A Father's Love

Chapter 63

So, Luke called Nicole to set up a date like he said he would. They decided on not this coming Friday but the following Friday, as that was the first available night they both could meet. In the meantime, Luke prepared himself for the date, including buying a book on where he should take her, and all that fancy stuff Luke assumed Nicole would like. Rachel had been simple like he was, so he never had to try with her while Nicole was a lawyer and probably was into elegant restaurants and eating fancy meals. There was a lot of pressure to make sure the night would be perfect.

He was so heavily involved in the book, Luke didn't realize he was blocking the walkway when he heard Jess tell him to move.

Jess set the coffeepot back into its place. "What's that?" he asked, curious.

"It's nothing," Luke told him as he continued reading.

"You reading?"

He repeated his last statement.

Jess smirked. "I've never seen you reading." He quickly added, "Aside from the kid books you read aloud."

Luke lowered the book, shooting his nephew a look. "Will you just..." he sighed. "I read."

Shelby climbed onto the stool, setting one of the ketchup bottles on the counter that needed to be refilled. "I've seen Dad read before," she pointed out in his defense.

"Oh, yeah? Like what?" Jess asked of her.

"Manuels and 'tuff like tha'."

"I was talking about actual books, Scout," he pointed a finger at the book in Luke's hands.

"Oh. I don' think I've seen Dad read a book on his own," she agreed.

"I read, Shell. Just not as much as you or Jess," Luke explained to her. While his attention was on his own kid, Jess decided to grab a hold of the book to see for himself which Luke protested about.

"Hidden Romantic Gems of the Restaurant World," he read the book's title and fanned through the pages. "Well, well, well."

Luke stood upright, leaning a hand on the counter. "I would like my property back, please."

Jess lifted his head from the book to ask, "Planning something special?"

Grabbing the book out of his hand, Luke turned back to lean on the counter once more. "No, nothing special. I'm just taking Nicole to dinner on Friday, and I wanna find a place." He flipped through until Luke found the page he was on.

"A place you don't normally go to?"

"Yes," he replied.

"So, a special place."

Luke stared up at him, annoyed. "Will you stop saying that word, please? And yes," he finally admitted before turning back to the book.

"Are you gonna kiss?" Shelby asked, curious. "Like Jess and Rory do?"

"Shelby," Luke scolded, and quickly added towards Jess, "I blame you for this, you know."

The man shrugged, "What did I do?"

"Shelby wasn't interested in... that until you came along."

"Yes, because we all know Scout would have entered the dating age, knowing no clue what harmless kissing even was," he nodded with another smirk.

"I kissed someone before," Shelby stated.

Both guys' heads immediately turned towards the little girl in surprise.