In all the times I’d been chatting with Kendra, I hadn’t detected any interest, but…I’d been similarly oblivious with Sheila before we’d started seeing one another.
In general, I was fairly oblivious about these things.
Kendra and I made plans during the week before meeting at her place on Thursday evening, when she said it’d be easy for her to get a sitter for her kid. We worked together, making chicken Alfredo pizza with a gluten-free crust, enjoying the sort of conversation we might have had throughout the week. It was a nice enough night, so when it was ready, we ate at a table on her back porch.
“That student you mentioned the other day,” she said after taking a sip of her iced tea, “have you discussed anything with him yet?”
“I’m not in a huge hurry, but I am seeing him this weekend. I think it could be good to break the ice.”
“This weekend?”
“He does this H4H stuff with me. I mentioned it once, and he showed up. Seems to have taken to it.” I took a bite of my pizza.
“You don’t think he’s attracted to you, do you?”
“What? Oh, no. Not at all,” I spit out, my mouth still full of pizza. I took a moment to swallow. “Why would you say that?”
“Obviously, I didn’t offer to make you pizza because you’re nothing to look at.”
My face warmed. “Well, you’re very attractive too.”
“James, sometimes you’re like a robot. No woman wants to be called attractive. If you call me handsome next, I’m kicking you out of my house.”
I laughed. “No, yeah. Of course. I…um…meant, you look…”
“You can save it for a moment where you’re not trying to redeem yourself.” The grin on her face assured me I hadn’t blown the date already.
Truth was, I was never the kind of guy to totally lose myself over a hot girl. Sheila was beautiful, but I was never like most guys, who could fall head over heels straight away over someone like that. As I’d told Kyle, I had to get to know a person…well, as much as I felt I had gotten to know Sheila. That was what really turned me on.
“Anyway,” she went on, “has he officially come out to you?”
“Not in so many words. I was planning to wait until he volunteers something more explicit before I say anything.”
“I would maybe take a brochure or a printout of a resource. Do you have anything from the program at your old school?”
“I might, actually.”
“That keeps it very much a discussion with boundaries, where you’re offering him something that could be of value in helping him navigate the experience. Obviously, you need to do this in private and—”
“Of course.”
“But that’s really wonderful that you want to help one of your kids like that.”
“He’s hardly a kid.” I didn’t know why that had pushed out of my mouth as quickly as it had, but I couldn’t help it. Kyle was no kid.
She thought again. “Malcolm Wyle?”
“Stop!”
She enjoyed a laugh before reaching across the table, setting her hand on mine. Her touch was warm, comforting. “I’m glad you accepted my invitation.”
“Me too. It’s kind of amazing to be able to interact with someone like this after Sheila.”
“What do you mean? You don’t get together with friends or…”
“I lost a lot of friends during that relationship. Sheila was always very worried…”
“Paranoid?”
“It was just easier that way. Sorry, didn’t mean to bring her up.”
“It’s fine. You guys were together for five years. And it sounds like there’s still a lot to unpack.”
Even though I knew what she meant, it made me think about all those boxes I still hadn’t gotten around to unpacking.
“Yeah,” I said, taking her hand in mine.
Even just touching was nice.
Really nice.
11
Kyle
Was it just me, or was James becoming even more adorable the longer I knew him?
Were his shirts tighter than usual, or was he putting on some extra muscle at the gym?
How many days had it been since he trimmed his sexy-as-fuck scruff?
I caught myself sketching his face in my notebook, not because I had any artistic talent, but because his face was becoming a bit of an obsession. Again and again, I’d draw it in the margins of the sheet I’d brought to take notes. I wanted to get the dimensions right, and when I finally got the jaw just how it needed to be, I quickly scratched it all out to keep anyone from discovering my hobby.