Nate’s eyes widened momentarily. “You’re not gonna tell me that I’m not gay? That I must be confused?”
“Why would I say that?” Dylan didn’t understand what the hell was going on. “Do you think you’re confused?”
“No.”
“Well, then why would I think you’re confused?”
“Because your son is gay,” Nate countered hotly.
“So fucking what?” Dylan stared at his son. “Some of my best friends are gay. Does that mean they’re confused?”
That seemed to take the wind right out of Nate’s sails. He stood there, staring back at Dylan.
When his son’s face fell, Dylan finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Everything he’d witnessed over the past couple of years, the way Nate interacted with Jake, the way the two men acted toward one another.
This wasn’t about Dylan at all. Sure, he probably hadn’t helped the situation by becoming a raging alcoholic and ignoring his children altogether, but the weight on Nate’s shoulders wasn’t placed there by Dylan. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing or a bad thing. As a father, he wanted to fix his kid’s problems, but this was something he couldn’t fix.
“Is this about Jake?” he asked, making sure there was no judgement in his tone.
Nate dropped back into the chair. “He doesn’t want to see me anymore.”
Oh, hell.
His son was in love.
“Did he say why?”
Nate seemed surprised by the question. “He said we’re too young.”
Well, Dylan could hardly argue with that, but he knew that wasn’t what Nate would want to hear. “Have you been … dating him for a while?”
“It hasn’t been official. More like friends.”
“But you wanted more?”
Nate stared at the wooden tabletop. “Yeah.”
“And what did Jake say when you brought it up?”
Nate rolled his eyes. “I didn’t bring it up. I’ve been waiting for him to … accept it.”
Shit.
Dylan had no idea what to say to make this better for Nate. Young love was hard, and that was the case whether you were gay or straight. The heart wanted what it wanted, and everyone knew it didn’t always work out.
“Talk to me, Nate.”
“I don’t want to talk,” Nate growled, his anger returning. “I’m so fucking tired of talking. I just want…”
Ah, hell.
The second the tears began to fall from Nate’s eyes, Dylan’s heart constricted. He threw his arms around his son and held him, offering comfort, knowing it wouldn’t help.
Dylan hated that he couldn’t fix this for his son. He didn’t even know how to try.
But he could be there for him the way a father should.
Yes, Dylan had made a lot of mistakes over the years, but the one thing he’d never stopped doing was loving his kids, wanting what was best for them.
So, that was exactly what he did. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around Nate and he hugged him.
Didn’t matter that it was as much for him as it was for his son.
chapter TWENTY-THREE
Tuesday, January 24
WHEN THE TEMP AGENCY CALLED her late yesterday afternoon, Sarah had reluctantly accepted a one-day assignment to fill in as a receptionist. Apparently, the company’s previous one had bailed on them and they had a lag until the new one started. Figuring it would be simple and easy, she’d opted to do it. More so because she needed something to do rather than sit around thinking while trying to come up with nonexistent things to clean around the house.
The day had gone exactly as she’d expected. Nothing overly dramatic. No pain-in-the-ass boss who drilled her endlessly about stupid shit. No vindictive office assistant who was jealous. In fact, it had been relatively boring.
And once again, after eight hours at the office, Sarah found she was pacing her living room floor.
She glanced at her cell phone, trying to pretend it wasn’t the elephant in the room. She hadn’t heard from Dylan since he dropped her off on Sunday. Rather than call him herself, she’d been hoping he would make the first move.
That was two full days ago.
It wasn’t that she thought he needed to be the first one to reach out. More like she was afraid of appearing too needy. She could admit to having abandonment issues, and that was always the first thing she jumped to. But with Dylan, she knew she couldn’t assume the worst. It wasn’t fair to him. They’d had a wonderful trip, and she longed to see him again, but Sarah knew she needed to slow things down. For her own sake if nothing else.
But then it dawned on her. Why did he have to be the one pursuing her? Shouldn’t she make the effort? What if he was waiting for her to call him? It only seemed fair, right?
“Uggh.” Sarah thrust her hand through her hair.
Reaching for her phone, she pulled up Dylan’s contact information. Just as she was going to hit the call button, her phone rang. The vibration startled her, and she dropped the phone, scrambling to catch it before it died a painful death on the hardwood.
She managed to grab it just in time.
“Hello?” Hmm. She sounded like she’d just run a mile. And not in a sexy, breathless kind of way, either.
“Sarah? Are you okay?”
Sitting in the middle of the living room, Sarah laughed into the phone. “I’m fine. Sorry. I almost dropped the phone. I was just about to call you.”
“You were?” Dylan inquired, his voice dropping an octave or two.
“Yeah.”
“Because you wanted to see me?”
Sarah lay back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “Actually, yes.”
Smokey and Blue were instantly at her side, crawling over and around her, whipping her in the face with their tails.
“Mmm.”
God, she missed him. She missed seeing him, hearing his voice.
“How’re things?” he inquired.
“Good. Busy. Sort of. I went to work today. One-day deal. It was boring.”
“Doing what?”
“Answering phones.”
“Sounds … interesting.”
Sarah chuckled. “No, it sounds as boring as it was.”
Dylan’s sexy laugh echoed in her ear. “What else is going on?”
Sarah thought back to her conversation with Jake. “I talked to my nephew. He sort of grilled me when I got back on Sunday.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Sarah pulled it back to see if the call had disconnected.
It hadn’t.
“Dylan?”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “Did Jake happen to mention Nate?”
Well, crap. “He … did. Yes.”
“Nate’s devastated.”
“Oh, no.” Sarah sat up. “I’m so sorry. If it makes a difference, I don’t think Jake’s doing all that hot, either.”
“So, you know?”
“That he’s gay? Yeah. I know. But I’ve known that since he was fifteen when he told me.”
“Oh.”
“You didn’t know?”
“Not officially, no,” Dylan said softly. “I had my suspicions, but I was leaving it to Nate to talk to me about it.”
“Trust me, I get it.” And she really did. Had Jake not come to her, Sarah wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to address it with him.
“Maybe I should have gone to him. Made him talk about it.”
Sarah chuckled softly. “You do know that wouldn’t have changed what they’re going through now, right?”