We’d had a nice, normal dinner like usual… except this time, Jonah wasn’t leaving.
And I was feeling a little excited over it.
Nervous too, but mostly excited.
I had just finished flipping to the last page when Grandpa Gus let out an enormous yawn a second before he climbed up to his feet, palm going to his back with a groan, and said, “Well, I’m beat.” Grandpa made a face as he raised his arms overhead and gave them a stretch with another yawn. Something told me to expect whatever was about to come out of his mouth, so I wasn’t totally caught off-guard when he dropped his arms, focused in on Jonah, and asked, “Jonah, I’m gay. Is that going to be a problem?”
Peter’s head immediately swiveled in my direction, and we made eye contact.
Yeah, he’d gone there.
And it was while I was processing that, that the man sitting beside me said, “You’re a bit older than what I’m usually interested in, but….”
I was already snorting by the time Grandpa Gus shook his head and started walking out of the living room, calling out behind him, “You two deserve each other. Goodnight.”
Even Peter had a grin on his face as he got up too, came over, gave Mo a kiss on the forehead, me one on the forehead too, hesitated for maybe a second, then planted one on Jonah’s forehead too before disappearing out of the room. “Love you guys.”
“Love you too,” I called out after him.
Jonah and I both looked at each other the second we were alone. I smiled at him, and he smiled right back at me. “Are you tired?” I asked, leaning over to give Mo a kiss on her forehead too as I closed her book at the same time with my other hand. It was nine.
“A bit,” he answered. “What’s your usual routine?”
“I put Mo to bed, shower, watch some TV until I get sleepy… you?”
“Call my nan or sister for a bit, then go to bed.” His gaze drifted down to the little girl resting against my boob. “Would you like me to put her in her crib?”
I shook my head. “I’ll do it. Then I’ll go shower afterward. Make your call and go upstairs whenever you want.”
“Are you sure?”
I made a face at him as I started to get up as quietly and less bouncy as possible so that I wouldn’t wake up Mo. “I got it, Dimples. Tell your grandma I said hi. I’ve got some pictures on my phone of Little Mo Peep she might like, if you want to steal them.”
Jonah’s hand reached for the back of my thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “I know you don’t need me, but call down if you do. I won’t be long.”
His comment rode with me all the way up the stairs and while I put Mo down and got her all set up for the night with her sound machine and baby monitor. And I kept on thinking about it while I showered and then hung under the spray a minute longer than I needed to. I know you don’t need me….
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it still didn’t sit right with me. Actually, it bothered me a little. He hadn’t sounded mad or even a tiny upset or anything, but….
In my room, I eyed the two new bags that had been moved in there at some point during the day. I hadn’t moved them in, and I couldn’t remember Jonah doing it either. I wondered if it had been Peter, and the idea made me smile as I went about moisturizing my face and legs.
I took my time stretching; touching my toes, taking some deep breaths in and out, doing a few neck and shoulder exercises to loosen up. By the time I was done and Jonah still hadn’t come up, I climbed under the covers as I yawned and grabbed the novel about the firefighters that grandpa had been reading weeks ago. He had checked it back out for me. About three pages later, I heard creaking down the hallway that stopped for a couple of minutes and then got louder before a big body stopped in the doorway.
Jonah was already smiling when his hands went to the doorframe, the sigh that came out of him so deep I raised my eyebrows at him.
“What?”
His dimples popped, and his voice was quiet as he said, “I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see you in bed like this again.”
“I didn’t think you would either,” I told him honestly, then patted the half of the bed beside me. “Only if you want though. There’s the guest bedroom too, if you would rather—”
He groaned. “The day I would rather sleep alone than with you….” His arms dropped from the doorway as he took a couple steps inside then paused. “Do you close your door?”
I smiled. “Not unless I have a reason to.”
Those honey-colored eyes settled on me, and I could see his cheeks puff in and out with the breaths he took. “Would you like me to close it?”
Under the blankets, I scrunched my toes. “The day I tell you not to close it….”
Jonah smiled shyly as he took two steps back and quietly closed the door, flipping the lock.
“My nan says hello,” he said as he turned back, those big hands going to the bottom of his long-sleeved T-shirt.
I was watching those hands as I said, “How are your grandparents?”
The shirt was being tugged up, exposing an inch of tanned olive skin, and then another inch, and another…. “They’re well. She was telling me that Granddad hasn’t been feeling well, but he refuses to see his doctor.”
The damn shirt went over his head, revealing that wide, naturally smooth chest that tapered to solid, flat abs. I’d asked him once if he shaved, and he’d laughed and shaken his head, claiming the only hair he could get to grow out was on his face. It’s a family curse, he’d claimed; apparently neither of his grandparents or his dad were hairy. And there was that narrow, trim waist….
“Does anyone live close enough to go check on them?”
His thumbs were flicking at the button and zipper of his jeans as he replied, “No. Not often enough. They live in Hawke’s Bay, it’s a bit south of Auckland.”
I tore my eyes up to his face to find him still watching me, his smile somewhere between shy and smug. I groaned and earned a big smile with a hint of pink blossoming on his cheeks. “Hopefully you can go visit them sooner than later.”
I meant it.
The smile that had been on Jonah’s face mostly melted away as he stood there, fingers tucked over the loops of his jeans. “My agent has started talks with a couple of different teams to see if they even want me.”
I couldn’t see anyone ever not wanting him.
“Talks should go by fairly quickly. I should know in a matter of weeks where I’ll be playing… if I’ll be playing.”
My heart ached, but I still offered him a smile. “You will. I don’t know how you played this last season after your injury, but you’ll go somewhere. I know it.”
Jonah didn’t say anything for so long I almost thought that he changed his mind about bringing this up, but he moved toward me after a moment, half the skin of his beautiful body exposed as he settled in beside me, his butt against the side of my thigh, angled to face me. One of those hands came up to my face, and his thumb stroked across my chin. “Lenny, I—”
We weren’t doing this. He wasn’t doing this.
I turned my head and brushed my nose against the finger closest to my mouth. “Don’t say it, Dimples.”