“Do you want mustard for your fries?” Blake asked Kenny as he got up to pick up their order. The boy nodded in agreement and returned his attention to the coloring kids menu in front of him.

“How much are you charging him this time?” Emily asked as she watched the boy outline a tree blue. The boy shrugged in response, ignoring the question and continuing to concentrate on his art.

“He wanted to ask you something, that why he tagged along.” Blake commented as he returned with a tray full of food. Emily turned to the boy, who had put his crayons down and was now fiddling with the sleeves of his sweater.

“What did you want to ask?” The boy shook his head, his face red with embarrassment due to his situation. “It's ok, I promise not to laugh. Do you want me to kick your Uncle away so we can talk?” She received a small nod, and with a wave of her hand Blake begrudgingly got up and make his way to the register once more.

“My friend doesn't have a lot of money, so I asked Uncle Blake for a job. That's why he pays me to be his son” Kenny explained dipping a fry in mustard, Emily nodded listening closely to the boy. “The kids were mean to her on her first day, but I wasn't because she has pretty hair and she reminds me of you!”

“Reminds you of me, how?” Emily asked shocked by the admission.

“She's pretty, and her hair looks like this too.” Kenny stated using his hands to mimic  the state of Emily’s frizzy hair.

“Ok, no need to be mean about my hair. But why are you asking me and not one of your moms?” She questioned looking over to Blake's spot in line.

“They ask too many questions. Mama won't care she will think is cute, Mom will want to meet her, and Auby doesn't live in a fancy house. What If she doesn't like her?” They boy almost burst into tears at the end of his admission, he was truly terrified that his mothers would react the same way the kids from school had.

“What do girls like as gifts?” Kenny asked going back to the main reason he was attending the dinner outing.

“Well I suppose you could buy her flowers, or candy? Maybe a plushie? I'm not too sure what a four year old would like.” Emily admitted looking up to see Blake walking back to the table holding yet another tray.

“She's going to be five soon. Do you think she will like a bracelet? My mom bought mama one for her birday last year.” Kenny announced dipping his chicken pieces into the mustard this time around.

“I have a better idea, how about I help you make her a bracelet, I have a bunch of beads back at home. I'll bring some when I go visit in a few days, and we can make it special. How does that sound?”  The boy nodded, his eyes sparkling with newfound happiness as Blake set a tray of shakes on the table.

“I hope you two are done, because I'm starting to feel like the third wheel on my own date”

Both Emily and Kenny gave him an eye roll, and reached out for their milkshakes.

“A date? I don't remember agreeing to one Mr Redwood.” Emily teased scooping some of the whipped cream with her finger.

“It's a date now, which means you owe me a kiss.” Blake stated giving her a flat look, front he corner of his eye he could see Kenny making a face at the mention of a kiss.

“Bye, Emmy! I have Uncle Blake drop me off after school next week.” Kenny yelled as Emily made her way out of the car.

“ I would walk you to your door, but I have an overactive child.” Blake apologized as he held the door open, “However, I will take that kiss out here in the parking lot, it doesn't bother me.”

Emily laughed at the man standing before her, he was too cute sometimes. She grabbed his arms for balance as she stood up on her toes and leaned in, Blake wasted no time and wrapped his arms around her pulling her closer to him.

“Ewww! Uncle Blake, that's gross” A voice exclaimed from inside the car, making Blake and Emily pull apart. 

“If we ever have kids, I beg you to not make them that smart.” Blake stated as he walked back to the driver's side, he gave Emily a wink before getting in the car and driving away.

“Emilia Rose Jones! Do you have any idea what time it is?!” A voice called from the apartment complex. Emily didn't need to turn around to know Claire was standing out on their balcony, probably sporting binoculars as she waited for her roommate to return after being gone for almost two whole day.

“Hey, Claire” Emily greeted as she entered the apartment a few minutes later. Her friend, however was not having it, as she stood waiting by the kitchen a cup of tea in one hand and what appeared to be coffee in the other.

“Don't you ‘Hey, Claire’ me, you have some explaining to do young lady! You go on this so called work dinner and then I get a text in the middle of the night telling me that there was an emergency and you weren't going to make it back. A TEXT! I almost called your parents to check on Ethan, then I get another text, mind you, telling me that Blake's house caught on fire and you guys didn't get to finish your date because of it. I find out about your date through a text. I thought we were best friends.” Claire accused, making Emily truly feel bad about not telling her best friend what the real plan was for the night.

“I'm sorry, I wasn't really thinking about anything. I mean you have to admit if Blake Redwood asked you out on a date your brain would stop working properly.”  Emily defended hoping to bring some humor back into the situation. Claire remained quiet, she was silently nodding probably playing out her own date with Blake.

“Yeah, you're right. But that doesn't mean you're off the hook. Tell me everything and don't you dare leave anything out.” Emily figured it was only fair to be honest with the roommate.

“Wait a second you did what?!” Claire yelled jumping off the bed and pointing an accusing finger at Emily for the second time in the day.

“The thermostat broke, and sleepy me thought it was hot and he needed my help. So I helped him...uhh undress?” Emily recounted. Her friend continued to stare at her with saucer eyes as she continued her story. “Anyways then we went sight seeing, did touristy things and uh had a meeting with Ed’s dad regarding the sale of his compan-”

“Hang on a second, you and hottie-who-is-your- boss had brunch with your jerk ex boyfriend's dad? How did that go?” Claire interrupted jumping back on the bed and sitting so she could face Emily.

“Well the meeting went great, it was a fair deal on both ends, but then Blake got a little scary and accused me of being a spy and trying to steal from his company.”

“Oh heck no!  This man has no right to accuse you, I'm going over there and giving him a piece of my mind!” Clare argued as she struggled to get off the bed.

“No, I'm not done with my story, and you can't tell me who I can and can't date.” Emily reasoned as she tackled her friend with a pillow. “ We talked, he apologized, we went sight seeing again and then we uhh might have gotten drunk together.”

Claire stopped struggling as the last words left her friends mouth, Blake and Emily drunk together? A devious smile crept up on her face as she moved the pillow to face a tomato faced Emily.

“Drunk ehh? So, tell me more”

“ Nothing happened. The hotel thought we were there on honeymoon  and felt bad we were staying in such a small room, so when one of the suites opened up they gave us a free upgrade. It was so nice, Claire, we had a hot tub with jets and chocolate covered strawberries and there were roses and rose petals everywhere we eve-”

“Nope,  don't care about that, I want the drunk and dirty details spill.”

“I was getting to that, anyways we ended up sharing the hot tub and the strawberries. And well the Champagne  too since it was still there so we drank it while soaking in the tub. We might have...uhh… you know kissed a bit, that part is a bit foggy, but  then when we tried going to the bedroom we uhh…”

“You what! Don't leave me like this Emily, I'm living vicariously through you. Tell me!!”

“We got to the bed and we both fell asleep right away” Emily mumbled holding a pillow to block her scarlet face. The sound of Claire laughing didn't help, but the sound of her friend rolling off the bed and landing on the floor with a loud thump made her feel a little better.

~~~~~•~~~~~•~~~~~•~~~~•

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