thigh pressed against mine, with one hand resting on my thigh, holding her foot in his palm.
We’d had a nice, normal dinner like usual… except this time, Jonah wasn’t leaving.
And I was feeling a little excited over it.
Nervous too, but mostly excited.
I had just finished flipping to the last page when Grandpa Gus let out an enormous yawn a second before he climbed up to his feet, palm going to his back with a groan, and said, “Well, I’m beat.” Grandpa made a face as he raised his arms overhead and gave them a stretch with another yawn. Something told me to expect whatever was about to come out of his mouth, so I wasn’t totally caught off-guard when he dropped his arms, focused in on Jonah, and asked, “Jonah, I’m gay. Is that going to be a problem?”
Peter’s head immediately swiveled in my direction, and we made eye contact.
Yeah, he’d gone there.
And it was while I was processing that, that the man sitting beside me said, “You’re a bit older than what I’m usually interested in, but….”
I was already snorting by the time Grandpa Gus shook his head and started walking out of the living room, calling out behind him, “You two deserve each other. Goodnight.”
Even Peter had a grin on his face as he got up too, came over, gave Mo a kiss on the forehead, me one on the forehead too, hesitated for maybe a second, then planted one on Jonah’s forehead too before disappearing out of the room. “Love you guys.”
“Love you too,” I called out after him.
Jonah and I both looked at each other the second we were alone. I smiled at him, and he smiled right back at me. “Are you tired?” I asked, leaning over to give Mo a kiss on her forehead too as I closed her book at the same time with my other hand. It was nine.
“A bit,” he answered. “What’s your usual routine?”
“I put Mo to bed, shower, watch some TV until I get sleepy… you?”
“Call my nan or sister for a bit, then go to bed.” His gaze drifted down to the little girl resting against my boob. “Would you like me to put her in her crib?”
I shook my head. “I’ll do it. Then I’ll go shower afterward. Make your call and go upstairs whenever you want.”
“Are you sure?”
I made a face at him as I started to get up as quietly and less bouncy as possible so that I wouldn’t wake up Mo. “I got it, Dimples. Tell your grandma I said hi. I’ve got some pictures on my phone of Little Mo Peep she might like, if you want to steal them.”
Jonah’s hand reached for the back of my thigh and gave it a light squeeze. “I know you don’t need me, but call down if you do. I won’t be long.”
His comment rode with me all the way up the stairs and while I put Mo down and got her all set up for the night with her sound machine and baby monitor. And I kept on thinking about it while I showered and then hung under the spray a minute longer than I needed to. I know you don’t need me….
It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it still didn’t sit right with me. Actually, it bothered me a little. He hadn’t sounded mad or even a tiny upset or anything, but….
In my room, I eyed the two new bags that had been moved in there at some point during the day. I hadn’t moved them in, and I couldn’t remember Jonah doing it either. I wondered if it had been Peter, and the idea made me smile as I went about moisturizing my face and legs.
I took my time stretching; touching my toes, taking some deep breaths in and out, doing a few neck and shoulder exercises to loosen up. By the time I was done and Jonah still hadn’t come up, I climbed under the covers as I yawned and grabbed the novel about the firefighters that grandpa had been reading weeks ago. He had checked it back out for me. About three pages later, I heard creaking down the hallway that stopped for a couple of minutes and then got louder before a big body stopped in the doorway.
Jonah was already smiling when his hands went to the doorframe, the sigh that came out of him so deep I raised my eyebrows at him.