Chapter 17
HENRY
This was either going to be the best surprise for Drew, or it would blow up spectacularly in my face. Only time and luck would tell.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Drew asked from the passenger seat.
I’d picked him up early from Halo House with a promise that he was going to have a good day. It wasn’t every day that a guy turned forty, so it needed to be special.
“If I told you, it would ruin the surprise.”
Truthfully, I was just stalling, but he didn’t need to know that. An unexpected delay had shifted our carefully laid plans, and now the entire day had to be shuffled around. Drew gave me a speculative look but sat back and let me drive.
“A spa?” Drew laughed when I pulled into the parking lot. “I love a spa day!”
Once I was safely parked, Drew unbuckled and threw himself at me. He dotted kisses across my face while telling me it had been so, so long. He hadn’t specifically said anything about a day of pampering. I was going solely based on the sauna comment from a few weeks ago.
“Does that mean you like the spa?” I asked between bouts of laughter.
He paused, kissing me long enough to say, “As a matter of fact, I do.”
“Well, thank God, because I wasn’t sure. I was hoping since you liked saunas that a spa wasn’t too far off.”
“Well, you guessed exactly right, Daddy,” he said, then gave me another firm kiss on the mouth to emphasize the point.
I knew that his life before Halo House had been vastly different, but it impressed the hell out of me how he never complained about the change in circumstances. If it had been me, I probably wouldn’t have shut up with the whining.
Drew had secured the job at the daycare center completely on his own, and I was beyond proud of him.
As far as losing the creature comforts of life, he never once acted as if it bothered him.
In fact, the longer he spent at Halo House—or at least over the last several weeks that I had known him—the more he seemed like that kid from Iowa. Less Cali. More salt-of-the-earth.
There was nothing I didn’t like about this guy, about this man.
Like obviously wasn’t the word to capture it.
There was nothing I didn’t love about him.
It would suit me fine if he decided it was time to leave Halo House and move into my place.
But truthfully, I wasn’t sure how he’d respond to that, knowing he had never been on his own.
Regardless, today wasn’t the day to broach the subject when we had mani-pedis, facials, massages, and saunas waiting for us.
Once inside, we were greeted with iced tea for Drew and a little champagne for myself.
I’d arranged a private day for the two of us so we didn’t have to travel around the spa.
They’d set up a table on the veranda and a few snacks, so we could enjoy the ocean breeze, the sound of the waves crashing, and the cries of the seagulls.
The massage beds were close enough together that we could hold hands while the masseuses worked over our muscles.
But before we could do that part, it was off to the sauna.
Sitting in the cedar-lined sweat house wasn’t, in fairness, my favorite part.
Getting sweaty for the sake of it made no sense, but Drew was clearly loving it.
He had the faintest hint of a smile when he leaned back against the wall.
He was like a lizard lying on a hot rock—languid and sluggish in a relaxed, my-muscles-barely-work sort of way.
He looked happy, and an absurd amount of pride at being the one who could give that to him puffed up my chest. We sat quietly next to each other, hand in hand, while we let the heat soak into our slick skin.
If there hadn’t been other spa customers in there with us, I might have tried to give him another birthday present.
After the sauna, we were back within earshot of the ocean for our facials.
I might have been born and raised here, but it was a first for me.
It was better than the sauna, but unless Drew wanted company, I’d skip the next one.
Actually, I was pretty sure Marc loved this stuff.
Maybe he and Drew could enjoy it again together.
I made a mental note to ask him about it, but then turned off my brain to try and enjoy the pampering.
And if I was mentally reorganizing a performance contract that was due next week, that was no one’s business but my own.
“Daddy, thank you for this,” Drew murmured when the staff left to put away their oils and potions. “But you also didn’t need to do this.”
“Maybe not, but I wanted your birthday to be a good one. You don’t turn forty every year.”
Drew snorted.
“I’m serious. Forty is a good age—old enough to know when it’s a foolish mistake and young enough to do it anyway. Now you get to be wise.”
“Do you think I’m turning forty or eighty?”
“If you’re eighty, you’re the hottest damn octogenarian I’ve ever seen. Oh, would that make me the cougar?”
“Can men be cougars? And I think I’d be the one. Actually, I’m not sure how that would work, to be honest.”
“Shit, I don’t know either, but whichever gets me you is the one I’d want to go with.”
Drew waved me off and laid his head back down on the towel. He smiled softly but had nothing else to say.
“What are you thinking, sweetheart?”
“I’ll tell you later, Daddy,” he whispered.
The moment was interrupted when the staff discreetly returned and let us know it was time for our massages.
Now this was the part of the spa experience I could get behind.
I was still working through case law and planning in my head, but the massage made my thoughts highly productive.
Maybe I should add this into my routine case prep?
Although I can’t imagine the bar association would approve of putting it on my billable hours.
“All right, gentlemen, it’s time for your mani-pedis. Are we doing polish today?”
While I opted to skip nail polish, Drew elected to go with moss green because he was sure his school kiddos would think it looked like Godzilla claws, and he was tickled to think about how excited they’d be.
Happiness radiated from him as he explained his reasoning to the manicurist. She added a few extra shadow lines to make them look more claw-like.
Watching their exchange made me think more and more about how to broach the subject of Drew leaving Halo House and moving in with me.
I knew it would be a leap of faith for him, and a scary one, but I was ready to go all in. Marriage was definitely on the table as far as I was concerned, and I hoped it wouldn’t be too much for Drew.
The buzz of my phone interrupted my wishful-thinking daydreams. It was a number not saved in my phone.
Unknown
Finally landed, and thank you for the car.
A lot less stressful.
Perfect timing.
Traffic is always terrible.
See you soon.
“Your table is ready right this way, please,” the host said as we arrived at the oceanside restaurant.
We wound our way through the tables until we reached the upper deck, where the walls were made of glass and you had an unimpaired view of the marina and the beach below.
Off in the distance, you could see boats crossing the horizon.
It had to be one of the best views in the city, and with the sun setting, it was absolutely gorgeous.
“Daddy, how did you know I always wanted to come here? This view is amazing,” Drew said quietly on our way to the table.
I reached out and squeezed his hand. “I didn’t know about you wanting to come here, but I’d heard about the deck over the water. I thought you might like it.”
Drew paused me briefly and hoarsely whispered in my ear, “Thank you for an amazing birthday. I don’t deserve you.”
“Sweetheart, now that’s some bullshit because you deserve all the good things.”
With that, we hurried to catch up with the host, who brought us to the corner of the upper deck enclosed by living vine walls bursting with flowers.
“Happy, happy, happy, happy birthday to you,” Ben sang as we entered the California-style snug.
Ben and Marc were there in brightly colored party hats with a spread laid out on the table in front of them, along with a few cars, coloring sheets, and crayons.
At one point, Ben’s shirt had probably been clean, but he had already drizzled something down the front of it and the corners of his mouth were smeared with some kind of red sauce.
“Holy cow, Ben, how did you know it was my birthday? It was supposed to be a secret,” Drew said before sitting down right next to him.
When given the choice, he always picked Ben.
As for Ben, he threw himself over the chair and into Drew’s arms. He wrapped his chubby little arms around Drew’s neck and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
“Uncle Henry told me, but he said I couldn’t tell you at school because we were going to have a surprise party.”
“Well, good job, buddy, because I am super surprised.”
Drew gave him a high five, and then Ben settled himself on Drew’s lap.
“Hey, Ben, maybe Drew doesn’t want to hold you. Why don’t you get back in your seat?” Marc cajoled.
“No, thank you,” he replied primly. “Drew is my teacher, so it’s okay.”
Drew laughed. “Today, I’m just your friend, and I don’t mind you sitting on me, but no jumping ’cause I’m not a trampoline.”
That sent Ben into a fit of giggles. Once he got himself under control, he spent the next five minutes explaining to Drew how his trucks and coloring pages worked.
He even offered Drew a few crayons so he could practice with him.
Rather than interfere with the serious work the two of them were doing, I pulled up a chair and settled myself on the other side of Drew.
“Drew, you have no idea how hard it was keeping this a secret from you. Ben heard us talking, which is on me, and I had to remind him every day that he absolutely couldn’t tell you.”
“Maybe this kid has a future as a spy since he’s so good at keeping things quiet. Or”—Drew stopped to give Ben a few gentle tickles on his tummy—“maybe he’ll be a lawyer like his Uncle Henry.”
“Uncle Henry, if I’m a lawyer like you, can I come to work with you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Cool. I can put my desk next to yours, and we can share our crayons.”
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t usually use crayons, but maybe I can start, and it’ll make my job better.”
“You can’t use crayons?” Ben asked suspiciously. “How you gonna color your stuff?”
“Sorry, buddy,” I answered and ruffled his hair. “I don’t color a lot at my job.”
Ben screwed up his face in disgust. “Drew, I’m gonna be a spy instead.”
“Fair enough, my guy. Coloring at work is super important. Maybe your dad colors at his job?”
“He doesn’t,” Ben replied with a sad shake of his head. “His job is soooooo boring. He just types and types and types and types all day. But I know a job where you get to color at.”
“Yeah? What’s that?” Drew asked.
I loved how seriously he took his conversations with Ben.
He treated him like a real person with thoughts and ideas because, well, obviously he was, and not like a kid he could brush off.
He’d implied children weren’t in his future, but watching how carefully and kindly he treated Ben, I had to wonder if that was a throwaway opinion because that’s what his previous partners had wanted.
If Drew said he wanted kids, I’d do my damnedest to get that man pregnant.
It would likely take a while, but I was down for trying.
“I could be a teacher like Drew,” Ben exclaimed proudly.
“That’s a great idea, Ben,” Marc said with a smile. “Just so you know, teachers have to do a lot more than color.”
“Yeah,” Ben answered like Marc had lost his mind. “They gotta read stories too.”
“Ben, I’m your teacher’s helper, so I get to do lots of fun stuff, but they have lots of hard work to do.”
“Then I’ll just be the teacher helper,” Ben said with an easy shrug.
“It’s a good plan,” Drew agreed with a quick hug.
Marc caught my eye and gave me a knowing smile when he caught me looking at them. Over their heads, he mouthed, Just tell him.
I mouthed back, What?
He silently replied, That you love him.
That earned him a finger in response. It was true—I did love Drew—but Marc could keep his mouth shut about it.
The server came for our drinks, and I couldn’t keep my hands off my phone. Every few minutes, I’d check it for an update.
“Is everything all right?” Drew asked when Ben and Marc were busy arguing about what he was going to order for another appetizer.
Since I was paying, I wasn’t entirely clear why Marc wanted to police it. If the kid wanted crab legs so he could use the crusher things, let him have them.
“Uh, yeah, I’ve just got a deal working, and it got a little complicated.”
“Do you need to go call them? I don’t mind. The world doesn’t stop because it’s my birthday.” Drew smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
I couldn’t know for sure, but I suspected that over the years, his milestones hadn’t been celebrated much.
There was no damn way I wanted him going back to a place where he thought he wasn’t important.
Hell, he’d sneaked into the most important spot on my list of priorities, even if I couldn’t specifically say when it happened.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. It’ll be resolved soon anyway.”