Page 16 of Yours


Font Size:

She sighed. “Oh, that’s right. I’ll remind him. Just talk to him soon. He’s curious about how you’re doing and hates second-hand information.”

It was a constant game of one-upmanship between the two of them. It brought back the memories from the summer I’d come out. My mother had figured it out first and my dad had pouted for a month. Some kids had problems with their families never accepting them. I’d had a jealous dad.

“He’s been so busy on that new book; I hate to interrupt him.” He got so drawn into the epic fantasies he wrote that pulling him back to real life could be hard some days.

“He’s at the editing phase and is desperate for more interruptions.”

Laughing, I started straightening up the bedroom to kill time. “That’s the real reason you’re at the store, isn’t it?”

She sighed. “Yes, he’s driving me crazy. I can’t wait for this to be done. I’ve heard more about elves and things with this world than I ever wanted to. Why can’t he write romance?”

“Because every time he did something romantic, you ended up with another kid. Can you imagine how many of us there would be if he wrote dirty books?” As kids we’d joked that each time he finished a book, she’d ended up pregnant again.

“Oh, good point. Okay, I have to go. Walmart is like a black hole and I get no service.” I could already hear the distraction in her voice as she thought about her list.

“Have fun. I’m heading out soon anyway.”

“Have fun too, but don’t make things harder on those boys.”

I wasn’t going to be the one making things harder; they were doing that very neatly to themselves.

****

It was either going to be the quietest date ever or the most fabulous—it all depended on if my sexy guys were actually willing to talk. Judging by the texts they’d sent, that was still up for debate. How two such similar guys could be great friends but not see the similarities that had probably brought them together to begin with was beyond me. Once they started to talk, I knew they’d see it, but I wasn’t going to hold my breath waiting for them to make the first step.

They were just lucky I was the take-charge type.

As I walked up to the table and watched them awkwardly waiting for me, I knew they still hadn’t talked about the most pressing issue. The little glances they kept sending to each other would have made it clear they’d talked about the dating part even if they hadn’t both confessed it in separate texts.

They were pretty open and honest when it came to telling me the things they liked and wanted. Sure, sometimes there were long pauses and they ended up changing the subject, but that just made it even more clear when I’d hit something we needed to talk about.

I’d just hoped that they’d continue the honesty when we were face to face. That was harder than having the anonymity of a text message. If not, I would still count myself lucky that all we had to do was text to talk something out. My mother had needed to learn to sign. I was confident I was coming out ahead when it came to communication issues.

Glancing around the restaurant, I saw it was a lot more packed than I’d expected. I’d wanted to go somewhere so we couldn’t get carried away flirting, but as I weaved my way through the crowded tables, I started to question that decision. It’d show them that I wanted a real date, not just find any excuse for us to jump into bed, but next time we went out, it would be someplace with more privacy.

“Hi.” They stood as I approached the table. I gave Scott a hug and then walked around to give a matching one to Ryan. “I hope I’m not late.”

I’d expected to be the first one there, but when I’d walked in, I’d seen them from across the room. Ryan grinned and nodded toward a blushing Scott. “He was afraid we’d be late.”

They were so cute.

“Late or early, I’m just glad you’re here.” They’d never talked about backing out, but as the week had gone by, I had a pretty good feeling they’d both considered it. I hadn’t been sure if it was the curiosity about each other that had kept them going or the temptation of being able to submit that had more pull.

They weren’t sure what to say to that. Scott mumbled a quiet “thanks” but his blush flared back to life and Ryan took a drink of his water. Not bothering to hide my smile—because how could I, they were too cute—I sat down across from them.

A rectangular four-seater table in the middle of the room wasn’t quite what I’d pictured when I’d envisioned our date, but it would work. There was a menu on the table in front of me already, so I glanced back at them as I sat. “Do you already know what you want?”

Ryan nodded but Scott gave me a half-shrug that could have meant anything fromI have no ideatomy stomach is turning like a tornado so I might not eat.

“Well, it’s been a while since I’ve eaten here, but I remember the steak being good.” The Italian grill restaurant had some Italian staples, but they also had a variety of other things that made it a good date restaurant.

Which was why it was packed on a Friday night. I was agenius.

“That sounds good.” Scott relaxed a bit more and focused on the menu. “There were too many options.”

“I can understand that. Sometimes it helps if someone narrows down the options or gives boundaries before you have to make a decision.”

And they both froze.