Page 47 of Devoted

“Since January. Tech didn’t take.” Kenzie Voss got two menus and didn’t move yet. “Tanner’s in fourth grade now. He still says you’re the only teacher ever let him bring the snake.”

“It was a good snake.”

“He says that too.” Kenzie looked at Brody. She looked at the hand, still on Olivia’s back. She looked at Olivia again, and there was nothing unkind in it and nothing slow either. “Y’all come on. I’ve got a booth.”

She sat them dead center of the room. She put the menus down, said she’d be right back with waters, and went toward the kitchen with her phone already coming out of her apron, thumbs moving before the door swung.

Brody was watching Olivia. He’d taken his coat off and hung it on the back of her chair instead of his own, and he sat easy with one arm along the booth. He’d seen the phone. He’d seen her see it.

“Well,” he said.

“That’s Delia Voss’s granddaughter.”

“I know who she is. I knew her when she was a foot tall.”

“She’s texting her grandmother. Her grandmother’s calling Pearl. It’ll be home before the check.”

“Before the bread,” Brody said. “You want to go?”

“No.” She put her hands flat on the table, tape and all, and made herself leave them there. “I want a steak.”

“Good. So do I.”

“Don’t sound so pleased.”

“Bateman. Look at me a second.” He waited till she did. “You’re going to be bad at this. I know that. I’ve known you since you were five and you’ve never told a lie in your life that didn’t show. It’s fine. I’m very good at it, and I’ll carry it. All you’ve got to do is eat and laugh when I’m funny.”

“You’re not funny.” She chuckled.

“There you go. Just like that.”

Kenzie brought the waters and took the order. Brody ordered for himself, let Olivia say her own, asked Kenzie how Delia’s pecans had done and got a real answer, and by the time Kenzie left the table she was smiling and it wasn’t at her phone.

“See,” he said. “Easy.”

“It’s easy for you.”

“Well at least it’s easy for one of us. Drink your water.”

“You didn’t ask her a thing about her grandmother’s hip.”

“I didn’t know about her grandmother’s hip.”

“Delia’s had a hip since October. It’s the whole reason the pie contest moved.”

“Then you should’ve asked her.”

“I’m not the one who’s good at this.”

“You’re doing fine,” he said. “You’ve got your hands on the table. That’s about as much as I’d hoped for.”

The bread came. He tore a piece, put it in front of her, didn’t butter it, and she ate it. Two tables over a couple she half knew from the feed store had quit talking to each other.

“Tell me about Africa,” she said. “And not the lizard.”

“But the lizard’s such a good one.”

“I’ve heard the lizard. Tell me something deeper.”