The Good Wife(82)
Those who were in the know said he had God-given talent.
He did. But he’d also inherited some of that talent from his dad, the Yankees’ ace pitcher, John Meeks.
“Coffee?” she asked, holding up a fresh pot.
“Please.” He watched her fill a mug. “You serve good coffee here. I like that it’s nice and strong.”
“That’s how coffee is supposed to be,” she answered, setting the cup down in front of him and then handing him a menu. “Have a couple of specials today. Pain perdu, and then one of my personal favorites, breakfast pork chops and eggs. The pork chops aren’t fancy, but they’ve got great flavor, and we don’t overcook them.”
“Sold.”
“Hash browns or country-fried?”
“Country-fried. And a little crispy, if you can—”
“That was a great game last night, Mr. Walker,” Phyllis said, leaning across the counter to get his attention.
Boone looked surprised. “Thank you.”
“How are you enjoying playing for the A’s?” she added.
“It’s good. Things are going well.”
“You’re still new here, I know, but if there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
Bette pressed in close to Phyllis and beamed at Boone. “Welcome to Oakland.”
A bit bemused, Boone glanced from Phyllis to Bette and then to Lauren. “Thank you.”
“How are you settling in?” Bette asked.
“Good. Still new here, but it’s going well.”
“I’d say, if last night’s game is anything to go by.” Bette beamed. “Quite the hitter, aren’t you?”
“I try,” Boone answered.
“And you just keep trying,” Bette said firmly, before Phyllis tugged her away.
Boone looked at Lauren. She smiled faintly, shrugged. “You were written up in the morning’s paper.”
“I was?”
“We’ve got the article here somewhere. Want to see it?”
He shook his head. “That’s all right.”
“It was a nice write-up,” she said.
“All right, if you can find it easily, but otherwise don’t bother. It’s not a big deal.”
A little later, as she served him his breakfast, Lauren slid the folded-up sports section next to his plate and left him to his meal. Checking on him, she found him engrossed in the paper and his meal, and she couldn’t help smiling. With his head bent and his fork hovering midair, he looked so focused and earnest. The all-American boy reading the sports pages.
Still smiling, she moved on, aware that she might have developed a small, teeny tiny crush on handsome Boone Walker.
She knew when he was done and ready for the bill. Lauren placed the paper facedown in front of him. “Have a good day,” she said.
“How can I not?” he answered. “It’s beautiful out.”
“It is,” she agreed, glancing out the big plate-glass window at the bright, clear sky. “Feels like summer.”
“I like that your summers here don’t have all the humidity we get in the South.”
“The Bay Area is pretty nice, climate-wise.”
“I know. My wife’s lucky. She was raised here.”
His wife. He had a wife.
Lauren felt a strange pang of emotion—part disappointment, part regret. It was stupid, though, to feel anything. She didn’t know him. He was just a customer. Had only been in a handful of times.
“She must be happy being back here, then,” she said, struggling to find something to say.
“She will be. She’s not here yet. Still with the kids in Tampa for another week or two.”
“You have kids?”
“Two. Boy and girl. Eight and five.”
She heard the pride in his voice and her heart contracted again. “It’ll be nice when you’re all together again,” she said, adjusting the pots of jam and jelly. She’d begun making them on the weekends. Since she didn’t seem to have anything else to do with her free time. Her own fault, but still. “Must be hard living apart.”
He shrugged. “Don’t like it, but we’ve been doing it so long, almost don’t know any other way.”
“Your wife doesn’t mind being apart?”
“Oh no, she hates it, but it’s part of the game. Fortunately, she’ll be here in a couple of weeks. Once my kids are out of school. Bad thing is, she arrives just as we leave, but on the plus side, we’ll be together for Father’s Day. Haven’t been with them for Father’s Day in years.”
Thirteen
It’d been two weeks since Sarah had seen Boone and she was beginning to go a little crazy.
They were talking on the phone a couple of times every day and Skyping once a day, but trying to keep the house clean and ready to show at a moment’s notice wasn’t fun. It didn’t help that Brennan had been getting in trouble at school. Sarah was just grateful that the term was almost over.