“Nah, let them find out the hard way. Anyway, I wanted to tell you something. The other day, I told Anthony I was in love with him. He said it as well.”
Chris smiled, but he wasn't surprised. Those two had been clearly heading that way. “That’s amazing, Ethan.”
“Thanks. It just happened out of the blue. One minute we were having sex with the clothespins, and then—”
“Clothespins?”
“Hmm, never mind. It just happened without planning. But it’s fine, right? Not too fast?”
“Well, listen, you twodidjust meet, so—”
“Haha. Yeah, I know. It feels so natural. I want to tell my parents this weekend. Do you think they’ll freak out?”
“You know they won’t.”
“Yeah, but Dad will definitely have a field day with this.”
“Most definitely.”
Ethan sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m stressing. Maybe because it’s been a while since good things happened.”
“I understand.” For a moment, Chris had an urge to open up about the shit in his life, to make the burden less hard to bear. Nothing felt more natural than sharing things with Ethan. Luckily, he stopped himself in time. Freaking Ethan out when he was finally catching a well-deserved break was selfish and unkind.
“You want to meet for a swim tomorrow before work?” Ethan asked.
Chris almost agreed, but he couldn’t risk Ethan seeing Dima. “I can’t this week. Work’s been crazy.”
“Okay, let me know if something changes. I’m heading back to the office. Talk to you soon.”
After they hung up, Chris tried to focus on work, but his mind wasn’t into it. He used the time to call Melissa on video, and she answered from her parents’ garden. “Hi, hon.”
“How’s it going?”
“The twins were in the pool all morning, and now mom’s giving them food. I’m using the downtime to read a book.”
“Fifty Shades of Greyagain?”
“Oh, you know I hated that crap! It’s just some thriller my dad had lying around. How’s work?”
“Fine. Busy.”
“Yeah?” She watched him closely, her sun hat shadowing her face. “You look tired.”
“Thanks.”
“Chris.”
“I’ll leave early and have a good night’s sleep.”
“You do that. Oh, hold on. Incoming.”
He could hear the twins roaring before they burst into the frame, each trying to grab the phone.
“Daddy! I’m first!”
“Boys, let your mom hold the phone. You had fun in the pool?”
Dylan leaned in so close to the screen that all Chris could see was his cute little nose. “I peed in the pool!”
