“I shouldn’t be surprised since your job is literally to strategize for the winning outcome.” I laugh.
He shrugs. “I’m not going to apologize for that. And this is delicious, by the way. You also still haven’t answered my question.”
“I learned to cook from my grandma. My parents died when I was young, so I was raised by my grandma in LA. She taught me everything I know.”
“Sounds like a wonderful woman,” Coach says.
“She was.”
With the logs burning in the fire, the lights twinkling, and the Christmas tree in the background, I feel like I’m in my own personal Christmas dream.
“I’m really happy you like the food. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to see someone enjoying something I’ve cooked or baked.”
“Oh my god, are you serious? This is the best thing I’ve had. My ex-wife was an okay cook, but when you spend half your life in hotels, you get to try all kinds of food.”
I add a bit of everything to my plate, with a few extra potatoes because potatoes are life.
“I forgot you used to coach the Marinos. What was it like?”
He puts a piece of carrot in his mouth and chews while staring out the window. It’s dark outside, so there’s nothing to look at.
“It was great,” he says. “My dream job. I loved every second of it.”
“Why aren’t you doing it anymore?”
He lets out a chocked laugh. “It’ll take more than a make-out session to get to that topic.”
I laugh. “Make-out session? Oh, Riley-Boo. You eat all your veggies like a good boy, and we’ll have a make-out session so good you’ll forget your name and social security number.”
“So I guess we’re talking about it then.”
I put my elbows on the table and lean my head on my hands. “I guess we are.”
17
COACH
I knewthis moment would come. I replayed it in my head a million times while in the shower. Or at least how I’d imagined it would go.
But now, looking into Bubble’s forest-green eyes, I don’t know anything anymore.
We finish dinner, and I insist on doing the dishes since Bubble cooked everything.
He disappears into the bedroom, but he’s back by the time I’m finished. I drink a glass of water and steady myself for the conversation I probably should have had with myself a long time ago. Except now I’m having it with someone else.
Someone twenty years my junior and who I can’t stop thinking about doing things to. Even if I’ve never done those things before.
After I went to bed last night, I couldn’t fall asleep. I still had so many questions. So I did what any respectable old man does. I went on a porn website, of course.
I started off with my usual but changed the category to gay porn.
The relief that came over me when I didn’t get hard watching other men have sex almost made me laugh out loud. There I was, watching two men going to town on each other and feeling happy because I wasn’t physically reacting to it.
But then one of them looked at the screen. He had green eyes, and soon enough, those green eyes were Bubble’s. My dick hardened instantly as the green-eyed guy let his head fall back while his partner kissed his body until it reached his—
“Do you want dessert?”
“What?” I turn to face Bubble as he pulls me from my thoughts.
