“He offered and was Scrooged.”

“I think you're beautiful, and I thought we could have an evening. I'm just getting used to it...” He regretted it in mid-sentence and stopped talking. “I'm sorry.”

“Do you ask this kind of question to every woman you find interesting?”

“No.”

“Good thing, too, or maybe his skills as a lawyer wouldn't have been enough to get rid of the beautiful lawsuit.”

“Can we start again?”

“Start what again?”

He held out his hand and puffed out his chest.

“Nice to meet you, I'm Thomas Lennox.”

I stared at his palm stretched out towards me and pondered for a moment. I wanted to reject the length, but in the end, I gave in.

“Helena Price.” I squeezed my hand.

“It's a pleasure to meet you.” He gave a smile that ended up making me smile back.

As much anger as I wanted to feel towards that man, I couldn't, and it wasn't exactly because of the twins.

I pulled my hand back when I realized that my palm was getting sweaty, and the whole moment was becoming disconcerting.

“Where is the menu?” He turned from side to side, looking. “No waiter has come to take our orders yet.”

“Waiter?” I giggled. “We go to the counter, place our orders there, pay, and they shout our names when it's ready for us to pick up.”

“Ah!” He looked surprised.

“Never been to a cafeteria?”

“Will it be terrible if I say no?”

“Let's just say I was hoping for something like this.” My laughter became more intense. Men like him were certainly used to having everything in their hands.

“Do you recommend any dishes?” He stood up, straightening his fancy suit.

“The house combo. It comes with a burger, fries, and a medium soft drink.”

“Are you going to order this one?”

“I'd rather swap the soft drink for a milkshake.”

“And you can be that thin?”

“Looking after ten children takes a lot of energy.”

“Oh, I can imagine. Those two alone are enough to drive me crazy sometimes.”

I felt like saying that he was doing a good job with them, but I thought it best not to comment. I preferred it when he put his ego aside.

Chapter twenty

I took another one of the greasy fries and put it in my mouth, drinking the soda to help me swallow. My daughters would certainly love to eat that crap, but it really wasn't my favorite dish. But there was a reason I'd swapped a five-star restaurant for a cheap diner in Queens, and he was sitting in front of me, sucking on a strawberry milkshake and laughing as he told me about my daughters' antics.