Coming Home

Chapter 15

Walking into the diner, I felt like I was on display. It was a Saturday evening, so practically everyone in town was at the diner for supper, something I had forgotten about. Everyone in town knew about the twins and they also knew that they were here, but not many people had actually seen them. I had a feeling it’d be like we were on display for the entire time we were eating.

“Makenzi! Have you brought my little cousins to see me?” Jeremiah asked, appearing at our table.

“If that’s what you want to think Jere, then yes,” I answered, throwing him an impish grin as I put Asher in his highchair.

“You break my heart, little one,” Jeremiah exclaimed, dramatically pressing his hand to his heart.

“Drama Queen,” I retorted, rolling my eyes.

“What do you guys want to drink?” he asked, deciding to actually do his job.

“I’ll have a Dr. Pepper and some milk for the boys,” I answered.

Jeremiah nodded, writing it down before turning to Cayden.

“I’ll have the same as her,” he answered, moving the knife that was on the table out of Asher’s reach.

“Okay, I’ll be right back,” my cousin answered, turning around and walking towards the kitchen.

I sighed as I felt all the eyes on me. I’ve never been a fan of being the center of attention and this was no exception. I was starting to feel uncomfortable and I didn’t like it.

“Ignore them Kenz. They’re just curious. They want to see our sons,” Cayden murmured, reaching over to give my hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I know. I just don’t like the atten-Cain, no! That’s owwie! It’ll hurt you,” I chastised my son as he grabbed the napkin wrapped knife.

“I just took that away from your brother, buddy, you can’t have it either,” Cayden said.

Cain looked at us, giving us an impish grin before snatching up two crayons from the table and handing one to Asher before starting to scribble on the paper.

“You’ve got a couple of artists on your hands here, Kenz,” Jeremiah commented, setting our drinks down in front of us.

I gave him a smile before turning to my menu, knowing that he was here to take our orders. I decided on the burger and fries, while Cayden ordered the steak and a baked potato. I ordered chicken fingers and fries for the twins and Jeremiah walked away after reaching over to ruffle the boys’ hair.

Cayden and I made small talk throughout the entire meal. It was as if this was a first date and we didn’t know each other. I knew getting close to Cayden was a bad idea, but I couldn’t help but feel like the way things were was all wrong. We had sons together, sons who were sitting right next to us, and yet we were acting like we had just met. Cayden was giving one-word answers or just a shake of his head. Eventually, I stopped trying to make conversation.

When we were done eating, Cayden paid for the meal while I cleaned the boys up. They had made quite a mess with the ketchup and the ranch and I couldn’t stop the smile from forming on my face as I cleaned them up. Cayden still wasn’t back to the table by the time I was done so I picked the twins up, settling one on each hip, before scanning the room for their Daddy. I spotted him over on the other side of the diner, talking to a table full of guys. Liam was the one closest to Cayden, with James, Adam, and Clark. It looked like Cayden and Liam were having a pretty intense discussion, so I stayed where I was, occupying myself with the twins.

“Kenzi! Get your butt over here!” Adam called across the diner.

I looked up to see the table full of guys watching me with smiles stretching across their faces. I gave them a smile of my own, weaving around the other people in the diner to get to my friends.