Page 32 of Wishes at Water's Edge
“Thanks, Mom.” Alexis squeezed her mom’s hand. “Are you our waitress?”
“No, I’m just running around pouring coffee today. Customers who have to wait without coffee might get unhappy, but I’ve never had a customer who minded waiting a few minutes for their server to show up while they were sipping on a hot cup of caffeine.”
Alexis chuckled. “Very clever.”
“Am I still babysitting later this week?” Vivian asked, looking down at Cash with a loving expression that made it clear she couldn’t wait to spend time with him.
“Yes, please,” Alexis and Grayson said, at the same time again. Alexis laughed and laid her head down on his shoulder for a moment. “That would be amazing, Mom,” Alexis continued. “We’re so excited about being able to have our first real date in—well, quite a while now.” She smiled.
“I second that,” Grayson said. “Thank you, Vivian.”
“Oh, don’t thank me! I’ll babysit whenever.” Vivian’s eyes twinkled. “That little man and I love hanging out, don’t we, Cash?”
Cash gurgled, looking up at his grandmother with extreme fascination, as though she was some kind of giant exotic bird.
“Where are you two going on your date?” Vivian asked.
Alexis and Grayson looked at each other, laughing.
“We have no idea,” Grayson admitted. “It’ll just be nice to have a date again.”
“We could have a napping date,” Alexis suggested, and he grinned.
“Grayson!”
Their heads turned toward the front of the restaurant, where a man wearing a gray suit and lavender dress shirt was standing. His hand was held up in greeting, and there was a wide grin on his face.
“That’s Lewis,” Grayson said, standing up eagerly.
Lewis strode across the restaurant to their table. He and Grayson shook hands, both of them exuding pleasure and confidence. Alexis remembered what it had been like to spend hours a day meeting new people and trying to be impressive while acting impressed. She thought to herself that it had all been unnecessarily exhausting, although she liked Lewis.
“How have you been?” Lewis asked, clapping Grayson on the back. “Still can’t believe you sold your company and moved out here. They’ll never stop talking about it. People thought you were crazy.”
Grayson grinned. “If they saw what I have out here, they’d understand,” he said, unfazed by the remark.
“Alexis,” Lewis said, bending down to kiss her cheek. “So great to see you.”
“It’s great to see you too, Lewis,” she said, meaning it sincerely. “It feels like it’s been ages. I don’t think you’ve ever met my mother, Vivian Owens.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Lewis said, shaking Vivian’s hand.
“Likewise,” Vivian said. “I’ll let you three get settled. Your waitress should be here soon.”
With a smile, Vivian slipped quietly away while Lewis sat down in the booth next to Grayson.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said breezily. “I was on a phone call that I just couldn’t get out of. I was finalizing a big development deal.” He turned to Grayson with an impish smile. “You ought to remember that feeling, huh? There was a time when you worked on a big scale like that. You moved mountains instead of peanuts.”
The jab was said in an affectionate tone, and it seemed good-natured, but it still gave Alexis pause. She didn’t like the way Lewis had just insulted her husband’s new way of life. She knew that Grayson was just as content with their new circumstances as she was, and she wished that Lewis had more of an imagination and could understand how people could be happier without wealth than with it.
“Well, I’ve got the most important peanut in the world to move around now,” Grayson said, seeming to not be offended at all by Lewis’s comment. “This is our little boy, Cash.”
“Well, hi.” Lewis smiled at Cash. “Aren’t you a handsome little fellow.”
Cash blinked.
Lewis chuckled. “Not very talkative, is he?”
“He’ll get there.” Alexis laughed. “He’s gurgling a lot these days. He’ll be talking before we know it.”
