Page 22 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

“What doesthatmean?”

“It means she thinks that only insecure men drive little red sports cars. She thinks I’m trying to prove I’m cool.”

“Are you?” Olivia asked him.

“Cool people don’t have to prove it,” Charlie said. “Izzy, did you get those blue streaks in your hair to make people think you were cool? Or did you do it because you liked those blue streaks?”

“I liked them,” Izzy said. “My mom doesn’t like them.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Charlie said. “My mom wouldn’t have liked them either. But the point is, if you’re really cool, you do what you want to do becauseyouwant to do it. Some people like it, and some people don’t, but none of that is your reason for doing it. Right?”

“Right,” Izzy agreed firmly. She dragged a fry through her ketchup.

Charlie turned back to Olivia. “So no, I’m not trying to prove anything with my car. I got that car because I always dreamed of having a car like that when I was a kid, and now I can have one.”

“When I get a car,” Izzy said, “I think it’s going to be one of those SUVs that look like a cube.”

“I love that.” Charlie said. “Those things are so weird.”

“I know. My friends and I have a contest going to see who can spot the most of them. In order for it to count, there has to be at least one other person around when you see one, so you can have a witness confirm that you did see it.”

“Right,” Charlie said. “Otherwise you couldn’t be sure that people weren’t padding their numbers. That’s smart.”

“Olivia thinks it’s dumb.”

“No, I don’t!” Olivia protested. “Where are you getting that?”

“You said we were probably just seeing the same three cars over and over.”

“In a town this size, you probably are,” Olivia said. “How many people do you think honestly own those SUVs around here? That doesn’t mean I think it’sdumb.”

“Hey, I’ll tell you what,” Charlie said. “Maybe we can go up to Boston for the weekend sometime — you, me, and Olivia. There are tons of those cars up there.”

“Hold on,” Olivia objected. “Now we’re taking weekend trips?”

“It wouldn’t count if I didn’t have a friend with me,” Izzy said.

“You could take pictures. Besides, we’d have fun. Boston is a fun city. Have you been?”

“Once, on a school trip.”

“This would be more fun than a school trip, probably, because you’d get to set the agenda for it.”

“That does sound fun.” Izzy looked at Olivia. “Could we?”

“I don’t think Mom is going to go for that, Iz.”

“We could ask, couldn’t we?”

“We could ask.”

“You two see if you can soften up your mom on the idea,” Charlie said. “I’m sure she’d be okay with it since Olivia would be along too. In fact, it could really be your trip, and I’d just meet up with you in town and take you out to lunch a couple of times. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great to me,” Izzy said. “Olivia, how come you haven’t introduced me to Charlie before? He’s so cool.”

“I don’t usually make a habit of introducing my clients to my family,” Olivia said.

“Maybe you should, if this is what they’re like.”

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