Page 45 of The Bet
Izzy grit her teeth tightly together as she sat back down once Jacob and his grandparents squeezed past her and into their seats.
She couldn’t wait to get home and tell Cara how insufferable Xavier Stone was.
“Here you go, Ma’am.” The server placed the desserts at the table. “And here are some extra spoons for sharing.”
“How was your Mommy?” she asked Jacob.
“She’s having fun.” He scooped out a huge spoonful of chocolate sundae and shoved it into his mouth. She took a teeny portion, seeing that he seemed to be enjoying it so much.
“But she’s missing you, isn’t she, dear?” his Grandma asked.
Jacob nodded. “But I told her not to worry. I told her Xavier had taken us all out to lunch, and that made her really happy.”
Her gaze flew to Stone’s face as she watched him take the credit for it. It made her stomach churn to see him lapping up the praise. “It wassothoughtful of you to ask everybody,” she said, calling him out, and letting him know that she knew.
“I told mommy we were going to the park next, but I don’t have my scooter.”
“Don’t worry, kid,” said Xavier. “We can go back home to get it.” He turned to Jacob’s grandparents, and said, “I can drop you back if you’re tired.”
She was so embarrassed for Jacob’s grandparents that she had to step in. “Or you’re more than welcome to come with us.” She glared at Xavier. “You’re probably bored,” she said. “You could take off now and enjoy the rest of your weekend. The rest of us can make our own way to Central Park.”
“Are you bored?” Jacob asked.
Xavier gave them another shit-eating grin. So false, so hard to digest that it made Izzy’s gut harden.
“I’m not bored, kid, and I have the whole day free.”
“Wouldn’t you rather hang out with your friends, or yourgirlfriends?” she asked, purposely making the latter plural. She wondered, at the same time, if he had hooked up with Kay ever since they had returned from the wedding. She was eager to ditch him now from the group and get back to it being only her and Jacob.
“My friends are night people,” he said, staring at her intently, “and I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Night people? You mean like vampires?” Jacob giggled; his lips and outer edges of his mouth were covered in runny chocolate syrup. She handed him a napkin.
“That’s funny, kid,” he said, messing up the boy’s flopping hair.
“If you don’t mind,” said Dale, lifting out a piece of pecan pie that he and his wife were sharing, “We’d like to look around the Museum. What do you say, Jean? Shall we?”
“Now that we’re here, I suppose we ought to do something cultural.” Jean turned to her grandson. “Would you like to come with us, Jacob?”
He shook his head, and shoveled another spoonful of sundae into his mouth.
“You should definitely go to the museum,” Xavier said. “And don’t worry about Jacob. We’ll show him a good time.”
“Are you sure?” Dale asked.
“Completely.” Xavier gave her a grin.
“You must be starving, dear?” Jean asked her. “You’ve barely eaten a thing.”
She wasn’t that hungry, but because she’d been checking out the menu in a bid to avoid looking at Xavier, she was starting to get hungry. The chocolate muffin she’d bought on the way here hadn’t plugged as much of a hole into her ravenous belly. How she missed home cooked meals. She and Cara got by as best as they could which meant not eating out a lot, or living on home-made stew, and soups and wraps. Cara wasn’t a vegetarian, so it made things a little tricky, and she was trying to convince her friend that money would last longer if they avoided eating meat.
“I had something along the way,” she told Jean, hoping to placate her.
“Like what?” It was another stupid question from a stupid man. She turned her head towards him and found herself unable to give him an answer.
“What did you eat along the way?” Xavier asked.
“A—A— a muffin.” Like it was any of his business. He looked as if he didn’t believe her and she didn’t care. But sitting here, with the warm BBQ flavored aroma wafting around everywhere, it was impossible to suppress her hunger.
