Or did he?
“You do what you gotta do to take care of munchkin. You need anything, you just let me know,” Cael said, breaking Zach’s train of thought.
“Thanks,” Zach muttered.
“So, what’s the plan today?” Cael asked, finally pulling his hand away, and Zach’s eyes darted up to his. Zach’s breath caught as their gazes locked for a few seconds.
Zach cleared his throat, blinking rapidly as he looked past Cael toward the kitchen.
“Um, groceries for damn sure. Then I was thinking of going back to Abbey’s to take apart the crib and bring it back along with more of Taylor’s clothes and toys.” He took a sip of coffee. “What about you?”
Cael rotated his nearly empty coffee cup on the table with his fingers. “Figured I’d hang with the two of you. I don’t have anything else goin’ on.”
“No football today?” Zach asked.
Cael usually played a casual game with some guys he knew from the gym and work. They’d invited Zach to join, but Zach had never been much into football, plus he really didn’t have the body for it. Cael, on the other hand, did.
“Nah. Two of the guys have to work, one has a major project to finish up, and one’s out of town, so we canceled for this week, but even if we hadn’t, I would have skipped to be with you and Taylor anyway.”
Be with you.
Zach’s pulse skittered, Cael’s words unexpectedly doing funny things to his heart. He gave slight nod, not trusting his voice, and drank down more coffee.
“Maybe next Sunday, you can bring Taylor down and watch us play. It’s been a while since you’ve come down. The guys have been asking about you.”
Zach shrugged, tipping back his cup, and glanced at Taylor. “Yeah, maybe.” Draining the rest of his coffee, he pushed his chair back and stood. “I need to grab a shower. Would you mind watching her for me?”
“Nope, not at all.”
“Thanks.”
Chapter 4
Walking into the office, Cael felt a little off. Today, Zach was on his own with Taylor all day, and not that he couldn’t handle it, because he knew he could, but he felt like he should be with him. Of course, that could simply be because Cael always wanted to be with him. After spending most of the entire weekend with Zach and Taylor, circumstances aside, he’d caught a glimpse of what it could be like if he had a family, and it had left him reeling over what was so close but so very out of reach.
Zach.
The man was his best friend and freakin’ everything to him, and he’d never know.
With his gym duffle in hand, Cael walked through the automatic doors of the VA hospital’s physical therapy wing and headed around the back of the front desk area to check his schedule. His first patient wasn’t scheduled until nine-thirty, and it was nine now, so Cael decided to check in on Zach.
On his way to the employee break slash locker room, Cael pressed the button on the Bluetooth in his ear, pressed the shortcut button on his phone, and waited for the call to connect.
Zach answered after several rings. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Just checking to see if you managed to feed yourself and that little girl this morning without my help,” Cael jested, setting his bag on the floor near his locker.
“Ha ha. Fucking hilarious.”
“You know, you’re gonna have to watch your mouth a bit more.”
“Hey, I’m trying.”
“Where are you now?”
“Actually, I’m parked right outside the daycare. Just dropped Taylor off. Not going to leave her all day today. Just for a few hours so I can take of a few things without worrying about her.”
“No issues then, I take it?”
