“What do you mean not exactly?”
“I just mean not exactly. Why do you care?” I demanded, and began rounding the table to sit on the opposite side of Parker from Coen when Keegan caught my arm and spoke close to my ear.
“I just meant for you to go on one date with the guy so you would realize what you were missing in your life, Ray. I didn’t mean for something to actually start between the two of you. And neither of you told me.”
Looking over at Coen talking to Parker, I shrugged. “There’s not much to tell yet.”
“Really? Parker knows him and there’s not much to tell?”
“You know you’re really frustrating, Keegan,” I hissed, and faced him. “You want me to date, but you don’t. You want Parker to have a dad, but you don’t like that Coen met him accidentally when Parker and I were at the park and Coen was running the trail that goes through there.”
“Okay, you two,” Mom said, pushing us apart. “You have people staring at you, and, Keegan, your friend can only keep Parker entertained for so long before Parker realizes that you and his mom are fighting. So let’s just sit down and enjoy tonight. I don’t want to start the first night of you being out of the army with the two of you fighting.”
Keegan released my arm and pulled out a chair for Erica, and I walked past Coen and Parker to sit down. Coen gave me a confused look before continuing his conversation with Parker, and I tried to ignore the stares of my family as I stared blankly at the menu.
Even though this was supposed to be a dinner for Keegan, it quickly turned into an interrogation dinner. Even though Keegan and Coen were best friends, it was like Keegan was seeing Coen in a whole new light now that he was worried we were dating, and kept staring at him like he was trying to figure out a ridiculously hard math equation. Once Erica stopped looking confused, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Coen and Parker as they joked and drew on Parker’s menu together—a smile tugging at her lips the entire time. My dad had sat there with his arms crossed over his chest until Coen and Keegan’s talks of their time in the army had Dad softening up and throwing in his own stories of his time in the navy. And Mom . . . dear God, I wanted to die for Coen, with the horrified look she was giving him for the first thirty minutes. Her eyes kept going back and forth between the small gauges in his ears and his arms covered in tattoos; each time they’d make a new trip, she looked like she was more disturbed by them. But once Coen started talking about his photography business, she was sucked in too.
“Parker, keep eating,” I requested softly when he ate only two bites and pushed his plate back to continue coloring.
“ ’Kay,” he muttered distractedly, but never made a move toward his plate again.
“Par—”
“That all you gonna eat, bud?” Coen rested his head on his folded arms and nudged Parker with his shoulder. Before Parker could respond, Coen nodded in the direction of Keegan. “Don’t you want to grow up all big and strong like your uncle?”
Parker stopped coloring and looked at Keegan before looking at Coen. “Are you not strong?”
“Me?” Coen’s eyebrows raised and he shook his head. “Nah, I’m pretty weak.” He sighed. “It’s because I didn’t eat my food growing up,” he whispered loudly.
“No, you’re not!” Parker laughed and pushed on his arm, and Coen dramatically moved away.
“I am, look.” He placed his elbow on the table with his hand up for Parker to grab. “See if you can beat me in arm wrestling.” Parker just continued to laugh as he set himself up. “Now don’t think I’ll go easy on you because you’re only six.”
“One-two-three, go!” Parker said quickly, and slammed Coen’s hand down on the table. “You didn’t try!”
“I did! I told you, I’m not strong. Come on, we’ll go again.”
I watched as they set up again, and covered my massive smile with my hand as I watched Coen give the slightest pressure before letting Parker beat him.
“Now see if you can beat your uncle.”
Parker turned and looked at Keegan, his face lit up like I’d never seen it before. “Come on, Uncle Keegan! I bet I can beat you!”
Keegan’s eyes flashed over to Coen’s before meeting mine. His face was devoid of emotion, but the smile was clear in his eyes. “All right, little man. Let’s do this.”
Keegan beat Parker three times before Coen leaned close to Parker again. “See? Your uncle is really strong. Do you want to grow up to be like him, or weak like me?”
“Strong like Uncle Keegan.”
Coen nodded toward Parker’s plate. “Then you better eat up, bud.”
Parker grinned widely at him as he pulled his plate closer to him and took a huge bite out of his burger.
It was in that moment that the attraction and excitement of everything that was Coen changed for me. It was then that I started falling for him. And though that terrified me, I knew I wouldn’t try to stop myself from this.
“REAGAN, WHY DON’T you let Parker come stay with us tonight?” Mom offered as we all exited the restaurant.
“Wait, what? Why?”
She gave me a look before letting her eyes drift to Coen for a second. “Because your brother is finally home, and his girlfriend is here in town with him. The four of you should hang out.”
“Four. Really, Mom?” I said so low no one else could hear us.