Chapter Twenty-Two Salt and Vinegar #2
Nathan took a breath. There was one more brave thing he needed to do. “Speaking of the police…”
Alfie glanced at him, a chip halfway to his mouth.
“Freddie—PC Webb—the one who arrested you…? Was at the hospital? You were kind of right, what you said about him.”
Alfie dropped the chip back into the paper bag resting in his lap.
“Me and him… we go way back. Nursery, I think. Might’ve even been before that. We spent more time at each other’s houses than we did at our own. He was my best mate.” He paused, studying Alfie’s profile. “You have anyone like that? Back in Romford?”
Alfie gave a small shrug, eyes on the sea.
Nathan figured not. Or if he did, it wasn’t a friendship that left roots. Maybe what he’d had with Freddie had never been ordinary, anyway. Maybe they’d always been heading somewhere deeper, even before they had the language for it. Freddie had figured it out first. Nathan had… run.
He looked up at the sky, rubbed the back of his neck. This shouldn’t have been the hardest thing he’d ever said, not after the things he’d faced, but somehow, it was.
“We… he’s…” Nathan clenched and unclenched his hands, muttering under his breath, “ Christ .”
“You two are banging?”
Nathan blinked. “What—? How did—?”
“You’re not subtle, Dad.”
Nathan swallowed. “Yeah. Okay. Fair enough.” He inhaled, chest rising.
“Yeah. We’re together. Or… trying to be.
” He shifted on the wall. “We had a thing when we were teenagers. Then you came along, and everything changed. I panicked. I didn’t just run from being a dad. I ran from him, too. From everything.”
Alfie was quiet.
Nathan glanced at him. “I’m trying to make up for that now.
To both of you. He means a lot to me, Alf.
And so do you. I’m… figuring out how to do right by you both.
I’m not perfect. I’m not always gonna know the right thing to say or do.
But, fuck, Alf, I’m gonna try. And I want both of you in my life. ”
For a long moment, Alfie said nothing. Then he sighed and chucked another chip out to the gulls. “Just don’t bang where I can hear it. Had enough of that with Mum.”
Nathan let out a breath that was half sadness and half relief. “Deal.”
Then, as if on cue, a shadow slid across the pavement, and Nathan smiled before he could stop himself. “Hey.”
Freddie. Back in civvies after his night shift.
Jeans, a jumper, and a leather jacket zipped halfway, snug in a way that wasn’t trying to be sexy but absolutely was, with a baseball cap pulled low.
Effortless . Smelt even better. Skipping behind him was his niece, all windblown giggles and tangled hair, and behind her came Piper, steering a pram.
A family stroll. Harmless. Normal. Nothing suspicious at all.
Coincidence that he was here now?
Not a chance.
They had their own emoji system.
“Hey. How you doing, Alf?” Freddie asked, casual as anything.
“Alright.” Alfie didn’t look up from the ground.
Freddie nodded, accepting it for what it was. The awkwardness hadn’t vanished overnight, but Christ , he was trying. And Nathan loved him for that. Loved the quiet way Freddie showed up, again and again, without ever pushing.
“How’s life behind the desk?” Nathan asked, a smirk tugging at his mouth.
Freddie rolled his eyes. “There’s a reason I didn’t sign up to be a bloody secretary. I spent half the night pretending to do incident logs while playing Solitaire and trying not to lose the will to live.”
Nathan snorted. “How many games did you win?”
“Three. And one moral crisis about whether I should start alphabetising crime reports just for something to do.”
Nathan grinned and Freddie tucked his hands into his jacket pockets, grinning back. It was easy. Warm. A rare moment that didn’t ache. It was nice .
Really fucking nice.
“Thank fuck.” Piper appeared beside them then. “I need to feed Ryan before he starts a riot.” She lowered onto the low seawall beside Alfie, hauled the baby out of the pram, and unapologetically pulled out a boob.
Alfie shot to his feet. “Can I go skate?”
Nathan bit back a laugh. “Yeah, we’ll be here. ”
Alfie clacked his board along the pavement and took off without another word, hood bouncing behind him.
Tilly grabbed Freddie’s hand and swung it. “Can I go too? I’ve got wheels on my shoes!” She beamed and stuck out a foot, displaying pink trainers with tiny wheels embedded in the soles.
“No way, Tils. You’ll break your neck, and then your mum’ll break mine.”
“That I will,” Piper called, reclining as the baby latched on with the determination of a vacuum cleaner. “Get me a chip butty, will you? This one’s draining the life out of me.”
“And I want a fishcake!” Tilly chirped. “And a can of Coke!”
“No Coke,” Piper called again. “You can have juice. Get her juice.”
Freddie sighed. “Alright. Two chip butties, fishcake, open chips for Tils, juice. Anything else?”
“A pickled egg,” Piper added.
“Jesus.” Freddie rolled his eyes. “Anything normal ?”
Piper smiled. “You used to eat picked onions out of the fucking jar, mate. Don’t have a pop.”
“Fine.”
“And a saveloy,” Piper rushed out. “And I’ll have a can of Coke.”
Freddie laughed, then turned to Nathan with a raised brow. “Wanna give me a hand before I drop something and Mandy bans me for life?”
Nathan stood, screwing up the chip paper into a ball and brushing the crumbs from his jeans. “Only if you promise me a bite of your butty.”
“Always.”
Nathan smirked and planted a not-so-subtle, grease-slicked hand on Freddie’s arse before casually tossing the paper into the bin beside the wall. He winked. And Freddie shot him a look over his shoulder that made Nathan’s stomach do things it had no business doing at his age.
They meandered into Oh My Cod , where Mandy was still juggling the fryer, and they joined the back of the queue. Nathan peered into the glass at the golden offerings, all slowly greasing their way into early cardiac events.
“How’s Alfie, really?” Freddie tucked his hands into his jacket pockets.
Nathan mirrored the movement. And they stood there like teenage boys trying not to touch when that’s all they wanted to do.
“He’s… handling it.”
“It’s a long process.”
“Yeah. Court case’ll take months. In that time, we’ll have some protection but I’m not expecting quiet. There’ll be some retaliation.”
“Until they realise his dad’s ex-army and his dad’s boyfriend’s a copper.”
Nathan turned to look at Freddie then and something caught in his chest.
God, he wanted to kiss him.
Wanted to hold his hand. For the world to see .
He wanted more than secret glances and stolen nights in tents or the back seat of his car.
He wanted mornings like this . Queues at the chippy.
The baby crying outside. Tilly being a menace.
A life that felt lived in. Shared . To admit, as casual and carefree as Freddie just had, that he was his boyfriend.
Freddie narrowed his eyes. “What?”
Nathan opened his mouth, then stopped. No speech. No declarations. Action .
So right there, in the middle of the queue, in front of Mandy and her regulars, with Piper nursing a baby outside and Tilly doing pirouettes in her wheelie shoes, Nathan stepped in close, dipped beneath the brim of Freddie’s cap and kissed him.
Light. A brush of lips. But Freddie melted , and for a second the busy chip shop stilled around them.
When they pulled apart, Mandy, with a chip scoop in hand, had a wicked grin on her face. “No tongue?” She smirked. “I gave him way more than that in year ten.”
Freddie huffed a laugh, then Nathan pulled off Freddie’s cap, and dropped it onto his own head, twisting it backwards, just the way he’d done on their first kiss, and he grabbed Freddie by the back of the neck to kiss him again.
That kiss was different.
Deeper. Slower. A little too long for public decency, if he was honest. But Freddie tilted his head, wrapped his arms around his neck and added enough tongue to make Nathan forget where they were, and Nathan responded instinctively, sliding his other hand around Freddie’s waist, drawing him in until they were flush, steady, certain .
It was everything Nathan had once been too afraid to even imagine having.
When they finally broke apart, the world rushed back in. Catcalls, scattered claps, a whistle or two. And slicing through it all:
“About bloody time!”
They both turned.
Reece, all leather and swagger, leaned against his parked Triumph outside the door.
“Reece.” Freddie wiped the corner of his mouth. “Since when do you eat carbs before a shift?”
“Since I stopped giving a shit about keeping a six-pack to impress arseholes who don’t stick around.”
Freddie cocked his head. “Dangerous game. Then all you’ve got left is your personality. ”
“Which, thankfully, is as strong as the abs.”
Freddie pulled a face. “Hmm. Debatable.”
Reece blew him a kiss.
“Reece! Got your order!” Mandy yelled from behind the counter.
Reece threaded through the crowd to grab his takeaway. Before leaving, he turned to Nathan.
“Glad you sorted it. The two of you.” He pointed between them with a gloved finger. “You’re welcome, by the way. The pining was painful.”
Freddie snorted. “Says you. I know you weren’t referring to me as the arsehole there.”
“Keep it buttoned, Webb,” Reece shot back. “Still got dirt on you.”
Freddie pressed his lips together, shaking his head with a reluctant grin.
Reece looked to Nathan. “Staff.”
“Reece.” Nathan extended a hand. “If that bike ever needs a proper tune-up, you know where to find me.”
Reece shook it, firm and steady. “That I do.”
With a nod, he left the shop, put his bag of chips in his bike box, then swung his leg over.
Nathan eyed Freddie. “So… what exactly are these secrets he knows, then?”
Freddie opened his mouth but was saved by the arrival of a whirlwind on wheels.
Tilly zipped in, tugging on his hand. “Is this your new boyfriend, Uncle Freddie?”
Freddie wiped his mouth and laughed, scooping her easily into his arms.
“Yeah,” he said, glancing at Nathan with an easy smile. “And no. He’s also my old boyfriend.”
Nathan tipped the borrowed cap on his head and grinned. “And this time, he’s staying. ”
Tilly stuck out a hand towards Nathan. “Nice to meet you.”
Nathan shook it.
“But remember what we said…” She balled her fists, giving him a few playful jabs to the arm, growling under her breath like a cartoon villain. “If you hurt him, I’ll punch you in the willy.”
Nathan winced. “Fair warning.”
Freddie snorted, burying his face in her curls. “She means it. I taught her.”
Nathan laughed. Cause this was everything. Freddie, holding a child like it was the most natural thing in the world, standing in a chippy where their teenage ghosts still lingered in the corners.
He could’ve missed all of this.
Could’ve let fear call the shots, the way it always used to.
But he hadn’t. Not this time.
Outside, Alfie came barrelling back up the promenade on his skateboard, hoodie flapping, wheels clacking along the pavement. He skidded to a halt by the window and glanced in.
Their eyes met.
Nathan didn’t expect a grin, or a thumbs-up, or anything showy. Not even a protective stance like Tilly had given. But Alfie didn’t look away. Didn’t roll his eyes. Didn’t turn and skate off again.
He stayed.
And that quiet, steady presence meant the world.
Because sometimes, the bravest thing to do is stay right where you are.