The Brick Wall

Chapter 74

Collins POV

"DaDa, DaDa!" Lennox slaps her hands against the table of Salvador's Italian restaurant not quite understanding why her daddy is not at the table with the rest of her family.

I tear off another tiny piece of bread for her to mush around in her mouth while we continue to wait for the rest of the group to join us. And by rest of the group, I mean Curtis and my brother.

"He'll be here soon, angel," I assure her. "You've done so good today, especially for not having an afternoon nap."

"Can she have a sip of my lemonade?"

I jerk my head to the right where Page is sitting with her straw ready to share her drink. "No, ma'am. Definitely not unless you want to be changing that diaper." She wrinkles her nose and sets the cup back down, giving it her own look of distaste and suddenly wishing that she herself had chose a different drink option.

"Oh yeah, no. You can't remember this but the first few times you had lemonade it was a disaster," her mother chimes. "Both of y'all couldn't handle any type of citrus juice without diluting it massively with water. But remember, Lennox is just a baby. Her tummy can't handle anything like that just yet."

Gage looks mortified at the information his mother just spilled to the table. He drops his head to the table, barely catching it with his hands.

I mean, it's tough being a nine year old, but dude is sitting with a table full of girls until his dad gets here.

"You think this is bad, just wait til you start dating."

I was surprised that Dottie popped into the conversation with such ease. But honestly, I shouldn't be. She and Makenzie had hit it off just fine at the game.

"I bet you have all kinds of stories about Curtis that you told to his girlfriends," my sister in law tosses in, her eyes wild like she's about to hear something juicy.

Dottie just smirks and shakes her head. "This is the first one I've met." Her arm comes around my shoulder to pull me into her side. "First and only. Better be the last, too."

Mak's brow shoots up, intrigued by the small comment. Thankfully, Len starts with her DaDa routine again but tosses in a wave and an attempt to reach behind me.

"Lenny Lou!" Curtis' voice bellows from just a few steps into the restaurant.

Baby girl starts clapping wildly, bouncing up and down in the high chair before she's trying to pull my hand down to the belt that keeps her fastened in. I can't help but laugh while my fingers work diligently on the buckle that's barely holding her in place.  

  "I'm going as fast as I can," I comically complain to the baby while my body begins to buzz with as her father comes closer.

  Curtis' hand comes over mine, with one squeeze of his thumb and forefinger the belt unclips, falling apart at the same time Lennox hops up and tries to throw herself into his arms.  With her arms wrapped around his neck, one of his hands brushes over the top of my head, smoothing my hair back as he leans down and kisses my forehead in front of both our families.

  "Hey, baby."

  While it sets the butterflies free in my stomach, I know by the annoying look on my brother's face as he takes the seat across from me, I realize how awkward this little family dinner will actually be.  Add in the fact that we'll be doing a couple days of sightseeing all together and I've probably helped create a recipe for disaster.

 "Lou? Is that her middle name? I thought she was a girl."

  Thank you my sweet nephew for adding some comedy into the mix.