I hesitate, unsure if I’m ready to leave her alone. “I’m fine, Dad,” she says with a ‘you’re ruining my life’ groan. “We’ve been texting this morning.”
“We’ll wait until he gets here.”
Emmett shows up twenty minutes later, and we watch as Addie opens the door, something unsaid passing between them.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey,” she says.
And if you’ve been best friends for your entire life, sometimes that’s enough. She opens her arms, and he steps forward, pulling her into a hug so tight her feet go off the floor.
Will is watching from the kitchen with narrowed eyes and clenched fists, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was about to yell at the kid. I grab my jacket before he can start. “Ollie, you’re coming with us.”
He doesn’t move immediately, stopping by his sister and looking up at Emmett. “Are you Addie’s boyfriend?”
I look over at Will, my eyes wide at the horrible timing, but he seems fine when he says, “No.”
“Uncle Will is Daddy’s boyfriend.”
Emmett blinks, looking over at us, while Addie shouts at her brother. “Ollie! That was my news!”
I get him out the door before he can cause any more trouble.
Frank and Joyce are sitting together on the loveseat, with Jess in Frank’s chair, while Will and I are on the couch. In the hot seat. Ollie has already disappeared toward the bedroom that used to be Jess’s, where his grandparents keep toys now.
Will’s knee is bouncing uncontrollably, so I reach over, steadying it with my hand.
Frank clears his throat, his eyes glued to my hand on his son’s knee, and us sitting together like this. And I know whatever he’s about to say, we’re not gonna like it.
“I just don’t understand,” he says. “You two are—you’re doing stuff with each other?”
“Frank!” Joyce interrupts at the question, but he waves her off.
“We’re all adults here, Joyce. And we’re family. Don’t that seem a little nasty to you?”
“Frank!” Joyce says, again, smacking his arm with the back of her hand. It’d be funny any other time, but now, Will takes my hand, squeezing it tight.
This is his dad.
This has to be harder on him than it is on me.
“I ain’t one of those homophobic types. I don’t care about none of that.” He points between us. “But you boys been family for twenty years. It ain’t right.”
“I’m sure they know that, dear—”
Jess, who’s been quiet so far, sets her glare on me. “You’re fucking my brother, Nolan.”
“Well, that’s not exactly—” Will says, and it’s my turn to smack him, not so different from Joyce.
“Don’t say whatever you’re about to say.”
He closes his mouth.
Jess looks at her brother. “And you. You couldn’t find anyone else,” she says, standing up to highlight her point. “In the entire world? You had to go after my husband?”
“Technically, your separated husband—”
“I was coming back—”
