Adrien
Adrien sighed, setting his tea on the table with a thump. This had to stop.
“Enough,” Adrien said firmly, not looking at anyone in particular. “I’m not made of glass. I’m not going to shatter, you know? I need you all to just—” He circled his hands wildly. “Just act normal.” Adrien was tired of them walking on eggshells around him. Tired of the pitying glances they thought he didn’t see. And, surprisingly, he missed their inane chatter and inappropriate table talk.
He needed the familiarity and comfort they provided to help him get over Micah. It lit the dark corners inside him. If nothing else, he had his family. They were flawed but they were his.
“What happened with that promotion you were up for Gretchen?” Adrien looked across at this sister in law whose face lit up. “And, Erica, are you still drinking that green juice that makes you poop?” His sister choked on her coffee, and Byron patted her back.
“Unfortunately, Adrien, she is,” Byron answered wryly.
“Ew, Erica. Seriously? Still with the juice?” Gabe shook his head, a look of disgust on his face.
“Poop! Poop! Poop,” Margot shouted from where she sat in her booster chair. Gretchen turned to her daughter.
“No saying poop at the table, please, Margot. I don’t care how open your grandparents want us to be with each other,” she scolded Margot who frowned as she wiggled in her seat. “And yes, Adrien, I got the promotion.”
Gasps of excitement and words of congratulations filled the dining room at Gretchen’s announcement. Tommy excused himself to find a leftover bottle of prosecco from Marla’s party.
This. This was what Adrien needed. It didn’t cure the throbbing ache in the middle of his chest that had taken up residence since he’d let Micah walk away, but it dulled the pain. Made it a little easier to take.
“Jesus. What’s that stench?” Tommy said as he walked back into the dining room with a bottle in one hand and several champagne flutes held by the stems between his fingers in the other hand.
“Ugh!” Gabe winced and pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose. Seconds later, Marla and Byron did the same.
The smell hit Erica and Adrien last, wafting under his nose like hot trash on a summer day.
“Oh my God.” Adrien copied his brother’s actions, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt. “Where is that coming from?”
They all looked around the table, searching for the source of the putrid smell.
Margot’s pitiful little voice pierced the silence of the room. “I pooped, Mama.”
“Well, shit,” Gabe said then immediately slapped his hands over his mouth as Gretchen rolled her eyes.
“Is this the normal you were hoping for, son?” Marla asked through a chuckle.
That throbbing pang in his chest eased a bit more, though it remained steady. “Yeah, this is exactly it.” And it was great. He only wished he could share the hilarious and disgusting moment with Micah. That would have made it perfect.
Gretchen opened a window, and Gabe groaned, lifting his daughter from her seat and holding her several inches away from his body under her arms as he rushed toward the bathroom to gales of laughter from everyone around the table.
It wasn’t until Adrien wiped moisture from the corner of his eye that he realized he was laughing too. A real laugh. Then suddenly that dull throb in his chest intensified because it was the first real moment of joy without Micah in his life. And he hated it.
Sure, Micah still worked at the coffee shop—for now—but they weren’t even friends anymore. The easy camaraderie was gone. There was no anger, no tension. But Micah’s seeming indifference and unbothered attitude hurt Adrien more than his anger would have. If Micah had been angry, at least Adrien would have known he cared.
Micah treated him with such clinical professionalism. Every “excuse me,” “thank you,” and “no worries” Micah uttered was like a blade cutting thin ribbons into his flesh.
Suddenly the shining, happy faces of his family were too much. Witnessing his family’s delight and humor was like looking directly into the sun. Adrien had been wrong. He wasn’t ready to get back to normal. Not even close.
Food congealed in his belly, and he rose from the table, feeling sick, just as the doorbell rang.
“Who the hell could that be?” Erica huffed as she shoved her chair back and jumped to her feet.
Gabe arrived in the dining room seconds later, plunking Margot into her booster chair just as Erica slowly walked back into the dining room, her face a mask of consternation and anxiety.
“Well, sweetheart, who is it?” Tommy asked.
“A late Christmas gift. Well, three. For Adrien.”
Then Micah stepped into the dining room, Rhina and Caleb not far behind him. His beautiful golden-brown eyes searched the space till they landed on Adrien, the shutters that had been drawn over them since the night of Marla’s party finally raised revealing pain, regret…and hope?
“H—hi,” Micah stammered.
Adrien swallowed, trying to gather his thoughts and figure out what to say next. “Hi, Micah.” Everything was flying around in his head so fast he couldn’t grab on to any single thought.
Did Micah want to try again?
Had Micah missed Adrien as much as Adrien had missed him?
Why were Rhina and Caleb with him?
What was he doing here anyway?
Yeah, that one was good.
“Not that I’m not glad to see you”—and he was glad to see Micah—“but what are you doing here?” Adrien could feel movement beside him and heard whispered phrases about invitations and apologies, but his eyes were trained on Micah, afraid that if he looked away for a moment, the man would disappear into thin air and he’d find that this had been a figment of his desperate imagination.
But then Micah took a step forward and bumped into the table, making the dishes on top rattle and a cup of juice nearly tip over.
Yeah. Definitely not his imagination.
“Oh, shit! I’m sorry—” Micah’s face reddened as Adrien’s family steadied their mugs and glasses. Once everything was stable, Micah swallowed, the long, thick column of his throat moving.
“Go on, Dad. Tell him,” Caleb urged in a loud whisper, and the red tint in Micah’s cheeks deepened, but he met Adrien’s eyes again.
“I received an invitation to brunch. An open invitation. I couldn’t make it last week, but I was hoping to join you”— Micah looked around the table—“all of you, this morning.” He cleared his throat before catching Adrien’s mesmerized gaze again. “I hope it’s okay that I’m here. That we’re here.”
Adrien’s heart beat out of his chest at Micah’s solemnly spoken words. Micah’s eyes shimmered with emotion, asking a question, his lips faintly quivering as he waited for Adrien’s answer. As far as Adrien was concerned, there was only one.
“It’s more than okay.” His voice shook with emotion. “Pull up a chair.”
Adrien’s family sprang into action, making introductions and welcoming Rhina and Caleb as they shifted place settings and wrangled more chairs to the table. Once they were all seated, Rhina and Caleb were sandwiched between Gretchen and Erica and Micah was pressed up against Adrien.
They were all so crammed around the table that Micah and Adrien were together on one side from shoulder to thigh. But Adrien didn’t mind in the least. At the first moment of contact, all the nerve endings in Adrien’s body sang, and that pulsing spasm in his chest diffused. Adrien could breathe easy again.
“So, Rhina, you’re Caleb’s mother,” Marla asked, drawing Adrien’s attention. The skin between her eyebrows had wrinkled.
Rhina nodded. “Yes. And Micah’s best friend since fifth grade.” The woman looked over at Micah and winked.
“Hmmm,” Marla hummed. “And Micah lives with you?”
Oh great. Here we go.
“Mom—” Adrien said, attempting to cut his mother off.
“No, it’s fine, really,” Rhina said, taking a sip of the coffee Erica had poured for her. “Micah lives in the guesthouse actually. He was looking for a new job, so I offered him the space while he searched for something new. It also gave him a chance to be closer to our son.”
“Weird right?” Caleb asked no one in particular as he nibbled at a piece of sausage. “Who is still friends with their ex-boyfriend? And has, like, breakfast with their ex-boyfriend’s new boyfriend’s family?”
Marla and a few others around the table nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, kid, it is a little weird, but who cares as long as it works. That’s a twenty-first century family for you,” Tommy said. “Now, young man, pass the biscuits, please.”
As everyone concurred with Tommy and dug into their meals again, Micah turned to Adrien. Marla had fixed up a heaping plate of cheesy frittata, potatoes, and sausage, but both Adrien and Micah were ignoring the food in front of them.
“Does this ‘weirdness’ work for you?” Micah asked hesitantly, his voice low as he looked at Adrien from beneath his long lashes.
Adrien slipped his hand on top of Micah’s where it rested on his thigh under the table and squeezed.
“Anything that involves us being together works for me, Micah. Thank you for coming to brunch. Who invited you, by the way?” Adrien had been dying to know and assumed one of his parents had asked Micah to drop by.
“Your brother,” Micah said quietly.
No way. “Gabe? Seriously.” Adrien was shocked. He would have expected that from Erica or his parents but never Gabe.
“Yeah, he showed up at Rhina’s a couple of weeks ago and apologized. Then he invited me to brunch.” Micah shrugged.
Adrien looked over at his brother and caught Gabe’s eyes. A flash of regret crossed them but a small smile curved his lips. Adrien smiled back. He was still angry at Gabe for the way he’d treated Micah. For not trusting Adrien to make his own decisions. But the effort Gabe put into making amends with Micah and trying to bring them together eased some of his resentment and repaired some of the hurt.
He turned back to Micah. “Wait a minute. He invited you a couple of weeks ago? Why are you just coming now?”
Micah compressed his lips. “Well, I turned him down initially.”
“Well, why the hell did you do that?” Adrien snipped.
“Because I was devastated and terrified,” Micah hissed back, color rising in his cheeks. He looked down at his hands, and Adrien glanced around to see if anyone noticed their tense exchange, but everyone was chatting with Rhina and Caleb, not paying Adrien and Micah much attention.
When Adrien focused back on Micah, the other man had gathered himself.
“When Gabe came by, he explained it wasn’t that he disliked me necessarily. He felt like he’d failed to protect you from Reggie and didn’t want to make the same mistake by not speaking up when you got involved with someone like me.”
Adrien waggled his head from side to side then pursed his lips. “That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t come sooner,” Adrien said.
Micah’s eyes softened, and he shifted in the chair so that he was nearly facing Adrien, placing his other hand on top of their joined palms under the table.
“Ade, no one ever cared for me the way you did. You’re the only person who has the power to break me down, aside from Caleb.” Micah paused abruptly, dropping his eyes, then looking back up at Adrien—open and honest. “Because I love you, Adrien Darling. And I didn’t want to risk being broken by your rejection because I need to be whole for my son,” Micah explained in a rush of breath.
Adrien’s heart soared at Micah’s declaration. Micah had said it before. That night in Bright Bean when he’d pushed Adrien away. But this was different—it wasn’t a prelude to goodbye. This time it was the start of a new beginning.
Even so, it was still hard to hear that if Micah had to choose, he’d always choose Caleb over him. Though, the way Micah prioritized Caleb’s needs over his own was also one of the things that Adrien loved so much about him.
Whatever the case, Adrien was grateful Micah had taken Gabe up on his offer. And he was bowled over by Micah’s declaration of love.
“I love you too, Micah Grayson. But what made you change your mind about brunch?”
Micah grinned. “Cale. Rhina too, actually. It will probably please you to know that I was just as miserable without you as you were without me. They were pretty fed up with my moping.”
Knowing that Adrien’s absence had affected Micah so deeply was a salve to Adrien’s tender wounds. Micah hadn’t been as unbothered as he’d appeared at Bright Bean, he was just a better actor than Adrien.
“Then, when I slipped up and told Rhina and Caleb that you tried to talk to me after Marla’s party and I’d shut you down and that Gabe had apologized and invited me to brunch—” Micah looked over at Rhina and Caleb before turning back to Adrien. “Well, they insisted I attend. They frog-marched me over here this morning,” Micah said, looking sheepish.
“You’re welcome,” Rhina quipped from across the table, making Adrien’s family titter before they turned to other topics.
Adrien hadn’t realized she’d been listening in on their conversation, and he was a little self-conscious now, but he wanted to get things out in the open once and for all so that he and Micah could finally move forward.
“And now?” Adrien asked, a twinge in his chest.
Was Micah only here because Caleb and Rhina had pushed? Because Gabe had asked? Would he eventually have sought Adrien out on his own? Micah quickly put those doubts to bed.
“Now I want to try again. They were right. Your brother, Rhina, Cale. They just pushed me to do what my heart has wanted to do for weeks. But I’m still scared, Ade,” Micah whispered. “You hurt me, you know?” Micah said quietly, studying his plate of food.
Tears pricked his eyes at Micah’s words, but he pushed them down, determined not to cry in front of his family.
“I know. I’m sorry. I doubted what we had. Doubted myself.”
Micah nodded. “I doubted too, babe. I didn’t think I was good enough for you. I figured, even if we got back together in the short term, eventually you’d wake up and realize that you could do way better. So, I shut you down to protect myself.”
Adrien was still smarting from that rejection.
Micah read his mind. “I know you’re still hurting, too. And if we do this, we’re probably going to hurt each other again. But next time, I want to stay. Work through it together.”
Adrien’s throat thickened and his eyes prickled again as Micah cupped his jaw with a coarse palm.
“I agree completely,” Adrien answered.
Micah’s smile at his response shone bright and warm. He let out a shaky breath and met Micah’s smile with one of his own.
Things weren’t perfect. Their insecurities wouldn’t magically go away. But they loved each other enough to work through those insecurities together. Adrien no longer had any doubts about their commitment. About whether he’d chosen the right man to take a chance on. About whether they were the right fit for each other. Adrien was certain and sure about his love for Micah.
“Thank you for showing up, Micah.” Adrien kissed Micah’s cheeks, his lips grazing the skin.
Micah’s eyes flashed when Adrien pulled away and met his gaze. With his free hand, Micah covered their already joined hands, and Adrien mirrored the look in his eyes, promising to make up for lost time in the privacy of one of their bedrooms later that day before their evening shift. But until then, he wanted to enjoy brunch with his love.
He shifted, focusing back on his plate and picking up his fork before speaking.
“You know, Erica called you, Cale, and Rhina my late Christmas gift. She was right. I only wish I had something just as good to give you.” Adrien meant that. Meeting Micah, falling for him, then getting a second chance was a blessing—better than all the Christmas gifts he’d received over the course of his life combined.
Micah shook his head. “What are you talking about? Of course you gave me something. You gave me you. And another chance,” Micah said, echoing Adrien’s thoughts. “Your love, your acceptance—it’s the greatest gift I’ve ever received aside from my son. My whole life, I’ve always been an outsider. Even with my own family. But with you, Ade, for the first time, I finally feel like I’m living on the inside.”
Micah’s ardent avowal reached inside Adrien’s chest and squeezed his heart, and suddenly, he needed Micah’s lips. He cupped Micah’s jaw with both his hands, tracing his cheekbones with his thumbs, bringing the man’s lips to his own. Adrien pressed a hard, demanding but chaste kiss to Micah’s mouth, trying to infuse into the meeting of their lips everything he was feeling and thinking.
I missed you so much.
Don’t ever leave me again.
I want to spend forever with you.
I love you.
But then he remembered there was no need to rush. Because they had time—the rest of their lives together, to tell Micah in a million different ways how much he meant to Adrien.
Adrien pulled away when his lungs protested from air deprivation and hid his face in the crook of Micah’s hot neck when everyone around the table broke out in catcalls and wolf whistles. Then, once everyone had calmed down, Adrien and Micah tucked into their meals at the first of many family brunches they’d enjoy together.
The End