Page 14 of Fix Me Up

Ruby whips out a high chair as soon as she sees Owen with Graham, and she shoots me a curious look.

I already know what she’s thinking. Ruby knows everything about everybody that comes into her restaurant, so if there’s a single dad and a single doctor at one of her tables, she’s making so many mental notes about it I can almost hear the scribbling.

We settle into a booth by a window, with Graham perched in a highchair at the end. Ruby brings him toast to gnaw on while Owen and I place our orders.

“I have to ask you something and you don’t have to answer it,” I say.

“Go ahead,” he says.

“Is Graham’s mom in the picture in any way?”

Owen shakes his head.

I wait for him to say more.

He reaches over and steals a piece of Graham’s toast, which prompts the kid to smile and hand the other half-slice to his father.

“I’d been casually dating Amber for about a year, on and off. I was the groomsman, and she was a bridesmaid at our friends’ wedding. We’d already decided to end things because we weren’t serious enough for me to move with her to New York to pursue Broadway. We were never that well suited for each other. But I guess we both felt lonely that night at the wedding. She dragged me into the back of the deejay’s truck and I went along with it. Sorry for the image.”

I sip my water. “I’m a doctor. Nothing shocks me anymore.”

He sighs. “We went our separate ways. She moved to New York, and we have never spoken with each other again. Until she showed up on my doorstep with Graham, about nine months and two weeks later.”

Wait, she never told him she was pregnant? From the sound of it, apparently not.

“What did she say? What was the reason she wanted you to take him?”

Owen lifts one shoulder. “Amber said she wasn’t ready to be a mom. She said she knew I came from a good family and had support. She didn’t. She knew I wanted kids one day. She didn’t. So, she relinquished parental rights, and I never heard from her again.”

I get the feeling he doesn’t want to say more. And that’s fine.

“That’s very honorable of you, Owen,” I say.

“Honorable? No. I mean, look at him. How could I say no?” Owen stares at the little guy, who’s now banging his sippy cup of milk on the table, thoroughly amused by the noise. I could be mistaken but it looks like Owen’s eyes are welling up.

“I didn’t get around to telling you this that night,” he starts. Oh god, he’s bringing up the blind date. Gulp. Here we go.

“…I never graduated high school. I was tired of school and went to work on my grandpa’s vegetable farm. When he passed, he left it all to me and my sisters. I bought out my sisters’ shares in the farm because they were not interested in working it, and they saw how much it meant to me. I enjoyed it, and I also enjoyed a steady paycheck from the feed store. So when you were rattling off all your degrees that night of our date, it intimidated me a little.”

It squeezes my heart, the way he looks at me sheepishly. As if having more degrees even matters to me in terms of friendship.

“I don’t understand why anyone would care about that, but that explains the awkwardness,” I say.

He grabs a napkin from the dispenser and wipes up an insignificant puddle of milk in front of Graham. “That was part of my awkwardness. The other part was that I’m a terrible dancer, and I proved it by leaving you down to one shoe by the end of the date.”

I laugh. “There were many things that went wrong that night. Afterward, I looked at myself in the mirror and was horrified. Did you not see my blood-red teeth?”

“I didn’t even notice that,” Owen says, chuckling.

“Liar!” I squawk.

All smiles, Ruby delivers our burgers and fries amid our laughter. “How are things, Dr. Allen?”

“Amazing,” I tell her.

Her eyes widen. “Really?”

“Yep. It’s a beautiful summer day and now I’ve got a fantastic burger in front of me,” I say.

---