Page 21 of Rock the Cradle of Love
Whatever conversation they’re going to have is on hold for a few minutes. He tucks his irritation away, plasters a smile on his face, and offers a hand. “Nice to meet you…?”
“Seth Morgan,” says the boy, sliding his hand into Noah’s. His grin shows two missing teeth. “This is my sister, Stephanie.”
“Nice to meet you guys. My mom can take a picture, if you like.” He nods to his mother, who’s now grinning delightedly. This is one of the few times he’s been approached by fans when he’s been with her.
Stephanie hands her phone to his mom and steps in behind Noah. Seth is at his side.
“Thanks so much, Mr. Drinkwater,” says Seth after Noah’s mom snaps a couple of pictures. “Sorry ‘bout the end of your season.”
“Oh, thanks, Seth.” Noah’d forget they tanked if everyone would let him. He smiles at the boy. “Enjoy your meal.”
“Well, that was interesting,” says his mom when the kids are out of hearing range. She’s still smiling.
“One of the reasons I don’t go out all that often. We couldn’t do what we do without the fans, I know, but sometimes we like to be normal people too.”
“Aw, honey…” She reaches across the table and curls a hand around his wrist.
The server sets Noah’s water and his mom’s sweet tea on the table along with a basket of rolls and a couple of small plastic cups filled with whipped butter. “Are you ready to order?” she asks. They are, and they do.
When the server leaves again, Mom taps the back of his phone. “So…?”
He’s not sure what she saw, so he unlocks his phone to see an image of Taylor blowing raspberries on Emma’s stomach and Emma shrieking with laughter. He sighs a small sigh of relief that he still gets to tell his mother rather than explain after the fact. A ball of warmth glows inside him too, that he actually has something like this to tell her and his grin widens.
An expression of expectation settles on her face.
“That’s Taylor, my linemate. You’ve met him before. He was like a knight in shining armor. He and Emma bonded too.”
Mom smiles. “So I see.”
Noah slides through a handful of additional images to a selfie of him and Taylor. They’re cuddling on the couch, Taylor’s sitting in the vee of Noah’s legs and resting his head on Noah’s shoulder. Taylor’d turned and pressed a kiss to Noah’s jaw at the last moment. Noah fights the blush at the memory of their groping session that followed. He shifts in his seat and takes a little breath. He refocuses on the picture. Despite Taylor’s unexpected movement, the image came out clear. He hands the phone back to his mom. “Taylor and I bonded too.”
Her gaze drops from his face to the phone and her smile fades. He can’t read her expression, and his hands go damp. She’s studying the picture. His stomach gurgles, and he swallows before taking a sip of water. He was sure she wouldn’t care. She knows about his asexuality, which doesn’t automatically mean he’d go for another man, but it does mean he’s different. And she’s taking an awful long time to react. He’s going to hyperventilate in a moment if she doesn’t.
“Mom, God, say something.”
She looks up, eyes shiny. “Oh, Noah.” She sniffles, and he doesn’t know if those are good tears or bad tears because her mouth is all scrunched up. “You look so happy, honey. I’m so pleased for you.”
Noah lets out a whoosh of breath and grins brightly. She finally smiles too.
Taking up her napkin, she dabs at her eyes. “How long have you two been together? Oh, and I expect some copies of a few of those, if you don’t mind. Of Emma, as well as that one of you and Taylor.”
Noah goes into detail on how Taylor had shown up three days after Julia had dropped Emma off and how he’d gone into caretaker mode. “He’s sweet and kind-hearted, loves kids, and has a lot of patience with me.”
“I’m glad, honey.”
Their food arrives, and talk turns to Mom’s classes this semester and the new gardener she hired, and they discuss his visit with the family law attorney, and then make plans for Noah and Emma—and Taylor’s—summer visit. It’s mid-afternoon before he’s in the car headed home.Home.That has a much nicer connotation these days.
Chapter Eight
Noah makes it home shortly after dinnertime. He walks in to find Taylor on the floor with Emma lying on his torso. His arms are raised to box her in and there’s an Xbox controller is in his hands. Warmth curls through Noah’s chest at the sight of the two of them. This is a pleasant scene to come home to. He hopes it lasts, but he and Taylor still need to talk.
Taylor pauses the game and drops the controller. Curling an arm around Emma, he rolls to his feet in a graceful move that belies the fact that he’s a two-hundred-pound right winger. “Ems, Daddy’s home,” he sing-songs before kissing Noah sweetly.
Emma grins widely and throws herself at Noah, arms outstretched.
Noah swoops her up and kisses her head. “Hi, baby girl. Did you and Uncle Taylor have a good day?”
“We did. She didn’t really have a crying jag today; just your normal fussy for feeding or changing.”
