Page 5 of Karma Kitty Christmas
It would mean that the somewhat bewildered man who had gazed at Luca so appreciatively wouldn’t be the man who’d asked him over for bean soup and a thrilling evening picking out yarn.
“Listen,” Luca said gently, glancing at the kitchen island, which had been set nicely with placemats and matching bowls, “I can see this isn’t your normal day. But you’re offering to do something really nice for my sister—and I realize you said something small, and I said something bigger, but I swear, I’m so grateful. If you need to trauma dump on me tonight, I promise I won’t hold your bullshit against you. I may ask questions, but that’s because I’m interested, okay?”
Isaac’s limpid-eyed gaze was actually heartbreaking. “Interested?” he asked.
“Well,yeah. I know you’ve only seen me around here since my grandparents moved out, but truth to tell, my grandma’s been talking about you guys since you moved in. She was so excited, right? Marriage equality passed, and wasn’t that great, and then you guys moved in and you weremarried. She wanted me to know that it was okay. I’d just come out to my family, and my parents were assholes about it—still are. She kept telling me about you and what a nice guy you were, and you were a teacher—which still didn’t make me want to go to college. But, you know, I feel like Iknowyou. And….” This was embarrassing. “Watching you knit was nice. My grandma tried to teach me when I was a kid. Me and Allegra were hopeless at it. So it made me happy to watch you knit. It… it would be nice to get to know therealyou after all this time, you think?”
Oh God. He’d said all that—he’dactuallysaid all that. How embarrassing. But Isaac seemed to really be going through something tonight, and Luca felt like he needed to explain his vested interest in making sure the poor man was okay.
And it seemed to have worked.
The next look Isaac sent him was still limpid—but a little less desperate.
“Same,” he said, with a crooked smile. “Mrs. Giordano kept talking about you and Allegra. She’s, uhm….” His smile straightened out a little. “She’s really proud of you guys.”
“Well, she’s my grandma. I’d say she has to be because she’s family, but my parents are proof that you can still be assholes to your family.”
Isaac nodded emphatically. “I know that—I see my students deal with that every day.” He let out a breath. “Well, I still don’t want to dump all over you about my late husband. That seems… wrong, somehow. But maybe I can take a breath and not be so… soweirdabout talking to a whole other human.”
He gestured to the stools then, and Luca made himself comfortable.
“What would you like to drink?” Isaac asked over his shoulder as he went to stir the soup. “I’ve got milk, juice, wine?”
“Mmm… not that I don’tloveme a glass of wine sometimes,” Luca said, “but I think I’ll stick to juice.”
“Good thought,” Isaac said dryly, going to the refrigerator and then reaching into a plain cupboard for juice glasses. “I’m obviously weird enough right now.”
“Oh, I didn’t sayyoushouldn’t have a glass of wine,” Luca told him, thinking it should probably be arequirementfor this poor guy, “but I’ve got to drive home and make sure Allegra’s all settled in the guest bedroom.”
Isaac sent him a droll glance over his shoulder as he busied himself pouring drinks. “I think I should lay off the sauce tonight. I apparently let down enough barriers as it is.”
“We all have those days,” Luca said, accepting the orange juice appreciatively. “I swear, if Allegra hadn’t dropped the baby bomb on my lap, you’d be getting an earful about the economy and clients who bail. Although honestly this guy was totally nice about it. It wasn’t his fault some bozo crashed the supply chain and now he can’t build a cottage for his mother-in-law.” Lucashook his head. “I understand she’s a little slice of heaven too—a woman who needs her own space.”
Isaac’s delighted laugh was as unexpected as it was amazing. Low and happy, it sort of burbled up from his stomach and past his open mouth as he tilted his head back, and Luca wondered how he could get the man to do it more often.
“That’s uhm, tactful,” Isaac said, still chuckling, and then he sobered. “And generous of you to be so kind to the client. I’m sorry about the cancellation, though. It’s that sort of thing that makes having a small business so challenging, I would imagine.”
“Yeah,” Luca admitted, a little disappointed that they were on to his shit now. Isaac’s shit had been so… surprising, from such a self-contained man. “I took over the company from the guy who gave me my first job when I was in high school. Good guy, and I just kept working for him and getting certified. I….” He sighed and resisted another look-see around the quiet, bland house. “I really like doing stuff with my hands, you know? I mean, yeah, I can read a book, although audiobooks are a blessing, because they get me through the drives to the different work sites. But to make something and say, ‘Hey, that’s mine! I did that!’? It’s one of the reasons I love watching you and Grandma do the yarn thing. It’s like it’s all people magic, you know? Like math made real. All that stuff I learned in geometry and trig and physics perfected, right?”
Isaac had been pulling the beans off the stove and was in the process of putting them down on the countertop between the two place settings. After the pot was in place on the hot pad, he glanced up and smiled into Luca’s eyes.
“You know I teach math,” he said, his voice lower now, almost dreamy. “What you just said—that’s… that’sawesome. I keep trying to set up experiments and draw analogies and examples so they can see it’s not bare symbols on the page. I love that’s how you see your job.”
Luca’s stomach gave a low thud, and his pulse started a thrumming, a sort of Bugs Bunny rhumba—No sex for a year, hey! No sex for a year, hey!—and he had to remind himselfagainthat this wasn’t a date.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t a… prelude of sorts, but definitely not a date.
After a long, quiet moment, Luca became embarrassingly aware that he was just…staringat Isaac’s dreamy-eyed smile.About math, bozo!Then Isaac seemed to startle, as if he too was remembering where he was, and he took an awkward step back from the island.
“Here,” he said quietly, “let me get the bread. I’ve been keeping it warm in the oven.”
He pulled out a bread pan covered in foil and set it on the counter, then removed the foil, moved the bread to a cutting board, and covered it with a plain white cloth napkin instead. Luca spent a moment wondering what Isaac’s kitchen would look like if he’d ever given himself a chance to decorate, and then the fresh-bread scent wafted up from under the napkin, and he almost moaned.
“God, that smells sexy,” he said, and Isaac’s throaty laughter brought him to himself again—but it didn’t do anything to diminish his baby boner.
“I love the smells of basic foods,” Isaac admitted. “Greens with balsamic and a little bit of basil or three-ingredient bread or bean soup.”
“How about hamburgers or chicken sandwiches?” Luca asked suspiciously.
