“Oh, Tyler! Shoot!” Lena jumped up before the water could trail down the table onto her lap.
Elliot slapped his napkin over the puddle and helped her get it mopped up. The waiter came over with more napkins, and in short order they had everything clean and dry. Elliot leaned over to draw her into conversation again, but Cherice got to her first. He thought about catching his sister’s eye to give her the “go away” look, but wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. Lena wasn’t some random chick. She was Oz’s sister, his own sister’s soon to be in-law. He doubted Cherice would approve.
Then he caught the words “salon,” “dress,” and “nails” and sat back, any thought of butting-in gone. It sounded like they were talking shop for the wedding. There was no way he was going to attempt to interrupt a bride trying to iron out her wedding details. He’d seen Bridezillas. People had been stabbed for less.
He turned back to Tyler in time to see the boy wad up a piece of napkin in his mouth and attempt to spit it through a straw. His face turned bright red but nothing came out the other end.
Elliot nudged him and picked up his own straw. “Watch,” he said, ripping off a piece of napkin. He rolled it between his fingers. “It has to be small enough to fit through the straw. See?”
Then he popped it into his mouth and chewed until it was nice and juicy. “See that coconut up there?”
Tyler nodded, eyes huge with excitement. Elliot grabbed his straw and aimed at the fake tree next to their table. He took a deep breath and let it fly. The spitball splattered onto the coconut and stuck.
“Awesome!” Tyler cheered.
Cher and Lena looked over to see what the excitement was about. Lena’s eyes narrowed. “Tyler Oserkowsi—”
Before she could really get into the scolding, Tyler piped up. “He did it!”
Elliot flushed. “Way to rat me out, kid.”
Tyler shrugged.
Lena looked at him, her mouth opening and closing like she couldn’t figure out what to say. Cher had no such problem.
“Seriously, Elliot? We’re in a restaurant. And Tyler is watching everything you do. Don’t teach him stuff like that.”
“Sorry,” Elliot muttered, though he glanced over at Tyler and gave him a quick wink.
Lena shook her head like she wasn’t sure what to make of him and turned back to her conversation with Cher.
Tyler leaned over and whispered, “Hey, Elliot. Can I have your cookie?”
Elliot blinked down at the boy, not sure what he was talking about until he realized their dessert, some sort of sorbet with gourmet cookies sticking out of the dish, had been served. Damn. Dessert was his favorite course and not only had he not noticed it sitting there, but he had no real desire to eat it.
“Sure thing, little man. Here you go,” he said, handing the little boy both his cookies.
“Yay, thanks!”
He started cramming them into his mouth as fast as he could. Elliot laughed. The kid looked like a little chipmunk with his cheeks bulging and crumbs spraying down his shirt.
“Tyler! No!”
Elliot blinked in surprise. Lena grabbed a napkin and held it under her son’s chin. “Spit it out.”
Elliot expected Tyler to argue, but he just stuck his tongue out, allowing all the crumbling goodness inside to spill out into his mother’s hand.
“You’ve already had your dessert and half of mine. You eat anymore, and you’re going to be up all night with a stomachache. Where did you get those cookies?”
Tyler pointed at Elliot. Lena turned to him with an exasperated sigh.
“Sorry,” Elliot said with a sheepish grin.
At the rate he was going, he didn’t need to worry about getting too close to the kid because Lena was never going to let him within two feet of Tyler again. The boy was already wired and slightly green around the gills from all the crap Elliot had let him eat. And here he was handing him more junk. “He asked.”
“I know, but you can’t always give kids everything they ask for,” she said, her reproach softened somewhat with a distracted smile. “He tends to gorge himself on any sugar source within a ten mile radius, but it doesn’t sit well with him. Last time I let him eat too many cookies he puked all night. And with all the junk he ate earlier…” She trailed off and Elliot wondered if his face looked as guilty as he felt.
“Oh, wow. Sorry. Won’t happen again.”
Lena smiled again, but it wasn’t an oh-he’s-so-sweet smile, it was… It took Elliot a second to recognize it. It was the same smile his nanny had given him when he was growing up and had done something she disapproved of, for reasons he didn’t understand. It was the mother look! Here he was, trying to impress her with his studliness, and she was looking at him like he was a misbehaving toddler. It was most definitely not the look a woman gave a man she was interested in.
New tactic. She’d appreciated his help earlier. He could be her knight in shining armor for the rest of the trip. After all, they were kind of stuck together for the week because of all the wedding stuff. Might as well be useful and possibly rack up a few brownie points while he was at it.
“So, have you spoken with your friend?” he asked. “Is she going to be able to make it?”
Lena’s face fell. “I don’t know. When I spoke with her earlier, the plane was stuck on the tarmac. She was supposed to text me when they finally took off, but that was a couple hours ago, and I still haven’t heard from her. And when I checked the weather back there, it was getting worse, so it’s not looking good. I’ll call her in a bit and see what’s going on.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. Well, if you need any help with Tyler, I’d be more than happy to lend a hand.”
She looked over Tyler’s head at him and gave him a distracted nod. “Oh. Thanks, Elliot. That’s very nice of you, but I think we’ll be okay.”
“Really, it’d be no trouble. Tyler and I had a great time this afternoon. I’d love to hang out some more. Maybe this time you could even hang out with us,” he said, leaning forward and lowering his voice a notch.
He was finally rewarded with a faint blush, but she quickly looked down at her plate.
“We could go to the pool again, or the beach.”
When she looked up in alarm, he hurried to assure her. “You wouldn’t even have to get near the water. I could take Tyler for a swim, and you could soak up the rays on the beach.”
“I’m not sure that’s a great idea. Today was sort of a disaster. I don’t want a repeat of that.” She laughed, an embarrassed little giggle of a sound that wormed its way into his heart and took up residence.
“Well, this time I’d be there to protect you.” He sent a little wink her way, and she blushed again but still shook her head.
“That’s nice of you, really, but I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Elliot caught sight of his sister’s disapproving face at the head of the table and wrinkled his nose at her. She didn’t approve of him hitting on her soon-to-be sister-in-law, he was sure, but he would have to reassure her later that he intended to be nothing but the perfect gentleman. He wanted to get to know Lena better. He wouldn’t even mind spending some more time with Tyler. The kid was hilarious.
“It’s no trouble, really. I’d love to hang out with you guys.”
She was gearing up for another rejection, so he beat her to the punch. “If you’d rather not be near the water, there’s lots of other stuff we can do.”
“Can we play more video games?” Tyler asked, bouncing in his chair.
“Absolut—” Elliot almost agreed but glanced up at Lena in time.
“You’ve played enough video games for this trip, munchkin,” she said. “There’s too much other stuff to do than wasting your time playing video games.”
She glanced up at him, her eyes wide and startled like she just realized he might take what she said as an insult. And he did. She was making it abundantly clear that she thought he was an immature screw-up who had no business being around her kid. And she was right. He generally was an immature screw-up, but it had never bothered him. Until that moment.