I watched some football with Buddy for most of the afternoon and then I took a long hot shower to ease any remaining nerves I had left. I knew I couldn’t go to his house acting like a damn fool. Josh told me I didn’t have to bring anything, but my mom taught me it was bad manners to show up emptyhanded. Even if my mom didn’t contribute with food, she’d bring the host flowers or wine. Would Josh think I was insulting him if I brought flowers?
There were no wine sales on Sunday in Ohio but I had a bottle of Prosecco that had been given to me as a birthday gift. I was mostly a beer guy so I was saving the Prosecco for a special occasion. I honestly couldn’t think of anything more special than being invited to Josh’s house for Sunday dinner. My mom had always put sliced strawberries in the bottom of the champagne flutes to make it look extra special.
I made a quick stop at the store to grab some strawberries and my attention was drawn to a Christmassy floral bouquet that I thought Josh would like. The arrangement had white roses and red carnations, with glittery gold-painted pine cones mixed in with the greens. I picked it up after hesitating for a minute. In a way this felt like a test for both of us. I needed to be able to act on my impulses and instincts without constantly worrying that I was going to piss him off. He needed to accept my offerings for what they were – a gift for someone who was special to me.
I arrived at his house the same time as Meredith. She grinned like the Cheshire Cat when she saw what I brought with me. “He invited you to dinner?” she asked.
“Yep.” My nerves about being there also extended to spending time with his friends. I wanted them to approve of me, but I knew I hadn’t given them much to like up to that point.
To my surprise, Meredith clapped gleefully, bouncing up and down. “It’s about damn time you morons start figuring things out. I’m so tired of him moping about.”
“He’s been moping?” It was nice to know that I wasn’t the only one. I felt hope bloom in my chest.
My question was met with an exaggerated eye roll. “I can’t even begin to describe it. Hell, he ran off to Florida for Thanksgiving to lick his wounds and I hoped he’d be better when he got back, but he wasn’t.”
So that was where he went. I had stopped by a few times to apologize in person for being an ass; for overreacting to the situation with Georgia and saying stupid things out of frustration. “He wasn’t the only one,” I assured Meredith.
“Even better,” she said, earning a confused look from me. “If you were both miserable then it means the attraction isn’t one-sided.” She stopped me just before she opened the back door to Josh’s house. “There will be no place on this planet that you can hide from me if you hurt him. Your badge won’t save you either. Understand?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Everyone needed a friend like Meredith in their corner.
The sound of soft music playing eased my nerves a bit and the mouth-watering smells coming from his kitchen made my stomach growl, reminding me that I hadn’t had anything to eat since the pastry from The Brew. Josh was in the kitchen with his back to us when we went upstairs.
“Hey, handsome,” Meredith called out.
Josh spun around with a huge smile on his face until he saw me standing there beside Meredith. His smile faltered a bit and my heart fell to my knees. His gaze shifted away from my eyes to what I held in my hands. “You didn’t have to bring anything,” Josh said when his eyes met mine again. I was happy to see his smile return, even happier that it was a more intimate smile, if not as grand as the one he bestowed upon Meredith.
“My mom always said it was bad manners not to bring something for your host,” I told him.
The three of us stood there awkwardly until Meredith said, “I’m going to set the table like I always do. You can oversee the drinks since you brought us booze, Gabe.”
“Okay,” I said, following her into the kitchen. “I’m going to need some champagne flutes and a knife.”
Meredith pulled down what she needed and what I had requested before she left me alone with Josh in the kitchen. “These are for you.” I held out the flowers to him.
He took them from me and dropped his nose to smell the roses. “They’re very beautiful,” he said, looking back into my eyes. “Thank you.” Then he surprised me by wrapping his free hand around my neck and pulling me down for a soft kiss like he’d given me outside The Brew that morning. The delighted squeal that Meredith let out reminded me that we weren’t alone. If I was lucky, Josh would let me stick around for a little bit after his friends left. I owed him a sincere, heartfelt apology.
“Whoa,” said a surprised Chaz when he arrived. “I don’t believe what I’m seeing.”
“Hi, Chaz.”
“Hi.” He smiled like a goon as he looked between Josh and me. “You’ve never invited a guy to Sunday dinner,” Chaz told Josh. I was sure that Josh didn’t appreciate his friend broadcasting that little tidbit, but I sure as hell did.
“You,” Josh said, pointing to Chaz, “enough with the oversharing. You,” he said turning to me, “wipe that smirk off of your face and pour us some drinks.”
I didn’t wipe the smirk off of my face, but I settled in at the counter next to Josh who returned to the stove to check on the potatoes. I washed the berries then focused on cutting them and not my finger, I wasn’t a clumsy person in general, but Josh always had me so tied up in knots that I never knew what to expect out of myself. I placed the berries in the bottom of four flutes and then poured Prosecco in each one.
I leaned toward Josh and whispered, “Thank you for inviting me to dinner.” I gave him a quick peck at his temple then carried the drinks to the dining area. I saw the arrangement I gave Josh sitting in a place of honor in the center of the table and was glad that I’d listened to my instincts.
I sat in the living room area and chatted about mundane things like adjusting to Ohio winters after living in Florida all my life with Chaz and Meredith while Josh mashed potatoes. I mentioned helping Josh but Meredith’s arm snaked out and grabbed me before I could get up to go back into the kitchen.
“He doesn’t like sharing his kitchen space and he has this down to a fine art. We’re better off to let the master do what he does best and not get in the way,” she told me. Her expression held a sincere warning and I heeded it well. She and Chaz knew the man best and I trusted their guidance.
“Don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken,” Chaz advised sagely.
“Time to eat,” Josh called out.
I followed behind Meredith and Chaz, unsure of where I should sit at the table. Josh set the platters and bowls of delicious looking food on the table while Meredith and Chaz took a seat on either side of the oval dining room table. Josh looked up at me and gestured for me to have a seat at the foot of the table opposite of him. I thought it was charming when Meredith said grace over the food once we had all settled in our chairs.
