Page 34 of Doing Life

“Okay, guys, breathe.” That wasn’t Ben. That was Rory. “I don’t suppose you would like to go to lunch?”

“Pardon?”

“Lunch. It’s the meal between breakfast and supper. And I need it.”

Lance shook his head. “I thought you were getting ice cream.”

“I am.” A soft chuckle sounded. “But I’m also a spoiled beast, and I have this plug-in cooler in my car, so that if I decide that I want ice cream and then decide I want to go have lunch, I could have both. Luke got it for me for my birthday.”

“Damn!” Ben said, and he agreed.

“Fancy.”

“Yeah, well, you got a Seeing Eye, dog,” Rory shot back.

“True, and I didn’t have to pay for her.”

“There you go. I would like to take all three of you out to lunch. I want Mexican. I desperately need guacamole.”

He started to nod, then he stopped. “Stan, it’s up to you. If you don’t want to go, we can just go home.”

Stan sighed softly. “Do you think it’s easier because you don’t have to see them staring at you?”

“Hell, yeah. Although I kind of know because my brain knows what my eyes are seeing. So I kind of know, but yeah, no question.”

“So long as I don’t have to let Lance drive,” Stan said. “I’m in.”

Brave son of a bitch.

It had taken Lance so much longer… But then, he was blind and he had a dog.

“Does Dan need an invite to lunch too?”

“No. No, he dropped us off and Brick is supposed to pick us up. I can text Brick.”

“He’s driving? That’s great!” That was Ben, oddly enough.

“He is, yeah. I mean, he has been a little, but he’s officially a house driver now.”

“That’s awesome,” Rory put in. “Well cool. You off-duty, Ben?”

“Yeah. I was just going to grab something for lunch.”

“In the ice cream aisle?” Lance asked.

“I like mint chocolate chip,” Ben defended.

“Hey, I don’t judge.”

“Yeah, you must work out like five hours a day,” Stanley said.

Huh. Ben must be stacked. He had no idea. Luke rhapsodized about Rory, so he knew the guy was good-looking, but Ben was an unknown.

“I do my share of PT.” Ben chuckled. “Can we all put our ice cream in your cooler, Rory?”

“Yeah. There should be space.”

Lance texted Brick real quick, inviting him to eat with them. They would go to El Mariachi.

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