I glance around. There’s no one browsing at the moment. “Hey, Russ?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you watch the store for a few minutes? I need to grab something from the back.”
“I can get it.” He gives me a big Russ smile as he saunters over.
“It’s hard to find. It’ll only take me a second or two.”
“Okay.” Russ looks defeated, but I sneak off anyway. I’m early, but Chase is already there, pacing back and forth between a few boxes.
“What happened? Did he ask you about me?”
“Nothing happened.” I put my hand on his waist to help ground him. “My friend Kyler, the one who owns the craft shop, came in and almost blurted something out. He rightfully informed me that we’re going to have a hard time keeping this from your brother. We’re lucky someone hasn’t already told him.”
“Yeah, I know. Half the time I’m at the shop, I’m running interference. Keeping everyone as far away from him as possible. It’s exhausting.” He winces. “And I’m not getting much work done.”
“I think you need to tell him. At least about you. I’ll come with you if you want. We can do it together.”
“No.” Chase takes a big breath and lets it out slowly. “I want to do it myself. At least the part about me being bisexual. Then we can tell him about us together.”
Over the last few days, Chase has slowly become more at ease with the idea of telling his brother. There’s no moreif it goes wellstatement tacked onto the ends of his sentences. We both know Russ is going to be thoughtful and caring. But imagining all the options is terrifying.
“Can I borrow him for a bit?”
“Please,” I say, chuckling. “I love Russ, but he’s driving the customers and me a bit crazy. They’re not used to his exuberance.”
“You’re the best, Nix.” He leans in and kisses me. For a while, we stay like that, wrapped up in each other, kissing slowly and deeply, with nowhere to go.
Except we both have places to be and things to do. By the time we break apart, his lips are red and swollen. Mine probably are, too. Not great for keeping our secret. I do my best to straighten up my glasses and tie, hoping that will hide at least a little bit of the evidence.
“Call me if you need me?”
Chase nods. “Yeah, I will.”
I’m so proud of him, it feels like my chest might explode. This is only the first of many conversations like this he’s going to have to have, but the first one is always the toughest. Getting the words out to another person and waiting for their response. I’ll forever be grateful that the first person I told was Russ. I’m glad both Chase and I have him in our lives.
Now I just have to hope that he’s glad to have Chase and me together.
CHASE
“So, catch me up. What’s new? What’s the plan?”
“That’s a lot of questions.” I take the spot on the sofa next to Russ. I considered taking him to the coffee shop or for a walk, but decided I preferred the privacy of the studio for this conversation.
“Okay, let’s start with an easy one. How did you like the studio here? It looks great.”
“It’s been fantastic. I don’t need a lot of space, so this has been perfect.” We’ll ignore the part where I’ve mostly slept at Nix’s house since his plumbing issues got fixed.
“Was it hard? Sharing this small space with Nix when his water was broken?”
He would ask about that. Sometimes I forget how often Nix and Russ message each other. They know everything about each other’s lives. Usually, right now, there might be a few gaps.
“Not too bad. He wasn’t usually here during the day.” At least that much is true. “Do you want something to drink?” I try to remember what’s in the fridge. There’s not much, but maybe a couple of cans of fizzy water.
“Sure, whatever you’ve got is fine.”
What I’ve got is exactly one can ofPolarblueberry lavender seltzer. It’s the last from the special edition pack I purchased. Largely because I pretty much hate the taste of lavender. I grab that for Russ and a glass of water for myself. At least having something in my hands will give me something to do.
