Page 20 of Tuesday

Looking around the table I can see everyone trying hard not to laugh at him. He can be ridiculous at times.

“Anyway I need help. I can’t have Mad Dog swanning in, taking my grandbabies.”

“You have like, a ton of them. You’ve claimed them all,” Nat says, jiggling Rosie in her lap. To prove her right Pops leans over and squishes Rosie’s fat thigh, saying something or other to her in baby talk.

He should really stop doing that. Evidence suggests that talking in normal, adult language is perfectly fine for children and babies.

“I’m going to accelerate Laney’s learning,” I blurt out.

“Ooooookay. And what does that entail?” Lovely asks.

It’s a good question. From what I know education for girls wasn’t a huge priority at The Keep where she grew up.

“Well, I have her on a learning schedule. For 20 minutes every morning and evening I will read language-enhancing literature to her whilst playing classical music to stimulate her brain waves. Once she’s older we will add in math and perhaps even a second language. I may need your help with that Vi, seeing as you speak Spanish.”

She stares wide-eyed at me while Juno gives me RBF. It really is uncanny.

“That sounds like a, um, intense plan, Chewy. But I’m sure it will be beneficial,” Lovely says, almost too politely.

“Well, now that’s been stated, how am I going to usurp Mad Dog?” Pops asks.

The table starts brainstorming, but none of it sounds very good. Especially Mira’s idea which was to maybe share Laney. By the horrified look on Pops’ face, he’s not down for that.

“Here you are ladies, and man,” a short, curvy brunette angles herself between Blanche and Remy, to place a large platter of muffins down in front of us.

“Ohhhh they look so good!” Mira claps and bounces in her seat, the rest of us agreeing with her.

They do look delicious, and I want to take one, but I have questions. “So, a little while back we had a, ah, special operation here in your diner.”

She smiles warmly and bobs her head. “Oh yeah, I had Chef and TumTum in the kitchen. They’re so funny.”

“Ah, yeah, I guess. Anyway, There was an exchange between you and one of our DRMC members, Judge?” Her brows pull down a little. “So I just wanted to know what that was about.”

“Chewy!” Ana hisses, but I ignore her. I want to get to the bottom of this, and Judge will never tell me.

“Judge?” She snorts, “When I knew him he was Leo. We were best friends. Then he became the small town quarterback and turned into a popular meathead asshole. He may have changed for the better, but I’m not holding my breath to find out.” She turns stiffly, taking a few steps before turning back to look at us, a tight smile on her face. “I hope you enjoy the muffins.”

“Well, it sounds like Judge has been a naughty boy,” Blanche grins.

Before we can gossip about what exactly happened there, Jr starts making a fuss until his mother feeds him a small piece of muffin. I know Laney can handle most foods, so I select one of the delicious morsels and break a little piece off, holding it up to her mouth, mimicking Nat and Ana. Laney gobbles it up, then spits it down her front.

“Hey! What was that for?” I ask her.

I pick up a piece in my other hand, not the one that went near Laney’s mouth, and I pop it in mine. The flavours burst on my tongue and I try not to moan in appreciation. That doesn’t stop the rest of the table,

“Holy fuck, I don’t care what Judge did, he needs to marry that woman so we can get unlimited muffins.” Pops’ eyes pop open. “Do NOT tell my Ol Lady that!”

We all snicker, and I try Laney on another piece. She does the same thing, this time spitting it over herself and me. “What the hell are you doing? Nothing I’ve read said this happens,” I mutter.

“Chewy, I know you love research, but maybe this is less research and more scientific observation?” Lovely offers, Remy nodding in agreement.

“Huh. Like David Attenborough learning the movements of a particular species. Instead of a new species, it’s my daughter. Interesting.” I stroke my pretend moustache. I never once thought to do that, but I will from now on. A two pronged research attempt could be perfect for me. “In this case I think the research is telling me that she is not fond of chocolate muffins.”

“You think?” Blanche says, taking the chocolate muffin off Laney’s plate and placing it on hers.

“Violet, fancy seeing you here, with these, um,” the owner of the voice looks over our table, “friends?”

“Yes Josh, they are my friends, and guess what? They don’t care where my mother is from.” Violet says, throwing her half-eaten muffin onto her plate and staring him down.

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