“You’re probably right. I mean, you’re obviously right, I’m just bitter because you didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear.”
“Yeah, I’m not known for doing that.” She nudged him under the table. “It’ll work out or it won’t. It’s not going to break you. Two years ago you didn’t know if you’d ever get over Marty. You can handle this.”
Nate exhaled. That was a fair enough comment. He tilted his beer glass at her to accept it.
“And as for the show….” Ah, here it was. “I wanted to talk to you about that. Or, actually Kelly wanted me to talk to you about that. Or, shedidn’twant me to talk to you about that—”
Nate nudged her back. “Caley. Take a breath.”
“Right. Okay.” She sat up straighter and looked him in the eye. “Kelly got an offer from another network. One of their MLB commentators was scheduled to retire after the coming season, but he took a spill on the golf course and broke both his kneecaps.”
Kelly had two Olympic softball medals, so that sounded like a dream assignment for her. “Wow. That’s awesome.”
“That’s what I said.” The server dropped off their usual order of poutine, and Caley dove in and gestured with a forkful of cheesy fries. “I think she’s a little worried about what you’ll say.”
“She shouldn’t be. First of all, it’s business, not personal. Second of all, of course I’m happy for her.” He thought that might be the end of it, but Caley’s body language said there was more she wasn’t telling him. “Caley, what’s going on? You’re being weird.”
“I’m not being weird,” she protested. “Just, I had something on my mind I wanted to talk to you about, and I was kind of banking on Thanksgiving small talk as a lead-in. Only that didn’t happen, and now I’m trying to figure out how to circle back without a huge non sequitur.”
Nate quirked up a corner of his mouth. “How was your Thanksgiving, Caley?”
“Kelly and I are having a baby.” The words came out in a tumble, full of so much love and enthusiasm Nate didn’t have to ask how she felt about it. “I’m due in May.”
“Oh my God! Congratulations.” That explained why she’d ordered the fluffy pink thing instead of a beer. They both stood up so they could hug.
Caley flung her arms around his neck and squeezed. “Thank you so much for introducing us,” she whispered fiercely. “I’m—you know I love Carter like he’s my own, but we wanted a bigger family, and I just… I guess it was the right time.”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m so happy for you both. For all three of you,” he corrected.
She pulled away and took his hands in hers. “I’m glad to hear that, because we have a tiny request.”
“Of course.” They sat back down, and Nate grabbed a forkful of fries. “Shoot.”
“We want you to be the godfather.”
“AUBREY, COMEon in.”
He stuck his phone in his back pocket and followed his therapist into her office, fighting the urge to fidget. “Thanks for squeezing me in. I know it was last-minute, and with the holiday….”
Theresa raised an eyebrow that said a lot about how well she knew him. “And with the holiday, lots of people need emergency therapist appointments. That’s why I keep the Friday after Thanksgiving free.”Which you know because I’ve mentioned it before every major holidaywent unsaid.
Aubrey nodded distractedly and folded himself into the U-shaped armchair across from her desk. He normally sat on the couch because he liked to sprawl dramatically. Today he wanted something at his back.
He wanted a place to start talking too, but the situation seemed so big.
“I thought you were supposed to be in Hawaii this week?” Theresa said casually as she filled her water bottle from the cooler.
Well, there was his opening. “I was. A friend—”Fuck.He was paying for her time, and the whole point was to talk to someone. If he wasn’t honest, the whole thing was for nothing. “Nate asked if I could stay and pretend to be his boyfriend after his parents basically caught us having sex.”
Theresa didn’t react to that right away, which wasn’t unusual. It wasn’t her job to react to things. Instead she finished filling her bottle and walked back to her desk, where she sat with her feet up. “I see.”Here it comes.“And how does that make you feel?”
Aubrey sighed and pointed to the jar at the corner of her desk. Theresa rolled her eyes, pulled her wallet from her desk drawer, and withdrew a dollar to throw into it. It was a first-offense-per-session penalty, and every month she donated the proceeds to children’s mental health initiatives. “It’s complicated.”
“The part where you’re sleeping with your colleague, the part where you’re lying to his parents, or the part where you pretend to be his boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
She offered a small smile at that, probably more for Aubrey than because it actually amused her. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? At our earlier sessions, you didn’t mention you and Nate have been sleeping together. When did that start?”
