ASHER

THE BELL CHIMES SIGNALING SOMEONE WAS ENTERING THE DINER.

Directly north of where I'm sitting, Riley walks in. She looks refreshed so I'm assuming she slept well. Michigan doesn't forgive anyone and continues to remind us that winter is near so I'm not surprise that her cheeks are rosy. Or it's makeup? I seriously can't tell. Her dark hair sways in a high ponytail and the eyeliner she's wearing does that... that thing again.

A black puffer jacket swallows her frame.

Heads turn in her direction but she doesn't make eye contact with anybody. Her eyes are roaming the tables for someone. Me. The moment our eyes meet, she begins walking in my direction. The way she moves like she owns the place, the stares linger when she passes the tables as her boot slaps the tile floor.

"Riley!" Tommy exclaims excitedly the moment he sees her. He met the girl last night and the first time he ever saw her, he barely said a word. Now he's best friends with her.

"Hi Tommy." Riley greets just as cheerfully, pulling out a wooden chair from underneath the table. She's got a certain warmth to her when she looks at him. I guess she's not completely heartless, or grumpy. Not with children which is always a good sign.

"Hi." Tommy pops out a sweet grin.

At what age do kids have innocent crushes? One day he's going to tell me that he likes someone or I'm going to see it and I'm not ready for him to grow up.

The thought vanishes when Riley pulls her arms out of her puffer jacket. She's wearing a white crop top hoodie, exposing a bit of flesh about two inches below her breast which isn't much because her high waisted leggings nearly meets. Her body twists so that her back is facing me for a little moment and then she hang the item around the chair. Riley Becker is a breath of fresh air.

I know what you're thinking. Maybe I have the crush. But no. She's just an attractive girl. I can't tell the last time I had a crush. The sixth grade maybe. I don't feel those juvenile feelings anymore. Crushes make people nervous, afraid, daydream and admire or stalk and obsess from afar. I partake in none of those things. I'm neither nervous nor afraid.

Anyone would look at her though and I'm allowed to look. Riley herself checked me out last night I just wasn't on the type of time to expose her. She'd deny it. Or not. I'm not sure what she'd do.

It brings me to the next thing. Do I want to get to know her? Hell yeah. The fact that I know her brother and I don't know much about her, that alone is intriguing. There's a gigantic question mark around her and I want to figure her out. But I have a feeling in my gut that she won't make it easy to have access to her. I don't know where she's playing at.

"You guys didn't start eating without me?" She asks, confusion weave her dark eyebrows at the empty table top in front of her when she sits her ass down on the chair.

My hand taps the menu closest to me. "That would not be commendable, would it?"

I flip the menu and my regular order lingers in the back of mind. "We're having breakfast together. That's the plan. So that means we wait until you arrive. I didn't think you would really show up though. Have you ever been here before?"

"No. It's my first time."

Pride swirls in my chest. I don't know why but it feels good to be the first one to invite her to a place known for foodgasm. I can't believe Cole never told her or at least raved about the food because if the motherfucker loves one thing other than fucking, it's his stomach.

I could bring up the fact that the whole team tags along sometimes but I settle with something more simple. "Tommy loves the place." And he does so that wasn't a lie. He's at the age where he knows what he wants and how to ask which blows my mind.

"It's cool." Riley murmurs. Green eyes flicker here and there as she takes in the decor. The diner takes pride in the red accents around.

It's nothing special. Wooden tables and chairs or booths that you'd see anywhere else. But there's a reason the parking lot is stacked with cars and bikers 8AM on a Saturday morning. Nothing else compares to the price and quality of the food here. The customer service also plays a key role and is why I keep returning even though the wait times can be outrageous but for food like this anyone would wait.

A stupid idea pops into my head. Scratch that, it's not that stupid because the boys and I do it whenever we come here. I guess it's some type of tradition.

"You need to take a picture with the menu."I urge, pushing a menu in her direction. It halts behind the ketchup squeeze bottle.

She doesn't reach out and touch it or move in general. "Why?" Her voice comes out curious.

My reply is simple. "Diner's tradition."

"Okay." She replies, eyeing the menu. No ifs, no buts and no questions. That's it?

She fetches the menu and opens it up. The 'Gourmet Omelette' written on the front stares back at me. "You're taking the picture? Let's do it."

Hastily, I search for my phone. Wasn't expecting her to agree at all. I was just testing the waters. She laughs and I think it's the first time I've ever heard the sound from her. I'm navigating through her ice. Of course she laughs when I look like a goddamn fool and there's an urge in me to hear more of it.

When she notices that I have the phone, her body perks up in the chair, fingers pressed against the opened menu leveling  the entire thing to the middle of her nose. "Okay I'm ready."

In the frame, the menu conceals her whole body. It kinda makes sense because the menu is huge and the angle just makes it looks larger than it actually is. Her dark hair, eyebrows and intense green eyes are hard to ignore. The wing liner that she rocks like nobody's business makes her appear even more fierce like Bella Hadid.

My thumb continuously taps over the shutter button. I snap multiple pictures to give her a variety to choose from. She'd appreciate it later and I know girls like to pick and choose.

"What do you think?" She prompts, slightly leaning into the table as if she wants to see the screen herself.

My eyes zoom into the picture. She's photogenic and looks exactly the same in real life. I turn the phone in my hand and give her full access to the shot. "See for yourself."

"Damn. I look good." She flips her ponytail and it's my turn to laugh. There's nothing more dangerous than a girl like Riley who knows she looks good.

"Sending it to you." I flip the phone and slip into our chat from earlier and quickly send the pictures. "Wait time here is going to be insane. But the food is the best so it's worth it."

All I hear is 'Pancakes!' and the little voice belongs to Tommy. Now that we know what he wants.

"And if it's not worth it? Should I really trust your judgment?" Her expression is all playful and light. Or is it?

A grin stretches my face. "I promise you'll like it."

"You have been making a lot of promises. I hope it lives up to the hype." Two. Two promises so far. The food was good and that I would show up at the art studio because I'm a man of integrity.

I flag down the waitress passing the table next to us. I can't remember her name. Notepad and pen in her hands, she offers a polite smile. She knows the whole team by now because we're regulars.

Golden brown pancakes, strips of bacon, two sausages and a small milk from the children's menu is the order for my little man. The waitress scribbles everything I say. Hot chocolate for myself. Then Greek obelisk omelet, hash browns, onion rings and the house special corn beef. Once I'm done, it appears I'm buying the entire diner. I'm not. I have to eat though especially in the morning and I feel like going all out.

Curious eyes turn to Riley. "What would you like?"

Surprisingly, she doesn't take the entire day to know what she wants to eat. "I'll have what he just said. But in my hot chocolate, I want it topped with whipped cream."

"Sure." Our waitress sounds lively as she scribbles exactly what Riley asked for.

"Bold move." I comment.

An elbow on the tabletop. "Let's see about it. If I'm going to see if you have taste, I need to try everything you do."

"You do have a point."

The waitress leaves and returns with three crystal blue cups filled with water and chunky ice cubes floating on the top. She adds three straws on the table and disappears again.

Riley reaches for water and peels back the plastic from one of the straws. She begins to swirl it in the cup.

Silence hangs around us, except for the ice smashing against the cup occasionally. It's peaceful and not an ounce of awkwardness takes place. It's good.

Riley slurps water from the straw, breaking the silence. "How's your cheek?"

The question catches me off guard. It shouldn't when she's been saying something about my cheek since she saw it last night. "Not bad. Are you concerned about it? How does it look?"

This morning I barely glanced at myself. All my attention was on my son and how I'm going to get him ready so we could leave the house at a certain time. This is just a stop to eat before we hit the road again.

Eyes avert to my bruise, inspecting. "A little concern now that I see it. Are you sure it didn't need some attention and a cute little bandage?" I'm not sure if she means that or if she's teasing. I missed the opportunity to her tone. "It looks fine. Doesn't look like you're dying or anything so don't worry."She adds shortly afterwards.

My mouth twitches. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I'm a big boy."

Her eyes study my upper half. "So I see."

The waitress comes back with mugs of hot chocolate. She leaves again and keeps returning with each of the items we ordered. My stomach growls. I'm trying to figure out how we were served this quickly. Any other day, it would take a hot hour..

"What's the deal with Tommy's babysitter? Why did she flake out?" Riley asks.

I bite into an onion ring. "She doesn't understand children. And she didn't want to babysit anymore." It's as simple as that. Bria didn't want to do the work so she didn't.

"A paid babysitter that doesn't understand children?" Riley's eyes pop out of their sockets. She looks at how I feel about the situation. "What babysitter doesn't understand children? I mean, take me out of the equation of course—" The way she says it makes me laugh. "— but who willingly does a job like that and doesn't understand what they're doing?"

"You'd be surprised at the things and jobs people will accept for money. But she just doesn't understand a toddler I guess. Says he doesn't know how to express himself and my thing is... he's a toddler, he's going to have issues sometimes. He's still learning to communicate how he feels. He's just a kid and you need patience to deal with them."

"He's a good kid. There's nothing wrong with him. He tried to share with me last night and I don't know him that well. All I can say is that he didn't give me issues. He was energetic, yes and that is expected, right?"Riley's tone became astonishingly understanding. I thought she said she wasn't good with children. It's more than clear that she's better than she thought she could be. "How many times a week do you see him?"

"Not every week. Every two weeks. Friday nights I get him. On Saturdays we go to my parents house for a few hours because they miss him and then he goes back home on Sunday." With all of that, it's just never enough because I have hockey and having a kid isn't an excuse to miss practice. During the week there's preschool. "He won't be spending Christmas or New Year's with me this year."

She hums with a head nod. Then she asks, "And thanksgiving?"

"He'll be with me and my family." That's the one thing Layla and I agreed on. There's no drama between us. Not anymore because I ended that. We are just strictly co parents now.

"It must be hard being split between two homes. He's in a lot of places so a sitter should be easy on him."

"And you claim you know nothing about kids. Could've fooled me."

"It's only just common sense here.''She takes a generous sip of hot chocolate. "Shi— shoot  it's hot." She flicks her tongue to the roof of her mouth, squints her eyes and then licks whip cream from the corners of her mouth.

"Common sense isn't so common and... great catch." I admire the way she twisted the word shit before my innocent child can repeat it. "You okay?"

"Yup. I'm good." This time she's getting busy with the whipped cream.

"Good. What else do you want to ask me on our date?" I want to see how she'll react. Texting was done behind the screen and now we're face-to-face.

"This is not a date."

"You were the one who asked if I'm asking you out. What is it then?"

Staring at me through long lashes, Riley feigns innocence. "It's... we're in an acquaintanceship getting breakfast together. That's all."

I'm rolling on her wave. "Two things can be true. When do I get to the friend level?"

A streak of amusement dances in her eyes. "Before you make it to my friends list, you have to pass the semi-friend list. You have a long, long way to go Humphrey."

"I've made no progress? I thought I was at least a semi-friend." I wiggle my brows.

"Nuh-uh."

"I'm messing around. I did bring you here to thank you. You saved last night." Like the grinch that saved Christmas or whatever that movie was called. "Are you a breakfast or brunch person? I should've asked."

Her delicate fingers lightly hug the mug. Nails painted red. "Neither."

"Are you saying you're here specifically for me?" I'm risking my life with the things I'm saying. I'll die with a full stomach.

She rolls her eyes, it's playful, the corners of her mouth twitches. "I'm saying I skip breakfast entirely."

"Why? It's the most important thing."

For a minute, her eyes... they dim. Fuckkk. Did I say something wrong? I shouldn't  have asked. I'd do anything to drain that look from her face. It's too late to withdraw.

Then the look disappears so fast I question if I had imagined it.

"Not sure if Cole ever mentioned that we have a crappy mother. Breakfast wasn't exactly a thing for us growing up. So, I guess it just stuck as an adult since it was instilled for so long."She says, mouth opened like she wants to add something else and at the last minute decides against it.

I swallow thickly. "Cole rarely ever talks about her."

I don't know his mother and I didn't know the information Riley just shared. Anyone could see where Cole's at with his Mom regardless of him opening up about his childhood or not. He didn't have to say it for me to know that much. I've never seen her a day in my life. Not at hockey games. I know he said once that his mother will pay for shit but didn't show up. She's that type of parent. I'd honestly think the woman was dead. I just knew Riley showed up everywhere instead of a mother or father figure.

"She's a lot to unpack."Riley clears her throat, desperate to change the subject. "You grew up in Northville?"

I'll gladly let her. I don't want her to talk about anything she's uncomfortable with. "Born and raised, yeah."

We talk some more until I'm two onion rings away from finishing my entire meal. "What would you rate it?"

She chews, glancing up at me. "Nine."

"Woah that's high. Would you come back here? Does it have a return value?"

I notice how slowly she eats but she reaps the benefits. "Yeah. The food was good and the waitress was nice. Plus the chairs are comfy. I'm definitely telling my friends about this place."

I can't help but laugh around this girl. "Just make sure to give me credit." Then I turn my attention to my three year old who's chewing on mouth-watering bacon. "Tommy, what do you want to tell Riley?"

We've talked about this so I'm not sure if he remembers.

His little voice rings out into the diner. "Thank you!"

A few heads turn in our direction, Riley isn't irritated though she just smiles broadly at him. "You're welcome. Just be good, okay?"

He nods, pulling on a piece of greasy bacon.

We're exiting the diner thirty minutes later, leaving behind a generous tip for our waitress. Tiny fingers circle around my index as we pass the bikers in the parking lot.

Riley halts near my Jeep. "Thank you for breakfast. I'm letting you have it because I can't fake it. That was good."

I throw a free hand over my heart. "Did you just thank me? Hell has frozen over."

"I'm not that much of a bitch. Oh shit. Sorry." She apologizes for the sake of Tommy's innocent ears.

"So you did learn your manners over breakfast huh?"

"Maybe."

I buckle Tommy in and straighten my back. "I enjoyed our date, looking forward to taking you on many more."

Shaking her head, she accuses, "You're getting ahead of yourself."

"Are you calling me delusional?"

She points a finger near my chest. "You said it, not me."

"Christ. Maybe I am then." My tone switches from playful to serious. "Look, wear a seatbelt this time. You weren't wearing it last night."

"It's like you have dad mode switched on. How cute."She responds, patting me on the shoulder. "Have a safe trip to Northville."

"Will do. But same as last time. Text me to let me know that you're safe?"

Riley's already walking away but she stops and turns, "Sure Da—

I lift a hand to stop her. The last thing I want is my son asking me if I'm Riley's father.

"Actually I was going to say Dad. Not Daddy and definitely not in a naughty way. You've got your Dad pants on right now. Get your mind out of the gutter Humphrey."

Whoever messed with the word Daddy has ruined many interactions that's for sure. The only person who I think means it innocently these days is my son. "I'm out the gutter. And Riley?"

She focuses on me. "Hm?"

"When I figure out your schedule we're going for breakfast together. Often. If you like my company. It doesn't sit right with me knowing it's the most important meal of the day and sometimes you don't eat. We're fixing that."

"Did Cole put you up to this?" She sounds like she can't fathom why I would willingly do something like this on my own.

"Wish he had. This is all me." See that? I can be nice.

Riley may not see it but she's a hockey sister for life. The minute Cole's on the team, his family is too. Which is her. She knows the hockey stretch, the arena like the back of her hand and the team members even though she barely speaks to us which means we look out for her on and off the ice.

The look she gives me screams I know something that you don't. Fortunately for me, she gives me a taste of the teeny tiny little secret. "What happens when you find out that I smoke?"

"Easy there. One task at a time. I'm still getting to know you. Let's tackle breakfast first, yeah?"

I'm grateful for the bit of info and it'll be useful later.

——
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hope you guys liked this chapter!  If you're still here, thank you so much. Do you think there's chemistry between Riley and Asher?

I'm late with this one so we're behind schedule. I'm sorry. Happy late Christmas? Forgive me! I popped out a long chapter for y'all. Seriously though Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! How did you guys celebrate if you did? I spend the day in PJ's and hang out with my family. I'd love to hear about yours and if you don't celebrate, how was your day today? I'm all ears 🤍