over each other to tell me about their crazy day. I guess Reed’s English teacher was going to have a writing contest and he already had plans for a whopper of a story, while Brey shocked me by announcing that her friend Kacey’s parents were probably getting divorced…again.
Dread settled in my stomach over that one. “Really?”
Glancing up from her phone where she’d been texting friends, Amy said, “Yeah. Apparently…” Leaning across the table and lowering her voice, she lifted her eyebrows and said, “Mrs. Crowder cheated onMr.Crowder this time.”
“Oh shit,” I gasped, not expecting to hearthat. But damn it all to hell; I hoped to God the person they were talking about wasnotme.
“Umm…” Little spoke up, twisting around on my lap to face me so she could slap both of her chubby little hands over my mouth. “You’re not ’posed to say that.”
I peeled her fingers off my lips so I could fake pout in apology. “You’re right. I’m sorry. What should my punishment be?”
But before she could answer, someone called my name, interrupting us.
I glanced up to see the girls approaching who’d been sitting in the booth earlier. I had completely forgotten they were here.
“Hey,” I said, settling my sister back around on my lap and trying to get the little wiggle worm back under control.
“Man, that lecture today in Microbiology was a snoozefest, huh?” one of the girls asked, smiling at me coyly as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear.
It felt as if it would be rude to say that I’d actually enjoyed Professor Minton’s lecture, so I just kept my mouth shut and murmured, “Hmm,” as I nodded in understanding.
The girl faltered a second before glancing at my siblings and asking, “So are you off work now?”
“Uh, no, actually.” With a wince, I explained, “I was just sitting with my family while I waited for my next delivery order to come in.”
And as if by magic, Carly at the cash register yelled, “Foster! Order up.”
Relieved to escape, I sent the hovering girls a regretful smile. “And there we go.”
I handed Little over to Brey and stood up, instructing my siblings to save me a piece when the pizza arrived. Then I turned right into one of the girls who was standingwaytoo close. Lifting my arms to avoid her, I twisted, saying, “Whoa. Sorry about that.” And I shimmied past, calling, “See you later.”
Relieved to get away from the clingers, I grabbed my next delivery and was out the door, but once I was alone in my truck—with no babbling Raina to keep me company—I started to stress about Robbie and Emma Crowder.
I hoped to God that their newest problems didn’t have anything to do with me because I really did not want to get mixed up in their marital dysfunction.
I was quiet and withdrawn when I returned to the pizza parlor again. After paying for my family’s meal, I returned to sit with them and barely even noticed how Little crawled back into my lap so she could color a picture on the paper menu that Duke’s handed out to kids.
The pizza had been delivered, so I grabbed a piece and shoved it into my mouth, chewing without really tasting anything.
Around me, my four siblings talked about…something—I wasn’t sure what—until Amy snapped her fingers in front of my face and said, “Foster, wake up!”
I focused on her and said, “What? Sorry. What’re we talking about?”
