“No,” Stephen answered his son.
“Then how come he hasn’t come to see me anymore?”
Stephen's heart broke hearing his son ask that question. Nicholas had started calling Brenden Papa after they told him the truth. He closed the book he was reading to Nicholas and looked down at him. “I told you, your papa is just busy. He’ll come by when he gets the time.” Nicholas didn’t look convinced; Stephen had been telling him the same thing for over two weeks.
“Okay.” Nicholas sighed and rolled over, telling him that he did not want to talk about it anymore. Stephen couldn’t blame him either.
Stephen leaned down and kissed Nicholas on his cheek. “Goodnight, little man.”
Nicholas nodded and snuggled into his pillow. Stephen got off the bed and walked to the door, cursing Brenden for being so damn inconsiderate. He knew the man would be angry, but he did not expect that Brenden would stay away from Nicholas. Stephen checked his watch and realized that for the first time in two weeks, it was just him and Nicholas home alone, his dad apparently was out with a friend—the same friend he spent the night with a few days ago. Julian had dated little since his father died, and he thought it was good that his father was making friends. He walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge, searching for something to eat, he was starting to crave certain foods.
When he was pregnant with Nicholas, he had craved double cheeseburgers with real meat, and applewood smoked bacon, desperately. His mouth watered at the thought of breaking his promise to never eat meat again. Closing the door to the fridge and opening the freezer, he pulled out his favorite ice cream. He walked over to the drawer foregoing a bowl and got a spoon instead. He moaned at his first spoonful, sagging against the counter.It’ll hit the spot for now.
The doorbell rang, and Stephen furrowed his brows wondering who could be visiting him so late.Maybe Dad forgot his keys.He walked to the door. “Hey, Dad, did you forget your keys…” The rest of his words died after he opened the door seeing who it was. “What are you doing here? If you came to see Nicholas, he’s already in bed.”
** ** ** ** **
“I know,” Brenden answered. “I came to see you, actually.”
“If you’re here to yell at me some more, forget it. I’m tired and not in the mood.”
Brenden knew he deserved that, the last time they spoke things hadn’t gone so well between them. “I’m not here to argue with you. Can I come in? I also brought a peace offering.” He held up the bag.
Stephen eyed the bag with curiosity. “What’s in the bag?”
“Your favorite, or what used to be your favorite—vanilla sponge cake with fresh strawberry topping.”
Stephen’s eyes widened, and that was when Brenden knew he’d gotten him. There was a vegan bakery in his neighborhood, and he’d stopped by with the intention to bribe his way through Stephen’s front door before coming over. It also helped that he was aware that Stephen had a very large sweet tooth and had used it to his advantage. “What if I told you there was also triple chocolate tofu brownies in there as well?”
Stephen grabbed the bag and walked away from the door. “This doesn’t mean I like you, but I will hear you out.” He sat on the couch and opened the box and dived into his treat with gusto. Brenden sat and watched as Stephen devoured the brownies before diving into the cake. “Okay, so now you bought my attention with sweets, I’m ready to listen.”
Brenden chuckled, “Are you sure? I mean, you seem kind of busy stuffing your face.” Stephen stuck his tongue out before returning to his treat, causing Brenden to laugh. It brought back memories of how they used to be before they’d ended their relationship. He sat down in the other chair facing Stephen. “So, I know we started out rocky on this second chance thing, but I hope we can give it another go.”
Stephen stopped eating and looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t like secrets, we deal with it on a daily basis at work, but for my private life, I want things to be out in the open. I want us to be friends and lovers and parents to the kids we have together. But we need to be honest with each other.”
“Or what? You will walk away, and that’s it? So, it’s all or nothing, there’s no compromising with you?”
“That’s not what I’m saying…”
“Well, it sure sounds like it to me, Brenden,” Stephen argued. He put the half-eaten cake on the coffee table in front of him. “I know that I did a terrible thing when I’d found out I was pregnant with Nicholas, and I was close to making the same mistake with this baby. But you need to see it from my point of view. I was in love with you, and we never talked about building a future together. Then hearing you say having children was the last thing on your mind after I’d just found out that I was already carrying your baby, I had to protect myself.”
“What changed your mind this time? Why did you move here in the first place?”
“Irony,” Stephen answered.
“I’m not following,” Brenden told him.
“Irony, coincidence, or fate. Fuck, call it whatever you want. But how does it happen that I ended up getting pregnant twice, by the same man, no less? I figured the universe was trying to tell me something.”
“I’m so tired of being angry with you,” Brenden said to him. “It takes too much fucking energy.” He got up and sat down beside Stephen, cupping the side of his cheek. “But I also can’t seem to stay away from you.”
“Then don’t,” Stephen whispered, looking up at him. “I didn’t move here expecting that we would rekindle what we had before, Brenden. I did it for Nicholas and this baby. I want them to get to know you.”
Their faces were so close, and Brenden wanted to taste Stephen’s lips. He leaned closer, their lips were about to touch, the knock on the door sounded, and they instantly pulled away. That was closer than he wanted. Brenden’s primary goal of showing up at Stephen’s front door was so that they could talk. Sex had never been their problem, communication was. He looked toward the front door as Julian walked in.
Stephen cleared his throat and got up to greet his dad. “Hey, Dad, how was your night?”
