“I guess not.”
“Good. It’s a tough life.” Noah raised his glass.
Ramin smiled and toasted. “It’s a tough life.”
Noah drank, then leaned in for a loud, obnoxious smooch. He sat back with a smirk. “For what it’s worth, Jake’s teenage years are still ahead of him, so if you’re worried about things being too easy, don’t worry. They won’t be for long.”
Ramin laughed. He tried to imagine it. Jake growing up, going to high school, living with Noah and maybe with him, too. Maybe they’d all move in together somewhere, or maybe Noah and Jake would move into Ramin’s house, since he had plenty of room.
Maybe that was their future.
Or maybe not. There were a million, million possibilities.
What mattered was, they’d figure it out as they went.
Together.
forty-five
Noah
One Week Later
Are you sure I can’t take it in my carry-on?” Jake asked.
“I’m sure,” Noah said, zipping Jake’s suitcase closed with the enormous Lego set squashed between his clothes. “Minifigures only. You promised, remember?”
Jake sighed and flopped backward on Noah’s bed. “I remember.” He held a Scarlet Spider minifigure in his right hand, walking it along Noah’s duvet.
Jake really had promised. And Noah trusted his son to keep it.
Just like Jake trusted Noah to keep his promises. And understood that not everything was a promise. Sometimes, it was just a hope.
Noah stood, ignoring the little pop in his left knee, and hauled Jake’s suitcase upright. Jake’s carry-on was packed, too, and ready to go. Noah’s own suitcase was still open on the bed, filled with laundry he’d do at Ramin’s once he moved in.
He’d moved his more adult items to Ramin’s beforehand. He hadn’t actually looked at the care instructions for his singlet. Apparently it had to air dry, and he couldn’t exactly leave it hanging around in his bathroom at the hotel.
He imagined it on Ramin’s folding laundry rack instead, blue spandex amidst all Ramin’s clothes. He wondered if Ramin ever sniffed it.
And then he felt himself getting hard and tried not to think about it.
He had another ten days with Ramin, ten days to explore Italy—not to mention each other’s bodies—and this thing between them. This beautiful, new, familiar thing.
Love.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, buddy?”
“When you get home, is Ramin gonna be my new stepdad?”
Noah nearly tripped. “What?”
“When Lyla’s mom got remarried, she got a stepdad.” Lyla was one of Jake’s classmates. “He wanted her to call him Dad, but she calls him Steve.”
“I don’t know, Jakey. We’re still figuring it out. I promise we won’t make any big decisions like that without talking them over with you, too.” He mussed Jake’s hair. “And don’t worry. You won’t have to call Ramin Steve.”
Jake giggled. The sound soothed Noah’s soul.
