Page 5 of Secret
Matt grabbed the plate of steaks before the dog could get to them. "How about we sit down and eat while we talk, that way your troublemaker won't be trying to steal the food."
"He's hungry too," Faith grumbled as she went over to the table.
"And he has his own food to eat. He doesn't need ours." Xander narrowed his eyes at the girl and the dog.
"So, what were you talking about?" Faith reached for a baked potato from one of the plates.
Matt stared at his daughter for a moment, then blew out a short breath. "Xan and I are thinking about going away for a couple of nights, if you are okay with that? We thought you might stay with Kase if we do, but we wanted to ask him if he was okay with it before we talked to you."
Faith seemed to withdraw a little, wrapping her arms around her chest. "You're going away without me?"
"We haven't decided yet." Matt reached out, placing his hand on her shoulder. "That's why we are talking about it now. So we can decide. Xander and I want to go have a small honeymoon. Do you know what that is?"
She nodded. "To celebrate your wedding?"
"Right, but if you don't want us to go, if you're not ready to stay with someone else, then we'll wait." Xander smiled. "We just wanted to get an idea of whether Kase would stay here or have you at his place if we do go."
Faith bit her lip as she seemed to be thinking about everything.
Kasey was just as scared as she probably was. What the hell did he know about children? Sure, he did fine when they were playing video games, but he'd never really been around kids, not since he was one, and that was a lifetime ago.
"Do you want to stay here with me?" She asked Kasey.
"I think we'd have fun." He would do it for his friends, even if he was uncomfortable with the whole thing. "I can come stay here with you and Zeus, or you two can come to my place. Either way works. We can eat lots of pizza and junk food and have fun playing video games."
Matt narrowed his eyes. "I asked you to take care of her, not fill her full of sugar."
Kasey grinned at Faith, ignoring Matt. "They'll be gone. We don't have to tell them anything we do. They'll never know."
Faith started to smile, then seemed to think about it some more and went back to frowning. "Why can't I go with you?" She looked at Xander as she asked the question.
"Well, a honeymoon is supposed to be just for the married couple. They go and do a lot of that kissy stuff that you hate me and your dad doing."
Kasey laughed. "You hate it when they kiss?"
Faith nodded. "They get all silly and look at each other funny. It's creepy. Then they laugh and get in these tickle fights." She shook her head. "They say that's what people in love do. If that's true, I never want to be in love. I hate being tickled."
Kasey raised a brow at Xander and mouthed, "tickle fights?"
Xander glared and pointed at him. "Don't even go there, buddy."
Kasey laughed, trying to imagine muscular, tattooed, and bearded Xander rolling around the floor being tickled. It was a side of his friend he prayed he never saw.
"Can I think about it?" Faith asked.
"Sure, you let us know. We won't plan anything until we are sure you'll be okay with it." Matt brushed her hair back from her shoulder. "Now eat before the food gets cold."
Just like that, the conversation was over. Faith started to eat, and Xander and Matt exchanged glances across the table.
Kasey watched as he cut into his own steak, wondering what it would be like to have a family. Hell, he couldn't even deal with dating most of the time. He didn't like sex much, found it messy and awkward. He was better to take things into his own hands every once in a while, than deal with the stress of being physical with someone else.
He was better off on his own. That was comfortable. He knew how to do that.
He ate in silence, listening to Matt talk about some new computer program he'd bought, glad for the company, the free meal, and most of all, a night off work.
