Page 24 of Worth Loving
Three days a week, and one day he didn’t work, so she got that day off along with Sundays.
“Get up so I can flip the pancakes. They are probably burning now,” he said laughing.
Jonah rolled out of bed and ran to the bathroom next to his room, so he returned to the kitchen.
He picked his phone up and sent a text to Carly that he’d take Jonah to the bar with him if she wanted to get him before they opened at eleven.
“I’m starving,” Jonah said, running in and pulling the chair out at the island, then climbing in it.
His hair was standing up everywhere. “You’re always starving.”
The pancakes were flipped, only slightly darker than normal but not a big deal, then he grabbed plates.
“I want three,” Jonah said.
“Three it is. Then we are getting dressed and you need a haircut today and Carly will pick you up at the bar before it opens.”
Jonah’s fist flew in the air. “Yes. I’m spending time with Dad today.”
And that right there, that is the reason for everything he did.
Not once in his life had he ever wanted to spend time with any family member, but seeing his son react that way, made him realize that every change he’d done in his life wasn’t just for him. It was for the next generation of Eastons.
9
PLAY HER PART
Molly was nuts to be doing this again. She knew it, but the truth was she wanted to see if she’d still feel this confident dressed up differently than she’d been most of her life and being around Dean.
Was it the man? The bar? Or the clothes?
She was kind of hoping it was just the clothes, but when she put them on in her house she didn’t feel any different. Not until she convinced herself to go back to the bar.
So here she was on her lunch hour again. It was kind of tricky because she didn’t want to go to work looking like this and be questioned, so she’d had a plan.
Her plan was to ditch the penny loafers she had on with her tan skirt and put on nude heels that she’d just purchased and left in the car. Take her white cardigan off that was covering up her light blue chiffon bow tie blouse, replace her glasses with contacts and slick on some lip gloss.
The thong under her skirt was a last-minute decision she’d made this morning hoping it’d remind her to be confident.
When she walked into the bar, she’d seen it was pretty busy with a business lunch crowd and she wondered if coming here alone was such a smart move after all.
Too late now when Dean made eye contact with her, so she walked to the bar, found a seat and sidled up to play her part.
“It’s not even a Wednesday,” he said. “Seltzer?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m on my lunch break.”
“You sure look nice for a researcher. I guess I always expected a more drab outfit covered by a lab coat.”
“I wear a lab coat when there is a chance of getting dirty.” The last time she was here she’d said she had the afternoon off. Maybe he didn’t realize she’d come from work in those black pants and shirt.
Of course, in the office she had a bulky long sweater over her shirt and covering how fitted the pants were.
She wasn’t in the lab five days a week. Or if she was, it might just be testing samples or cultures. Seeing the sustainability of products she was working on, looking for bacteria growth and so on. That wasn’t as messy as experimenting with food, which was the part of the job she loved, even if she didn’t get to do it often.
“And that is probably why you keep your hair back in the lab,” he said. “Guess that’s what you were doing today.”
Shit, she’d forgotten to pull the band out of her hair. “It’s better at times.”
