Page 33 of Painting Together a Family
“That feels so decadent. I remember lots of pizza from my college years. Lots of cheap pizza with just a couple of toppings. And cold pizza in the morning? Breakfast of champions. Andcollege students.” Bry laughed again, the sound happy, the look good on Bry’s face.
“And starving artists, trust me. We love our pizzas.”
“Noted. I’m actually looking forward to making pizza with you on Thursday. Picking out the ingredients, making the dough.”
“There you go. Would you rather have subs or something tomorrow?”
“I’m totally easy, Dev. It’s your dinner, you can order anything you want. I’m not the least bit picky and the boys are good eaters.”
“How about I let the girls choose? They can plan it out.” That might be exciting.
“I bet they’ll love that!” Bryan took the last sip of his mojito, licking his lips as he set his glass back down, bringing Dev’s attention back to them again.
“I think they will, and maybe Marley will join us.”
“She’s doing more and more with her friends instead of family, eh?” Bry’s gaze was warm, friendly.
“That’s the way it works, right? She’s starting to slowly disengage.” It was how it was supposed to work, putting everything into your kids so they could be independent.
Their waiter arrived before Bry had a chance to reply. “I hope everything was okay.”
“It was delicious, thank you.” Bry’s words encompassed both the waiter and Dev.
“That’s great. Do you guys want any dessert? There’s a salted caramel creme brulee today that is amazing.”
Dev didn’t miss the way Bry’s eyes lit up at the waiter’s words. “Did you want to try? I’m totally in.”
Bry beamed at him. “I’d love to. It sounds so good.”
“It is, I promise,” their waiter told them.
“Then bring it on. We’ll indulge.” He found he quite liked spoiling Bryan.
“I’ve had creme brulee before, but never a flavored one,” Bry told him when their waiter left. “And I admit it has been a while since I’ve been able to indulge in this kind of thing. This has been an awesome meal. Thank you so much.”
“Thank you for coming. I appreciate it, so much.” Bryan made him a little fluttery. Maybe more than a little. He hadn’t felt that in a long time; he hadn’t been sure he could after Grant, to be honest.
“And the sign. That is epic. I mean, seriously. Absolutely epic.” Bry laughed, all lit up.
“Thank you. I bet my phone is blowing up.”
“Are you going to reply to him if he’s texted?”
The waiter brought them their dessert, and it looked lovely.
Bry groaned, looking happy. “Oh, this looks great, as promised. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” The waiter left them with the desserts, the sugar all glossy.
“I will never speak to that bastard again. Ever.”
Bry nodded. “I can get behind that. I have him blocked. Not that I expect he’d ever call me. He disappeared entirely when all the money did.”
“Well, we’re going to ruin his fucking life. I’m going to hunt him like a dog.” And now he wanted it for Bry as much as for himself.
“Cheers to that.” Bry clinked spoons with him, then cracked the top of his creme brulee.
Dev focused back on the man in front of him, and their desserts. “I do love that sound.”
