The Romeo Club

“No. We’re not exactly on speaking terms right now.”

“Bad breakup?”

“More like I was an idiot and screwed up our friendship.”

Carver folded his hands in his lap. “Can I help with anything?”

“Not unless you can turn back time,” I said.

He frowned. “Trust me, I wish I could.”

We sat together for a while longer chatting about soccer and his college team. When the full stint of darkness hit and Mom turned on the backyard light, Carver stood.

He grabbed his suit coat and shoes then turned to me. “When I come home this summer, we’ll have to go out sometime.”

I smiled. “You know where to find me.”

He chuckled. “Yeah. I do. And by the way, my mom was right about you.” He gave my hand a squeeze before walking toward his house.

Holy crap. Did Carver Foster just say he wanted to go out with me sometime? I pinched my arm. Nope. Not dreaming.

From next door, I heard the sound of a trash can top clanking. For a moment, I swore I thought I saw Trey watching us. But I couldn’t tell for sure. Why in the heck was he spying on me? He had Portia now, or so he’d made it clear the last time we’d spoken.

With a sigh, I called Jimbo and went back inside. At least I could look forward to summer. But it seemed so far away.

Chapter 34

Mom set an odd looking bowl made of biscuit on my plate then hurried into the kitchen. I wrinkled my nose and caught my brother’s eye.

“What is this?” I whispered.

“I’m almost scared to ask.”

She came back into the room with two pans, while Dad carried the other one. “You guys are going to love this. It’s a new breakfast recipe I found online.”

First she dumped a blob of scrambled eggs, into the biscuit. Okay, maybe this wouldn’t be so bad. Then she scooped a spoonful of veggies in. There were pieces of squash, Brussels sprouts, onions, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, olives, beets, and other various things. On their own, I normally loved vegetables, well other than the plant balls. But all together? Gross. Who ate beets in their eggs?

Mom then took the last pan from Dad and put shrimp on top of that. Oh God, I might actually spew. Seafood eggs?

“This smells divine, honey,” Dad said. He pulled his chair up to the table and sat down.

No. It smelled like dirty lake water, mixed with eggs. I picked up my fork, and stirred the concoction up. No way could I eat this.

Even Jimbo had gone to hide and he normally ate anything. Smart dog.

“Maybe if we put ketchup on it, it’ll drown out the taste,” Drake said under his breath.

I snorted. “Yeah, doubt that.”

Dad reached for his morning paper and took a swig of coffee. Probably to wash down the food. He read through the first section pretty quick. And folded it up beside him.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. I leapt to my feet. At least this way I could prolong the whole eating thing. “I’ll get it.”

When I opened the door, I found Mr. Foster and Carver on the porch.

“Hi, Delyla, I wanted to drop by and talk to you for a few minutes,” Mr. Foster said. “Although, I suppose I ought to include your parents in on the conversation too.”

“Um—sure, come on in. We just sat down to breakfast.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No. It’s perfect timing.” I let him in then leaned over to Carver. “If my mom offers you breakfast say no and run like hell.”

He chuckled. “Do I want to know what she made today?”

“Not if you don’t want to barf.”

Yeah, my mother’s cooking was a legend in the neighborhood, just not for the right reasons. People turned down dinner invites all the time, unless they found out it’d be at a restaurant.

When we got to the dining room Mom stood. “You’re just in time for breakfast. We have plenty to go around.”

Mr. Foster held his hand up. “We actually already ate. But thank you.”

“You can have mine,” I whispered to Carver. “For the road?”

He put his arm around my shoulder and bent closer. “Nice try. But if you want, maybe I can leave a box of granola bars on your porch for later. You know, in case you get hungry.”

I grinned and turned to Mr. Foster.

“I wanted to thank you for taking care of Jimbo this week. It’s been a huge help. The thing is I’m going to be taking Carver back to school today. I’ll be gone for a few days, maybe more.” He rested his fingers on the back of one of the dining room chairs. “Jimbo was my wife’s dog. But with me out of town for sometimes a week at a time, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to take care of him. So I wanted to see if Delyla might want to keep him?”

Jimbo trotted into the dining room and sat down next to me. He glanced up at me expectantly. Okay, so he could be a total perv, but he’d kind of grown on me. I rubbed his head.

“I wouldn’t mind,” I said.

Mom and Dad exchanged a quick look. “It’s okay with us.”

Mr. Foster let out a relieved sigh. “I’ll give you money every month for food. And when I’m home, I wouldn’t mind taking him for a night or two.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

Mr. Foster thanked me again, then headed to the door. “I’ll be in the car,” he told Carver.