I frown and take another drink.
A plate slides in front of me. The waitress, Susie, gives me a friendly smile. “Don’t take it personally. Killian has unresolved issues with his father. You his girlfriend? He’s never brought anyone around before.”
“I’m a good friend.” I don’t think he would appreciate me telling some woman who works for his father that I am his girlfriend.
“Conrad and I have tried to repair that relationship, but he hasn’t forgiven us.”
“Are you his…mom?”
“Stepmom.”
“I feel extremely rude. My name is Liri.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Liri. You must be important if he brought you here. He doesn’t come around often.” Susie is a pretty woman. She’s curvy and reminds me of a pinup model you’d see in a car magazine or something for hotrods. She has big bangs and wears bright red lipstick. I like her style. It suits her.
I smile at her and she wanders off before Killian gets back to the table. “Your food okay?”
“It’s good. Thanks.” This boy continues to confuse the hell out of me. I don’t want to upset him by asking questions, so I keep the conversation on my own family issues hoping to relieve some of his discomfort.
“I’m going with Hayley to her mom’s this weekend to meet my father.”
“All weekend?”
“We’re driving up on Friday and coming back Sunday.” His jaw ticks but he doesn’t say anything rude.
“And this is the first time you will have seen him?”
“Yup.” I push a forkful of cheese and fries into my mouth. We discuss how I am nervous and afraid that it will be weird. Killian doesn’t offer anything about his family in return, but I leave it alone.
We finish our food and Susie brings us a banana split. “It’s Killian’s favorite.” She winks at me and places two spoons on the table.
I elbow him and he lets out a gruff, “Thanks.”
“Don’t be rude. She’s trying to be nice.”
“You know who she is then?” his voice is cool.
“She told me that she’s your stepmother. I think she’s really pretty and seems nice.”
“You don’t know what she did,” he barks at me.
“You’re right. I don’t know anything about her or your dad, and if you want to talk to me about that then I am all ears. But if you don’t that’s okay too. I can only base my opinion from my brief interaction with them. Don’t be mad at me because I don’t hold your grudge that I know nothing about.”
I can tell he wants to be a dickhead but he’s trying really hard to hold back. His face is tense, and he has this hard look in his eyes.
I pick up a spoon and get a dollop of ice cream and shovel it in his mouth before he can be a jerk. “Eat up.” I grin and he grabs the other spoon and smears ice cream on the slope of my nose. “It’s like that huh?” I try to retaliate but he pins my arms down and licks the ice cream from my face and then he cuts off my giggles and shrieks with a kiss.
We break apart and I catch his dad and Susie grinning at us.
“I’m going to go use the girl’s room.”
Killian slides out of the booth and pulls me to my feet. His eyes burn into mine.
“I won’t be long.” I got the silent meaning behind his pleading look. Don’t leave me alone with them.
When I get out of the bathroom Killian is nowhere to be found. Conrad, his father, is behind the bar, and his face is turned down in an angry scowl. “He’s waiting for you in the car,” he tells me.
“Thanks. It was really nice to meet you.”