Chapter Four - Surprises
"You're late," Maria said when I walked in the door. "Everything okay?"
"I almost died at lunch, that's all," I said. "But hot diner guy, Eric, saved my life."
"What? How? What happened?"
She needed a minute to process after I explained everything, and then she was jumping up and down, squealing like a fifteen year old who just got her first kiss.
"I told you! It was fate!"
"Whatever you say, Maria…"
"Seriously. You read all the time while eating. Why would you find something hilarious enough to make you choke at that moment? So he could save your life and meet you."
I shook my head and laughed. "I do love your optimism."
"And you're having lunch with him tomorrow! We have to pick out a great outfit," she said, ending with a gasp. "I'm coming over tonight to raid your closet and find you something hot."
"Ohhhh dear," I groaned, but I knew it would be worth it. Maria had impeccable style sense.
And she was right. I looked hot when I went to lunch the next day, and the day after, and the day after that. I was perfectly smitten with Eric, but he never asked me out. I wondered if he considered the lunches "dating," or if he just thought we were friends.
About three weeks later, Maria and I were setting up our reading night at the store. The kids were just starting to arrive and gather in the children's section when I saw someone walk in that I wasn't expecting. He looked as good as ever, dressed in a dark gray suit, the top couple of buttons undone, and no tie. There was one slight surprise though. He was holding the hand of a little blonde girl.
"Eric," I said, smiling at him despite the hundreds of questions I had swirling around in my brain. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."
"You said the reading hour was a hit with the kids, so I thought I'd bring Laura here in to check it out."
I looked down at the little girl, who couldn't have been more than seven or eight. She looked a bit apprehensive, but kept glancing at the gathering of kids behind me. I bent down to her eye level.
"Hi Laura, I'm Sookie," I said sweetly, hoping to calm any nerves she might have. "Do you like to read?"
She nodded, but didn't say anything.
"Then it's good you're here. We're going to read a book in about ten minutes, but the kids do puzzles and games before that. Would you like to join them?"
She nodded again, so I held my hand out to her. She took mine and let go of Eric's, then let me lead her to the other children. I introduced her to the group and another girl her age named Megan took to her immediately. I was forgotten as the girls took off holding hands.
Knowing I couldn't, and shouldn't, avoid the conversation, I turned around and went back to Eric, who was suddenly looking quite apprehensive himself.
"So you have a little girl," I said, trying not to sound too harsh.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her. I know I should have. It's just that women are either afraid of it, or want to be that replacement, surrogate mother with me as a bonus. I've gotten to the point where I just don't know how to divulge it."
"Where's her mother?"
"She died a little over a year ago. She was my sister, and Laura's dad is a deadbeat who wanted nothing to do with her, so I got custody."
"I'm sorry that happened," I said, taking his hand in mine. "You still should have told me. I mean, I'm okay with it, but it would have been nice to know."
"I know. I'm sorry. I guess now would be a good time to tell you that Thalia is my half sister, right?" he asked, smiling sheepishly.
I didn't get the chance to respond, because Maria called me over so we could get started.
"Can we talk after?" I asked, and he nodded.
I made my way through the various parents and up to the little platform we had. Maria pulled me to the side immediately.
"Is that hot diner guy?"
"Yes."
"He has a kid? He didn't tell you he had a kid, did he?"
"She's his niece, who he has custody of, and no he didn't tell me. I think it'll be okay though. He has his reasons."
"Well, I know I don't have to tell you to be smart about it," she said. "Just don't get your heart broken."
"We're not even together, Maria."
"You've had lunch together six days a week for three weeks. You're together."
I rolled my eyes at her and laughed. "Come on, we've got kids' brains to stimulate."
The reading hour went great, and Laura even wanted to take a stab at reading a page, which she did wonderfully. By the time it was all over, she was hugging Megan and begging Eric to come back again.
"Did you have fun?" I asked her when I finally made it over to them.
"Yes," she said excitedly, bouncing on her heels. "Can I come back, Miss Sookie?"
"Of course you can!"
"Please Daddy? Can I?" she asked Eric.
"Yes," he said. "Now, why don't you go pick out a couple of books so Miss Sookie and I can talk?"
"Okay!" she squeaked before taking off for the kid's section again.
"Does she know you're not her dad?" I asked quietly.
"Sort of. She knew me as Uncle Eric, but after Pam died she just kind of slid right into calling me Dad. I'm okay with it since, for all intents and purposes, that's what I am. I'll have to explain it a bit more when she gets older."
I nodded. "And Thalia?"
"Yeah," he smiled sheepishly. "I didn't even know about her until about five years ago. Apparently my dad had an affair with her mom, or a one-night-stand, I don't really know, but he had been listed on the birth certificate. Her mom OD'd, so my father was contacted to see if he wanted custody. Thalia's mother didn't have any family, or close friends. Our dad is a jackass, and claimed he knew nothing about her, and that he'd raised his children already and wasn't about to raise another. He was ready to sign her over to the state until I stepped in. I wasn't about to see a blood relative turned away, so I asked him to give her to me."
"Wow."
"Yeah. It was hard at first. I'd never had to take care of anyone but myself, and she didn't know me. It took almost a year for her to finally trust me, and now we're very close. She's a smart girl."
"She's also very kind. You've done a great job being a parent, Eric."
"Thank you."
He smiled at me for a moment, then took a deep breath.
"So then, now that you know all this… will you go out on a proper date with me tomorrow night?"
"Under one condition," I said.
"Anything."
"You admit that you were my mystery bill payer at the diner."
His face said it all, and he knew he'd been caught.
"How did you figure it out?"
"I didn't know until you told me about Thalia. That must have made it easy. Plus she asked me about you a couple of times. Your sister is looking out for you."
"Yeah," he said, running his hand through his hair, and letting it rest on the back of his neck as he looked at me. "It was me. I hope you don't find it creepy."
"No, it was sweet."
"You know, Thalia likes you a lot. She kept pestering me to talk to you."
"And you didn't because?" I asked, teasing him.
"I'm a bit more shy than you might think," he admitted.
"We'll see about that tomorrow night. Where should I meet you?"
"I'd love to pick you up, if that's okay."
"That's fine. Let me write down my address for you."
As I was writing it down, Laura came running up with an armful of books. Eric laughed and knelt down in front of her.
"Sweetie, how many books did I say you could get?"
"But, Daddy," she started to protest, and Eric gave her a stern look. "A couple."
"And how many do you have there?"
"Ten," she said, hanging her head.
"You may pick three out of that pile, but you have to put the rest back."
She seemed to know better than to argue with him, so she did as he asked, and I took the rest from her to re-shelve.
"Sorry about that," Eric apologized.
"It's not a big deal. The children's books always need to be rearranged."
I rang up the books Laura chose, and then handed her the bag since kids liked to carry their own purchases; it made them feel grown up. She thanked me, and then they left. Maria and I cleaned up, and then we both headed home. I couldn't wait for my date with Eric.
