Page 50 of Waves
“I don’t mean to be rude,” I said to her with a pleasant smile, “but Ezra and I just sat down for breakfast.”
“Right, yeah. You, um, I suppose you’re the new boyfriend?” she asked, her attention now fixed on me.
Turning to Ezra, I reclined in the booth. “Have you been going around town and bragging about me again, love?”
Ezra rolled his eyes, but he didn’t comment. His knife screeched while he dragged his utensils across the ceramic plate.
“I’m Claudia.” She extended her hand to me as if she wanted to shake, then quickly changed her mind yet again. She brought her hand to her face and tried to cover a small sniffle.
“Nice to meet you, Claudia, but if you don’t mind,” I said while gesturing at our breakfast feast.
“Right.” Claudia took a step back then staggered to the side, but caught herself by holding onto Ezra’s side of the table.
Ezra turned to glare at Claudia still steadying herself with the edge of our table, taking a deep breath before he fixed his eyes on her. “Just how high are you right now?”
Claudia straightened herself out, but her wide eyes revealed he caught her off guard with his question. “I’m not... I just... I saw you walk in and I wanted to tell you... I didn’t know. I honestly didn’t know, Ezra.”
Ezra turned his attention back to his food, the scrape of the utensils on the plate almost deafening.
“I’m sorry,” Claudia said, despite being ignored. “I would have done things differently if I knew. Thom lied to all of us, and I see that now.”
Ezra dropped his utensils on his sticky plate, and he snapped his head up from his meal. “Claudia, you might be too cranked out right now to realize this, but it’s eight-thirty in the morning, and all I want is to eat these frigging pancakes in peace. Is that okay with you?”
My eyebrows sprung so high they very well could’ve left my face. I never saw Ezra so... so... what was this even?
“Yeah, okay,” Claudia agreed before she took a step back again. “See ya.”
Ezra did his trademarked hasty wave without even looking back at Claudia, who wobbled away in her high heels to wherever her table was.
I dumped some of the amber goo this place tried to pass off as syrup into my oatmeal then looked back at Ezra’s furrowed brow while he chewed. “Should I even ask?”
“Another apologetic former friend. With any luck, she’ll be the next one to check into rehab.”
I nodded. As happy as I was to see Ezra’s old friends show some remorse, I understood why he was so cross. Sometimes even a sincere apology was too little too late. “So,” I said in an attempt to diverge the conversation. “Where’s the baby since he’s not with you?”
“He’s been with Mary and Eric for the week,” Ezra mumbled, aimlessly stabbing at his plate without actually eating.
“You monster.”
“She may not spoil him as well as you, but her house is better than a kennel.”
“Oh, I spoil him?” I asked, pointing at myself with a smile.
“Yes,” Ezra argued. Despite his tone, a grin began forming. “He’s gained three pounds since you arrived, and we’re not even talking about how much I must weigh now. We’re headed for an early grave.”
With a raised brow I stirred my oatmeal around. “You really want to put the last nail in the coffin, keep worrying about things you can’t immediately change.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means, if you can’t fix the issue in the next five minutes, don’t waste time worrying. Either do something about it or don’t.”
Ezra looked from his half-eaten plate to mine and laughed. “Are you pancake shaming me, while you sit there all smug with your old man breakfast?”
I burst into laughter in response. The smile I loved so much returned to his face and even went as deep as his tone. “Absolutely not, love.”
Ezra and I arrived at Mary and Eric’s house right after we finished breakfast. When we ascended the steps together, Ishmael’s barking greeted us before we even reached the front door. He jumped up onto me as soon as we walked through the door, whining while he licked at my face. He could not quite reach but still insisted on trying. Even though Ishmael looked thrilled to see the both of us, Ezra rolled his eyes when Ishmael lay down at my feet for belly rubs.
“Wow, was not expecting that.” Mary laughed.