When Michael picked up Jagger at the end of the day, he hung back until all the other parents had left the room. “Do you want to come over for dinner?”
I chuckled nervously when I realized I had already been planning on going to Michael’s as soon as I left work. We’d spent almost every day together for the past two weeks, so to me, it was a foregone conclusion.
“What’s so funny?” Michael asked. I felt the heat creeping up my face. I couldn’t admit to him that I thought of us as this unconventional little family, because that’d only emphasize how sad and lonely my life was without them. Unfortunately for me, he wasn’t going to let it go. “Oh, come on. If it’s making you blush, youhaveto tell me.”
“Not here,” I hissed. It would be hard enough to explain the two of us hanging around talking after the end of the day without having a nosy coworker implying something that didn’t exist. “Ask me when I get to your place. I have to run a few errands, but I’ll stop over later.”
“Deal. I figured we could grill out. It’s too damn hot to fire up the stove.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll swing by the grocery store and picked up some chips and a pasta salad.”
“And ice cream!” Jagger added.
“And ice cream,” I agreed.
A little over an hour later, I pulled into my driveway and saw Mrs. Batterman sitting in her rocker, waving to the cars as they passed. I held up a hand in greeting before disappearing into my house. I’d been avoiding her for the past week, because our talks had somehow turned from generic, neighborly conversation to her telling me that if I was a good friend, I’d convince Michael to get out and find himself a nice woman. According to her, Jagger needed a woman in his life, otherwise he didn’t stand a chance of turning out worth a damn. I smiled and nodded in all the right places, while inwardly screaming that I absolutely would not help him find a new wife because as long as he was single, I could hold out hope that he’d also turn out to be bi-curious at the very least. It’d make things weird as hell in the long run, but I could somehow settle for a few hot nights with him.
