Protecting Her(86)

“You always have blueberry,” I tell him.

He shrugs. “It’s what I like.”

I put my arm around Rachel, who’s sitting next to me in the booth. “What are you getting, sweetheart?”

“I think I’ll try the pumpkin-walnut. It won’t be on the menu after Thanksgiving.” She gives me a kiss. “How about you?”

“The usual. Eggs and bacon.” I kiss her as I take her menu.

“Gross!” Garret covers his eyes. “Do you have to kiss at breakfast? It’s embarrassing. People are watching.”

Rachel laughs. “Nobody’s watching, honey. And even if they are, I don’t care. I love your dad. I can’t help but kiss him.”

I squeeze her shoulder and kiss her forehead. “I love you too, sweetheart.”

Garret rolls his eyes. “I’ll never be that mushy with a girl.”

“You will,” Rachel says. “Someday you’ll meet a special girl and you’ll say all kinds of mushy things.”

“Nope.” He shakes his head and folds his arms over his chest. “Never. I don’t even like any girls.”

Rachel smiles at him. “You like Cassie.”

“Only because she gives me her chocolate chip cookies at lunch.”

“Oh, speaking of cookies.” Rachel turns to me. “Charles is coming over at eleven to make cookies for the bake sale. We need to run home after breakfast and let him in the house before Garret’s game.”

Charles is a chef that Rachel got to know a couple years ago. He’s catered several of the charity events she’s worked on. He also works at a restaurant. He’s an excellent chef. He’s in his forties. He never married or had kids, but he’s good with children. He catered Garret’s birthday party last August and the kids ended up wanting to spend half the time just watching him cook. He put on a show to make it entertaining for them.

“Charles wants to come to one of my games,” Garret says.

Garret is on a basketball team. He also plays football, but the season just ended. And he swims. We hired a swim coach for him because Rachel thought it would be better for someone else to teach him rather than her. As his mother, she finds it hard to correct him when his form is off.

“You should invite Charles to the game next Saturday,” Rachel says.

“There’s no game next week,” Garret says, twirling his spoon around on the table. “Everyone will be gone for Thanksgiving.”

“That’s right. I keep forgetting that. Well, he can go to the one the following week.”

The waitress arrives at our table. She reeks of smoke. She must’ve just got off her break. “What can I get you?”

I motion to Rachel. “She’ll have the pumpkin-walnut pancakes and I’ll have the scrambled eggs and bacon.” I look at Garret to order.

“I’ll have the blueberry pancakes. And a large orange juice.”

She leaves and Garret says, “Why do you always order for Mom?”

“Because I like to,” I say.

“It’s what men used to do in the old days,” Rachel says. “You were considered a gentleman if you ordered for a lady. And your father is a gentleman.” She kisses my cheek.

Garret covers his eyes. “No more kissing!”

Rachel just laughs. “Pearce, we need to stop at the grocery store later. I need to get some things for Thanksgiving. I don’t want to go to the store when we get back. It’ll be too crowded.”

“Do you guys have to leave tonight?” Garret asks.

Rachel and I are attending a political fundraiser in DC tomorrow. The fundraiser is for Senator Wingate, who is up for re-election. Wingate is a challenge to work with, but the organization keeps him in office because he’s on a key committee in Congress. To make his senate win look real, we need big name supporters surrounding his campaign. I’m one of those big name supporters. I’ve been making a name for myself in the business world the past few years, giving speeches, appearing on financial news programs, and doing interviews for business magazines. Wingate needs more support in the financial community so the organization has assigned me to show support for him, hoping it’ll convince other financial leaders to do the same.

“We’ll only be gone a couple days,” I say to Garret, sipping my coffee. “We’ll be back Monday night. And while we’re gone you get to spend time with your grandmother. ”