It was not lame advice. It was true. AJ smiled at her reassurances. Cate was really nice. He chuckled when the women went back and forth about how unfair it was men could eat whatever they wanted. They'd be horrified by how the firefighters ate. Of course, they were prone to skipping meals and going long stretches without food. So it wasn't surprising when they could sit down and eat, they pigged out.
Janice nodded. "Yeah, one of those," she said. "You better tell him he gets to clean up the mess. But Kayla will love it, I'm sure." As for the car cake, she chuckled. "Family business. Say no more. Just come by and we'll go through designs."
"Of course we are," she said. "John and the boys are trying to come up with a more obnoxious, loud present they can find for her. You've been warned."
AJ managed to recover a bit after she left. He felt terrible when he realized his answer had upset Cate. "No, it's not that," he apologized as he surrendered the baby back to her. "I'm just surprised." He smiled at her words. "Yeah, I have. And thanks. You're really nice." Which sounded completely childish. He was 30, not 12.
He shook his head. "No thanks," he said. "I should get out of your hair. Sounds like this place is going to get really crowded." The office was really small and AJ took up more than a little bit of room. He finished filling out the form and handed it to her. "My number's on there. Call me sometime...I mean so I know when the party is." Yeah, he sucked. "I'm going to leave before I stick my foot in my mouth anymore. Thanks. For everything. Bye." He hesitantly reached out and touched Kayla's hand before retreating from the shop. Yeah, he'd really flubbed that up. Jeeze.