“Nice.”
“I love Whoppers,” she said. “I had to limit myself to three per week in New York, and now I can’t get them here.” Her sigh was pitiful.
“A standard Whopper?”
“No, bacon and cheese,” she said.
“Nice. But we have burgers here, so that’s something at least.”
Jay worked as she talked about food and what she loved and didn’t love. He told her he ate pretty much anything. Something else he’d learned as a child.
It felt good having her here. Not awkward, but comfortable now, which was weird, as he usually hated the idea of anyone in his space for long periods.
He plated the food and slid it in front of her. She looked at it like it might solve something bigger than hunger.
“Jay, I’m as scared as you are about becoming a parent.”
He wasn’t sure where she was going with this, but her next words confirmed he wasn’t going to like it.
“But I want to say that you’re not your father,” she added quietly.
He’d told her at boy’s night that his parents weren’t good people. In fact, she was the only person he’d ever told that to. It was his past, and he liked to keep it there, usually.
“I know that,” he said evenly.
“Do you?”
He met her gaze then. There was no pity there. Just truth.
“I’m nothing like him and never will be,” Jay vowed. “I’m trustworthy and?—”
“I know,” she interrupted him. “That’s why I’m here.”
That hit harder than anything else had tonight. She trusted him. With herself. With their child.
“I need you to not feel trapped into this, Jay. The child, having me here?—”
“I don’t.” The words came out sharper than Jay intended. He exhaled slowly. “I’ve spent my whole life making sure I could walk away if I needed to from anything I did.”
“And?”
“And I don’t want to walk away from this, Blue.”
Her fingers tightened slightly around her fork. “This isn’t… us,” she said carefully. “We’re not a thing.”
“I know. We’re friends, and that’s the best place to start,” Jay said.
“Agreed.” Blue took a large bite of food, her white teeth flashing, and he felt an uncomfortable surge of heat fill him. “This is good, thank you.”
“Welcome.”
“We had a night, Jay.”
“Yeah.”
“That doesn’t mean?—”
“I know what it doesn’t mean, Blue.”
