Kyle rolled his eyes. “I called the landlord, but the repair guy can’t get here until Saturday.”
It was currently Thursday. Grayson rubbed his eyes. He’d lived here long enough to know that “the repair guy” was just the landlord’s son who, yes, was pretty handy but was likely no expert in appliance repair. So the apartment would likely be without a functioning refrigerator at least until Saturday, but probably longer, since the landlord’s son would need some time to figure out that he didn’t know how to fix it and call someone else in.
“Okay. That’s terrible,” said Grayson. Although it was probably inevitable. The refrigerator was hardly state-of-the-art and looked like it had been purchased sometime in the nineties. Working on the show had given Grayson a crash course in refrigerator models, so he knew that they didn’t exactly last forever, and this was a cheap one the landlord hadn’t bothered to replace through several rotations of tenants.
“I want Kyle to go to the store and buy a cooler and some ice so we can at least keep some of our food from spoiling, but he won’t move,” said Jenny.
“I have to leave for work in like an hour and I’m not even dressed yet because I’ve been talking to you about the damned fridge all morning. Why can’t you go?”
“I have a paper due tomorrow!”
“I’ll go,” Grayson volunteered. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do until Nolan got home.
Kyle and Jenny both turned to stare at him. “What?” said Jenny.
“I’ll go buy a cooler and some ice. They probably sell them at that hardware store on Flatbush, right?”
“Oh. You don’t have to do that, man,” said Kyle. “You hardly have anything in the fridge, since you’re never here anymore.”
That was true. The only things of Grayson’s in the fridge were takeout leftovers. He’d had to explain to his roommates that he was suddenly home so much because his boyfriend was out of town. Neither of them seemed even remotely put out that he’d been gone a lot lately, since he made sure he got them the rent on time. They were friendly with each other but not close friends, and Grayson figured they were happy to have one less person competing for the bathroom in the morning.
“I really don’t mind going,” Grayson said. “I don’t have anything else going on today.”
And that was that. Later that afternoon, after he’d filled a chest-sized cooler with ice and helped Jenny wedge perishables like milk and eggs into it, he went into the living room and figured he’d see if anything interesting was on TV.
He’d designed this space. The couch was “vintage” in that he’d found it at a thrift store, but it was in really good shape. He’d found a purple tweed fabric at a discount store and borrowed Jenny’s sewing machine to make a slip cover for it, because the original pattern on the sofa was gray and kind of boring. He’d picked the coffee table up at a stoop sale—Brooklyn’s answer to yard sales—and it had seen better days. The blanket he snuggled under now was a throw crocheted by a friend he’d stayed with during his couch-surfing days, the curtains cheap ones he’d bought at a big-box store, the rug was Jenny’s, and the TV stand was Kyle’s. But he’d been the one to make sure everything in the room worked. He liked this space, mostly because he felt good about the time and energy he’d put into it, but he could see where it was fraying too. One wall had a crack in it that didn’t bode particularly well for the building’s structural integrity—another thing he knew a lot more about now that he’d renovated four houses. The ancient hardwood floors were scarred and stained. Still, none of that really bothered him because, before Nolan, this space had beenhis.
And yet now the apartment felt foreign. This place had never really been home. It was a temporary stopover on his way to the next thing. He certainly didn’t intend to live with Kyle and Jenny for the rest of his life.
But Nolan’s apartment was different. Grayson hadn’t been staying there while Nolan was out of town, but he’d spent plenty of time in it setting up the nursery. Putting together the crib had ended up being a huge undertaking, and he’d had to call Danny in to help him. He and Danny had spent most of an afternoon assembling the rest of the furniture. There was a dresser that had come already mostly assembled, but it had a removable tray that fit over the top that got a bit tricky. Inside, they’d put a thick pad so that the dresser doubled as a changing table. There was also a little bookcase with the same dark wood finish as the crib and the dresser.
“What else do babies need?” Grayson had asked Danny.
“Beats me. Let me call my mother.”
After that, Grayson had gone to a baby store and picked out a rocking chair that matched the other furniture and had it delivered. He also enlisted Danny to help him carry the many bags of stuff Danny’s mom had recommended—diapers and bedding and pacifiers and bottles and so many other things, Grayson had started to wonder how such a small person could need so much stuff—and they found places for all of it in Nolan’s apartment. The day after that, Grayson had gone back to the baby store and picked out some little outfits for Rachel. After all, he couldn’t have the kid going naked, could he? But somehow he didn’t think clothing would be an issue. The photos Nolan had been texting him several times a day indicated that Nolan had also gone a little over-the-top picking up outfits for her in LA, because she was wearing something different in every photo.
But now everything was set up and structurally sound, thanks mostly to Danny, and Grayson had even stretched his design skills a little in picking out linens that complemented each other and finding a stuffed bunny—it was so cute it had made him cry in the store—that he’d put on the dresser.
He flipped channels on the old TV in his living room. When he found an episode ofDomestic Do-Overon the Restoration Channel, he felt a little giddy at seeing Travis, since he now knew Travis in person. He really enjoyed the dynamic between Travis and Brandon, who always fought like they’d rather be fucking. They were having a seemingly mundane argument about wainscoting in this episode that made Grayson laugh.
Then there was a commercial break, and suddenly Grayson’s own face was on screen.
“Coming this summer to the Restoration Channel is an all-new interior design series featuring designer to the stars Nolan Hamlin….” The voiceover paused while several shots of Nolan looking intense while he made various design decisions played in quick succession. “And up-and-coming designer Grayson Woods….” Now there was a pause to show Grayson karate chopping a pillow and then asking Nolan’s opinion about something in the Roberts house. “…take on some of the worst houses.” Clips of the Robertses and the Cruzes pleading with the camera for someone to help save their houses now played. This was followed by a clip of workers putting up drywall in fast-forward motion, Nolan and Grayson carrying a very heavy sofa into the Cruz house, and a few more rapid-fire clips of Nolan adjusting books and knickknacks on shelves. Then the voiceover said, “WatchResidential RehabThursday nights this summer on the Restoration Channel or the Restoration Channel app.”
Well, that was pretty fucking surreal.
Seeing the promo for the show made it feel real in a way it hadn’t to this point. Grayson was starring on a TV show. His name was being splashed all over the Restoration Channel’s advertising. And they hadn’t even recorded their episode intros or voiceovers yet.
Seeing Nolan on TV made Grayson miss him acutely. And it made Grayson realize that he didn’t belong in this crumbling old building in Brooklyn anymore. He belonged in Nolan’s loft—with Nolan. This apartment had served him well for the two years he’d lived here, but he wasn’t at this point in his life anymore.
And, sure, he was twenty-five, and maybe normal twenty-five-year-olds were totally fine with Grayson’s pre-Nolan life of roommates and nights out and random hookups and being drunk on the streets of Manhattan or Brooklyn until the wee hours of the morning—and Grayson had certainly enjoyed that life—but he also longed for the home and family he’d never had. And if he had to choose, home and family would win every time.
But it would be presumptuous of him to move himself into Nolan’s apartment. And Nolan’s life had just changed dramatically. Grayson hoped beyond anything that he could stay a part of that life, but still, whatever happened, he knew he needed to leave this one behind.
GETTING RACHELand all of Nolan’s stuff into his apartment was a unique challenge. The building had an elevator, so he tipped the cabbie who’d picked him up at the airport to carry the suitcase he’d bought in LA—filled now with all of Rachel’s things—while he carried the car seat with the baby in one hand and his carry-on in the other. Once he was in the elevator, he tipped the cabbie again and then rode up to his floor. He picked up Rachel and the carry-on suitcase and then kind of kicked the other suitcase down the hall to his apartment door.
But he was inside now.
