Page 41 of Just A Little Love

Chapter 23

Gabriel

“Are you sure you want to come to dinner? It’s not too late to change your mind. They won’t even know we left. Well, you left because I’d have to come up with a reason that I disappeared, but I can sometimes lie to my mom and get away with it. It would be better over the phone, so I can call and tell her I got sick on the front porch or something.”

I underestimated the level of cute that a frazzled Rory would project. Between the fussing with buttons on his Henley and the rambling explanation about his lying prowess, Rory was aboutto implode in a flaming ball of nervous energy. Enough was enough.

“Bunny, everything will be fine. I’m happy I get to join you for dinner. I'm excited to meet your parents. You called to make sure they could accommodate an extra guest, so they already know you’re bringing a friend, remember? You can’t tease me with pot roast and then rip it away. Nice boys don’t make their daddies cry.” As I spoke, I pulled Rory close by tugging on his open jacket until he was flush against my body. His cheeks had turned pink and chapped from the cold, starkly contrasting his freckles. “Bunny, who am I?”

Rory lifted his head and then snuggled in closer. With his face buried in my neck, I strained to hear his muffled words. “You’re my daddy.” Rory’s lilting voice had an edge of worry that I didn’t like. It didn’t matter if he was still upset about Charles from earlier or nervous about the introduction. I hated the worry in his voice. If my baby bunny was upset, it was my job to fix it. Always.

I’d stopped imagining what my future might look like with a partner. After Justin, it didn’t seem to matter. He had made it clear how I had failed him and would continue to fail anyone who came after him. Knowing all that, I have no idea why I went to him with my stupid lie, although it was hard to be mad at the outcome.

I always thought the little needed their daddy to be with them. I’d been looking at it from the fundamentally wrong perspective all these years.It was me. I was the one who needed their presence to be satisfied in my role.

These last couple of weeks demonstrated how much I craved the in-person, physical contact. There were plenty of daddies and littles who did long-distance. It was me who needed to be the one who needed to read their nightly story and rock them to sleep. It was me who had to fix their dinner and organize their bath. I wanted to, in person, be there to make sure they had a nutritious breakfast and not stressing themselves out over things that should be an adult worry. The person I wanted it with was Rory.

The moment Rory came into my life, the fantasy of what we could become started. I imagined us creating a life together, even if occasionally I had to be absent. Rory was a remarkable, intelligent man who, based on these couple of weeks together, could live his life as a fully capable adult who was responsible for his own decisions. He didn’t need me to fix him or carve a path for him to follow. He could do that for himself. What he gave me was so much more than a fear of facing the world on his own or, maybe even worse, a desire for me to provide the world because it was easier on him, like my ex. Rory gave me the privilege of taking care of him because he allowed me to take care of him.

It was a gift given by choice, and that made it all the more special.

“That’s right. I’m your daddy. It’s my job to worry and your job to let me worry. Your parents love you. I lo-” I stopped myself from speaking the words I realized I wanted to say more than anything. Rory deserved more than a hurried confession that he couldn’t process in front of his parents. I bit back the words that wanted to tumble out of me, cleared my throat, and tried again. “I love taking care of my sweet bunny. Everything will be fine,and we are going to get through this together. I’m your daddy. I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

My final words were whispered into Rory’s ear, and I felt his body, which had been tight, relax. Rory had already told me we could walk straight in, so I took one of his hands in mine, and I lifted my other to the doorknob. He hadn’t said as much, but walking through this door meant I was inserting myself into his family. It was an unspoken declaration that we would have a genuine relationship, and I would figure out how to be a Daddy regardless of the time we were forced to spend apart.

***

“Carol, I can’t remember the last time I had homemade pot roast. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for letting me crash your dinner.” Rory’s mom blushed like a schoolgirl at the compliment, and Frank nodded approval at my words.

The softness in Rory’s eyes was unmistakable. Unquestionably, we were both inching toward a precipice that we hadn’t expected but was unavoidable. We were falling for each other. And, at least in my case, I was already gone for him.

“We are always happy to meet Rory’s friends. Do you know Anders? He is such a sweetheart. And so organized! I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who can accomplish so much, so quickly. He volunteered to help organize our church Christmas party, and literally all we had to do was show up when he said to be there.” Carol reached over and patted Rory’s hand but kept walking and headed back to the kitchen.

Rory’s parents were precisely as he’d described them to me. When we’d first arrived, his mom groused over whether he was wearing proper winter clothes and not getting his feet wet. Since half the time he didn’t wear a proper coat or waterproof shoes, I happily and willingly threw Rory under the bus to his mom. That earned him a full five-minute lecture on the hidden dangers of wet socks and the need for a proper jacket. As his Daddy, I was thrilled when he finally promised to wear appropriate footwear from now until forever. Rory’s eye roll when he said it earned him a stern look to behave. His answering grin didn’t bode well for compliance. Still, he promised his mom, so it gave me some leverage to make him leave his cute Chucks at home and wear rain boots like the rest of us. I didn’t want my baby to get sick.

“Rory, have you seen the stats that Popov is putting up? We should at least make the playoffs.” Frank’s valiant attempt to talk sports with Rory gave him nothing but a blank stare. Occasionally, Rory would add in a sagely nodded head. Occasionally, it was in the right spot.

“Oh, that’s great. Making a Superbowl will be awesome!” If Frank’s chuckle was any indication, he didn’t mind that Rory had no clue what he was talking about.

“Oh, that was so close, sweetheart. Hockey is the Stanley Cup, and the Super Bowl is for football.” Rory’s perplexed expression demanded a quick kiss, and I indulged myself. Frank looked pleased when he turned away to give us a little privacy for our PDA.

“Meh, it’s all sportsball to me.”

“Sweet Baby Jesus, Rory. They use a puck! Since you’re dating a guy who’s into hockey, maybe you guys would like to come with your mom and me down to Prost for a hockey night? I could teach you a little about the game.” Frank’s tone was deceptively casual, he couldn’t quite disguise a hopeful edge. He wanted to connect with a son he didn’t understand.

“Dad! What are you doing going to that place? I don’t know what level is below a dive bar, but that place is like two rungs down from that. Is it safe for mom to go there? Shit, Dad, is it safe for you to go there?” Rory's voice rose several octaves. As much as his folks didn’t understand him, Rory was equally clueless about them if his father’s scoff was anything to go by.

“Oh, it’s fine. There’s no reason to fuss about us going there. About a year ago, a retired player bought it. He got rid of the old crew, cleared out the gambling and stuff, and turned it into a decent place. In the summer, they are putting in a beer garden out back. There’s a rainbow flag sticker in the window. It might be fun to hang out sometime.”

Frank’s fingers twisted around each other, just like his son did when he was nervous. Rory glanced over at me with a questioning look. At my firm nod, he turned back in his dad’s direction, “Yeah, sounds like fun. We’d like to come with you. I didn’t realize Gabriel was such a hockey fan until tonight.”

“It’s not Rory’s fault because I’ve kept my fandom a bit secret, but I am a huge hockey fan. I didn’t want Rory to dump me when he found out I spent weekend afternoons watching games. I had to get him hooked first.” Rory's feigned outrage was loud but clearly feigned. My plan worked.

“We would love to join you and Carol at the bar to watch the game,” I continued. “If you’d be interested, my company has season tickets to the Rainiers. I tell myself I’ll make time to attend games, but the tickets almost always end up going to clients or charity raffles. You're welcome to claim a few games for yourselves. It’s four box tickets, so maybe we can even talk Rory into coming with us for a game. There’s no way I’d be too busy for Rory’s first live hockey game.”

Frank’s whoop in response to the offer sounded more like a little kid than I’d ever heard from someone at Wild Dandies. He jumped out of his easy chair and raced toward the kitchen, calling his wife’s name to tell her the news. Since Frank was occupied, I turned to my boy tucked into my side. His sweet smile widened before he stretched up to capture my lips in a kiss. The brief brush of his lips wasn’t nearly enough because I chased after him when he pulled away.

I angled my head down so I could capture his lips again and return the gesture. My intentions were for an equally chaste kiss, but his mouth was too much of a temptation, and I deepened the kiss with my tongue sliding through the curve of his smile. We wrestled for control until Rory yielded with a barely audible whimper. I couldn’t imagine a time when I would tire of this man. Our kiss threatened to spill into the obscene, so I reluctantly pulled away so we could catch our breaths.

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