Chapter 13
Thirteen
Alex didn’t actually live in Toronto like Mitch thought.
He lived in Oakville, a suburb west of the city.
It was a good thing, according to Alex, because it meant that since Mitch was arriving via Niagara Falls, he wouldn’t have to drive as far, thus avoiding traffic through Toronto that was apparently as perpetual as New York City’s.
It was dark when Mitch arrived, the sun long set. Alex’s mom lived in a townhouse on Robinson Street in what Alex had said was downtown Oakville. There wasn’t much to downtown, as far as Mitch could tell, but it was after ten o’clock, and he was tired, so he gave it the benefit of the doubt.
The townhouse was light gray with white trim and had Christmas lights set up along the top of the front door and around the windows on the first floor.
It was street parking only and Mitch found a spot directly in front of the house, where there was a parking meter sitting squat between a lamp post and a leafless tree.
Fuck his life, he hadn’t brought any Canadian money.
Resigned to asking Alex for change, Mitch took a minute to stretch his aching knee next to the car before grabbing his backpack and duffel.
The cold was refreshing after being trapped in the car for over ten hours.
There hadn’t been any snow when he’d left home, but there was a thin layer here.
Enough to make a footprint in, but not much else.
It was quiet in the neighborhood, kind of like Glen Hill at night.
No passing cars, no din of conversation, no pedestrians.
Just a dog barking somewhere nearby. A small, laminated notecard taped to the parking meter caught his eye.
On behalf of the Town of Oakville, enjoy free parking downtown from December 22 to January 5. Happy holidays!
Sweet.
Ignoring the fluttering in his belly and sweaty palms, Mitch made his way up the steps, but then paused on the landing, his hand poised to knock on the front door.
Fuck, he was shy all of a sudden? With Alex?
That’s what happens when you admit you might be in love, dummy. You should’ve remained ignorant. Nothing good ever comes from self-awareness.
Swallowing hysterical laughter, Mitch knocked.
Alex answered almost before Mitch’s knuckles hit the door. Had he been waiting on the other side for Mitch to work up the nerve to knock? Was it possible that he was as excited to see Mitch as Mitch was to see him?
Can anybody say wishful thinking?
Alex’s smile was wide, crinkling the skin at the corner of his eyes. He opened the door wider and motioned for Mitch to come in. “Hey, Mitch.”
Blinking against the bright light of the front hallway, Mitch stepped into the house, letting Alex close the door behind him.
Alex was dressed in black sweats, a loose T-shirt, and white socks with a hole in the right toe. Mitch wiped his palms on his jeans. Had Alex become hotter in the past month? His dark hair was tousled, and—
Mitch’s mouth dropped open. “You shaved.” And he’d never gotten to run his fingers through the beard! He scowled at the unfairness of it all.
“Yeah.” Alex ran a hand over his jaw, where there was barely a hint of a five o’clock shadow. “I do that every few months and then grow it back.”
“So it’s not gone for good?”
Alex smirked. “Nope. Come in and say hi to my mom. She’s been dying to meet you.”
Oh, good. Yet another authority figure Mitch was bound to disappoint. “Lead the way.”
Leaving his bags by the front door, Mitch followed Alex down a hallway, tearing his gaze off Alex’s spectacular ass only when it finally registered that he was about to meet the man’s mother, for the love of God.
The main floor was done in grays and blues, with shots of green and red Christmas decorations.
In a large front room connected to the dining room sat a Christmas tree only about as tall as Mitch, with what looked like handmade ornaments and a popcorn string.
The tree’s multicolored lights reflected off a white couch adorned with a cheery throw, a coffee table, and a side table holding no less than two dozen miniature Santa figurines.
Mitch didn’t get a good look at the kitchen before he was led into a room at the back of the house.
“Mom.” Alex’s hand landed on Mitch’s lower back, causing Mitch to almost choke. “This is Mitch. Mitch, my mom Antoinette.”
“Mitch.” Alex’s mom muted the TV and rose from the couch.
She looked nothing like Alex. Or, rather, Alex looked nothing like her.
She was blond and brown-eyed, whereas Alex was dark and green-eyed, and short and slim where Alex was a beast. But her smile was Alex’s, identical from the way her cheeks creased to how it made the lines around her eyes deeper. “It’s so lovely to meet you.”
Mitch held out a hand. “You too, Mrs. Dean. Thank you for having me.”
“Oh, it’s Toni, please.” She ignored his hand and hugged him. At a loss as to what to do, Mitch patted her on the back. “I haven’t gone by Dean since Judd and I divorced.”
Mitch winced and stepped back. “Sorry.”
Toni waved the apology away. “Are you hungry? We have leftover turkey and potatoes from yesterday.”
“Um…” Mitch had eaten his snacks hours ago, mostly out of boredom, and was now starving. But should eating their food be the first thing he did as a guest?
Alex took the decision out of his hands. “I’ll warm some up for you.” He disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Mitch alone with Toni.
“Sit.” Toni sat and patted the couch cushion next to her.
“Oh no, that’s okay. I’ve been sitting for hours.
” Mitch stood with his feet shoulder-length apart and tried to stretch out his hips, but his socks slid on the wooden floor and he almost fell involuntarily into the splits.
Once upon a time, he’d done them with ease, but it had been a while.
If he did them now, he had a feeling it’d hurt. A lot.
“Here.” Toni retrieved a yoga mat from next to the fireplace. “I do yoga in the morning.” She pointed to a DVD case on the coffee table. Yoga for the Over 40. “Easier to keep it here.”
She had an accent, something that indicated English wasn’t her first language. Mitch couldn’t place it, but the name Antoinette was French, wasn’t it?
“Thanks.” He spread the yoga mat between the fireplace and the couch, then fell into a lunge. “My best friend, Cody, does yoga in the mornings too.”
“It’s a good way to wake up.”
“I hate it.”
Toni laughed at that. “Alex hates it too.”
She didn’t say Alex the way Mitch was used to, either. She split it into two distinct syllables, added what sounded like a French accent on the A, and pronounced the second part Lex, like Lex Luthor, so it sounded like A-Lex.
“He says it’s boring,” she continued. “Gives him too much time to think.”
“He’s right.” Mitch switched legs. “I exercise to keep in shape for hockey, sure. But it’s also a good distraction, a way to clear my head.
Yoga’s so boring, I end up thinking about the things I don’t want to be thinking about.
And also about how boring yoga is.” He stood, widened his stance, then bent at the waist to touch the floor between his feet. “Um, no offense.”
“None taken.”
Footsteps approached from behind him, then stopped abruptly in the doorway. Alex cleared his throat. “Mitch, here’s your food.”
His reappearance had the butterflies in Mitch’s belly making a comeback, and Mitch almost tripped over his own feet when he stood too fast. Smooth, real smooth. “Thanks.” Fuck, the food Alex carried smelled amazing. “I can eat in the kitchen.”
“Why?” Alex strode around him and placed the plate on the coffee table. Then he grabbed a folding tray table from a stand against the wall and set it up in front of the couch. The plate then went onto the tray table. “I forgot cutlery.” He disappeared again.
Mitch rolled up and put away the yoga mat, then made his way slowly to his meal. Nobody would get mad at him if he ate in here? What if he dropped something on the couch? At home, if he ate anywhere other than the kitchen or dining room, his mom had a conniption.
Alex returned and handed Mitch some cutlery.
“Here. Sit.” He pressed on Mitch’s shoulders until Mitch fell onto the couch next to Toni.
There was turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce on his plate, as well as diced potatoes, carrots, and onions in some kind of cheesy cream sauce.
Mitch didn’t know what it was, but it was amazing and he wanted more of it, stat.
“How was the drive?” Alex sat on the loveseat perpendicular to the couch, propped his feet up on the coffee table, and rested his arms behind his head, using them as a pillow.
“Good.” Mitch swallowed and looked away from Alex’s defined arms, from the vein on the underside that ran along his huge biceps and disappeared into his T-shirt.
“Delays at the border?”
“Only took me twenty minutes.”
Alex’s head reared back.
“Is that bad?” Mitch asked. It hadn’t seemed long to him, but he’d never crossed into Ontario at Niagara Falls before, only into Quebec from Vermont.
“Bad?” Toni scoffed. “One time it took me three hours.”
Alex chuckled. “Yeah, and you almost got fined for trying to smuggle Kinder Surprises into the States.”
Toni threw up her hands. “I didn’t know they’re banned in America.”
Sitting between them, Mitch swivelled his head from one to the other. “What’s a Kinder Surprise?”
“It’s a chocolate egg with a toy in the middle.” Alex used his hands to form a small oval a bit larger than an egg. “It’s a small toy, assembly required.”
Nodding, Mitch scraped cheese off his plate, then pushed his empty plate away.
“Want more?” Alex said.
Mitch must’ve hesitated a second too long, because Alex was gone in the next instant with his plate and a “be right back” before Mitch could tell him he only wanted more of the potato carrot thing.
Alex came back with more potato carrot thing, extra cheesy sauce, hold the turkey.
Jesus, was he able to read Mitch’s mind? Seriously, how did he always know?
“Is there anything in particular you want to do while you’re here?” Alex asked.
“Not really.” Mitch cut a potato in half and drowned it in sauce. “I didn’t have much time to research things to do here, so I don’t have a list.” He maturely ignored Alex’s muttered “God forbid” and carried on. “My dad wants a picture from the top of the CN Tower.”
“We can do that.” Alex pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“It’s supposed to be overcast the next couple of days, but Monday could work, provided the forecast doesn’t change.
See?” He turned the phone toward Mitch, where his weather app showed cloudy skies tomorrow and Sunday, and nothing but sun on Monday.
“Monday it is, then.” And if Mitch freaked out at the top, he could just hold Alex’s hand, right? “I also heard Kensington Market is cool. Can we go there?”
Alex smiled at him and Mitch’s belly flipped. “I was going to take you tomorrow, actually. I have a feeling you’ll like it.”
“It’s better in the summer.” Toni unfolded a knit throw and spread it over her legs. “But at least it’s not supposed to be too cold tomorrow. Alex, I have extra subway tokens if you want them.”
Full of carbs, Mitch set his fork down. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
“Me? Oh no, you boys have fun.”
“You should come with us.” Alex had never said it outright, but Mitch knew he and his mom were close. As much as he hadn’t wanted to take Cody away from his mom over the holidays, he now felt the same way about Alex and Toni.
“Yeah, Mom, you should come with us.” Alex winked at Mitch. “Told you he wouldn’t mind.”
“We’ll see.” Toni took Mitch’s plate.
“I can take that.” If Mitch could somehow get out from behind this tray table.
“Nonsense. You look so tired. Alex, could you show Mitch to his room?” She brought his plate into the kitchen.
Mitch blinked at Alex. “I’m wide awake.”
Making a sound of disbelief, Alex motioned for Mitch to follow him. Alex hefted Mitch’s backpack and duffel before Mitch could object and headed upstairs.
At the top of the stairs, a darkened master bedroom was on the right with a bathroom directly across from the stairs. To the left, a short hallway led to two extra rooms. Alex stood in the doorway of the one at the end. The guest room, presumably.
It was small, painted dark blue with a single bed on one wall and a desk on the other. The curtains were drawn on the single window in the middle of the wall, but light still filtered in from the lamp post outside.
“Sorry it’s so small.” Alex deposited Mitch’s bags in front of the closet and turned on the desk lamp.
Mitch sat on the edge of the bed and felt his eyelids droop.
“It’s perfect.” The blue comforter under his palm was feather-soft against his skin.
Mitch couldn’t wait to wrap himself in it and sleep the past few days away.
He glanced up at Alex, slouching against the doorjamb as if he had all the time in the world.
He was such a strong and steady presence, Mitch felt his equilibrium balance itself out. “Thank you for inviting me here.”
“Seemed like you needed a friend.”
Friend. Okay, sure. Mitch could be friends-only.
He could ignore his hollowing stomach and the heart that felt like it was shrinking as hope crashed and turned into bitter disappointment that punched a hole into his soul.
He’d been so sure he’d heard something more than friendship in Alex’s voice over the past few days.
Must’ve been his exhausted mind playing with him.
Alex crossed the room. Standing over Mitch, he placed his hand on the back of Mitch’s neck. Mitch broke out in goosebumps.
“I’m glad you came,” Alex said, running his thumb up into Mitch’s hair.
“You are?” Mitch’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“Yeah.” Alex’s voice was equally as soft, equally as intimate. “I’ve missed you.”
Mitch’s nose burned and his throat tightened, but he managed a croaked, “I missed you too.”
The corner of Alex’s mouth kicked up, and he squeezed Mitch’s neck once before letting go and backing away. “I’ll see you in the morning. Sleep well.”
Mitch fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling as his mind raced in confusing thoughts. Finally, he fell asleep.