He looks around my place. “So, this is it, huh? Where Shane Carraway lives.”
My place isn’t much. But it’s clean. I make sure everything is put away, and I keep my possessions to a minimum. When Gina and I started living apart, I moved into a modest two-bedroom above my boss’s garage. I took it because it was already fully furnished and had a spare bedroom for Mikayla.
“Where is she?” Ethan asks, pulling something from the pocket of his black coat. I see it’s a little unicorn toy. “You said she’d like me if I brought her this.”
“She’s with Gina’s parents. They like to keep her overnight sometimes. They’ve got a playroom set up for her and a swing set.”
“Oh.” He looks disappointed. As he puts the toy back in his pocket, I see he’s got a fresh coat of black polish on his nails. I already know my daughter will demand he paint them pink.
“I pick her up tomorrow afternoon, though. If you want to come with me.”
He nods. “Yeah. I’d like that.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” He takes a step toward me and puts his arms around me. “I want to be a part of your life.”
I put my arms around him. “I want to be a part of yours.”
We kiss again, and I wonder if we’re going to have sex right now or later. I wanted to take him to the restaurant at the lodge in Lyons Falls so Gina could say hi. And for our first, real, and actual date.
But I guess we could have sex now and later too. Why not?
We’ve got five years to make up for.
But Ethan breaks the kiss and steps away from me for a second. “Hey, um…I don’t know if you had plans, but I was thinking we could go have dinner with my parents, maybe? They’re ordering Pizza Hut, and they got some movies from Blockbuster.”
“At your house?”
“Yeah.” He pauses and licks his bottom lip. He looks down at the zipper of his coat and starts messing with it. “I was thinking that like, maybe we could tell them. About us.”
“They don’t know?”
“I haven’t told them yet. I never thought they’d ever be assholes about me being gay or whatever.” He fidgets with the zipper. “They might have already figured it out anyway. But I never wanted to bring home like a bunch of guys. I always wanted them to meet the right person, you know?” He stops fidgeting with the zipper and takes my hand. “And it’s you. So, I thought we could tell them together.”
I think about Everett’s reaction initially, but he didn’t have the whole story, and he was caught off guard with that photograph. I forwarded his last email to me to Ethan. We haven’t mentionedit to each other much. Everett had come around, after all, and if Ethan didn’t believe me before, he does now. But I don’t think Everett’s parents would react the way he did.
At least, I hope.
“You nervous?” Ethan says. “We don’t have to.”
“No, I know.”
“I’m in love with you,” he says. “I want them to know.”
I smile. “I’m in love with you.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“Okay.”
We get in my truck and drive along the roads, still packed with snow. I glance up at the sky and see how clear it is. There are stars out. It looks like millions of them.
Ethan follows my gaze. “That’s the Big Dipper.”
“It is?” I glance at it again, before returning my eyes to the road. “You liked that one, right? When we were kids.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he says softly. “I used to know the names of each star, but all I remember is the one at the end. Or the beginning, depending on how you look at it.”
“And it never dies, right?” I glance over at him with a grin.
He takes my hand in his. “No. It never dies at all.”
THE END
