Page 22 of Uproot

"Ok," he agrees quietly, putting his hand in mine.

We walk back over to the patio together and Dragana smiles, getting up from her seat.

"Do you want to come with us to the park, Gana?" Edison asks her as we all make our way back inside.

"Oh no, slatkisu. I will stay here and get some things done around the house and then take a nap," Dragana says. "You and Beckett have fun."

Edison and I say our goodbyes and make our way out of the house and take the SUV into town, and ten minutes later we park across the street from Coco's Café.

The diner is small, but nice inside, and the menu is full of comfort food that I actually enjoy. Our waitress is a bubbly, young lady who gushes over how cute Edison is and brings him a coloring page and crayons to keep him entertained.

He chooses a kids pancake meal for lunch, and I have a BLT with home fries. The one thing Edison has no issue with is eating. Everything I give him he demolishes within minutes. I have totell him to slow down several times while he continues to dig his fork into his pile of pancakes, unworried that he might choke.

When he's finished I get him an ice cream sundae just like I promised, and order an espresso to go. I'm taking my cash out to pay the bill when the front door chimes, and I look over to see Selah walking inside.

I feel the consistent rush of excitement I always do when I lay my eyes on her. She's so damn beautiful and kindhearted that my mind wanders off to primitive things that I'm sure would scare the shit out of her.

I didn't want to let her go home last night seeing her so upset. I just wanted to make her stay with us so I could take care of her too. Something tells me that with all of the caretaking she does every day, she doesn't have anyone to watch out for her in the same way.

I'd be more than happy to take that role for her.

I texted her this morning to make sure that she was doing ok, and I was tempted to ask her to come with us on our outing today, but I didn't want to make her uncomfortable.

But now fate has brought her right to me anyway.

Finally some good luck is on my side.

13

Beckett

Selah doesn't see us at first as she walks over to the front counter where one of the waiters is standing by the register. My attention on him sharpens as he smiles at her a little too enthusiastically, giving her a much more friendly greeting than we received when we came in.

"Come on, Edison," I say, dropping the cash on the table and taking my coffee cup.

"That's Ms. Selah!" Edison chimes loudly as we walk over, drawing Selah's attention to us.

Her face lights up as she turns around, "Edi! What are you doing here?" she asks, going over to give him a hug.

"Uncle Beckett is taking me to the park! But we had some food first," Edison explains excitedly, bouncing up and down, the sugar from his lunch obviously starting to do its job.

"How fun!" Selah exclaims, clapping her hands together.

I smile seeing the way Edison lights up around her, always so excited to talk to her.

"Hi Selah. How are you?" I ask, looking over the dress she's wearing. It's another nice pink one, and she's paired it with some wedge sandals that show off her beautiful brown legs.

"Hi Beckett. I'm good. I just needed some caffeine," she says, nodding over to the counter. I go to ask her what she likes to get, but I'm interrupted by the flirty waiter.

"Here youuu go, Selah! Skinny vanilla latte with a double shot of espresso," he says, winking at her as he hands her the cup. "It's on the house."

I frown at him, stepping closer to Selah as she takes her drink from him. "Thanks so much, Joey! I'll see you later. Hope you make lots of tips today," she says, giving him a sweet smile that I want to snatch out of his line of vision.

"Thanks, beautiful. I'll see you tomorrow at Oakland and Piper's house," Joey says, coming around the counter and heading back to his tables.

The fuck you will, Joey. I think glaring after him.

"Ok!" Selah chirps, giving him a small wave.

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