“Yes, we adopted her as an infant.”
“How does your current husband feel about that?”
Mike tilted his head. “Oh, he loves her like she’s his own and she thinks he hung the moon. She actually met him before I did. It’s a long story.” He looked wistfully into the distance. “I won’t lie and tell you it has all been fun and easy, but it’s good, you know.” He smiled. “My daughter is in college now. She still lives at home and commutes to a school in the city. So I’m clinging to her, but I know my days of having her underfoot are numbered.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
“They grow up fast. She was a toddler, then I blinked and she was a teenager.”
Grayson walked over to them. “Hi, sorry to interrupt. Mike, Julio asked for you.”
“Okay. We’re going to wrap for the day in about twenty minutes, so you guys don’t need to stick around unless you really want to. But Nolan, you have my phone number, right?”
“I do.”
“Call anytime.” He smiled and walked into the house.
“What was that about?” Grayson raised an eyebrow.
“Nothing. Well, it seems we’re kindred spirits of a sort. But not in a way you need to be jealous of. He’s married.”
“Yeah, I saw the ring. But that doesn’t mean—”
“He seems to love his husband. We just understand each other. Beginning of a beautiful friendship and all that. Come on, let’s go.”
“His husband?”
Nolan started to walk to the car. “Come on, Gray.”
THEY WEREapproaching the Holland Tunnel when Grayson decided he had to know what Nolan and Mike had talked about.
Grayson had spotted them having an intense conversation, and Nolan had looked troubled by it. Grayson hadn’t wanted to interrupt, so he’d busied himself with grabbing something from the craft services table, but then Mike’s assistant Julio had flagged him down and asked him to fetch Mike, providing him with the perfect excuse to find out what was up.
It wasn’t any of Grayson’s business, which was why he hadn’t asked right away, but the more they drove, the more curiosity got the better of him.
“You look like you’re about to burst,” said Nolan as they slowed down at the toll plaza that led into the tunnel.
“Okay, I do—and I don’t—want to know what you and Mike talked about. You can tell me or not, but I am curious. There.”
Nolan chuckled. “Well, if you must know, Mike was just offering to be a friendly ear. He told me that his first husband was a cop who was killed in the line of duty, so he understood what I’ve been going through since Ricky died. He’s married again, and he’s happy. But he just wanted to offer to listen if I ever needed someone to talk to about Ricky, that was all.”
“Oh my God.” Grayson pressed a hand over his mouth. Of all the things Nolan could have said, that was the last thing Grayson expected.
“And we did talk for a few minutes, and it did help some.”
“You know that I can listen if you—”
“Yes, I know you’re willing to hear me, but it’s different talking to someone who has been through the same experience you have and come out the other side. He fell in love and got married a second time. I found that reassuring.”
“So, we don’t have to put you out to pasture just yet,” said Grayson, although now he felt a little guilty for being so curious. He felt even more guilty that Nolan had called him on his jealousy back at the house. It wasn’t that Grayson was worried about Mike hitting on Nolan—that wasn’t even what the conversation looked like—but,okay, the thought had entered his mind.
Nolan maneuvered around a car that seemed to be idling in the middle of a lane. The Restoration Channel cars all had EZ Pass installed, so at least they didn’t have to go through one of the manned lanes.
Once they were in the tunnel, Nolan said, “Mike said he keeps photos of his first husband around the house, and his new husband is comfortable with it.”
“Yeah?” Grayson turned that over. “You don’t have photos of Ricky up in your loft. I hope it’s not on my account.”
“No. I just… I wasn’t ready.”
