A firm hand squeezed Noah’s bicep. Ramin was talking to him.
“You okay?” Ramin asked. His lips were thin, creased in concern, stained plum from the wine. Noah wondered what they tasted like. Which was irrational and inappropriate to think about an old friendyou hadn’t seen in years and who just wanted to catch up and was getting over a heartbreak.
But they were sopretty.
Noah was morally opposed to any form of corporal punishment, but he wished someone would smack him upside the head, just to help him focus.
“Yeah. Just tripped.” Noah shook his head. “I think I’m buzzed. I don’t usually drink that much.”
Ramin blushed and let go of him, leaving Noah chilled at the sudden absence. Maybe Ramin was cold, too, because he shivered as he rubbed at one of his tattoos. “In your defense, none of the sidewalks are even here. I tripped twice on the way home from gelato, totally sober.”
Ramin turned down the sidewalk once more, leaving Noah with a view of his strong backside.
Noah shook himself.Not appropriate!He took a couple long strides to catch up.
“What were you saying earlier?”
“Hm?” Noah tried to remember.
“About the divorce?”
Noah rewound their conversation as best he could, even though his mental image seemed to go into slo-mo at the part with Ramin’s lips.
“I think I was just gonna say it was painful but it got better. For all of us. Jake is happy, Angela’s happy.” He waved vaguely in the direction of the hotel, to his sleeping son and ex-wife. “I’m doing okay too.”
Ramin frowned then, a little line appearing between his heavy brows, shadowing his eyes. Noah didn’t like it when he couldn’t see the light in Ramin’s eyes.
“Just okay?”
Noah hadn’t meant to admit that, but somehow Ramin drew the truth like a magnet.
“I just…” He pinched his cross and tried to put it into words. “Angela’s a lawyer, so I was a stay-at-home dad. And I knew who I wasand what I was supposed to do. I was a husband. I was a father. I was a son, until I stopped talking to my parents. But now…”
Now Jake was getting older and didn’t need him as much. And half the time he was mad at Noah anyway. And he might be moving to Italy.
Noahlovedbeing Jake’s dad. It was the most important thing in his life. But maybe he needed to figure out how to be more than that.
“Now what?” Ramin asked.
“I don’t know. I guess maybe I’m trying to find a new me.” He sighed. “I need to show Jake there’s more to life than just working and parenting and going to the gym.”
“It’s working for you, though,” Ramin muttered, then blushed. “God, I’m buzzed too.”
But Noah’s chest fluttered. Ramin thought he looked good?
He laughed, and that made Ramin laugh, and the heaviness over them seemed to recede a bit. Tonight was supposed to be fun, not maudlin.
Ramin’s steps slowed as they approached another crosswalk. “I’m that way,” he said, pointing to the right, but Noah’s hotel was to the left.
“I’m that way.” Where had the night gone? Why did it have to end? “I’m really glad I ran into you again.”
“Me too. I’m glad you got hungry.” Ramin gifted him another smile, dimples deeply shadowed in the orange streetlight. “I had fun catching up. Say hi to Jake and Angela for me.”
“For sure.” Noah rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to say goodbye. It wasn’t even that late, really. The night was still young, and it felt like magic, being here. Like a second chance he didn’t know he wanted. A change he never knew he needed. But he didn’t know how to seize it.
Maybe they could keep walking? See the city at night? Noah cursed himself for not being better at drinking, because if he was, maybe they could’ve gone to a bar, or just stayed at the restaurant, or—
Noah’s phone buzzed. Jake’s cheesing face flashed on his screen.
