Atlas perks up. “A wedding, huh?” A sly smile plays on his lips. “You plan on sleeping through it?”
I immediately blush, and that makes Allysa curious. Atlas turns to her and says, “She didn’t tell you she slept through our first date?”
I’m not even looking at Allysa, but I can feel her staring. “I was tired,” I say, excusing the inexcusable. “It was an accident.”
“Oh, I absolutely need more of this story,” Allysa says.
“She fell asleep on our drive there. Slept in a parking lot for over an hour. We never even made it into the restaurant.”
Allysa starts laughing, and I kind of want to crawl under the counter and hide now.
“Who’s getting married?” Atlas asks me.
“My friend Lucy. She works here.”
“What time?”
“It’s at seven. Nighttime wedding if you can swing it.”
“I can.” Atlas does this thing with his eyes where he briefly looks like he wishes we were alone. It’s sending tingles of warmth crawling down my spine. “I need to get back. Enjoy your lunch.” He nods at Allysa. “It was nice officially meeting you.”
“You too,” she says.
He gets halfway to the exit when he starts whistling. He walks away in a cheerful mood, and it makes my heart swell to see him so happy. I have no idea if his good mood has anything to do with me, but the teenage girl in me who was worried about him all those years ago is extremely pleased to see him doing so well in life.
“What’s wrong with him?”
When I glance at Allysa, she’s staring curiously at the door Atlas just disappeared out of. “What do you mean?”
“Why isn’t he married? Why doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”
“Hopefully he’ll have a girlfriend soon.” I can’t say it without smiling.
“He’s probably bad in bed. Maybe that’s why he’s single.”
“He is definitely not bad in bed.”
Her jaw drops. “You said you haven’t even kissed him yet; how would you know?”
“As adults,” I say. “You forget I have a history with him. He was my first, and he was very, very good. And I’m sure he’s gotten even better.”
Allysa stares at me for a beat, then says, “I’m happy for you, Lily.” But she’s frowning. “Marshall is going to like him, too. He’s so likable.” She says that like it’s the worst possible outcome.
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“I don’t know if it’s a good thing,” she says. “This whole thing is muddled; you know that. I don’t need to explain it to you. But I can absolutely see why you’re hesitant to tell Ryle. Knowing his ex-wife is sharing a bed with that block of perfection has to be extremely emasculating.”
I raise a brow. “Not as emasculating as beating your wife should feel.” I’m a little shocked when the words come out of my mouth, but I can’t take them back. I don’t think I need to, though, because luckily, my best friend isn’t a ride-or-die sister.
Rather than be offended, Allysa agrees with a nod. “Touché, Lily. Touché.”
Chapter Nineteen Atlas
I have no idea if twelve is too young to take an Uber, but I didn’t want to leave Josh at my place alone after school again, so I had one drop him off here at the restaurant. We discussed earlier this week that he should probably help out up here to pay off the damages he accrued.
I’ve been watching the Uber on a map, so I meet him out front. When he gets out of the car, he looks like a completely different kid from the one I met several days ago. He’s wearing clothes that fit him, I took him for a haircut yesterday, and he’s carrying a backpack full of books rather than cans of spray paint.
I doubt Sutton would even recognize him if she saw him.
“How was school?” Today was his second day at the new school. Yesterday he said it was okay but didn’t expand.
“It was okay.”
I guess that’s as much as I’ll get from a twelve-year-old. I open the door to my restaurant, and Josh pauses before walking in. He looks up at the building and assesses it. “Funny how I slept here for two weeks but this is the first time ever I’m walking through the entrance.”
I laugh and follow him into the restaurant. I’m excited for him to meet Theo, even though I haven’t had a chance to tell Theo about Josh yet. Theo arrived a few minutes ago and came through the back right as I was heading toward the front to fetch Josh.