Page 12 of Carlos: Trilogy: Part Two

Penny still stood at the end of the table. Her eyes were wide, like she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to stay or go.

Carlos sighed. “Penny, this is Zoe and her son Kyle. Zoe, Kyle, this is Penny. She’s worked here for as long as I can remember.”

Penny scoffed and swatted him with her order pad. “Don’t say that. That makes me sound old!”

Carlos winked at her. “No older than I am, sugar.”

A flush speckled her cheeks. “I’ll grab your drinks for you. It is nice to meet you, Zoe.”

Zoe nodded but didn’t say anything. She turned her attention to Kyle, pulling a coloring book and crayons out of her purse. Kyle stood up and leaned over the table as he started coloring in typical four-year-old fashion. As in, all over the page with no regard to the lines of the zoo animals.

Carlos watched as Zoe fiddled with her purse some more, then grabbed a napkin out of the dispenser and started to wipe the table down, then helped Kyle organize his crayons, then took another napkin and place it over her lap… Anything but look at him.

“We’re a small town,” he reminded her gently. “You’re new. That makes you news. The fact that you’re with me and I’ve made it known that I don’t date within the town… Well, it’s bound to draw the locals’ attention. I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.”

Zoe shrugged but still didn’t look at him.

Penny returned with a tray of their glasses and a paper cup with a lid and straw for Kyle. “You ready to order?”

When Zoe still didn’t look up, Carlos turned to Penny. “Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure thing.” She put her pad back in her apron and walked away.

Carlos waited a second to ensure Penny was out of earshot and then he reached across the table. Zoe’s hands were on her lap, so he couldn’t reach them. He tapped the table in front of her to catch her attention.

She startled, looking up.

“Why are you hiding from me?”

Her cheeks reddened as her eyes cast downward again. “I’m not.”

“Liar.” He said the word without malice or rebuke. “Baby, you might as well be sitting at a completely different table. Tell me what’s wrong. If you don’t want to eat here, we can take our pizza to go.”

“It’s fine,” Zoe said shortly. “We can eat here.”

Carlos glanced to Kyle but he was focused entirely on his drawing and not paying attention to either Carlos or his mom. Carlos scratched the back of his neck, trying to figure out what had happened, what had triggered her. If it was them being here in public, wouldn’t she have taken the out he’d offered and asked to leave?

He was about to ask what type of pizza she wanted, just to have something to talk about. Their first date had gone so smoothly, effortlessly. There’d never been an awkward pause or that first date lull where they tried to think up something to say. They’d talked for so long that the diner had closed down on them and Kelly the waitress had had to gently kick them out. He was completely baffled about what had happened now to evoke such a one-eighty change.

“You called her ‘sugar’.”

Carlos blinked at Zoe’s words. “What?”

“The waitress. Penny. You called her ‘sugar’. Are you… Have you…?”

Though she was staring down at her hands on her lap, Carlos understood where her incomplete questions were leading. “No.” She glanced up at him and he repeated more sternly, “No.”

Zoe’s eyes came up—except she was looking anywhere but at him. “It’s just… You two seemed friendly.”

“Zo, will you please look at me?”

Her eyes stopped dancing around. Slowly, they traveled over to meet his.

“Hi,” he smiled at her. Her cheeks pinkened. Carlos reached a hand across the table, palm up. It was an invitation, not a demand. Hesitantly, Zoe lifted her right hand and placed it into his larger one. “Zoe, do you think me such a player that I would move you into my house, into my room,” he said evasively, eyeing Kyle, “while dating or seeing other women?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t think that. I just… I don’t like… I didn’t like…”

“I was a deputy of a small town for ten years and now I’m the sheriff. People know me. People relate to me. I might use a familiar endearment like ‘sugar’ or ‘darling’ but it’s not a term I use intimately.” He squeezed her hand. “You’re the only one I call and will ever call ‘sunshine’.”

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