Page 15 of Until Nalia

“You still haven’t answered the text I sent you about Saturday.”

“My not answering you was my answer,” I tell him, licking around the edge of my cone when I notice the ice cream is melting. Lifting my gaze to his when I feel him staring, my cheeks warm to the point of hot when I see the look in his eyes.

“What’s going on Saturday?” Cooper asks while Zuri waits for my response.

“Nothing,” I tell the two of them.

“Are you going to come to my game?” Cooper asks.

“Game?”

“Baseball, Dad coaches, and we have a game every Saturday.”

“Oh, well, I don’t…”

“I wanna go,” Zuri says, and looks at her. “Heather’s brother plays too, and she’ll be there.”

I look over at Logan and can see he’s trying to hide his smile.

“How about we talk about it tonight? I was thinking that we could go to the movies Saturday,” I say and her shoulders slump. Darn. “Or we could go to the game,” I give in hating to disappoint her.

“Thanks, Namalama.”

“You’re welcome, kid,” I sigh, ignoring Logan’s chuckle.

I continue ignoring him while I listen to Cooper and Zuri talk while they eat. Seeing them interact, it’s obvious that the two of them are friends, where normally Zuri would be shy and unsure around someone new, Cooper keeps her laughing and involved in the conversation. It’s sweet.

“Alright, are we ready to head over to Gigi’s?” Logan asks when the kids are done and start gathering up their trash.

“Yes.” Cooper shoots out of his seat. “Do you like Xbox?” he asks Zuri.

“I don’t know. What is it?”

“What is it?” He laughs. “Only the coolest gaming system ever. Gigi got me one for her house so we can play while we’re there.”

“I thought we were going to pick up a car,” I tell Logan quietly as the kids walk to drop their trash in the garbage.

“We are, Mom’s letting you borrow her Toyota, she never drives it, so it’s just been sitting in the driveway.”

“I’m sorry, I think I just misheard you. Did you just say that I’m borrowing your mom’s car?”

“Yeah.” He gets up and walks to the trash with his cup, so I follow him as the kids take Dozer over to the jeep.

“I can’t do that, Logan.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s your mom’s car.”

“And?” He looks down at me, it really is annoying how tall he is. “What does it matter?”

“I don’t know, it just does.”

“It doesn’t.”

“Yes, it does.”

“Where did you think we were getting a car from?”