Page 39 of Joy
Silas put Ellen down as Annie came over and hugged him briefly. “This is Gideon Joy,” he said, tugging me close.
“Gideon!” She smiled and gave me a big hug. “I’ve heard so much. George is really taken with you, you know.” She motioned up at Silas. “Bright guys are too macho to say these things out loud, but believe me, George has no intention of letting you leave Eatery.”
I smiled and glanced over to where George was manning the grill. “That’s cool to hear, believe me.”
“Gideon’s having a bad day,” Silas added.
“The dates?” Annie asked.
“You know about them too?” I asked, shoulders slumping.
“Ah, honey, I’m pretty sure everyone in Lancaster knows,” Annie said, wincing. “Folks are betting on you two.”
I smacked my forehead. “Still? Odds aren’t in my favor, I’m sure.”
Silas slipped an arm over my shoulders. “Don’t worry about it.”
Annie gave me a look like she regretted saying anything. “Can I interest you in a beer?”
“One for both hands, please,” I quickly answered.
She smiled and waved me to follow. I left Silas’s side and went with Annie, who fetched a cold bottle from a cooler and popped the top off for me with a keychain. “Silas has the patience of a saint,” she said as she grabbed a beer for herself. “I’ve known the man for a decade. I’ve never seen him lose his cool. He’ll go on a million dates with you.”
I looked down and picked at the label on the bottle. “At first we just wanted to know each other a bit more before getting to the down and dirty. But now it’s like a personal challenge. Get throughone damn date.”
“On our honeymoon,” Annie said, motioning to George with her drink. “First night. George broke his damn leg. We tried for a makeup honeymoon the next year, and I got food poisoning.” She looked at me and shrugged. “Sometimes you just have to let it get the best of you and laugh it off.”
I didn’t want to laugh it off.
Because everything in life got the best of me.
Could I just be great atone fucking thing? For once? It’s not even as if I had competition for Silas!
“Oh! The potato salad. I’ll be right back,” Annie said suddenly.
I watched her disappear through the back door before wandering over to George. “Hey.”
“Howdy.”
“Need another beer?” I asked.
“Got a bit more here, thanks,” he said, briefly raised his bottle, and then went back to flipping burgers. “How’ve you been?”
“All right,” I lied, looking over my shoulder at Silas playing with Ellen.
“He’s a great uncle,” George said, and I looked up to see him eyeing me. “Loves Ellie to death. I always thought Silas would be a great daddy, if he ever wandered down that path in life.”
“Why didn’t he?”
George stuck his lower lip out as he thought. “I dunno. Well, I know at first he was concerned about being a gay father, but people around here, they’re good. Everyone loves Silas, and I think he put that fear behind him soon after realizing he was widely accepted. At this point it’s probably because he was single for so long.”
“He’s not getting a family out of me.”
“What do you mean?”
I snorted and the beer went up my nose. “I’m twenty-five. I can barely find my own ass with a flashlight. I’m a crap boyfriend. I can’t be trusted with a kid.”
“I was thirty when Ellie was born,” George said.
