Ramin slid on Noah’s, then let Noah slide on his.
Noah let out Ramin’s favorite giggle. “We’re going to get married!”
“Assuming we don’t get smote for getting gay-engaged at a church.”
“God is love,” Noah said. “I’m not worried.”
Ramin pulled out his phone. He grabbed a selfie of his own, took a quick picture of their hands together with their new rings. Then he started a FaceTime call.
“Now? Here? Really?” Noah asked, incredulous. He’d nevercomplained out loud, but he lived with Ramin, which meant he was constantly in the background of Ramin FaceTiming Farzan and Arya.
This was different, though.
“I promised.”
Jake’s face appeared. Once the light adjusted, Ramin recognized the back room of Enoteca Russo, cases of wine stacked to the ceiling.
“Did he say yes?” Jake asked without preamble, his eyes wide and hopeful.
Noah laughed and squeezed his face into frame. “I did.”
“I told you he would!”
“You did,” Ramin agreed. “Thanks for letting your dad marry me.”
Jake grinned so wide, his face nearly split in two. He’d lost an upper canine the day before he left for Italy, an unfortunate incident involving a game ofbasketball in one of the neighbor’s driveways, but his new tooth was almost all the way grown in.
Jake was growing up too fast, and Ramin had only known him for a year. How could Noah stand it?
“Now you’ll both be my dads. For real.”
“Congrats, you two!” Angela squeezed in next to Jake, a radiant smile on her face. Life in Italy suited her. She seemed more relaxed, more happy, more at home than Ramin remembered her last year. Noah had mentioned the change, too. How glad he was for her.
The transition had been difficult, but all of them were happier now.
“Thanks, Angela.”
“Tanti tanti auguri!” Maria chanted as Jake swiveled the phone to her and Tomaso. “It’s a tough life.”
“It’s a tough life!” Ramin agreed.
“Don’t forget, you promised I could be your ring bearer!” Jake pointed out.
“I remember,” Ramin said. “Okay. We better let you go. People are staring.”
“Okay, love you, bye!” Jake hung up without even letting them say bye in return.
Noah chuckled, but then his face turned serious. “You asked Jake if I could marry you?”
Ramin shrugged, tucking his phone back into his pocket.
“Iranians think of marriage as a joining of families. And I thought, well, what could be more important than making sure he agrees to us joining?”
Noah pulled Ramin’s hand up and kissed him right on the ring finger. It was a strange sensation, that simple band of metal, already warming from his body temperature.
Strange and wonderful.
Ramin was never taking it off.
