“We live a complicated life,” he explained.
“I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to… I brought wine.” It wasn’t like him to trip over his words, but Nate smelled so good, if a little smoky, and Luka was staring up at him expectantly. “And this is for you.” He passed the tub of ice-cream to Luka.
“All for me?” Luka asked with wide eyes.
“Yeah.”
“I’mma getting a spoon,” he announced, but Nate beat him too it, grabbing the tub and holding it high and out of Luka’s reach.
“After dinner,” he announced with a secret smile.
“But you burned dinner,” Luka whined.
“I did not burn it, as I said, it’s just a little crispy and I got rid of the bit that was uhmm… too crispy.”
“Burned,” Luka muttered under his breath, then headed through another door and into a wide open living space.
“Make yourself at home and I’ll get a glass.” He gestured with the wine.
Jared didn’t follow him out of the main room, he hadn’t been asked to... Maybe Nate didn’t want to share the origin of the burning incident. So, Jared stayed where he was and Luka immediately started giving him a guided tour, which consisted of him pointing out the sofa, the window, the TV, and his room. As he was tugged around he noticed just how many photos were on display—they were everywhere, cataloguing every single stage of Luka’s life from baby to what seemed like recent shots, and in the corner, right by the door to Luka’s bedroom, there was a photo of Nate, his arms around a heavily pregnant woman.
“That’s my mom. She was called Rhea, like the bar,” Luka said.
“I remember your dad said that. You look a lot like her,” Jared observed, and he wasn’t lying. Even though Luka was a mini-Nate in a lot of ways, he could see Rhea’s beautiful smile in Luka.
“She was very pretty.”
“She was beautiful.”
“She was,” Nate said from behind them, and Jared turned to face him, feeling guilty for having been staring at Rhea. “She had a beautiful soul, and we miss her.”
Jared examined Nate’s expression, a hazard of his studies, and yes he saw grief, but he also saw pride. He wanted to say something profound, but he didn’t get the chance because Nate smiled at him and offered a glass.
“Nice wine,” he murmured and took a sip. “I don’t get to drink much wine, just a ton of spirits.” He shook his head. “I sound like an alcoholic.”
“I knew what you meant.”
“I need to write about chickens,” Luka announced, “can I go finish my homework?” He blinked at his dad so innocently, but Jared got the feeling that he was just giving his dad alone time to be with his new friend. He bet it never occurred to Luka that Jared wanted to kiss Nate though, or be more than friends. Maybe even boyfriends? That was a bridge they would cross when they got to it—if he and Nate got to it.
“Hang on bud, you’re voluntarily going to do homework?” Nate touched Luka’s forehead. “Are you feeling okay?”
If looks could kill, then Nate would’ve been on the floor, not breathing, but when Luka flounced off with a muttered something or other Nate was grinning, and the love for his son was front and center.
“So, how’s the bar?” Jared began the one conversation he knew would carry on and maybe lead into other things, because he couldn’t think of anything else.
“The suppliers liked the report and they put me up a level in approved discounts.”
“That’s cool.”
“And college?” It was Nate’s turn to cover the basics.
“Too much studying, too much debt,” Jared quipped.
Then they stared at each other, and Jared considered what it would be like to step into Nate’s space and kiss him. For the longest moment he wondered if maybe Nate was thinking the same thing, and then he cleared his throat and went through the door to the kitchen.
“Hungry?” he asked over his shoulder, and Jared followed him, not into a scene of chaos with burned lasagna and dishes everywhere, but to an oasis of calm. “Sorry about the table, it was Luka’s idea, and he’s already eaten a whole pile of what he calls burned lasagna, so it’s just us.”
Jared hadn’t even noticed the tiny table tucked into the corner, laid with placemats and hand-drawn name plates, and in the center a vase filled with paper flowers, but now he’d seen it he couldn’t un-see it.
Because to him it was as if Luka had set it for a romantic dinner.
So maybe Jared didn’t need to worry about what Luka thought about him kissing Nate at all.
Chapter Ten
What’s with this setup?
Nate sipped his wine, eying the small bunch of paper roses Luka had tricked him into making with him earlier that afternoon.
“I want to give them as a present to Lee,” Luka had said.
When Luka had asked for a vase, Nate had thought nothing of it. It wasn’t until he’d walked into the kitchen and found Luka fussing over the table settings that he pointed out the lie. In response, Luka had calmly said he hadn’t lied. He would give them to Lee tomorrow, but they could be used as way of a table decoration in the meantime.
He glanced at Jared opposite him. It was the two of them.
Why is it only the two of us?
The scene was too intimate. Too much just Jared and him. Alone. Together. This wasn’t the plan. Luka had been talking about Jared and dinner on and off all weekend and now Jared was here, Luka had dipped. Without a single prompt from Nate, he had taken himself away to finish homework that wasn’t due until the end of the week.
What was that about?
The meal was supposed to be for the three of them— Luka, him and Jared. A family dinner. A friends
