Treasure Me (Rough Edges 4)

I get out of the car and meet her in the grass, and she envelopes me with an enormous hug. “Hi, baby. Did you have fun?”

She shakes her head and takes my hand.

“What do you say we go grab pizza for dinner? That place you like down the street?” I ask, getting her into the car, and buckled.

“We had that last night.”

Of course, he did. I don’t let her see it getting to me, and just drive off. I know we are going to have to co-parent. I’m not naïve, but right now I just want to rip his head off every time I see his face. We are both going to need some time before we can have a conversation without cussing each other into oblivion.

“What about breakfast, mommy?”

She can’t be serious? I can’t go to the diner again. The waitress is going to think I never cook a meal. “How about we cook pasta tonight instead?”

“Pancakes, mama, please?” She does this thing with her voice where it goes up an octave or two.

I look out the window and shake my head because the probability that the waitress will work tonight too is high. “Fine, sweetie. Pancakes it is.”

When Genie in A Bottle comes on, she asks me to turn it up, and of course I oblige. She gets into the song and knows all the lyrics. That’s right. She jams out to the 90s with me and never complains.

She sings with me the entire way to the diner, and I’ve learned the best way to keep her occupied on car rides is music. Her love for it is as deep as mine.

“We’re here!” she screams, as we pull up to the curb.

From the street, it doesn’t look like they are very busy.

“It’s breakfast time,” I say, grabbing her hand as she skips up the curb.

The bell on the door alerts the workers of our arrival, and she runs to a booth and sits down. Sure enough, her comes the same waitress I had both times yesterday.

“Back again, sweetie?” she asks, setting down an adult and kid menu and getting our drink order.

“When the kiddo wants pancakes…”

She opens the menu, even though she knows what she wants, and pretends to read it over. The cute things she does.

“Bacon or sausage this time?”

Lily puts her index finger on her lips. “Sausage.”

I nod, and then take it from her, and let her go crazy with the crayons on the kids’ menu. She might not say it, but I think it’s one reason she enjoys coming here. Few restaurants have things like this for kids anymore. What a shame.

“Hey, stranger,” a man’s voice comes from behind.

As my head turns, I see his smile and respond. “Lily wanted pancakes. They have the best.”

It’s too early for him to meet her, yet what am I supposed to do? Tell him to get the hell away? This isn’t happening.

“And you must be Lily. I’m Jeremy.” He extends his hand out for her to shake, which she does.

She doesn’t pay any attention after that and goes back to coloring.

“What are you doing here?”

He leans up against the back of our booth. “Sunday is dad’s Philly day. I come at the same time every Sunday to pick up his order.”

I want to talk to him about everything Tessa and I discussed earlier, but right now isn’t the best time. Lily doesn’t need to see me moving on already, and the last thing I need is for her to mention it to Dean. He might want me to think he’s moved on, but he is still in my business.

“I’ll see if they will deliver his order to him at the center. That’ll help him adjust, you know, keeping up with his normal routines.”