Page 87 of Perfect Pairing
“Hey, Hansen?” Dad asked, ignoring me.
“Yeah, Papa?”
“Do you love your dad?”
“More than anything in the world,” my son said without hesitation.
My dad turned his attention back to me, giving me a soft smile when he saw the tears welling in my eyes. “I think that says enough, don’t you?”
“What about everything else?” I asked quietly, voice hoarse as I tried to corral my emotions.
“I think only you can answer that, son. But if you want me to tell you how proud of you I am, both of the man you’ve grown into and the father you are to my favorite grandson—”
“Hey!” Hansen shouted, cutting in. Apparently, he’d been playing closer attention than we thought. “I’m your only grandson.”
Dad shrugged. “Doesn’t mean you’re not my favorite.”
“Whatever,” Hansen grumbled, though good-naturedly, before returning to his Legos.
“The point I’m trying to make,” Dad continued, “is that you got the short end of the stick with your last relationship. Maybe it’s time you sought happiness again.”
“Brie makes me happy,” I said, fighting to get the words out around the stinging in my nose and eyes. “After Shannon, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to feel this way again. It’s scary,but…I need that woman in my life in whatever way she’ll have me.”
“Then do what you gotta do, kid.”
I smiled, knowing I had his blessing. He knew this pursuit of Brie wasn’t something I took lightly, not when I’d spent the last nearly six years of my life making decisions with only one person in mind—my son. But I was ready to do what I’d been too fucking scared and broken to do before.
This time, I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“Ezra!” Lena gasped when she opened the door to find me standing there, arms laden with as many dishes as I could safely carry. Hansen and Dad weren’t far behind me, each holding what they could as well.
I was pretty sure there was still more in the car.
Maybe Ihadgone overboard.
“Hi, Lena,” I said, shooting her a wide grin.
“What is all of this?” she asked as she stepped aside to let me and my family in.
“Men cook for Christmas, right?”
“Well, yes…” She trailed off as the three of us formed a procession toward their dining room. “But, you know, you cook for us all day every day. You didn’t need to go through all this trouble.”
Carefully sliding the dishes onto the long buffet table set up under the windows that looked out over the water, I turned to Lena.
“I don’t mind, truly. Plus…” I started, moving closer anddropping my voice. The commotion of our arrival had drawn a crowd, and the Delatou women and their significant others began to filter into the room. “You don’t really want to eat anything Leon cooked, right?”
Lena tipped her head back and barked out a laugh, and I grinned alongside her. Leon approached, eyes narrowed in suspicion, sliding his arm possessively around his wife’s waist.
“No one but me should be making my wife laugh like that, Wendt,” he groused.
“Sorry, sir.”
Leon chuckled and settled his free hand on my shoulder. “I’m just messing with you, son.” He glanced over my shoulder. “I see you came bearing gifts.”
I shrugged. “It is Christmas, right?”
Leon nodded and said, “And because of you, we won’t starve.”
