Mandy peeked around Vincent’s side as he pushed the door open to their new house. “Oh, look! It’s a big bunch of roses, Dad!”

A look of perplexed curiosity filled Vincent’s face, and it quickly turned to startled shock when Mandy bent over to pick up a card tucked under the edge of the vase. He shut the door behind him while he watched her read whatever message the card contained.

It says, “Love, Andrew, Dad. Isn’t that Mr. McCall?”

Vincent stepped up beside her and bent down to look at the card. That wasn’t all that it said. Andrew also wrote, “Beautiful roses for a beautiful man.”

Mandy handed him the card and lowered her face to sniff at the bouquet. She said, “They are really pretty, and they smell so good. Just like the roses you used to buy for Mom…”

The sentence hung in the air while Vincent tried to stop his hand from shaking. He said, “Yes, that’s Mr. McCall.” Then he mumbled something about the roses being a thank you for the house project. Mandy glanced at him. He knew that she wasn’t completely buying that explanation, but he couldn’t read what was on her mind either.

Mandy broke the eye contact and bounded off toward the kitchen. She exclaimed, “Wow, the wall is gone! It looks so much better without it, Dad. Just like in the best restaurants, people sitting at the table will be able to see what’s going on in the kitchen.”

Vincent stuffed the card in his pocket and followed Mandy. He pointed at a pipe and said, “They are going to move this and the electrical connections so the space is completely open.”

Mandy said, “Oh, I figured that out. I saw them do stuff like that on TV. Can I go downstairs and look at my bedroom?”

“Sure, go on down. I’ll be right there.” Vincent leaned against the kitchen counter. He was nervous, and his breathing was shallow. He didn’t plan to have his relationship with Andrew revealed completely out of the blue, but he didn’t tell Andrew that he was bringing Mandy to the house. He remembered mentioning that she was hanging out with a friend, but he didn’t say he was dropping her off at 10:30.

Mandy shouted, “A huge closet, Dad! I didn’t know they were making this bigger.”

Vincent shuffled his way down the stairs and joined Mandy in the room that would be her bedroom. Only the framing was present for the new closet space, but it would give Mandy a walk-in that would make most adult women envious. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Mandy said, “I can pull all sorts of stuff in here, Dad. Are they going to repaint the room?”

“I think they will need to repaint. They have to put brand new drywall up for the closet wall. What color would you like to see?”

“Anything but pink or purple,” said Mandy. “I think all of my friends have either pink or purple bedrooms. I want to be a little different. Maybe ocean blue?”

“I’ll let Andrew know,” said Vincent. “Or maybe you can let him know yourself.”

“When we go shopping?” asked Mandy.

“Sounds like a perfect time to me.”

Vincent’s stomach was tied in knots. As she climbed out of the car at her friend Rachel’s house, Mandy said, “It sounds like he really likes you, Dad.”

He didn’t respond to the comment and instead hugged her tight and said, “I’ll be back at 3:00. Say hello to Rachel’s parents for me. I hope to see them again sometime soon. Maybe they will be at one of the summer concerts by the lake again.”

---

Andrew arrived at the cafe for lunch ahead of Vincent. He was sitting by one of the plate glass windows looking out on the street. He looked completely relaxed and happy. Andrew noticed Vincent crossing the street and waved.

Now, what had seemed so simple and fun with Andrew just days ago was suddenly complicated and confusing. Vincent weakly waved back at Andrew when he reached the curb at the edge of the street.

The bell at the top of the door jingled when Vincent stepped inside. He winced. He was suddenly aware of feeling conspicuous in the world. He wanted to be anonymous. He wanted his personal life with Andrew to proceed without the awareness of others and without disrupting anyone else’s life.

Andrew stood and reached out for a hug. As he wrapped his arms around Vincent, he said, “This is a great place! I don’t know how I’ve missed it. They’ve got a whole case full of pastries that make my mouth water. I ordered a little cheese plate for us to get things started.” Then he said, “You feel a little tense, Vincent. Is something wrong?”

Vincent stared into Andrew’s warm, welcoming brown eyes and said, “We’ve got problems. Not between you and me. It’s problems with the entire rest of the world. Mandy saw your card.”

Andrew’s forehead wrinkled. He pulled aside a chair and sat down. “Mandy? Your daughter? I thought she was spending the day at a friend’s house.”

“She is, but it was mostly over lunchtime. I didn’t drop her off until 10:30. She came with me to look at the house.”

To hold on to the lighter mood, Andrew said, “I guess she was going to find out sooner or later unless you kicked me to the curb. What does she think?”

Vincent sighed heavily. He said, “I wanted her to know you better, and I wanted us to date a little longer before I said anything. I thought it would be good for the two of you to be friends or at least enjoy some work together on the house.”

Andrew nodded and said, “Yes, I understand all of that, but I guess things don’t always turn out the way we expected. I certainly didn’t expect to have a client like you.” He asked again, “What did she think?”

Vincent pushed the question aside one more time and said, “It can be really hard on kids if their single parent dates someone, they meet the person, and then the adults break up and an adult the child possibly liked suddenly disappears. That’s what my counselor said at least. It’s good to be a lot more sure of things before the date becomes an important person in the kid’s life.”

Closing his lips tight, Andrew stared back at Vincent. The silence was almost deafening. Vincent counted to ten in his head before Andrew spoke again. Andrew said, “Look, this isn’t just impacting your life. It is causing a few disruptions for me, too, but I think you’re worth it. Do you think I’m worth the little problem from this morning?”

Vincent began to speak saying, “I hope…” Then he bit his lip. He continued, “Yes, I do think you are, but this is so new to me. Mandy is the most important thing in the world to me, and she has been through so much. The last thing I want is to put her through things that are even harder.”

“Unless they make her life even better in the long run…” suggested Andrew.

“Well, yeah,” said Vincent. “How am I supposed to know how to deal with this?” He pulled his hands up on the table and laced his fingers together. His stomach was still tied in knots, and he could sense the tension spreading across the table to Andrew.

Andrew asked, “How would you deal with it if I was a woman?

“Probably about the same. Honestly, I’m not sure that would be any easier. Then it could look like I was trying to replace Dana with another woman. At least she might see you as different enough…”

“Are you trying to replace Dana?” asked Andrew. “I sort of think I’m a pretty poor replacement for her. I like just being me. I want to be an addition to your life. I don’t want to replace anyone or anything.”

Vincent could see the sincerity in Andrew’s eyes. Andrew liked to joke around so much that sometimes Vincent wasn’t completely sure when he was serious. This time he was serious. Vincent said, “No one can replace Dana. She will always be Mandy’s mom, and she will always stay right here in me.” He tightened up a fist and held it close to his chest.

“Do you have room for me?” asked Andrew.

“I have a lot of room for you in here, too,” said Vincent, and he began to smile.

“Do you think Mandy would have room for me?”

“I hope so,” said Vincent, “but she has to figure that out for herself. I’m not going to push it too fast.”

Andrew suddenly lightened the mood when he said, “Well, now that we have that settled maybe you can help me knock Doug and Jeffrey’s heads together. I get their point, but I hope we’re not just three long-in-the-tooth bachelors forever. They need to make room for you and Mandy in my life.”

Vincent shook his head and thought about Vicki. He said, “So they aren’t so happy about the afternoons anymore?”

“I think that’s an understatement,” said Andrew. “They are turning into bitchy little queens about it.” Then he waved a hand and said, “Okay, I’m a little dramatic about it. They do have a point, and I would probably feel the same way, but I do wish they could give me a bit of a break. I love them both, but they can be just as annoying as brothers.”

Vincent said, “My secretary Vicki has started asking questions, too. She’s a little subtle, but the message is clear.”

A server stepped up to the table asking about Vincent’s drink order. Andrew said, “I think he would like iced tea, too.” Andrew looked across the table at Vincent for verification.

Vincent loved how Andrew took the initiative. It was a familiar role to Vincent, and he was enjoying settling in and letting someone else assume the role for a change. He nodded in confirmation of the iced tea order.

When the server exited the table, Andrew said, “Jeffrey and Doug recommended that we move our gathering times to evenings and weekends like everybody else. I hate being like everybody else. I’ve never been like everybody else.”

Vincent smiled and reached a hand across the table. He said, “Maybe for once, just on this, you can try and embrace it. Evenings and weekends won’t be easy for my schedule, but I think we can work something out.”