“Right.” I laughed, wincing as the sound made my ears ring.
Maybe alittlehungover.
But still not enough to excuse what I’d done.
“Bet you tell all the pretty girls that,” I said, sipping the orange juice and barely holding back a moan as the cool sweetness hit my tongue.
Ward paused, nudging the bacon in the pan with his spatula. The whole scene could have been one of the morning after moments from any of the movies I’d been in, only Ward was standing where I usually did, and I wasn’t wearing one of his shirts.
“I uh,” he said, then paused to clear his throat. “And boys. Except, umm, I don’t actually say it to everyone. I just… thought you oughta know. That was the single most awkward coming out ever, sorry.”
Okay.
This was exactly like one of those scenes in a movie, where everything in the story changed. The whole world felt like it’d shifted under me. Except it also didn’t, because Ward was still Ward, and I was still me, and nothing had actually changed.
“Oh. Know that you’re, uh…?”
“I’m bi.”
I shifted on the bar stool as Ward took two warmed plates out of the oven and then four perfectly toasted, inch-thick slices of bakery fresh bread. The kind you just couldn’t get in the big city, the kind that had been molded by the hands of someone whose family had been the town bakers since the first brick was laid in Otter Bay.
He set the plate in front of me, garnished it with a handful of fresh chives, and then took up his fork. All while I processed what he’d just told me.
“That’s cool,” I said after a minute, pushing crisp, glistening bacon that was making my mouth water around the plate.
What the hell else was I supposed to say?
It would have been so much easier for me if I’d known that in high schoolcame to mind, but I couldn’t say that. I’d just been outed to the whole world against my will. I wouldn’t have wished coming out a single second earlier than he was ready to on Ward—or anyone else, for that matter.
Ward snorted, starting in on his breakfast.
“Your dad was okay with it?” I asked, ignoring my phone buzzing on the countertop. Maybe that wasn’t the right first question, but Ward’s dad was cool. Accepting.
He’d been the first person I’d told I was gay, and he’d accepted it without so much as a pause. Looking back, I got the feeling he might’ve figured it out before I did.
“Oh yeah,” Ward said between mouthfuls of bacon. “Told me I wasn’t getting out of grandchildren, though.”
I snorted. Ward’s dad would have made a great grandpa.
“He’ll be back in town this afternoon, I think,” Ward said. “If you wanna hang out with him.”
I did want to hang out with him. My own dad had never really seemed to care all that much about me, but Mr. Harrison had. He’d been such a good dad to me that I’d given him nearly a dozen Father’s Day cards over the years, the first one plucked out of the wastepaper basket in my dad’s study after he’d thrown it away the same day I gave it to him. I’d decided Mr. Harrison deserved it more, and changed it so it saidto Ward’s dad.
Another buzz from my phone caught my attention, and I glanced over to see it vibrate in a half-circle on the beautiful waxed wood of the counter. My fingers itched to pick it up, but I didn’t want Ward to think I thought he was less important than whoever was messaging me.
It was probably just an Instagram notification or something.
“Probably just an Instagram notification,” I said aloud, focusing on enjoying the perfect sunny side up egg Ward had cooked for me while the yolk was still warm.
Ward hummed with his mouth full.
The birds sang outside.
My phone buzzed again.
My fingers twitched.
“I’m not gonna get mad if you check it,” Ward said.
