Page 86 of Skating to Him

“I understand, babe. Don’t beat yourself up about it.” He clicked his tongue. “What’s important is that we’ll be together, and I’ll get to meet Teddy and see where you grew up.”

Way, way cool…“Thank you.” I thought a moment. Enough about me. “What’s going on with Chicago? You see them tomorrow, right?” I stared at the ceiling, the lamp on the nightstand leaving a round glow.

“Yep, I’m meeting with them tomorrow at nine a.m.,” he said. “My brother gets in on Christmas Eve, and my mom’s doing well on her meds.”

“That’s good to hear.” I freed a long sigh. At least one of us wasn’t in a crisis right now. “Say hi to them for me. I can’t wait to meet them in person someday.” When would that be? Graduation maybe? Our future together was still so unknown. Except we’d be together in some way.

“I’ll definitely say hello. My mom has already asked all sorts of questions about you.” He freed a quick laugh. “Rowan, take care of yourself, and I’ll be there soon.”

“Can’t wait.” A smile teased my lips. It would all be okay. My phone buzzed in my hand, and I held it to my face to read the message.

Teddy

Are you in town yet? When can we get together?

“Hey, it’s my friend, Teddy. I’ll call you later, okay?” I sat up on the bed and raked my fingers through my hair. It might begood to talk to him about the situation too. Maybe I was being too careful by not coming out?

“Sure. You two have fun, but not too much fun. You know what I mean?”

“Tyler Hodge, are you jealous?” My heart lightened. “We have no gay bar plans.” But how different would it be to go into one around here with Teddy now? No, I’d wait on that until Tyler got here. Then I could show him off.

“Good. Love you, Rowan,” he said.

“Love you too.” Emotion flared inside me. It was like he had my back, even from thousands of miles away.

“Okay, see you soon. Bye, babe.”

“Bye.” I ended the call, opened my text messages, and typed.

Rowan

I’m here. How about the night after Christmas? We can meet up at Michael’s, maybe?

I smirked. Michael’s Bar was the biggest dive bar around and the place we used to go to when we were underage. It was an old favorite.

Teddy

Sounds great. See you around eight?

Rowan

It’s a plan.

This was perfect. It gave me time to visit with Mom and the family over the holiday and then talk to Teddy in person before Tyler got here.

Knocking jiggled my door.

“Yeah?” I stood from the bed. “Come in.”

The door swung open, and Danny ambled into my room, his dark hair falling to his cheekbones and blue eyes bright under his thick lashes. His hoodie and jeans were dripping off him. The guy needed to eat a few burgers.

“Hey, man, good to see you.” I stepped to him and wrapped him up. With all his nerdiness, the guy was a good hugger. Go figure.

“I’m glad you’re home.” He set his cheek on my shoulder while his arms wound around my waist.

“Hey, you okay?” Maybe this thing with Mom was getting to him. I squeezed him and let him go.

Stepping back, he pursed his lips. “I’m okay. I’m, uh…” He glanced toward the open door behind him. “Just worried, you know?”

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