“Thank you for lunch. You make a great tuna sandwich.”
She dipped her head with a smile. “Thank you. You get a bit used to it when your child never sits still and is constantly hungry. The day he learned to make his own sandwiches was the best day of my life.”
I laughed. I could relate to that—that was me when I was a kid. “My mum always told me she was dreading me being a teenager because my older brother didn’t run nearly half as much as I did and he never stopped eating.”
“I don’t think I want to ask how much food she went through.”
“Probably best not to.” I winked.
London checked her phone. “I’m sorry, my lunch is done and I have to get to the office. Seb will be calling soon to set up our interview.”
I held up my hands and gathered the rubbish leftover from our lunch. “You go ahead. I’ll tidy up here.”
The bell over the door rang. “Holy shit, he tidies, too? Can you talk to Dylan about that?”
I turned to see a grinning, pink-haired Saylor. Her hair was up in what I’d come to learn was her signature look—pigtail buns. “I can try, but we both know he isn’t going to listen.”
She grunted. “You got that right. He woke up in a dreadful mood today. I told him to get out of my bed and go back to his own if he was going to have his man-period.”
“She’s not a morning person,” London whispered, slipping past me with one of the cupcakes in her hand. “Thanks for the store, Say!”
“You got anymore of those cakes?” Saylor peered over at the box on the table.
I pushed the box over toward her. “All yours.”
“Damn. Can I swap Dylan for you? You’re both British. It doesn’t matter to me.” She dove into the box and pulled out a chocolate one. “You pick up the trash, you bring cupcakes… Ugh.”
I laughed and held up the rubbish. “Do you have a bin for this?”
She blinked at me. “Bin. Trash can. Right. Yeah. Just behind the counter.”
“Your translation was quick. I’m impressed.”
“I’m starting to get used to it. I actually called soccer ‘football’ the other day and I think I almost gave Dylan a heart attack.” She paused. “I might need him to move out soon. He’s breaking me.”
I put the rubbish in the bin with a laugh and grabbed my keys and phone from the table. “I’m going back to work. Want me to pass a message onto Dylan?”
“Yes. He needs to learn to clean and bring cupcakes spontaneously.”
“Noted. Anything else?”
“Yes. Are you leaving those cakes?”
“I am.”
“You’re my favorite Brit.” She looked at me. “Favorite with a ‘u’.”
“Damn, Saylor. If you were already taken by one of my closest friends, I’d whisk you away to paradise myself.”
She fanned her face. “It’s fine. We can still go. It’s just a straight swap for me.”
I met her eyes, and we both burst into laughter. “You’re a riot.”
“I try. So when are you going to ask London out?”
I froze. “What do you mean?”
“London. You’ve got a crush on her. When are you going to ask her out?”
“I’m not asking her out.” I shook my head. “Her son is one of my kids. I can’t get involved with her like that.”
“You will.” She smiled knowingly. “Whether you want to or not.”
CHAPTER FIVE – LONDON
RULE FIVE: SPEED DATING WOULD BE MORE FUN IF YOU GOT A SHOT EVERY TIME YOU HAD TO MEET A NEW DATE.
“Christopher,” I said pleasantly, opening the front door.
My ex-fiancé grimaced when he met my eyes. “London. You look well.”
“Thank you. So do you. How was your flight?”
“Far too turbulent to be enjoyable in the slightest.”
“You’re early.”
“I thought I would stop by and get Leo’s things before I picked him up from school instead of getting it later.”
“Oh. Sure. Come in.” I stepped to the side and let him in. “I’m not actually done yet, but I don’t mind if you wait.”
“Thanks.” He followed me into the kitchen. “Nice house you’ve got here.”
“Well, that’s because I’ve spent half my day collecting your son’s socks from various orifices around the house,” I said dryly. “So make sure you check every inch of your rental before you leave so you don’t leave the owners several very stinky presents.”
“Duly noted.” His blue eyes twinkled with laughter. “So… How are you?”
“We don’t have to make small talk, Chris. It’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen you in months, London. Can I not care about how you are?”
I swallowed back a sigh and looked at him, giving him a tight smile. “I’m good, thank you. Busy, but good. How are you?”
“Same here. Leo’s doing well, isn’t he?”
“He is. Coffee?”
“Please.”
I turned to busy myself with the machine. “Leo’s doing really well. Not a big fan of math and it’s almost impossible to get him to learn multiplication unless the sums are on a soccer ball.”
Chris laughed. “Kind of important, I’ve found.”
“Indeed.” I put two sugars in his mug and set it on the table in front of him. “You’re good at math, so if some of your father-son quality time this weekend could include some multiplication practice, I would appreciate it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He grinned lopsidedly. “Do you have any plans with your free weekend?”
“Well, I’ve been roped into a speed dating event at Aunt Jasmine’s bar tonight so I’ll probably spend tomorrow morning wanting to bleach my brain,” I answered. “Other than that, no. I have work to do.”
Sadly.
Today’s plan with Sebastian to do the interview had fallen through when he’d had something else come up, so that was now Sunday’s plan. Since I knew Chris was dropping Leo off at school on Monday, it gave me more than enough time to hopefully do everything I needed to do.
And, thankfully, Sydney the photographer was available.
Sure, I’d hoped to spend my free Sunday with a good book, but we didn’t always get what we wanted.
It was most definitely going to happen next weekend.
“Shame you can’t enjoy your freedom.”
“I’d only end up catching up on laundry.” I shrugged. “Are you okay here if I finish getting Leo’s stuff together?”
“I can help you.”
“No, it’s fine.” I waved him off. The last thing I wanted was Chris lounging around upstairs in my house and getting too familiar. I wasn’t exactly happy with him being in my kitchen, never mind anywhere else.
I went upstairs and headed into Leo’s room where I’d been packing a bag. I still needed to get all his soccer stuff together, so I grabbed a backpack for those things. Thankfully I’d been on top of his sports laundry this week, so it was an easy job for me to put it all in the backpack and finish up getting everything else ready.