On Saturday, Brad is at Maria’s again, this time for lunch. It’s a bright, sunny day, crisp but radiant. The twins, wearing brand new fall jackets, scamper around the yard, their excited voices carrying even through the double-glazing. Brad sits on a stool in the kitchen, watching Maria peel potatoes. She has forbidden him to touch anything. His job is to keep her company and her wine glass topped up.

His cell phone rings, and Brad fishes it from his jeans pocket. It’s Damien calling. Brad takes the call with slight trepidation. Has something gone awry and Damien wants to cancel their date tomorrow?

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hi, Brad.” Damien sounds hesitant. “You okay?”

“Yeah, not bad,” Brad says, trying not to overthink things. “I’m at Maria’s. She tries to make me gain fifteen pounds before Christmas. I don’t know, maybe turkeys are in short supply this year.” He knows he’s babbling, and stops himself. “You calling to cancel for tomorrow?”

“What?” Damien sounds taken aback. “No, no, definitely not. I was just thinking… but you’re busy…”

“Thinking what? Spit it out!”

“Well, I got Zoe here with me. My daughter—” Brad can’t help but interrupt him.

“That’s great news!” he exclaims. “Unexpected, but great!”

“Yeah, it was unexpected,” Damien says, and Brad can hear the smile in his voice. “My trip to LA went well, but I didn’t think Idil would be so quick…” He breaks off.

“What is it?” Brad prompts.

“I…well, I wanted this so much, to have her with me again. But now, I’m terrified. Idil’s left her with me for the afternoon, but I haven’t been alone with her in almost two years.” Damien’s voice is choked, like he has to force the words out past the fear. Brad frowns. This doesn’t sound good. He’s sad for Damien and wants to help, but he isn’t sure that the one thing he can think of at short notice is a good idea. But what else is there to do?

“Why don’t you and Zoe come here?” he asks, glancing at Maria to see her reaction. “Peter and Maria have twin boys; they’re about Zoe’s age, so she won’t be bored.” Maria smiles and nods, and Brad continues. “And Maria always cooks too much. If you help us eat all the food maybe I won’t land myself in a food coma today.” Maria slaps him with the kitchen towel, and Brad grins.

“You sure that’s not too weird? We’re not pushing in?” Damien asks.

“Yes, very sure,” Brad says with emphasis. “Come on. You told me yourself I shouldn’t be alone. Do your part!”

“All right,” Damien says, chuckling. Brad gives him the address, then they hang up.

“That the new boyfriend?” Maria asks, stirring the soup and acting as if she doesn’t care. She glances at Brad, and her eyes twinkle.

“Maybe,” Brad says, teasing her on purpose. It’s a little mean, but he deserves to have some fun with this.

“Is he nice?” she asks, sprinkling some salt into the pot.

“You talked to him,” Brad says. “On Sunday.”

“That was him? Good! He sounded nice.” Another glance. “Is he handsome?”

Brad gets up from the barstool and turns toward the cutlery drawer, so Maria can’t see him grinning. “You tell me. His name’s Damien Thomas.”

There’s a clatter and a splash as Maria drops her spoon into the soup. “No way!” she breathes.

Brad turns around. “Yes way,” he retorts, laughing.

“Damien Thomas, the…the actor?!” Maria squeals. “I don’t believe it! But…” She grows thoughtful. “He was married to a woman.”

“And he’s bringing his daughter, yes,” Brad says. “So?”

Maria rolls her eyes at him. “Well, it explains why I didn’t know he was gay.”

“Yeah, it does,” Brad replies, preferring to leave the discourse on Damien’s sexuality for another time. “Now, are you going to need help with lunch? You look a little flustered.”

“I damn well need help,” she snaps, untying her apron. “Keep stirring the soup, I’ll have to go get changed!”

“Why?” Brad asks, puzzled. He looks her up and down while he finds a fork to fish out the spoon Maria dropped into the soup. “You look fine.”

“A celebrity is coming for lunch,” Maria says in a stage whisper, flinging her apron on the counter. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.” She hurries from the room, muttering Damien’s name to herself as she goes.

Brad turns back to the soup, shaking his head and grinning. No use telling Maria that Damien won’t care what she wears. And Brad can’t blame her; he’s just as excited himself.

The emptiness Viv experienced after observing Damien with Orlando and her crew has been replaced with fresh determination by the next day. She’ll speak to him today, whatever happens. It’s high time for him to find out that he’ll be a father again.

She showers, and then calls the limousine company to arrange a ride. Out of habit, she asks the driver—not the same one that was so rude and judgey she’s pleased to notice—to drop her off at the bubble tea café. Her timing couldn’t have been better. Just when the sedan drives away Viv sees Damien step out of his building across the street. But he’s not alone. A tiny girl with curly dark hair and golden-brown skin clutches his hand, skipping on the sidewalk. This can only be Zoe.

Viv stands motionless, too surprised and uncertain to make up her mind on what to do next. A yellow cab waits on the curb by Damien’s door, and before Viv can recover her wits, Damien and Zoe have disappeared into its backseat.

But Viv isn’t mad. Smiling to herself, she turns, toward Broadway and Canal Street, which aren’t far. Damien and his daughter will be gone awhile, and before she settles down again in the café to wait for their return she can browse the shops.

As she walks, Viv lets the scene of Damien and his daughter getting into the cab replay in her mind. Soon, he’ll have two little hands to hold.

When Maria welcomes Damien and Zoe into her home, Brad can’t believe she’s the same woman who freaked out and ran from the kitchen half an hour ago. Maria seems not at all nervous now and treats Damien just like any guy Brad has ever brought over. Damien is his best charming self. Brad is once again amazed just how unprepossessing and normal he behaves with people. You would never know what he does for a living by the way he treats others. He even brings flowers for Maria, and chats with Peter about football during lunch.

Everyone is immediately in love with Zoe. Her skin is a luminous golden brown and even Brad can recognize the famous Idil Phoenix in her fine features. But she’s also definitely Damien’s daughter. Her hair is shiny and soft, and the raven curls fall just like her dad’s around her tiny, smiling face. And she’s sweet and polite, looking up to her dad to ask permission before accepting a second helping of dessert, and then running off with Kyle and Jay when the boys get bored at the table.

Peter goes with them to supervise a game of soccer in the yard, and Maria shoos Brad and Damien into the living room, threatening them with immediate eviction if they so much as lift a soup spoon to help her clear up.

So Brad and Damien find themselves sitting on the sofa, each clutching an espresso and trying to move as little as possible, they’re so full. Damien has sat down close enough so that their legs touch, and now he leans against Brad’s shoulder with a contented sigh. Brad glances at Damien’s curly head. He’s looking down into his cup, but Brad is sure he’s smiling.

There’s a special lightness about Damien today, and Brad is in no doubt about the cause. He’s never seen Damien’s eyes as bright as when he looks at Zoe.

“Your little girl’s a treasure,” Brad says.

Damien glances up, his eyes soft. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Idil’s been asked many times to have her agented to work as a child model. But on that one we’re agreed. Zoe’s much too young. She can decide herself what she wants to do later.” He smiles. “Right now, she wants to be a doctor. She’s really bright, no idea where she got that from.”

Brad lets himself relax against Damien. “Her dad,” he says. And then, when Damien gives a snort of disbelief, “I mean it. You don’t give yourself enough credit.”

Damien’s eyes grow dark. “I don’t feel so smart, a lot of the time.”

Brad wonders if he thinks of Vivienne. But he doesn’t want to throw a shadow over the day, so he asks, “How come Zoe’s here with you? Something good must’ve happened in LA.”

“Yeah,” Damien says. “I was gonna tell you, but then everything moved much faster than I thought it would. The last couple of times I went to LA Idil and I had some court-mandated therapy sessions, and I guess they worked. Idil is in town for a photo shoot now. She usually doesn’t even bring Zoe when she comes.” As Damien says those words, Brad can see the shadows of a painful time in Damien’s eyes that Damien can’t quite believe is over. Brad has a feeling that Damien is struggling to tell him something important. “I did something bad,” he finally whispers. “That’s why Idil didn’t want me near Zoe.”

“What do you mean?” Brad asks. So much for not throwing a shadow over their day, but it looks like Damien needs to unburden himself.

“When our marriage started breaking down, I…I started drinking too much. My migraines were very bad. I’ve had them since I was a teenager, but they got more frequent after I turned thirty.” Damien takes a deep breath. “One night, I got wasted and OD-ed on my migraine meds.”

Brad’s throat is tight with apprehension. Not suicide, not again. Damien interprets the look on Brad’s face correctly and quickly continues, “I wasn’t trying to off myself, I swear. I wasn’t trying to get high, either. They weren’t those kinds of pills. I was such a wreck from the booze, I lost track of when I’d taken my last dose. The meds I had then, they were dangerous with alcohol, but I didn’t pay attention to what the doctors said. It was the alcohol interaction as much as the overdose that landed me in the ER.

“But Idil, she took it bad. She was the one who found me, passed out on the living room floor. She was still pregnant with Zoe. We’d already been rocky, and it wasn’t ever the same afterward. She was scared that I’d do it again while Zoe was with me. I stopped drinking for a long time after that night; I didn’t even find it hard. But we just couldn’t work things out…” He gives a sigh, and Brad has a feeling there’s something else, something Damien can’t say right now. Before Brad can wonder about it, Damien continues, “So we got a divorce, but we were okay about Zoe for a while. The last couple years, the headaches are so bad again that I have to take medication all the time. Idil’s terrified I’ll do something stupid again.” He stops and wipes his eyes.

“Damien, I’m so sorry,” Brad says.

“We never discussed any of this properly, until the therapy. But there, she did listen, and I think she starting to trust me again.” He looks up and smiles, the relief palpable. “She called last night, said she wants to try joint custody after all. That Zoe needs both of us.”

“Well, she’s right,” Brad says.

Damien gives Brad’s knee a squeeze. Then he asks, “Hey, how are you?”

Brad feels tears sting the corners of his eyes. Sometimes, that happens suddenly; he’s grown almost used to it. He wipes them away. Damien’s hand on his knee tightens.

“It comes and goes,” Brad says. “As you can see. But I’m mostly okay.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Damien says.

“Don’t be,” Brad says. “I try not to think about it all the time, but it’s there, whether someone mentions it up or not.” He gives Damien a small smile, to reassure him that he’s okay. “The funeral’s next Friday.”

Without hesitation, Damien asks, “Do you want me to come?”

Brad considers. His first instinct is to say yes. But after a few moments he shakes his head. “Aiden’s death has caused a bit of a stir. There could be press…”

Brad thinks Damien will tell him that he doesn’t mind getting into the gossip columns. But he keeps silent. Maybe he gets it, that Brad isn’t ready for the limelight. He’s not going to argue with keeping things low-key for a while.

“Thanks for offering, though,” he adds, hoping that there won’t be hard feelings. But his worry is baseless when Damien smiles at him again and rubs his thigh.

Then they can hear Maria’s footsteps in the hallway and quickly sit up straight, edging apart on the sofa. “Hey, I had an idea,” she says when she appears in the living room. “Zoe said something about feeding the ducks.” She grins. “I think we can do better than that. How about we take the kids to Prospect Park Zoo?”

They have great fun at the zoo. Watching Damien and Zoe hurry from one animal enclosure to the next, Brad can’t say who enjoys themselves more. He’s happy that Damien will have a chance to spend more time with his daughter. They eat ice cream and watch the keepers feed the penguins. Brad notices a few zoo visitors giving Damien curious looks. But Damien seems to have a sixth sense for them and moves on, taking his daughter firmly by the hand. Nobody approaches.

On the way to the zoo they’d all piled into Peter’s sedan, but when they get ready to go home Damien says he’ll call a cab. “I have to take Zoe back to her mom,” he explains to Maria and Peter. “Thank you so much for today. It was awesome, and Zoe had so much fun! Beats feeding ducks, huh?” he asks, crouching down to her level, and Zoe nods with an earnest expression on her small face.

“Yeah! The penguins were so cool!”

“Poor, neglected ducks,” Damien says, and the other adults laugh. Then Damien glances at Brad. “Wanna come with us?”

Brad nods. “Sure.” He hides a smile when Maria gives him a wink.

They say goodbye to Maria, Peter, and the twins, then climb into the back of a yellow cab outside the gates to Prospect Park. As they make their slow way through traffic Zoe chatters away, recalling all the animals she saw, and the things Kyle and Jay told her. But after a while her voice slows down and cuddles up to Damien. Yawning, she closes her eyes, and falls asleep. Damien strokes her hair with a tender expression on his face. “Quite the day, huh, little one?” he whispers.

Shortly after that, the cab approaches the Brooklyn Bridge. Brad hadn’t even thought of this, or he could’ve asked the driver to take a different route. Before he’s aware of the entire barrage of feelings that assault him, Damien reaches out and takes his hand. He holds on with a tight grip, and they stay like this all the way into Midtown, until the cab pulls up outside the London Hotel.

Damien looks down at Zoe, who’s still fast asleep. “Guess I can just carry her inside,” he muses.

“Hang on,” Brad says. He gets out of the taxi and goes around to the other side. He opens Damien’s passenger door, and together they lift the girl out of the cab. She’s light as a feather when Brad takes her so that Damien can climb out.

“I’ll wait in the cab,” he says when Damien takes his daughter back into his arms.

“Thanks,” Damien says and, slowly so as not to wake Zoe, he walks into the hotel.

He’s only gone for about ten minutes. When he climbs back into the cab he sinks into the seat, grimacing. “Right,” he says. “Shall we go to my place?”

“I think so,” Brad replies, studying Damien’s face with a frown. “It’s closer, and you don’t have your meds on you, do you?”

Damien looks at him, surprised. “How did you know?”

“You’re getting that look,” Brad says. He gives the driver Damien’s address, then takes Damien’s hand in his. It’s clammy and too warm.

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” Damien says from between tight lips. “I won’t be any fun now.”

“Try and stop me,” Brad growls. Damien regards him from puffy, bloodshot eyes. His face is already gray.

“Thanks,” he whispers.

“What brought it on?” Brad asks.

Damien shrugs. “I never really know.”

“Not seeing Idil, was it?” Brad asks, trying not to sound accusatory.

“I don’t think so,” Damien replies. “I mean, we’re not exactly friends, but she’s much better about it all…” He grimaces and hides his face in his hand. “Ouch…”

Brad reaches out and places his hand on Damien’s neck. “Tell me if this doesn’t feel right,” he says, and starts to massage the base of Damien’s skull.

“No, feels good,” Damien murmurs. He gives a dry laugh. “We’re quite the pair.”

“That’s what boyfriends do, isn’t it?” Brad says. “Look after each other.”

Damien glances at him. “You just made me feel a million times better,” he says.