Page 62 of Inevitable

“Come on, you two,” Bas said. “I’m starving. It’s well past lunchtime for some of us.”

* * *

They chose an Italian restaurant in North End for their lunch date. It was a quiet Saturday morning. The air was freezing, so not a lot of people were out and about. The beginning of February was still icy cold, but it had snowed all morning, so everything looked clean and fresh.

As if reading Ezra’s mind, Drew took a deep breath and gave a happy sigh. “I fucking love winter.”

Bas shook his head and lifted his scarf higher. “I want summer. I’m sick of feeling like my balls are frozen solid.”

“Wear warmer pants. Winter is great. You have to feel it in your fingertips,” Drew insisted.

“The only thing I want to feel in my fingertips is a fork,” Bas grumbled. “I’m so hungry I can hear my internal organs banging around inside me because there’s no food there to cushion them.”

“That is how the human body works.”

“Can we go inside now?” Bas asked, throwing a mock scowl at Drew.

“Yeah. I mean, we wouldn’t want to let you starve. Think of the level of grumpiness we would witness,” Ezra said.

Bas flipped them off as he pulled the restaurant door open and went inside. By the time Ezra and Drew caught up to him, Bas was already chatting with the hostess like the two of them were the best of friends.

The woman laughed at something Bas said and then smiled at Drew and Ezra. “If you’ll follow me, please, I’ll lead you to your table.”

The restaurant was very elegant, and for a moment, Ezra felt out of place, but then Bas slid his hand in Ezra’s and squeezed his palm, and that relaxed Ezra well enough.

They took their seats, and soon enough, a waiter appeared to take their orders. Lunch went by fast. The food was delicious, but most of all, Ezra enjoyed the fact that he got to spend time with Bas and Drew.

When Ezra had been younger, he had heard other kids talk about how really good days like Christmas and birthdays just flew past while regular days slogged by. Until now he hadn’t really gotten it, but with Bas and Drew, he finally got to experience that phenomenon. When he was with them, hours rushed by with no chance of slowing them down.

No wonder lunch seemed to pass in a blink of an eye. They paid their bill and had just started to leave when Bas, who was walking in front of them, stopped. The move was so sudden that Ezra slammed right into him.

“Whoa,” he said with a laugh, but Bas didn’t reply as he stared right ahead toward the entrance.

“Did you change your mind about dessert?” Drew asked as he stepped next to Bas. Still no reply.

Something in Bas’s expression made Drew frown as he turned to look at where Bas was staring. Ezra followed their gazes, but he could see nothing out of the ordinary. Just two women who were talking to the hostess.

Ezra glanced toward Bas and Drew. Bas’s was stiff as a marble statue as he stared at the women.

“Oh,” Drew said quietly. “Should we slip out the back?” He let out a forced chuckle.

Bas’s smile was downright disingenuous.

“No, no,” he said tonelessly. “We should say hi. It’s your mother, after all.”

It almost felt like time had screeched to a halt.

Ezra was about to meet Drew’s mother?

This was probably not good.

20

Oh fuck. This was not good. Bas watched as Drew’s mother and sister smiled at the hostess.

Any moment now, their eyes would land on Drew. And then Bas. He tried to prepare himself. Tried to prepare himself for the moment when Alicia Holloway’s brown eyes would turn from startled to icy once her gaze would inevitably find Bas. He hated that he wanted to run. Hated that he felt like a rabbit about to be confronted by a wolf.

They met in the middle of the restaurant.

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