I nodded. “Okay. Will do.” I stand, gathering my purse and my phone. “I promised to take my son to McDonald’s, so I should probably get going.”
Just as Lucky is about to respond, the door to the kitchen opens and my heart starts hammering away in my chest. Dev.
Sahara gets on her feet, causing Sammy to fall back into her bed. He’s left there staring up at the ceiling, laughing and moaning at the same time. “Whoaaa, Thahara. You bounthed my head on the floor.”
Dev stands in the doorway looking at Lucky and me, smiling in what looks like confusion. “What’s this?”
Lucky answers, which is a good thing because I have no idea what to say. “This is our computer specialist. She came to do some work for us, like we discussed.”
Dev’s responding grin leaves no doubt in my mind about how he feels. Relief flows through me.
“Great news. Welcome aboard.” He looks to his left, catching Sammy’s attention. “And who’s this? Did we get another puppy?”
Sammy smiles and does his best canine imitation. “Woof! Woof!”
Dev nods. “Nice. Good puppy. Stay.” He points at Sammy and gives him a hard look as he walks around the table to where Lucky and I are sitting. Then he drops into a chair next to me like it’s no big deal, like it doesn’t make my heart go faster. “So what’s the scoop? Are we going to start work right now, or do we have time for lunch?”
I open my mouth to answer, but Lucky beats me to it.
“Jenny was just saying that she has to take her son to McDonald’s. And Sunny’s waiting for me at home, so I was going to leave them to it.”
Dev rubs his hands together. “I love McDonald’s. Can I go?”
Sammy jumps up from the dog bed and then continues to hop with every word that comes out of his mouth. “Yeth! You can go. Right, Mama?” It’s not unusual for him to make instant friends with someone he deems worthy, and treating my son like a dog gives you a leg up in this three-year-old’s evaluation process.
I pause for a few seconds, trying to figure out what my answer should be. Do I want him to go? Yes. Should he go? Debatable. Would I enjoy having another grown-up to talk to at McDonald’s? Absolutely.
“He can, if he really wants to.”
Dev smiles. “It’s settled, then. Off to McDonald’s we go. I’ll drive.”
Everybody stands and moves toward the door, so I do the same. I probably shouldn’t be this excited about my near future being spent at a fast-food joint, but I am. Luckily, I have Sammy to focus on as we make our way out the door, so I don’t have time to act all goofy over Dev inviting himself along.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It feels like there are two places between Dev and me, even though there’s only one. I’ve never been in a vehicle that has a bench seat in the front. “How old is this car, anyway?” I look over into the backseat at my son strapped into his car seat. He’s smiling while looking out the window, like he’s having a really great day. McDonald’s tends to have that effect on him, but I think Dev is part of the reason, too. When he held Sammy up above his seven-foot height on the way to the car, Sammy screamed with glee, like he was on a roller coaster.
“This gorgeous vehicle rolled off the manufacturing line in 1975.”
“It’s older than I am.” I laugh.
“Yes, but she drives like she just rolled off the line last year.” His car decides in that moment to let out a big, loud pop and a poof of black smoke billows from the tailpipe. I turn around and look out the rear windshield; the black haze is slowly dispersing over the street behind us.
Barely containing my mirth, I turn back to the front and press my hands together, lowering my head and half-closing my eyes. “I’m going to go ahead and pray for the environment, if you don’t mind.”
Dev reaches up and strokes the dashboard. “Don’t listen to her, Bessie. She’s just jealous because she drives around in a mom-mobile and not a well-oiled cruising machine.”
I could tease him more, but I just smile. It’s fun driving around the city with Dev at the wheel. I feel like we’re in a tank, and nothing could hurt us, not even a pack of raging black rhinos. Even without this giant car around us, I’d probably feel that way just being with Dev. He’s very intimidating to look at, but I know he’s soft inside, like an ooey-gooey chocolate truffle candy.
“What are you smiling at?” Dev asks.
I just shake my head. I don’t trust myself to open my mouth and let any words out. I’d probably start gushing about how cute he is and how much I like him and how much I want to go out on a date with him. And we’ve planned to do something later this week, but I’m not going to be the one to bring it up. I don’t want to seem overanxious. It’s not really a date, anyway. It’s just a bet that he won and I lost. He’ll probably just give me another one of those friendly, brotherly kisses on the cheek after it’s all over. The mere idea of it makes me happy. I can pretend it’s not brotherly, right?