fuck you very much mr. Hathaway
He had just come in from a run when the phone buzzed in the holder on Adam’s arm. He was struck by a sense of déjà vu as he found a text and an attached picture from Kyle. In the picture, Kyle was pointing out a new purplish bruise on his neck. Warmth spread inside Adam as he read the text and stared at the picture, before he texted back: It looks good on you.
Kyle’s reply was accompanied by a number of grumpy-looking emojis.
yeah well next time go easy
it’s going to be harder to hide this one from my dad
you and your mouth are a menace.
There hadn’t been any complaints about Adam’s mouth last night.
The hot water prickled over his skin in the shower, making everything hypersensitive. He took a deep breath. It felt like the first good breath he’d taken in a long time. The water trailed down his body, and Adam closed his eyes. He floated on the sensation, and the memories of Kyle’s hands and mouth, the heat and weight of the other man’s body over him.
There were no new messages on his phone when he got out of the shower. He felt a stab of disappointment, followed by a flash of derision that he should be disappointed. Adam went to get dressed, but as he pulled clean pants on, he heard the whisper of Kyle’s voice in his ear.
“Use your words.”
He could picture Kyle’s soft smile, which made him think of Kyle’s mouth and those long fingers that needed to touch every inch of Adam’s body, inside and out. The memory made him shiver, and he started typing, willing his nerves to keep it together.
I want to see you again.
There. Words. His words. Short and to the point.
His first stop was the café. After Kyle hijacked Adam’s phone, Rebecca had been remarkably silent. She had probably been nervous to interrupt them any further. Adam appreciated the optimism that had led her to believe that this late into the morning was still not safe to call or text, but that would only last so much longer. Eventually, she would want all the details, and she would be relentless. She would use guilt and bargaining and hot meals to try to get it out of him. Better to meet her head-on, in his own time.
He was disappointed as he walked into the shop and she wasn’t immediately visible. There was a small army of staff working behind the counter, but none of them were Rebecca. Adam rolled his eyes as the tension uncoiled itself a little in his chest. It was silly, but he was relieved his sister hadn’t been watching for his car to pull up so she could pounce and interrogate him.
He ordered a coffee and a danish, and sat at an empty table near the counter. His phone buzzed on the table while he stirred cream into his mug. The text message was from Kyle and said me too.
The tension uncoiled another notch. He set his coffee down and started to thumb a reply: You could come.
“So.”
Adam’s hands jerked. Rebecca had Navy-SEALed her way up to his table without him noticing. Now she stood with her hands on her hips and an arch in her eyebrow that said coming into her territory without warning had been a bad idea.
Adam slipped his phone into his pocket, his reply to Kyle incomplete. “Good morning.” He hunched down, trying to appear small and uninteresting as Rebecca loomed over him. She slid into the seat across from him and clasped his hands. Adam felt the phone vibrate, but as his fingers twitched to dig it out, Rebecca’s hands pressed firmly, pinning him to the tabletop.
The phone buzzed again.
The silence stretched, but when he opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off with a short jerk of her chin before she resumed her staring contest. She continued for longer than was socially appropriate. Adam was trapped between her stare and the heat of his coffee. It was a relief, a few moments later, when she broke into the broadest smile. White teeth flashed, and her eyes sparkled as she sat back in her chair.
“You’re okay!”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “You thought I wasn’t?”
“I’m allowed to worry, aren’t I?”
“We do have a mother for stuff like that, you know.”
“She’s not here, and I am.”
Adam inclined his head in agreement, but held his tongue. It was better to only answer direct questions so Rebecca didn’t get swept away in planning his happy ending after only one date.
He took a sip of his coffee. He took a bite of his danish. He wiped crumbs off his chin.
Rebecca squirmed. It was very satisfying.
“So you . . .” Her head bobbed up and down like a nervous bird. “You’re not going to tell me anything?”
It had been a good idea, coming here, not giving her time to prepare her attack.
“I don’t kiss and tell,” he said.
“There was kissing?” Rebecca’s eyes got big. Adam cursed his carelessness. He’d been so busy being pleased with himself, he’d given her an in. He bought time with another mouthful of coffee.
“There was kissing,” he said. Rebecca wriggled in her seat. “But that was only . . .” he dropped his voice low so that she was forced to lean toward him to hear, like they were two conspirators in broad daylight, “foreplay, for the . . . what was Kyle’s word? Unspeakable? Unmentionable. His hands were certainly unmentionable . . .”
Rebecca snapped back like she’d been burnt, clapping her hands over her ears. “Stop!” A few people at neighboring tables turned to see what was going on, but Adam just chuckled and chewed on his pastry. He was enjoying this; it was so rare he got the upper hand with her. Rebecca’s eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest, but Adam wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of speaking first. Instead, he downed the rest of his coffee and waved at a woman across the café whose daughter had been in his class the year before.
Eventually, Rebecca stood, stepped around the table, and kissed his forehead. “We will never speak of this again.”
“Love you too.”
Back in his car, Adam checked his phone and found sixteen unread text messages. Surprisingly, or maybe not, they were all from Kyle. His half-finished message had sent itself, so that the conversation read:
Adam: I want to see you again.
Kyle: me too
Adam: You should come
Kyle: ?
i should come where?
hello?
is this thing on?
mr. Hathaway?
i should come where?
3 times last night didn’t count?
;)
I take that last one back
but not really
Bean and I are going to register for swimming lessons
For her, not me
I can swim
she can’t
Hence the lessons
i’ll stop now
Adam smiled. Serial texters usually irritated him, but he could hear Kyle’s breathless voice narrating the entire thing.
Sister ambush, he wrote. In fairness, he’d tried to be the ambusher for a change, instead of the ambushee. Either way, he was glad he’d gotten it over with. Kyle replied quickly.
do I need to call her again?
what should I tell her we’re doing?
Adam ran through a list of options. The idea of tormenting Rebecca more was still appealing, but she was unlikely to fall for it again. Despite that, he took a minute to imagine the hints that would drive her crazy, and then another minute to let those fantasies play out in his head. In the end he decided to let sleeping dogs lie.
Adam: What happened to swimming lessons?
Kyle: leaving soon.
waiting for the princess to pick the perfect princess hat
I can multitask.
I’m a mullet asker
*multi tasker
auto correct
she only has three hats. you’d think this would be a faster process
but you would be wrong
Adam grinned like an idiot.
He headed back to his apartment, but didn’t want to stay inside. He needed a distraction. The sense of new connection demanded action, but Adam was trying to pace himself.
He killed the morning running errands. He went to the grocery store and bought all four food groups for a change. He did laundry, and found himself at the community center in time for basketball. Ben, Ryan, and the rest of the guys were there as usual. There were seven of them in total, an odd number.
“What happened to Kyle?” Ryan asked. For a minute Adam thought Ryan had asked him and he froze.
Then Ben said, “He had some things to do with his daughter.”
“I’ll play with Ben and Neil,” Adam said. “You guys can try to keep up with us.”
The game was good. The activity helped to focus Adam. His body was tired from the late night before and he lagged a little toward the end, but he couldn’t be sorry. If any of the guys noticed, they didn’t say anything to him, besides the usual ribbing that went to the losing team. They played for an hour, and when they headed back to change, Adam was glad he had come out to play. Still, when he reached his locker, he checked his phone, and his heart sped up at the new text that was waiting.
Kyle: date #2. When?
He wrote back quickly: Tomorrow?
It was soon, the suggestion impulsive, but the school week was busy and waiting until the following week was too long to wait. There was no immediate reply, so he got changed and followed the rest of the guys out.
At Morrison’s, they followed their usual patterns. Ryan ordered hot wings he couldn’t stomach. Heartburn nachos for Ben and Neil. Greek salad with a side of jokes at his expense for Adam. Neil complained about his ex-wife who now wanted Neil to buy her half of the house.
“I envy you.” Neil looked across the foam of his beer at Adam. “Being single was the best time of my life. Stay that way as long as you can; women will break your heart and your bank account every time.”
Adam raised his eyebrows in reply but didn’t admit that women would never be his problem, or that his singleness was on less firm ground today than it had been twenty-four hours ago. When his phone vibrated, he was grateful for the distraction. The message read: tomorrow? have to ask my dad.
Around him, the conversation was picking up again, moving away from women, divorces, and Adam. He tapped at the screen.
Your dad? Seriously, how old are you?
He caught Ben watching him, his head tilted to one side. What did Ben know? What might Kyle have said? Did Ben know about Kyle’s bisexuality? Or had Kyle come out in college, after he had left Red Creek? The phone vibrated on the table as Kyle’s messages tumbled in.
not permission
need a babysitter
hot mess single parent?
Adam wrote back quickly. Caroline can come too? We could go hiking?
Across the table, Ryan moaned. His face was a mottled red, and his lips were pulled back from his teeth as he chewed on a chicken wing. Morrison’s had a challenge that was legendary in Red Creek. Anyone who could eat two dozen of their infamous nuclear chicken wings got their entire party’s meals for free. Ryan tried every weekend, but he had never succeeded.
“Jesus, why do you do that to yourself? You’re never going to make it,” Adam said.
Ryan sucked in a hissing breath. The sauce stained his lips the same color as his red hair.
“You don’t know that! I got to fourteen once.” He wiped his face and took a long drink of his beer.
“We appreciate you taking one for the team, and providing the free entertainment,” Ben said.
Adam’s phone flashed, but when he lifted it, he saw it was an incoming call from Kyle instead of a text. Confused, he accepted the call. “Hello?”
“Hey,” Kyle said. Simply hearing his voice made Adam’s scalp prickle, a remembered sensation of the night before and Kyle’s voice in his ear, but it faded just as quickly as Kyle started speaking. “About the hiking, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. It’s probably too soon to bring Caroline into this. I mean, I had a great time last night and the sex was awesome. Did I say awesome? It was really awesome. We totally need to do that again, soon, but it’s not a family-friendly activity. Obviously hiking would be appropriate, but we don’t know what this is, you and me, and she’s been doing pretty good lately about Olivia, but I wouldn’t want to confuse her—”
“Of course not.” Adam glanced around, worried about how much of Kyle’s side of the conversation could be overheard. Ryan was still sweating through his wings, and Neil appeared to be trying to catch the waitress’s eye for another beer. Ben was watching Adam.
“You’re her teacher and I’m her dad and we’re . . . well . . . and I’ve never told her about . . . Do you think six is too young to talk about sexuality? What am I saying? I’m sure there are kids in her class with two dads, so why would she think it’s weird if we’re together? Except we’re not together, unless—” Kyle carried on talking, but Adam’s thoughts raced as he considered what Kyle was saying. A hike in the woods with his daughter was absolutely not the most appropriate choice for a second date.
Adam lurched to his feet. “One sec.” He stepped away from the table and passed the bar, toward the men’s room. It was quieter in the back hall.
“—I suppose we could play it off like we were both going out anyway and why not go the three of us, but that wouldn’t be fair to you.” Kyle was still going. “And I really want to see you again and I don’t want to hide about it, but I’ve got to be careful with Caroline, you know, because kids are smart. I don’t know how she knows half the stuff she does. You definitely don’t teach it at school, but she—”
“Kyle!” Adam tried to flag down Kyle’s runaway train of thought. There was a quick breath on the other end of the line, but then there was silence. “Kyle?”
“Hiking’s not a good idea,” Kyle said.
“I get it. I understand.”
There was another pause. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You’re a single parent. There’s more to this than you and me. I get it. No family hike.” That had not been what he’d imagined when he’d suggested it anyway. He’d been too caught up in the prospect of seeing Kyle again so soon to think through the details.
“We could go the two of us sometime,” Kyle said. “Hiking, I mean.”
“Next weekend?” Adam grimaced a little, because that was still a longer wait than he wanted. And fuck, Adam didn’t like that he was getting this worked up about it so quickly. His dry spell had been an extended one, and now he was reaching for Kyle like a starving man at a buffet.
“Yeah. Next weekend for sure.”
The darkness of the hall closed in around Adam again, insulating him with Kyle’s voice nearby. He let the silence linger this time, in no hurry to fill it. He didn’t want to hang up. It was stupid, and mushy, but he didn’t care. Eventually, he said, “I’ll talk to you this week?”
“You bet, Mr. Hathaway.”
After, Adam stood for another minute in the silence. This was good. It was okay. He’d maybe gotten a bit carried away earlier, and had a small pang of regret over his trip to the café to see Rebecca. He didn’t want her to get overly excited, and with Rebecca, that was always a risk. But this was good. He and Kyle were good.
Behind him, a cheer went up in the bar. Adam went out to find Ryan, arms extended in the air like a boxing champion, eyes bright, while Neil mopped his brow with a stained paper napkin.
“Lunch is on me, boys!” Ryan called as Adam approached. In front of him was an empty plate of naked chicken bones.