Page 89 of Sugar and Skulls

“We went for a walk too,” Katie chirps in excitedly. “We took Teddy for a walk.”

Shifting in my chair, I offer her a smile. “That’s good. Teddy seems to really like you.”

“I love him,” she tells me. She slurps the last drop of milk out of her bowl. Once she puts her bowl in the sink she bounces over to my dad and gives him a hug. “I better go. Candice is waiting for me.”

“Have a good day at school, sweetie,” my dad says, bonking her on the nose.

She nods. “Bye Jesse, by Raffe.” She hurries out the door.

The silence that settles over the room is deafening. The only sound the crunch of my fruit loops.

Raffe finally breaks it. “It’s amazing the difference in Katie.”

I nod, not looking up. I shovel more food in my mouth, so I don’t have to talk.

My dad doesn’t say anything to Raffe. Instead he directs his attention to me. “I didn’t see you while we were out walking.”

I almost choke on my food. “I didn’t see you guys either. Weird.” I jump up and scrape my bowl in the trash. “Well, I’m off to my first day at the new shop.”

“What, are you too old to give your old man a hug goodbye?”

I rush over and wrap my arms around him. He hugs me tight. “You know you can talk to me about anything, you know that, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I give him and Raffe one last look before heading out the door.

Raffe catches me outside. “You got anything scheduled today?”

“No,” I tell him. “I’ll probably be on walk-in duty.”

“I’m free today so I thought I would stop by and we could work on the rose piece.”

“Yeah, sure,” I say as I toss my bag in the rod.

He grabs my arm and turns me to face him. “You okay?”

I drop my head and smile shyly.

He chuckles. “Okay, so things went well last night?”

“It…it was amazing.”

“That good huh?” He leans against the rod.

“I’m sorry.”

He grabs me by the shoulders. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not upset. It’s….” his cheeks turn pink. “I always wondered what he would be like, you know, in bed.”

My eyes go wide. I guess I thought Raffe had only been interested in me but no, he was interested in Dirk too. Now I really feel bad. The thought of losing Dirk breaks my heart. Is Raffe’s heart breaking from the loss?

“Raffe, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought everyone knew.” He laughs sadly. Raffe pulls me into his chest. “I’m happy for him. He was never meant to be mine. I think I let myself get infatuated because he saved me and because of those damn eyes of his. Don’t feel bad.”

Raffe lets me go when Jeremy one of the guys who works in the shop walks up. “Hey Jesse, I got the paint for the rod.”

I clap excitedly. I’m going to give Sylvia a paint job. “Thank you, thank you.”

“When you’re ready come find me and I’ll give you a hand. The equipment isn’t too hard to use but I can share some tricks and tips with you.” He pats me on the back as he walks away heading to the shop.

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