Page 18 of Lila

“Can’t complain. How bout yourself, Lila?”

“It’s still early. Ask me again later,” I laugh.

“Fair enough,” he chuckles.

We pull up to the adorable cafe and I say my goodbyes as I get out.

Walking inside, I immediately see Ann sitting at a table with a little boy in a grey hoodie. As I get closer, I see he’s watching a video on his tablet, so I’m not surprised when he doesn’t even look up as I say hi to his mom and sit down.

“I’m so glad you came! I was worried you reconsidered.”

“Nonsense. Sorry, it took so long. I had to convince Lav she wasn’t coming,” I explain.

Ann laughs. “I’m sure that took a while. She can be a little pushy.”

“You’re telling me? That woman doesn’t know how to mind her own business. Never has. But she means well.”

“Either way, I’m glad you’re here. This is Gray. Gray, this is Lila.” He completely ignores her and she sighs. “Guess it’s going to be one of those days. He didn’t want to leave his dad’s this morning, but Luca had to work. Now he’s going to be a cranky butt all day.”

“Poor guy.”

While he’s lost in his tablet, I study him. He’s a cute kid. He has shaggy brown hair that’s overdue for a cut and bright blue eyes. It’s the icky black swirling through him that has my attention though. Who would curse a little boy?

My eyes flick to Ann. She doesn’t look like she would be okay with her son being cursed. But this is old magic. He’s been cursed for years. She has to know about it. I don’t want to bring it up. I imagine it’s a touchy subject. But I really want to know how it happened and why they haven’t had it removed.

“Something I didn’t mention last night, is Gray is non-verbal autistic.”

Gray flicks his eyes up when he hears his name but quickly goes back to his video.

Ann sighs. “He’s very smart. His tablet is a communication device. Though, as you can tell, he prefers to use it to watch videos.”

I laugh at that. “Sounds like something I’d do. Can’t you lock it or something so he can only use the communication app?”

“We’ve tried that. The little shit is too smart. He keeps figuring out how to get out of it.”

I catch the corner of his lip twitch at that.

“Hey, Gray, you want a drink, bud?” Ann asks as she pushes her chair back and gets up.

He snaps his head up, sets his tablet on the table, and looks around as if just now realizing where he is. Bouncing in his seat he flails his arms, clapping as he makes excited high-pitched sounds.

“I take that as a yes.” Ann chuckles. “What do you want?”

Grayson grunts and waves his arms around as someone walks by. They’re carrying a fun drink. It has a tall swirl of whipped cream with tiny penguins waddling around. One of them climbs the whipped cream mountain and slides down the other side.

“I don’t know what that is. Can you tell me with your tablet?” she asks patiently.

“Is it that drink?” I ask pointing at the boy walking away with the super cool penguin drink.

Grayson nods his head vigorously and Ann turns to look at what I’m pointing at.

“Oh my god. They have a new penguin drink? That’s so cool, Gray! Okay, I’m gonna go get drinks. Do you want anything?” she asks me.

“Yeah. I’ll have one of those cool penguin drinks! I don’t even care what it is.”

“You got it. Two penguin drinks coming right up,” Ann chuckles as she walks toward the counter.

Grayson appraises me as we wait for our drinks. The next thing I know, he jumps out of his seat, runs around the table, and climbs onto my lap. He wraps his little arms around my neck and lays his chin on my shoulder in the absolute cutest hug I’ve ever received.

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