Page 14 of Colby's Lost Binky

“I hardly ever fall…” he protested.

“And if you do fall tonight? What if you break a bone or hit your head?”

“I did break my wrist once when I was eleven,” he mumbled. “And bonked my head more than once.”

“Isn’t it a better choice to wear the helmet and pads and not ruin our evening if you fall.” I shrugged. “I mean, of course it’s up to you. It’s not like I’m in charge of you or anything.”

“Do you want me to wear them?”

“I hope you’ll make the right choice because I want our evening to be long and fun.”

He suddenly shed the pouting and flashed me a happy smile. “Me too. I’ll get them, Barrister. For you too.”

Somehow I hadn’t thought of that, especially since I wasn’t going to do trick —but what kind of an example would I set if I refused?

Colby really was good. While I skated in circles around the edge of the rink, he found open spots in the flow of skaters and did his spins and even a few leaps, managing to land on his feet each time. Finally, he slid up to me and stopped his motion with his toe. “I’m getting hungry.”

“Me too.” I took his arm and we skated to the gate and out to the benches where we left our shoes. “Our table should be ready anytime.”

The food was really fun in a homemade Leave it to Beaver reminiscent style. The servers wore printed housedresses or pressed slacks and white shirts with ties. Aprons protected nice clothes from spills.

“I think I’ll have the meatloaf special.” I set my menu down in front of me. “You?”

“Hamburger and fries.” He tapped his lip. “And a chocolate malt.”

When the food came, it was well cooked and smelled delicious. The burger was huge, not very historically accurate, but the bite Colby shared with me was so good. My meatloaf and mashed potatoes with the required divot for brown gravy came with a side of succotash—corn and lima beans like my grandmother often served. Yeasty, fluffy dinner rolls with fresh butter…I barely had room for blueberry pie with ice cream, although Colby gobbled his piece and half of mine. To be fair, he’d burned a lot more calories than I had, but it did make me wonder where in his slim frame he put all that food.

I enjoyed watching him though.

Finally, he sat back and patted his flat belly. “Whew! I can’t believe I ate so much, but I was hungry.”

“I noticed.” I added a smile to let him know I was teasing. “But it was good.”

“So good.” He sighed.

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know when we’ll be able to do this again with the reservations so far out. I don’t suppose you can use your Dr. name to come once a week.”

“Well, once a week might not be fair to the others who would like to come, but maybe we can do once a month?”

“Really?” He flung his arms around my neck and planted a smack on my lips. “You come up with the most fun things to do.”

“I think they are fun because you’re with me.” I kissed him back, appreciating the lingering taste of blueberries and vanilla ice cream. “Yes, I’m sure of it.”

“Well, thank you. I can’t wait to see what to do next.”

“I do have an idea. I thought maybe you’d like to come to my club with me. You know Chained? Where most of the people at the munch come from?”

He released his arms from around my neck and sagged back into his side of the curved booth, refusing to meet my gaze. I’d thought it was time to move forward but maybe I was wrong? About what he wanted from a relationship with me? “Um, no thank you.”

My heart sank. “You aren’t interested in coming to see what it’s like?”

“I can’t but thank you again for asking.” He was apparently fascinated by the table’s wood grain because he didn’t look away from it.

“Colby, you know what I am. I want this part of our relationship, but I am also a daddy, and that’s another important part of my life.”

“Sure.” He licked his lips and slid to the left. “I guess we’d better go now, huh? It’s getting late.”

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