Page 78 of The Good Boy

“Yes,” Miles says. “Yes, I’d love to go on a date with you, Claudia. Thanks for asking.”

“Really?” Claudia says, with a flattering smile. “Should I not go home, then?”

“Can we eat pudding now, or what?” Rory asks.

“This is nice,” I say with a tiny cheer. “So nice. Really lovely, what a lovely evening. So, so, so nice. You two together at the rock and dinosaur museum. You’ll be like Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, going around digging up shit.” I pause. “Not literal shit, obviously.”

“It’s not unheard-of, actually...” Claudia says, as if she is about to launch into a talk about fossilized poos and their importance to the understanding of ancient peoples. Rory has other ideas, though.

“Pudding,” he says, picking up his spoon and diving right into the center of his dessert. He shovels a load into his mouth. “Pudding good.”

Miles just sits there, smiling at Claudia-from-work. She sits down opposite him; her hands reach across the table and take his. They look at each other in the candlelight. My vision becomes a reality.

The family magic is real; it’s amazing and wondrous and suddenly I see the whole universe through different eyes, as a place of endless possibility.

Also, it sucks.

“Here.” Claudia pushes the whole dessert toward Rory, who accepts the challenge with trademark focus and enthusiasm. “Enjoy, Rory!”

“Yeah, but what about me?” I mutter. “Rory, share, please!”

But just as I reach for my spoon, Rory frowns deeply, looks at me, and then falls forward face-first, right into the pie dish.

“Well, I think that’s our cue to go home,” I say. “Miles, I’m so sorry, would you mind helping me get him next door? He’s a bit of a lump for one.”

“Of course, Genie.” Miles lets go of Claudia’s hands and together we heft Rory into the hall, where I prop him up against a wall, securing him with one hand as I get my coat half on with the other. I pick up the packet of After Eights we brought with us from the side table.

“Do you mind?” I ask Claudia.

“Tonight, Genie, I would give you the moon if I could,” she says.

“Chocolate’ll do,” I say.

A few minutes later and Rory is lying in the recovery position on the sofa with a sick bowl strategically positioned by his head. Fetching Diego, I tuck him under Rory’s arm and cover him with my second-best throw.

“So that happened,” Miles says.

“You like her, right?” I ask. “She’s perfect for you.”

“I like her a lot,” Miles says. “But...”

“What?” I ask him.

“She asked your permission to ask me out and you said yes.”

“Did you want me to say no?” I ask.

He holds my gaze, refusing to let me look away.

“Do you think she thought there was something between me and you?” he asks.

“People do think that sometimes,” I say.

“Do you ever think that?” he asks.

I see him and Claudia holding hands across the table, and the way he smiles at her, and how I knew that moment had to happen,that it was inevitable. The only other thing I know for sure is that I want Miles to be happy.

“Nah-ah,” I say, with a laugh. “You and me together, like in a romantic way? Imagine!”

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