Two cups of tea and several chapters later, my stomach was feeling better and I started to think about making dinner. I glanced at the clock and saw it was already after 8:00, so I got up to close my curtains just as a set of headlights lit up my driveway. Realizing I was a sitting duck in front of the open window, I quickly pulled the curtains closed and grabbed my phone before peeking out.
I relaxed when I saw it was Nate, getting out of his car and carrying a six-pack of beer in one hand and a paper bag in the other.
I pulled the door open as he was coming up the steps. “Hey,” I said, pushing the storm door open for him. “What are you doing here? I thought you were having dinner with Jack and Finn.”
“I was supposed to, but I was kind of missing the kids, so I stayed home so I could read to them tonight.” He looked me over as I closed the door behind him. “Am I interrupting you? Were you getting ready to go to bed?”
“No, not at all. Just relaxing. Did you eat dinner?”
“Yeah, I picked up fast food on the way home from work.”
“Here, give me your beer. I’ll put it in the refrigerator. What’s in the bag?” I asked as I started toward the kitchen.
“It’s for you,” he said, pulling out a bottle of Chardonnay.
“Ah. A man after my own heart. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Do you have a corkscrew?”
“Do I have a corkscrew?” I snorted. “Silly boy.” I pulled it out of the drawer and handed it to him. I could do it myself, but men seemed to get a kick out of performing that particular task, so I let him. I put a beer on the table, stashed the rest of his six-pack in the refrigerator and got a wine glass out of the cupboard. Then I sent a text to Jack.
Me: Thanks for the bodyguard.
My phone beeped with his response within seconds.
Jack: LOL I knew you wouldn’t go to your parents. Stay safe. Love you xoxo
Me: Love you more.
I set the phone down and looked up at Nate, who handed me a full glass of wine. “Jack?” he asked.
“Yeah. I was just wondering how you got roped into this security detail instead of him coming himself.”
“Oh,” he said as we sat down at the table. “I wasn’t lying about the reason I didn’t go. I really did want to talk to the boys, face to face. But when I told him I wasn’t going, he asked me if I would come by here and stay for a while after I talked to the kids.”
“Well, it was nice of you to agree to that.”
“I don’t mind at all. I’ve been wanting to talk to you anyway. It seems like there hasn’t been a single opportunity all week.”
“Oh? What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked casually, but I was afraid I knew. I tried to think of how I was going to let him down easy. I was way too wrapped up in my feelings for Jack and I regretted the moment when I told Nate I was attracted to him. I didn’t even feel that way towards him anymore. I liked him, but that was it. There were so many reasons why I shouldn’t get involved with him and I would prefer it if he and I just remained friends. I hoped he wouldn’t get too pushy about it.
“Well, I’ve been thinking – “ he began, but was interrupted when his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the display. I noted with interest the smile on his face when he answered it. “Hey Kayla. No, it’s fine. What’s up?” He looked down at the table while he was talking and I sipped my wine, watching and listening to his side of the conversation.
“Oh. Is that right? Yeah, sure. No, it’s not a problem at all. No, I’m sure. I’m done with the work I came here to do, so I’ll just come home earlier tomorrow than I had originally planned. Yeah. Okay. What time do you have to be there? Uh huh. Okay. I’ll leave here around 9:00 and that should get me to your house in plenty of time. Okay. You’re welcome. No, sweetheart, it’s not a problem at all. Yes, really. All right. Goodnight.”
He was still smiling when he disconnected the call and set his phone down. “Kayla,” he said.
“So I gathered.”
“She’s finishing up her Master’s degree next month and her finals are coming up. She wanted to meet with her study group tomorrow, but didn’t have anyone to watch Matthew.” He shrugged and took a drink of his beer.
“Does she know you’re in love with her?”
He set the beer down slowly and tilted his head. “Does Jack know you’re in love with him?”
Standoff. We stared at each other across the table for a minute then I smiled and lifted my glass. “Touché,” I said.
He turned on the dimples and clinked his beer against my glass. We both took a long drink and settled back in our seats.
“So now what?” I asked.
“Well, that’s actually what I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”
“And what’s that?”
“Jack, you, Kayla, me. This whole mess we seem to both be in the middle of.”
“Mess? How so?”
“Jack said some things to me the other night when we were out. You know, the night he got so drunk. He really loves you. And I don’t think I’m breaking any confidences by telling you that he said he was so in love with you that he could barely see straight.”
“He said that?” I whispered.
“Yes. Those were his exact words. So I asked him why the two of you weren’t together if he felt that way and he said it was because you didn’t want him. And then he said he was working on changing your mind. Why don’t you want him?”
I blew out a breath and took another swallow of wine before I answered. “It’s not that I don’t want him. I do. And over the last few days, I’ve realized how much. It’s just...well, it’s personal and I can’t tell you the details without telling secrets that aren’t all mine to share.”
He looked at me thoughtfully as he considered that. He finished off his beer and I sat silently, fighting my urge to babble, and waited for him to say something. He got up and went to the refrigerator, helping himself to another beer. He picked up the wine bottle and poured more wine into my glass before sitting back down. Then he smiled at me and said, “Let’s get drunk.”
I laughed. “Well, okay, but I hope you don’t think you’re going to get me drunk and pry my secrets out of me.”
“Maybe not. But maybe getting drunk will help me to tell you mine.”
“You have secrets?”
“Uh huh,” he said, nodding slowly.
“And they have to do with your relationship with Kayla?”
“Yep.”
I leaned forward and used my index finger to slide his beer closer to him. “Well, drink up. I have lots of questions about that.”
He laughed and it was my turn to get up. I went to the cupboard and pulled out a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses and set them in the middle of the table. “Just in case,” I said.
We both laughed and Nate surprised me by opening the tequila bottle and pouring us both a shot. “Might as well get a jump start,” he said, handing me my shot and raising his. “To unraveling tangled relationships,” he said.
“I’ll drink to that.” I threw the shot back and felt it burn all the way down my throat. I shook my head and shivered, then grabbed Nate’s beer to chase it.
Nate grinned at me as I returned his beer to him. “Don’t like tequila?”
“I like the effect of tequila. It just doesn’t always go down as smoothly as I think it should. Now, first question - does Kayla date anyone?”
“No. She hasn’t in a long time.”
“Why not?”
“Fear.” And then he laughed.
“Fear is funny?”
“No.” He picked up the bottle of tequila and poured himself another shot. “Her reason for it is.” He raised the glass to his mouth, downed the shot in one smooth motion and set the glass back down. Then he chugged his beer.
“So tell me the reason,” I prompted.
“She’s only had sex twice in her whole life and she got pregnant both times. Now she’s convinced that h
er eggs act as a magnet to sperm and if there is sperm anywhere in her general vicinity, her eggs will suck it in – despite all barriers.”
I giggled at the visual. “Oh that poor girl. No wonder she’s afraid. But maybe it’s just your sperm her eggs are attracted to. That could be considered a sign of some type, couldn’t it?”
He raised his eyes to mine and reached for the tequila bottle. “The answer to that would require another shot.” He poured two this time, and slid the second glass back over to me. “Drink up and all will be revealed.”
“Wait one second,” I said and hurried to the refrigerator, grabbing two more beers. I loved my wine, but not with this amount of tequila.
“Okay,” I said, opening the beers and setting them in front of us. “Bottoms up.” We lifted our shots to each other and then swallowed them quickly. I choked through the afterburn and reached for my beer while Nate laughed.
“You crack me up,” he said.
“I live to amuse,” I replied before swallowing another large mouthful of beer. “So, your sperm, her eggs. Go.” I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth in a very unladylike fashion and waited.
Nate’s face turned serious and he started rolling his beer bottle between his hands, but didn’t answer.
“Nate, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried to make a joke about something that’s obviously not a laughing matter for you.”
“He’s not mine,” he said suddenly, the bottle stilling between his hands. He tilted his head back and finished off the beer.
“What? Who’s not yours?” I asked.
“Matthew. He’s not my biological son.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know how to respond to that startling statement, so I stayed quiet and waited for him to go on.
“And I’m only telling you this for two reasons: One, because I trust you and I’m trusting you not to repeat it to anyone. Jack already knows, but please don’t tell anyone else. Okay?”
“You have my word,” I said.
“And two, I could really use some impartial advice. And you would need all the facts for that.”
“Okay. I’ll try,” I said, although I didn’t know how I was going to come up with any helpful advice for him when I couldn’t even figure out what to do about my own life.
He fortified himself with another shot of tequila before going on. “I’ll give you the shortened version. Kayla got pregnant with Matthew when she fell for the lines of some loser she was working with at the time. He convinced her he really cared about her, got in her pants and ran before she even knew she was pregnant.”
“Asshole,” I said, angry on Kayla’s behalf.
“Yeah. And the first and only time I have ever seen Kayla cry was the day I came back to her house to pick up something of Michael’s that I had forgotten. She’s a ‘keep your chin up and deal with it’ kind of person, so the crying really got to me. Long story short – she confessed to the pregnancy, we discussed and I promised to help her with the baby whenever I could. She was still working part-time and going to school so I took Michael more often and I was with her when Matthew was born.”
He paused to get up and get another beer and when he sat back down, he was smiling. “And then a funny thing happened. I fell in love with that baby. Right from the beginning, he was happy and sweet and he rarely cried. So it was easy for me to just start taking him with me whenever I picked up Michael. I didn’t want him to grow up being the fatherless kid left behind while his brother went off without him every weekend. And the first time he called me Daddy, because Michael did, my heart melted and I knew that’s what I was. I was his daddy.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I had heard anything that touched my heart so deeply. “Oh, my gosh, Nate. I think that is quite possibly the sweetest thing I have ever heard. I think I’m going to cry.”
“Oh, for God’s sake. Don’t cry. I didn’t tell you that to make you cry. I just wanted you to get the full picture.” He got up to get more beer, ruffling my hair as he walked by me. He peered into the refrigerator. “I’m going to start hitting some of these other beers you have in here. Is that okay?”
“Of course. Help yourself and bring me another one, too.” I finished off what remained in my bottle and added it to the row of empties on the side of the table. We were drinking fast, but I still didn’t feel quite drunk enough, so I poured us both another shot.
“To good men,” I said raising my shot glass. “I always knew y’all were out there.”
“Did you just turn southern on me?” Nate asked with a laugh as he handed me my beer and sat back down.
I laughed as I thought of what I had just said. “No, I think I’m just starting to slur my words. Now drink up.” He did and I followed. When my choking and shuddering eased, I asked, “Do you have any plans to officially adopt him?”
“Oh, I already did. Two years ago we tracked down the sperm donor, who couldn’t sign away his parental rights fast enough, and now my name is on his birth certificate and he’s legally mine.”
“Are you ever going to tell him?”
“Yeah, eventually. When we think the time is right and he can handle it. My family knows, and we don’t want to risk him finding out from one of his cousins because their parents don’t know how to keep their mouths shut in front of their kids. I think he’ll be okay, though. He’s very like Kayla in temperament.”
“So let’s cut to the chase,” I said, that last shot of tequila making me bold. “Everything is great with your kids and you’re in love with Kayla, but…?”
He blew out a breath and rested his chin in his hand, tapping his fingers against his face while he thought, staring through me.
“Here’s the thing,” he finally said, straightening up and leaning back in his chair. “This week I’ve been watching you and Jack, two people who clearly love and respect each other and it seems obvious to me that you should be together. You’re perfect for each other and yet something is stopping you from pursuing that.”
“We’re not talking about me,” I said, my tone a little snotty. “We’re talking about you.”
“Oh, calm down and let me finish,” he said with a grin. “It’s because of you and Jack that I need this advice.”
“Really? Why?”
“Now don’t take offense to this, but I would look at the two of you and your relationship and think, ‘Why the hell are they so stupid? What is stopping them from being together?’ – and when I thought that, something clicked in my own head.”
“Something that said why the hell are you so stupid?” I folded my arms across my chest, sat back and smirked.
“Exactly!” he exclaimed, rising slightly from his chair and leaning forward until his chest was resting on the table. My response had been facetious, but he took the ball and ran with it. “I realized that your relationship with Jack was almost identical to mine with Kayla. I love her. She’s a great person, a great friend and a fantastic mother to our boys. So I wondered why I wasn’t doing something about that. I don’t want to just go along like we are, thinking everything’s perfect the way it is, and then BOOM!” He shouted that last word almost directly into my face and I jumped.
“Jesus, Nate. You just scared the crap out of me.” I patted a calming hand to my fluttering heart and raised an eyebrow. “And do you think you could get off of the table and back into your chair?” He looked surprised and glanced down at the table, as if he hadn’t realized he had somehow managed to keep his feet on the floor while his upper body was resting on his forearms about three-quarters of the way across the table. A couple more inches and he’d be having an intimate conversation with my chest. He dropped his head to the table and started to laugh. And that, of course, made me start to laugh.
He lifted his head and looked up at me. “I think I’m a little drunker than I thought I was.”
“No kidding.” I pushed back my chair and tried to stand up but tripped over one of the chair legs and went down. I was lying on my back on the floor, arms flung st
raight overhead, and laughing hysterically, when Nate’s head appeared over the edge of the table. The sight of that made me laugh even harder.
“Oh my God. Are you okay?” He tried to look concerned, but I could tell he was holding in a laugh.
“You look like a giant head growing out of the side of my table,” I informed him through my laughter.
He snorted and started laughing as hard as I was. Only now he was almost upside down.
“Get off of the table, Nate. I can’t stop laughing with you dangling like that.”
He slid forward, head first, and somersaulted into a prone position, his feet hitting the floor with a thud next to my head.
We laid there for a few minutes while we settled down, then I twisted to my side and sat up. “Come on, Nate,” I said, punching his leg. “Potty break.”
“Good idea.” He rolled to his stomach and came up on his knees, extending a hand to me. He pulled me up as he stood, both of us only swaying a little, and we were still laughing intermittently as we walked together to the bathrooms.
When I returned, feeling a little more sober, the empties had all been moved to the counter and there was a fresh beer and another shot on my side of the table.
“Holy cow. Are you trying to kill me?”
“You’ll live.” He lifted his shot glass. “Round two.”
We both swallowed our shots and mine seemed to go down a little easier this time. I barely choked at all.
“Now where did I leave off?” Nate asked.
I leaned forward and shouted, “BOOM!”
I giggled as Nate fell back in slow motion, jerking his body and blowing explosion-like sounds out from puffed cheeks until he settled, sprawled against the back of the chair, eyes closed, feigning death.
“Nate! Stop. We have to get serious. I don’t think we have much time left before one or both of us passes out.”
He straightened languidly out of his sprawl and leaned forward with his arms crossed on the table in front of him. “You’re right. And my money’s on you.”
Isn't It Time Page 21