Page 32 of Eggnog and Edging
"PDAs?”
“Public displays of affection."
He rubs his hands over his face. “I thought you meant Penis, Dick, and Ass."
"Dad!"
He bows his head and raises his hands again. And if I can trust my ears, he stifles a laugh.
"I'm going to pack some things and start moving out.” She pauses. “We never intended to hurt you."
"I know." The softness in his tone seems to surprise all of us.
She ducks down to slip under our arms, but I get an idea at the last minute, and I spin around and grab her arm by the elbow before she can get away. I whisper, "Maybe you should stay for this next part about you being part of the business."
"Do you want to give my dad a heart attack?"
She has a point. I’m being overzealous.
"You're right. We'll save that for a different day."
She disappears down the hallway, leaving Ryker, Ross and me.
With total sincerity, I say, "I don't want this to affect us being business partners, but I really don’t want to ruin our friendship."
"How can I ever look you in the eye again?"
"I don't doubt that it will be hard, but you and I are good together. You still have a passion for promoting anything culinary. I still have a knack for knowing what restaurants need to do to regroup."
Ryker adds, "And I still want to do menu analysis. None of that has to change."
"And I suppose you're going to tell me that we should bring Starla in on this." Ross shocks us.
I choke on the sip of alcohol I was swallowing.
Ryker and I look at each other and nod. "She’d be a great addition to the business."
"Then who's going to stay home and raise the kids?"
Ryker chokes on his drink this time.
“She wants kids,” Ross says flatly.
"We all do. We’ll make it work.”
Ross takes a deep breath. “I actually just needed to hear that you'd be willing to have a kid with her, because if you're going to fuck around with my daughter, you're fucking around with me."
We stare at him.
"That didn't come out right. You know what I mean."
I say, "We do, and we’ll take care of her and all of your grandkids."
Starla sets a suitcase down behind us. "Did I just hear what I think I heard?"
"You did." Her dad says, "You picked the best two goddamn guys I know. It'll be on me to come to grips with your decision."
Starla runs to us, and we embrace her in a big hug.
