"Crap," Hank said as he finished filling a mug with coffee. "Did I wake you up?"
"No," I said slowly. "The guys needed to pee."
Hank frowned before holding out the mug of coffee toward me. Okay, I really liked him. "And that meant you had to get up?" The side-eye he gave me was almost laughable.
"It was a whole thing," I told him. "No biggie."
"They didn't want to run into me on their own yet?" The flash of a real grin warmed his whole face, and I wanted to laugh. Still, I just gave a little shrug. Not waiting for my answer, he asked, "Where's the cat food?" My little heathens were all bouncing back and forth, rubbing against his legs as well as mine.
"Second cupboard," I said with a nod. "I can do it."
"I got it. You drink the coffee." He shot me a grin.
"If you were looking for a way to make nice with me," I told him as I took a sip of the coffee and he fed the cats. It was weirdly domestic. "You nailed it."
His laughter made me grin. "So coffee lover, check." Some of his humor sobered. "What about breakfast? Do you like bacon? Eggs? Or are you more cereal?" He had a mug of his own coffee and glanced around the kitchen.
"Um, I like all of it," I admitted. "I pretty much love food."
The corners of his mouth curved a little higher, but he hid the smile by taking another sip of coffee. "So, not a picky eater?" Curiosity inhabited the question. "I mean outside of the whole pineapple on your pizza thing."
"There's nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza," I countered, and he snorted. It was an inelegant sound, half-dismissive and half-scoffing, but it was also familiar.
"There's everything wrong with pineapple on pizza, but you're young and haven't been educated in proper pizza consumption, so I'm willing to cut you some slack."
It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Let me guess, people in Boston do it differently?"
He gave a little shrug. "Pineapple is a fruit. It shouldn't be on pizza."
"Tomatoes are a fruit," I pointed out. "But I bet you still want red sauce on your pizza."
"Touché." Saluting me with his coffee cup, he smiled a little wider before that expression faded. "I'm not making it weird, am I?"
"No," I said. "You're curious about me and I have a dozen questions about you, but I don't want to be rude."
"Please, God, be rude," he said almost begging as he set the coffee cup down. "Ask me whatever you want and I will..." He trailed off after he opened the fridge. "When was the last time you kids shopped?"
There was just the barest hesitance on that question and while I wasn't going to admit that Jeremy had been doing the shopping lately, I could admit, "We were going to go later today or tomorrow. It's just been a lot of events and family things—"
He closed the fridge and glanced at me. "It's okay to have family things with people that aren't me. We're still working on that part. Not that I plan on it being okay for long because… I want to be your dad, but I can settle for friend right now." Shifting gears, he took another swallow of coffee before he reached for his phone on the counter. "Tell you what, I'll go get breakfast for you kids. What time do we have to be ready by?"
"I still can't believe you came all this way for my graduation just because I called."
"That's why I came," he told me as he met my stare. "Because you should know parents will do anything for their kids." He hadn't asked me about Maddy and I hadn't said much, then again... "And I'm not going to ask about her. If you ever want to talk to me, I'll listen. Right now, I'm focusing on you. So, what would you like for breakfast or should I just go hit a grocery store and get the works?"
Standing, I chuckled. "Why don't I go with you or at least drive, since I know where stuff is, and we can go grab donuts."
"Donuts?" He frowned. "That's not really healthy."
"But they are tasty," I pointed out. "The little place around the corner makes the best apple fritters."
He continued to look at me skeptically, and I bit my lip. Okay, maybe it wasn't about the food.
"I'll grab some pants and we can go to the grocery store if you really want to cook. The guys..."
"They eat a lot, I figured," he told me and slid his phone into his pocket. "I'd like to make you breakfast. But we don't have to."
It pretty much killed all my reservations. "Five minutes."
I downed the coffee and headed back to the bedroom. All four of the guys had gone back to bed, mostly. Ian glanced up from his phone and raised his brows. "You good?"
"Hank wants to make breakfast." I didn't know what to do with that entirely, but at the same time I really wanted to know what it would be like. "And we need to go to the grocery store."
Sitting up and forward, he said, "Breathe. Do you want me to come with?"
"Yes," I admitted, but... "But he's really nice and I don't think it's totally fair to put a buffer between us. I mean he just fed the cats and he made coffee and he's really sweet. He said he came for graduation because I called. He came because I didn’t believe he'd come just for me."
I had a dad.
I had a dad I kind of wanted too.
It was so weird.
Rising, Ian cupped my face and then kissed me. He tasted like toothpaste, something I needed to do but at least the coffee would help kill the morning breath. Hopefully. "If you want support because you're still finding your footing and he's still a bit of a stranger, then that's perfectly fine. I'll get dressed and
