Page 14 of Where It Begins

“I think you look fabulous.”

“Because of the boobs.” She motions to them and rolls her eyes. “Sometimes I wish my mouth would stop running without my permission. I would make out with you again, but it’s one thing to do that on a street corner, and totally another in a restaurant. And then people will most definitely assume I’m an escort. Although, maybe not, because you’re way too good looking to need to pay for a date.”

“Excuse me sir, you left your drink at the bar.” The bartender holds out my scotch.

Skye takes the drink from her and tosses it back in one gulp, then covers her mouth with her hand as her eyes water. “Oh, God, that tasted like lighter fluid.” She hands the glass back to the bartender. “I don’t know what that was, but it wasn’t my favorite.”

The bartender looks from me to Skye. “It was a seventeen-year-old scotch, ma’am.”

“No more scotch for me then.”

The host approaches us. “Mr. Butterson, your table is ready.”

Skye looks from me to the host and back again. “Is that your actual last name?”

“It is.”

“I have never heard that outside ofSouth Park.”

I laugh and thread my arm through hers, following the host to our table. “It’s only slightly better than Ramsbottom.”

“I went to high school with a Mike Hunt. Who does that to their kid? And a Richard Dick, which is basically naming your kid Dick Dick.”

“Did he own it and go with Dick?”

“No, he tried to go by Rich but he was kind of dorky, so all the jocks who were jerks called him Double Dick. It was awful. The poor guy. I mean, I guess if he was well-endowed it would have been not the worst, but he was the kid who wore the same sweatpants and t-shirt basically every day of the week. I wonder what happened to him. I hope he has a great job and makes lots of money and found his lobster.”

We reach our table and I step up to push in Skye’s chair before the host can offer. The host disappears as I take the seat across from her. Skye frowns at her cleavage. “This is ridiculous.”

I cover my mouth with my hand to hide my smile. “What’s ridiculous?”

She motions to her chest. “I don’t even have a shawl to hide any of this nonsense.”

“I’m partial to the view.”

She shakes her head. “I can’t believe I let my daughter take control of my wardrobe. I didn’t even consider how much worse it would be when I sat down.”

“But didn’t you sit down on the drive here?”

“Yeah, but I was wearing a jacket, and everything was covered. Anyway, you won’t offend me if you have a hard time not looking at them, since they’re basically trying to jump out of my bra.”

The server greets us and I’m thankful it’s a young woman, probably college-aged if I had to guess. I’m over forty and struggling to contain my excitement about the cleavage that is very much on display. I can’t imagine a twenty-year-old man-boy would fare much better.

I order another scotch on the rocks, and Skye orders a glass of wine.

“So you work at an accounting firm. How is that?”

“It’s very numbery, which I’m a fan of. It’s stable and I have benefits which is important as a single parent. The company is good about flexing my hours if Violet has a Mathlete competition, so I can attend most of them.”

“I’ve never experienced a Mathlete competition before. What’s that like?”

“Mostly it’s a bunch of super nerdy guys who live and breathe numbers. But Violet’s math teacher begged her in her freshman year to be on the team. She tried to resist; however, they offer some pretty great perks and scholarships to teams with female members. She decided the potential for social ostracism was worth the possible financial aid in the future. She’s nothing if not pragmatic.”

“Well, I think it’s brave and smart.”

“She’s definitely both. And clumsy, but that’s not her fault. She gets that from me.”

The server returns with our drinks and asks if we’d like to order appetizers.

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