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Noah raised his head and frowned his nose, sniffing the air. “Pancakes, coffee and… Strawberry!” he declared, a smile on his lips as he faced Barba across the pancake shop table. “It smells delicious.” His stomach growled.
Rafael chuckled. “Well, your stomach is excited about it too. As soon as the waitress comes back, we’ll take care of this.”
The boy studied the menu a third time. “Wish I could have a milkshake,” he said.
“You can,” said the attorney.
The kid shrugged. “I need to ask mom first.”
The attorney tugged at the child’s hand. “Don’t worry about it, order it and, if she says anything, I’ll tell her I didn’t know.” He winked.
Noah smirked and covered his mouth with his hands. “You’re crazy, uncle Rafa.”
“It’s Sunday and I want us to have fun, your mom won’t be mad about it,” he assured.
Blue orbs met green ones. “May I tell you a secret, uncle Rafa?”
The lawyer leaned forward. “Sure.”
Noah beamed. “Ms. Parish said that, if I practice hard, I can be the Nutcracker this year.”
Rafael blinked, his smile wide. “Wow, that’s amazing, Noah. But why are we keeping it a secret?”
“I didn’t tell mom yet, I want to make a surprise,” explained the boy.
Barba zipped his mouth. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Someone cleared their throats. The two found a dark-haired waitress smiling at them. “Hello, boys. May I take your order?”
“Which milkshakes do you have today?” Rafael asked. The child across from him covering his grin with his hands.
“The ones on the menu are all available, but we’re also having a special one made for Father’s Day. It’s a combo for father and child, special pancakes from here,” she grabbed the menu and indicated the ones. “And milkshakes, and brownies for later. You can choose two types of ice cream to be part of your milkshake and two types of toppings. Would you be interested in that?”
Rafael and Noah exchanged glances. The boy had a huge smile on his face.
“Absolutely,” Barba said, grinning.
“Alright,” she wrote it down. “One father and son special, anything else?”
“Mom has to pick hers,” the kid said.
The attorney shook his head. “Yeah, she does.” He handed the menu to the boy. “Here, pick your flavors and toppings, I’ll pick mine, it might give your mom time to get back.”
Noah analyzed his options. He didn’t take long and the waitress was soon writing down his order and Rafael’s, she had finished saying them back to them when Olivia joined the table.
“Hey, what did I miss?” she asked.
“Your turn to pick what you’d like, captain,” smiled Barba.
“Hm, okay,” she said with a raised eyebrow. After she ordered and the waitress left them, she faced her son. “And what did you pick?”
“Uncle Rafa and I are having the father-son special,” he grinned.
Her brow furrowed further, she opened her mouth to speak.
“I forgot it was Father’s Day,” said Barba. He shrugged. “The waitress told us about the special, Noah liked it, so we picked it.”
Noah chuckled. “She thinks uncle Rafa is my dad.”
“And we get brownies for it,” added the attorney.
“Wow, I go to the bathroom and you two become criminal masterminds?” she smirked, shook her head.
“There’s no law against getting the father-son combo with your uncle,” commented Rafael, he offered a hand, and Noah high-fived it.
Benson faced her friend. “If he becomes a lawyer, I’m blaming you.”
Barba grinned. “I can live with that.”
Olivia watched Noah run to the bathroom to brush his teeth and turned to face Rafael stood at her apartment doorway.
“I should go now,” he said, facing her with a smile.
“Rafa,” she spoke as he began to move, their eyes met. “Noah and I, we had never celebrated Father’s Day. I never celebrated it before, for obvious reasons, but… What I’m saying is that this was nice. The pancakes, the Lion King musical, it was great and he’ll remember that. You made it a special day for both of me and Noah. Thank you for that.”
He beamed, there was a hint of pink on his cheeks when he spoke. “I loved it, Liv. I haven’t celebrated Father’s Day in a long time. Even when my father was alive, it wasn’t a good day. You’re right, today was special. Thank you too.” He took a step away, stopped himself, eyed her. “Oh, and if you need an uncle to play honorary dad next year, you know where to find me.” He winked.
She smiled at him. “I’ll keep that in mind. Goodbye, Rafa.”
“Goodbye, Liv.”