“We’re home, Rachel,” he told the baby.
The first thing Nolan noticed was that no one was home. But Grayson clearly had been there while Nolan was gone—Grayson’s leather jacket was draped over one arm of the sofa, and a pair of his sneakers had been left near the door. Nolan found that comforting in a strange way. Perhaps he’d grown to like having Grayson in this space. He’d certainly missed the guy while he’d been out of town.
He put the car seat down and took Rachel out. She made cute little gurgle noises while he carried her over to investigate whether Grayson had set up the crib. The screen he’d bought to section off the baby’s “room” was up, so Nolan couldn’t see it from the front door.
But then he peeked behind the screen and was genuinely surprised.
The crib was set up and placed against the wall. It was flanked by a dresser on one side and a bookcase on the other. Grayson had made up the bed with a sheet with little bunnies on it. He’d put a matching cover on the changing table pad and a plush bunny with a big pink bow on the changing table. The bookcase was mostly empty but had a couple of children’s books on it. Opposite the crib was a rocking chair that Grayson must have bought, though it matched the rest of the furniture. A pink throw pillow leaned against the back of it.
Rachel started to fuss, and Nolan quickly discovered she needed her diaper changed. He put her on the changing table and on a hunch opened the top drawer. Half of it was filled with packages of newborn diapers. The other half had some neatly folded baby clothes.
Once Rachel had a clean diaper, Nolan carried her over to the kitchen. The bottle warmer he’d ordered was set up and sitting on the counter. Nolan opened the cabinet above it and saw that Grayson had moved some glasses around to make room for a half-dozen bottles. There were two pacifiers there too.
Nolan was so touched he nearly cried again, but apparently he was tapped out after the past two weeks. Still, he couldn’t believe how much work Grayson had done here. All Nolan had asked him to do was set up the crib. Grayson had done so much more than what Nolan had expected, and Nolan was genuinely touched by the gesture.
This wasn’t just a nice thing, though. Grayson had done all this because he truly cared for Nolan.
A half hour later, Rachel was fed and asleep in her new crib, so Nolan called Grayson and told him to come over.
“I’ll be there with bells on,” said Grayson.
“Well, not bells. The baby’s sleeping.”
Grayson laughed. “Right, of course.”
Grayson arrived an hour later. Rachel still hadn’t woken up, but when Nolan heard Grayson’s key in the door, he immediately hopped up and ran over to hug Grayson.
“What you did, this is really incredible,” Nolan said.
Grayson hugged him back. “I didn’t want you to have to worry about anything when you came home.”
“Still, you didn’t have to go to all the trouble. I mean, the clothes, the rocking chair….”
“I wanted to.”
The way Grayson said it made it sound like it was no big deal, but to Nolan, it truly was.
He was in love with Grayson. He couldn’t believe he’d let this sweet, caring man under his skin, but he had. It was hard to take his arms away now. He never wanted to let go.
“I missed you so much,” Nolan said.
“Oh God, me too.”
“I was surprised when you weren’t here when I got home.”
Grayson sighed and pulled away. “It felt a little weird to sleep here without you. So I was here a lot during the day setting all this up, but I went back to my apartment at night. And believe me, it’s been a trial. The fridge broke yesterday, and my roommates have been fighting, and ugh….”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Rachel woke up then and started to fuss.
“That’s her!” Grayson said. “Can I meet her?”
“Of course. Come on.”
Nolan led Grayson over to the crib. He scooped up Rachel and showed her to Grayson. She immediately stopped crying and stared at him.
“She’s so adorable,” Grayson said. “Can I hold her?”
