Chapter Twenty-nine

Izabella was resting in a seat nearby. They had been in this store far too long. She would say she liked one system just to be tossed in front of another. Bram asked a lot of questions, and then told her he thought this one would work better for whatever reason. When she’d smiled at him and just asked him to pick one, he started to get testy with her. Eventually, Rose stepped in, pointing out that with a first system, it would be better for her to have something easy, without too many programs.

Bram had finally nodded, and chose the smaller computer, which Izabella had wanted in the first place. Rose was an excellent saleswoman and offered to collect the right add-ons for her. She promised, nothing too fancy. Bram asked her if she wanted to go look through it, and she had not. None of this stuff really interested her, so whatever worked best together just made the most sense. And since he didn’t seem to care about the costs, she let Rose choose.

Bram was now standing behind Devon, watching a screen he was playing so reality game in. Rose was chirping in his ear about the newest and greatest, and he was clearly tiring of her. Eventually waving her away. Looking at her watch, she had decided to give them another few minutes before trying to wrangle them out of the store. Most of the items they had purchased would be delivered to Bram’s home, but the few things they could walk out with were already half wrung up, all he had to do was pay for it. Well, as soon as that added that fancy thing on Devon’s head to the order. They both seemed enthralled by it, and Bram clearly didn’t tell his son no. Ever.

When Izabella looked back up from her new phone, Bram was surrounded by a group of women who were feigning interest in the game. As the glare on Bram’s face grew, he clearly didn’t like being crowded away from his son. Soon, their attention turned to him, and one even grabbed onto his arm. Izabella stood up, he was trying to be polite now, but that would explode on him eventually. So, she decided to step in.

“Hey, babe, did you decide if our little sugar pie is buying that game, or not?” Izabella stood before the women, glaring at them with her arms crossed under her chest. As one of the women stepped back at her arrival, Izabella squeezed through, wrapping her arm around Bram’s waist.

When she smiled up at him, she was not expecting him to be smiling from ear to ear. “I’ve already spent a small fortune on my girl,” he winked, “Why not.” His finger caught her chin keeping her looking at him. As he leaned down toward her, she panicked, but didn’t pull away. What could she do, she’d just made an announcement they were together, didn’t she? His soft lips caressed hers gently, and the women surrounding them gave a final glare before dispersing.

She trembled in his arms, her knees going week as he pulled away, licking his lips. “It’s so embarrassing when you do that in public.” She swallowed hard, trying to push away from him. He didn’t let her go though.

“Look, no one cares. Just stay right there.” As she looked around, she felt like everyone was watching them, and Rose winked at her.

“What. Are you afraid they’ll come back and bother you again after that?” Her cheeks were still hot, and she was trying not to get lost in those eyes again. She didn’t think she’d make it through a second kiss without complete panic.

“Maybe I just like having you by my side. The last person that rescued me from anything was Tyler, and believe me, it wasn’t half as enjoyable as this.” He leaned down pulling at the glasses Devon was wearing.

“Awe, dad!” He huffed, the character on the screen fell into a large hole, disappearing. “I was doing so good!”

“You were doing well.” Bram corrected. “I just bought you one, so you can play all you want when we get home.”

“Cool!” He said, finally registering that his father had his arm around Izabella. He gave her a questioning look.

“We’ll explain in the car.” She put her hand out and he took it as Bram lead them both over to the counter where Rose had everything packaged nicely.

Bram paid for the items and they left the store. “Did you get that peach colored phone you liked in the first place?” He asked as she slid into the car, purposefully sitting with Devon opposite him.

She held it up, forgetting that it wouldn’t make a difference. “I actually did.” She laughed. “Oh, are we headed home or to the orphanage first?”

“I was thinking lunch would be better. Anywhere special either of you would like to go?” Izabella honestly didn’t care. She’d never been a picky eater, and it was always such a rare occasion that they ate out, she was always excited about it. She shrugged at him, but his eyes were riveted on her. Like she was the one he was really asking. He pointed at his son the moment his mouth opened, “Don’t. Say. It.”

“Excalibur!” The little boy threw his arms in the air.

Bram bounced his head off the seat and staired at the ceiling for a moment. “Just because I’m offering to take us out for food doesn’t mean—”

“Excalibur!” Devon shouted again, now jumping up and down.

“We don’t have the time.” Devon hollered the name out over and over. “Not if you want to stop by the orphanage on the way home. So, I guess make a choice.” Bram leaned forward, and that stopped Devon in his tracks.

“That’s not fair.” He pouted.

“It is what it is. If we go to Excalibur, we’re not stopping at the orphanage. It takes four times as long, ‘cause we have a whole two hour show to watch. And I don’t want to be out the entire day.”

“We could go to a nice little dinner and just eat a quick little meal. Do you know where Uncle Ronnie’s is?”

Bram and Devon both shook their heads at her. “It was my dad’s favorite. It would be nice to visit it again.” At the same time, both the boys looked at each other and nodded. “Really?”

“It would be an honor to take you to your father’s favorite dinner, and I’m always down for good food.”