Page 123 of Doughn't Let Me Go

“Yeah?”

“Oh yes.” Her head bobs. “Very much so. I hope we get to keep her forever.” She runs toward me, wrapping her arms around my legs, hugging me close.

I return the gesture, and Porter stares at me, his eyes full of so many things right now.

He gulps, and I watch the words tumble from his lips.

“I hope so too.”

My heart stops and then starts back up again, pounding harder than I ever thought it could.

“You girls wanna go out to dinner tonight?”

“Depends,” Kyrie says, slipping away from me. “Where are we going?”

“Anywhere you want. You pick.”

“Can webothpick?” she asks.

“Of course.”

She sticks her finger out and beckons me to lean down to her. She cups her hand around my ear and whispers the place she wants to go, and I nod my head enthusiastically.

She turns back to her father, grinning. “We decided.”

“Yeah? Where are we going?”

“You better ditch those fancy pants, Dad.” She breezes past him, off to go change clothes, I assume. “We’re getting pizza!”

* * *

As soon asKyrie booked it out of the laundry room to get ready for our dinner out, Porter’s phone went off and Fran called him back to his office.

We’ve had zero time to talk about what happened. About Kyrie catching us. About what Porter said.

Now we’re crammed in a booth together while Kyrie takes up the other side with Fran.

Our thighs are pressing against each other, and I wonder if Porter’s manspreading under the table because he’s tall, or because he just wants a reason to touch me.

I’m hoping for the latter.

“What’s everyone having?” Fran asks, perusing the menu. “I can never decide what to get when I come here. It’s all so exciting and all sounds so dang delicious.”

“I’ve been slowly working my way through the menu,” Porter tells her. “I highly recommend the cheese stick pizza if you haven’t tried it yet.”

“I just can’t wrap my head around eating a pizza with actual cheese sticks on it.”

“It’s heavenly,” I agree.

Porter looks at me, slack-jawed. “Excuse me?”

“What?” I shrug. “Pepperoni isn’t the only thing I get when I come here.”

It goes unsaid between us that I get it because it is one of the cheapest options and I can’t bring myself to eat just plain cheese pizza.

“Everyone order whatever you want.” He says it so casually, like he’s just tossing it out there, but I see the tic in his jaw and know he’s frustrated by what I said, know he’s really talking to me. “It’s on Kyrie tonight anyway, and I happen to know she has a bunch of money stashed in her piggy bank.”

“Hey!” she says. “How do you know how many dollars I have?”

---