Page 14 of Home for Nathan
His cheeks immediately threatened to catch fire. “Was it obvious?”
“Little bit. I mean, not tons, but yeah. A little bit.”
“I can’t help it. Zion does it for me.” Nathan shook his head. “But I’ve got a baby to think about, and I don’t think he’s in the same space as I am in any way. He’s got his shit together, he’s got money, he’s not into children.” Nathan was broke and trying to figure stuff out and totally having a baby. He surprised himself by tearing up. “And I’m super emotional. Forgive me?”
“Hey, I have two babies. Forgiveness is like a thing. Hormones suck.”
“That they do, my friend. I detect no lies.”
Charlie turned to face him more directly. “He’s not being mean to you, right?”
“Zion? Are you kidding? He’s super sweet. I mean it’s totally not his fault that… We are not… I mean that he’s not as into me as I am into him, right? I can’t blame him for that. Well, maybe a tiny smidge. It’s just that—” He motioned to his belly. “If we’d met at a different time, but maybe not. I mean, really, he’s—I don’t even know if he’s into me at all, in any romantic way. I know that he wants to be friends. He’s been super clear about how much he enjoys hanging out, but he hasn’t even tried to kiss me. We’ve been on six dates now. I think that we can very much say that if it hasn’t happened by now, it’s probably not going to.”
And that sucked, but what was he going to do? So he was just going to keep being friends and enjoy Zion’s company and his friendship and stuff and?—
And then when Zion found something else to occupy his time and moved on?
He guessed the cool part was that the baby wouldn’t know.
Charlie chewed his lower lip. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something that might not be any of my business, but that’s what friends are for, right?”
He nodded, eyes wide, hoping it wasn’t bad.
“Zion talks about you all the time. To Kaleb. And Kaleb made him promise to go slow because you’ve been hurt, and you’re pregnant. But he wants to kiss you. So maybe you should go for it. Go in for the kiss next time.”
His heart started beating harder. “You think?”
“I do.” Charlie reached over to grab his hand. “I know it’s scary. I had such a hard time trusting after… But Kaleb was more ready than I thought, and so was I.”
Now it was his turn to worry his lower lip. “We’re going out again on Friday.”
“That’s the best way to find out, isn’t it? Then you’ll know.”
He thought on that, then nodded firmly. “Yes. Yes, then I’ll know.”
Chapter
Six
“That was really nice,” Nathan told him when Zion walked him up to the door of his apartment. The Merchante building had some rad digs, really. He was always impressed with how clean and comfortable the place was.
“Yeah. I thought it was pretty great.” They’d gone to the Grand Springs hotel for supper, and then they’d done a mini ghost tour of the place.
He wasn’t one hundred percent ready for the night to end, but he didn’t know how to ask. It wasn’t like Nathan could have a nightcap…
“Did you want to come in? I bought some of the beer you like.”
“Oh. Sure. I would love that.” He would, in fact, love that, no lie. The fact that Nathan had invited him told him that they were moving forward, and he was damn ready.
He’d talked to his friendly not-really-a-counselor Kaleb about it at length, and he wanted to take the next step. Zion figured his eyes were open, he knew what he was getting into, and he was wanting more than a hug at the end of the night.
They headed inside, and just as they walked in the door, a book fell off the little stand next to the entryway, making him flinch. “What was that?”
“Oh, it was probably Joe.” Nathan waved a hand in an airy motion.
“You have a cat?” He peered around the room, which was really lovely, looking for a feline. He thought Nathan had said he didn’t have any pets.
“Nope. Joe is the Merchante building ghost.”
