Page 119 of Size King

“Isn’t today your day off?” Dustin asks me. “Even on your free time, you’re here in a bike shop.”

“I didn’t know you had company.” I chuckle. “I should have called first.”

“It’s okay!” he assures me. “Want to come in? Come on, I’ll introduce you guys.”

The two boys stand up out of their chairs and put down their electronic tablets. Their manners impress me.

“Boys, this is Megan,” Dustin says. “Megan is a good friend of mine. Do you want to introduce yourselves?”

The oldest boy won’t look directly at me, and the youngest keeps staring at me. The youngest boy has mesmerizing amber eyes, as opposed to Dustin’s illuminating blue eyes. He has the same hair and facial expressions as his older brother. It is obvious that they are all related.

“They’re both quiet at first around people they’ve just met,” Dustin explains. “Megan, these two little ones are my sons. My oldest here is Mason, and my tiny one here is Austin.”

“Hi, Mason,” I say, waving to the oldest boy before waving to the youngest. “Hi, Austin.”

I’m trying to hide the shock I am feeling from realizing he has kids. I had no idea, and instantly, I have so many questions.

“Mason’s always been a bit shy, so you’ll have to excuse him,” says Dustin. “Mason, can you tell Megan what you’re about to start in a few months?”

Mason nods, timidly answering with, “Kindergarten.”

“Wow!” I say, kneeling down so that we can be on the same eye level. “Kindergarten, huh? Are you excited?”

Mason nods and smiles.

“I’m three!” Mason cries.

“You are?” I say with disbelief. “You’re alotyounger than me! I’m twenty-six! That’s old, isn’t it?”

Austin nods, to my surprise. Dustin and I burst out laughing.

“I’m older than all of you, so don’t feel too bad,” says Dustin. “Guys, do you think we should have Megan over for dinner sometime soon?”

“Yeah!” says Austin.

Mason nods and smile. To me, that is him signaling his approval.

“I would love to,” I say. “We can do that this weekend! I’ll bring dessert.”

“That sounds like a plan to me!” says Dustin. “Boys, play on your tablets for a little while, while me and Megan step out and talk for a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” the boys say.

“It is nice to meet you both!” I say as we make our exit from Dustin’s office. He closes the door behind us so that we can talk above a whisper.

“They are just the sweetest boys,” I say. “Mason and Austin. Mason could be a young version of you.”

“Yeah, if you saw what I looked like when I was five, you’d think that is me in there,” Dustin agrees. “Austin looks a lot like me, too. But he’s got a lot of his mom in him. He’s even stubborn like her. He’s got her eyes and probably her height, too.”

“I didn’t even know you have kids, Dustin,” I say. “I understand why it hadn’t come up yet. We’ve only seen each other a handful of times, right? Something like that is pretty important, don’t you think?”

“I do,” agrees Dustin. “It’s not like I was hiding it from you. I was waiting for a good time to introduce all of you. I don’t date. I wasn’t sure if the ‘kid thing’ was going to be a deal-breaker or not.”

“It’s not,” I say. “But I don’t get it. Where’s their mom?”

“She died almost two years ago,” he says.

Instantly, I want to backtrack my line of questions. “Oh, Dustin…”