Nick stumbled through the hallway, the little girl holding his hand tightly and tugging him through the house.

It was a nice house, with a lot of windows and light wood. It was the opposite of his dark apartment back in Poplar; that was small and cluttered, full of a lifetime of accumulated shit. This house was airy and open, but still so much more lived in than his in Kansas.

This house—it was a home. He wondered why he’d never noticed that his apartment wasn’t a home until now.

“Okay, okay, you’re gonna break my hand,” he stopped looking around at the pictures hanging on the walls long enough to try and get his hand back. Janie was strong—he flexed his fingers when she dropped his hand and tried to ignore his wince.

“Sorry,” her voice was far too cheery to be genuine. He huffed out a chuckle.

She threw open a door and stepped inside, gesturing grandly. “The Cetokavich guest room.”

Nick looked around. There was a futon bed against the back corner, the wall decorated with canvas paintings that looked mostly like swatches of color smeared in no particular way. There was another large window in here, the curtains drawn closed. A desk pushed against a third wall and a bookshelf shoved near the door on the fourth. It was a nice room.

“Thanks, Janie,” he said, offering her a quick smile. “I appreciate it.”

Janie shrugged and hopped onto the futon, shoving her legs underneath herself and leaning against the blue material. “It’s Dad’s office most of the time.”

“Oh?” Nick sat on the other end of the futon, turning towards her a little. His legs hurt a little from the swim and his lungs still burned. The adrenaline had left a bad aftertaste in his mouth, like sour candy, making his whole body want to curl up and sleep away the remaining shocks.

He wanted to crawl into his bed—his bed at home, in his apartment that was too dark and too far away.

He’d been in California for less than an hour and already he was ready to give in and go home.

Janie was oblivious to his inner turmoil, though, and plunged ahead as if he hadn’t momentarily had an existential breakdown. “Dad works from home. He’s a designer.”

Nick’s eyebrows shot up. But, well, actually that made sense. The house was really beautiful. “Well, it’s nice of him to let me stay here.”

Janie shrugged one shoulder again, apparently done with that train of conversation. She tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in concentration as she scrutinized Nick. He struggled to keep still and not fidget.

“Your hair is really red,” she said suddenly, sounding surprised.

Nick’s lips twitched but years of working as a bartender had trained him not to laugh a someone saying something ridiculous—even if it was more ridiculously adorable than ridiculously embarrassing like he was used to. “Yes,” he answered.

Janie hummed, tapping her fingers on her knees. “I don’t know anyone with red hair.”

“You don’t?”

She shook her head. “Nope.”

Nick leaned over, letting his head fall close to her. “Want to touch it and see if yours turns red?”

She laughed, a small peel of giggles as she wound her fingers into his hair and tugged.

Ouch. He hid his wince.

“That’s not how it works,” Janie said, pulling her hands back.

He sat up straighter and peered at a spot above her head, then sighed. “Yeah, it looks like it didn’t work.”

She rolled her eyes but her grin was wide and he counted it as a win. “Your voice is funny, too.”

“My voice?” He mocked outrage and jutted his chin out, the way he’d seen her and her dad do earlier in the kitchen when they were standing off to each other. “I think your voice is funny!”

“It is not!” Janie crossed her arms. She gave him a once over. “But yours is.”

He figured that was probably fair. Midwestern accents were different from Californian accents so it probably made sense that she’d think his voice sounded funny. He wondered how she’d deal with meeting Damien. That guy said “y’all” every few minutes and had a drawl deep enough to sound fake southern.

“I want you to come to show and tell with me!” She said suddenly, lurching up. She was halfway up on the futon, little knees propelling her forward. “I have show and tell next week and no one else will have a weirdo carrot top.”

“Rude,” he tapped his hair comfortingly. “I’m not weird. And my hair is not like a carrot.”

“It’s carrot-ish,” Janie said dismissively.

“Aren’t you a little old for show and tell?”

She huffed, throwing herself back on the couch. It was dramatic enough that he believed this kid needed someone to jump into the frigging ocean to save her. “I know,” she said. “That’s what I said. But apparently, we’re still children and I need to ‘better behave and respect my elders’.” Janie used finger quotes and rolled her eyes hard enough that he was momentarily worried.

Nick snorted a laugh. “That’s bull—crap. That’s bullcrap. Respect your elders.”

Janie gave him a long-suffering look. “I know. Everyone at that school is complete bullshit.”

He nodded his agreement before remembering she was a child. “Language.”

Janie rolled her eyes again. He hid his smirk in a fist as he fake coughed. “They are all idiots and can’t stand to be questioned. And you know why?”

Nick shrugged. “Why?”

“Because!” Janie lifted her hands and made a wild gesture for no apparent reason. “They can’t even explain their actions! They just say stuff and I’m supposed to do it.”

Nick considered her. “You get in trouble a lot?”

She shrugged, looking away and tugging at a piece of her almost-dry hair. “Sometimes.”

Nick figured that meant she was still in detention now. “I used to get in trouble a lot.”

“You?” Janie smiled. “Sure, you did.”

Nick would be offended but he figured, yeah, his appearance didn’t exactly scream badass. “I did! I did not get along with my teachers at all.”

“You look like a teacher’s pet,” she confirmed his suspicions that he did not look like a badass. He sighed.

“I know. It’s my face. It’s too round.”

She narrowed her eyes before nodding, smoothing her expression. “That’s it. Plus the freckles.”

“Shut up,” he teased. She laughed.

“So? Show and tell?”

“I don’t know, Janie,” he hedged. Nick had a feeling her dad wouldn’t be all that pleased with the idea of him joining her at school. “I’m not sure if I’ll still be around.”

“Of course you will,” she waved her hand. “I’ll talk to Dad.”

He had meant Mendocino, not her house specifically. “I’m not sure that the point of show and tell is to bring a random person. Weren’t you given any, like, guidelines or anything?”

Janie nodded, brightening. “Mr. Collins said to bring something that changed our lives.”

“See? I don’t fit that.”

Janie leveled him with a look so insulting to his intelligence, he felt like he was in an argument with Drew about cake texture again. He nearly withered away from the look. “You literally just saved me from drowning, Nicolas.”

“Actually, my name is just Nick.”

She shrugged. “Don’t care. You’re coming and I’m introducing you as Nicolas.”

“Can I call you Janine?” he countered.

She glared at him. “If you dare.”

He broke first, dissolving into laughter. She joined him a second later and they sat their, clutching their sides.

A knock on the door interrupted them. Joel stuck his head in and Nick’s laughter dried quickly, while Janie still let out another giggle or two.

“Um, hi.” Joel pushed the door open and came in. He had Nick’s shoes in one hand and his flannel draped across his arm. His other hand had Nick’s cellphone.

“Oh, man!” Nick jumped up to grab his stuff. “I forgot about that.”

Joel nodded, face drawn in. He was frowning, as if concentrating hard. “Yes, I thought so.”

“Thanks, I appreciate this. This would have been a bitch to replace,” he gave Joel a grin who returned a nod instead.

Janie popped up between them. “Language,” she mock-chided. Joel looked down, frown gone in favor of a prideful smile, while Nick rolled his eyes.

“Right, sorry, Janine.”

“No worries, Nicolas.”

Joel cleared his throat. “Actually, her name is just Janie.”

Nick and Janie caught each other’s eyes and grinned. Joel looked between them, brows furrowed.

Janie shoved between them and darted out of the guest room, yelling something about hot chocolate on her way. Nick watched, amused, as she disappeared from view.

He glanced back at Joel, startling a little when he realized how close he was. He hadn’t meant to stand so close to the guy, but somehow, he’d ended up a foot away from Joel’s face.

And, God, now that he wasn’t about to be murdered on the beach, his mind had no problem running away with how good looking this guy was.

His jaw was sharp and square, covered by a five o’clock shadow that was just a bit too dark to have just been today. His lips were light pink and chapped, but big, and his eyes—the dark green was vivid against his tan skin, with speckles of gold.

And if Nick could see the speckles of fucking gold in the other man’s eyes, he was standing way too close.

He stepped back, clearing his throat, and a visible jolt rocked through Joel as if he, too, had been in a bit of a trance.

Interesting.

Nick filed that away to deal with later and turned to set his shoes down by the door. He slipped the flannel on over the thin t-shirt Joel had loaned him, happy to find that there wasn’t any sand clinging to him. Joel must have cleaned it off.

“Thanks,” he said again.

Joel rolled his lips, pressing them into each other, before parting them to speak. Nick tried very hard not to stare and failed immediately. “It is the least I could do.”

Joel looked him over with that same, scorching stare he had done earlier in the kitchen. It brought heat to Nick’s cheeks to be looked at with such intensity but he didn’t fidget the way he had when Janie had contemplated him earlier. This look was deeper, like it could actually touch his thoughts and soul if he let it, but also comforting. Nick stood still and hoped that whatever Joel was looking for on his face, he found.

They stood silently, a few feet apart, until Janie came back in the room.

She skidded to a stop beside them. “Um, you guys are being weird.”

Joel looked at her with his eyebrows raised and a soft smile on his face. “You always say that, Jane.”

“It’s always true,” she retorted.

Nick watched the way they mirrored each other, the shift of one eyebrow in response to a tilt of lips. He wondered how he hadn’t realized they must just be a pair. It reminded him of the way he and his mom would act sometimes, the silent conversations that required nothing but a general feeling in the air. These two were clearly close.

“Oh,” Joel said, his voice jumping up. “I’m going to start on dinner. Are you—is there anything you don’t eat?” He directed the question to Nick.

He definitely could eat but the coffee had ran off any hunger.

“Well, actually,” Nick ran his hand through his hair. “If it’s alright with you, I might just hit the hay. It’s been a long trip.”

“Right,” Joel nodded, a little rapidly. “Sure. Do you need anything?”

Nick considered going to get his stuff from the car but he’d be finding a hotel tomorrow and the idea of lugging any of his shit from the junker, just to lug it back again in the morning, sent a rush of annoyance through him.

“Nah, that’s okay. I’ll just—” he jutted a thumb towards the futon.

Joel nodded again. Or maybe he hadn’t stopped. Nick wasn’t sure. “Well, goodnight. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Yeah, ‘course.”

Janie popped up between them and wrapped her arms around his waist. He blinked, surprised, locking eyes with Joel. He looked as surprised as Nick felt. Nick’s gaze fell before his arms did too, letting his hand fall on her back and pat her gently. He couldn’t help but smile down at her.

“Night, Nick,” she said sweetly, face pressed into his stomach.

“Night, Janie,” he had the irrational urge to kiss the top of her head. She ducked away before he could act on it, thankfully, and Joel put a hand on her shoulder and guided her out of the bedroom, closing the door gently behind them as if Nick had already gone to sleep.

He stared at the door for a moment, shaking his head.

This was not the first day he’d been anticipating. He wasn’t sure what he thought his first week would turn into but this—a little girl and her grumpy, hot dad—that was not what he’d thought this day would be like.

He tugged on the futon until he figured out how to push it down into the sleeping position and put the sheets on. It took ten minutes and he considered giving up at least twice.

He considered undressing but the weirdness of being in a stranger’s house was bad enough. Being naked in this stranger’s house—where either of them could come barging in at any point—he shuddered. The jeans and t-shirt were loose enough to be comfortable.

With that decided, he flickered off the light and slid between the sheets. He still had his cell phone in his pocket and he pulled it out, blinking and wincing at the bright blue light that shone on his face.

“Fuck,” he muttered, turning the brightness down. His battery was only at thirty percent. He definitely should have gotten his charger from the car.

It was also only seven-fifteen at night. He let out a chuckle and shook his head.

Sure, he’d been driving for three days straight pretty much and his lungs still hurt a little from the icy ocean water. But still—seven-fifteen. His mother would laugh at him. And his friends—

They would mock him relentlessly.

He scrolled through their messages, laughing at the pouting photo of Peter with his kitchen behind him, and the bright picture of a grinning Drew with a pouting Peter behind him in the kitchen. There were probably a half dozen messages after that making fun of Drew for being such a sopping romantic and he replied with a well-intended ribbing as well before shoving his phone under the pillow.

And even though Nick thought that the early time and the strange room would make it take a while for him to relax, the lull of hearing Janie and Joel in the kitchen bumping around, the softness of the pillow under his head, and the quiet peace rolling across his chest had him asleep within minutes.

He slept soundly and dreamt of laughter, bright green eyes, and the ocean.