Chapter 27
Ollie comes downstairs rested as ever, no idea that the entire family dynamic is in shambles. But maybe I haven’t been giving him enough credit, because he stops in front of the table, looking between us, and I can see the gears turning.
“Uncle Will,” he says. “Are you my daddy now too?”
Will chokes on his sip of coffee, and Addie giggles beside me. I clear my throat to buy time to figure out how to explain to my son that I’m dating his uncle.
“Uncle Will is my boyfriend. Do you know what that means?”
Ollie tilts his head, considering the word. “Like how Tyler’s mom was your girlfriend?”
“Something like that,” I agree, even though calling Karen my girlfriend in front of Will is always a bad idea.
“So he’s your Tyler’s mom?”
“That’s—” I pause, aware of my boyfriend’s narrowed gaze on me. At this rate, he’s never sleeping with me again. “Yes, you could say that.”
Ollie nods, satisfied with my answer, and climbs into his chair, asking for his waffles.
Will points at Addie, whose face has gone red. “Why are you laughing, blabbermouth? You’re the one who texted me to come over last night. This is all your fault.”
“Thank god I did,” she says, not even a little bit sorry.
Will shakes his head and goes back to his breakfast, but I can see the smile he’s trying to hide. The kids know about us and are okay with it. Happy, even.
If only the rest of the family felt the same way.
Joyce calls at ten. She doesn’t stay on the phone long, only enough to ask if we can both come over. I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
“Time to face the music?” Will asks when I hang up.
“Apparently.”
Addie looks up from where she’s been sketching on the couch. “Can I stay home? Emmett’s coming over.”
I hesitate, unsure if I’m ready to leave her alone. “I’m fine, Dad,” she says with a ‘you’re ruining my life’ groan. “We’ve been texting this morning.”
“We’ll wait until he gets here.”
Emmett shows up twenty minutes later, and we watch as Addie opens the door, something unsaid passing between them.
“Hey,” he says.
“Hey,” she says.
And if you’ve been best friends for your entire life, sometimes that’s enough. She opens her arms, and he steps forward, pulling her into a hug so tight her feet go off the floor.
Will is watching from the kitchen with narrowed eyes and clenched fists, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d think he was about to yell at the kid. I grab my jacket before he can start. “Ollie, you’re coming with us.”
He doesn’t move immediately, stopping by his sister and looking up at Emmett. “Are you Addie’s boyfriend?”
I look over at Will, my eyes wide at the horrible timing, but he seems fine when he says, “No.”
“Uncle Will is Daddy’s boyfriend.”
Emmett blinks, looking over at us, while Addie shouts at her brother. “Ollie! That was my news!”
I get him out the door before he can cause any more trouble.
Frank and Joyce are sitting together on the loveseat, with Jess in Frank’s chair, while Will and I are on the couch. In the hot seat. Ollie has already disappeared toward the bedroom that used to be Jess’s, where his grandparents keep toys now.
Will’s knee is bouncing uncontrollably, so I reach over, steadying it with my hand.
Frank clears his throat, his eyes glued to my hand on his son’s knee, and us sitting together like this. And I know whatever he’s about to say, we’re not gonna like it.
“I just don’t understand,” he says. “You two are—you’re doing stuff with each other?”
“Frank!” Joyce interrupts at the question, but he waves her off.
“We’re all adults here, Joyce. And we’re family. Don’t that seem a little nasty to you?”
“Frank!” Joyce says, again, smacking his arm with the back of her hand. It’d be funny any other time, but now, Will takes my hand, squeezing it tight.
This is his dad.
This has to be harder on him than it is on me.
“I ain’t one of those homophobic types. I don’t care about none of that.” He points between us. “But you boys been family for twenty years. It ain’t right.”
“I’m sure they know that, dear—”
Jess, who’s been quiet so far, sets her glare on me. “You’re fucking my brother, Nolan.”
“Well, that’s not exactly—” Will says, and it’s my turn to smack him, not so different from Joyce.
“Don’t say whatever you’re about to say.”
He closes his mouth.
Jess looks at her brother. “And you. You couldn’t find anyone else,” she says, standing up to highlight her point. “In the entire world? You had to go after my husband?”
“Technically, your separated husband—”
“I was coming back—”
“Children,” Joyce says, sensing the bickering that’s about to ensue. Jess takes a breath, composing herself. She sits back down, and when she speaks again, her volume is back to normal. “I’m not going to pretend I’m not angry about this. I’m allowed to be.”
“You are,” I agree.
She goes quiet, staring down at her clasped hands before she looks at me again. “Our marriage was over a long time ago. I know that. I thought maybe if I stayed gone long enough, I would come back and—” she shakes her head. “But while I was gone, you moved on with my brother.”
“To be fair,” Will interrupts, “He was seeing some woman named Karen first. The one who does the hair.” He gestures at his hair, and this is not the time to find him cute, but I smile anyway.
Until I see Jess’s expression shift. “He was seeing Karen?”
“For a few months, yeah.”
“Karen, who’s been cutting my hair for three years?”
Oh.
I didn’t know that.
“That’s worse,” she says, and she sounds genuinely offended now. “That’s actually worse than Will.”
“It wasn’t—we weren’t—” I pause, both Davis siblings looking at me like I ran over their dog for having the nerve to date a perfectly decent woman. “It didn’t go anywhere.”
“She waxes my eyebrows, Nolan. She dyes my hair.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
“She was kind of a bitch,” Will adds, to which his sister agrees.
“That woman has heard me complain about my husband for years and then swooped in the second I was gone. Ugh. The nerve.”
Will nods along with her. “See, I knew there was something off about her.”
I look around for help, but Joyce and Frank are as confused as I am. Will and Jess have barely talked in all the years I’ve known them, but right now, they’re bonding over their hate for Karen.
“Okay, in his defense,” Will says, squeezing my hand, “he was pretty hung up on me that whole time. I don’t think Karen was ever really a serious—”
“Don’t defend him,” Jess starts, and then we’re back to the bickering.
But Frank doesn’t let it go on too long this time. He stands up, and both of his kids stop talking as he looks between Will and me. And our hands, clinging to each other tight.
“You both happy?” he asks, in his gruff way.
“Y-yes?” I say, and Will nods along with me.
“Alright then,” he says, grabbing his empty coffee cup and heading into the kitchen.
Joyce looks back at her husband, pressing her lips into a thin line, something behind her eyes that she doesn’t say.
“Well,” she says, standing up with the composure of a woman who has dealt with a lot from her son in the thirty-something years he’s been alive, and this is only the latest. “I suppose we’ll all need some time with this.”
With that, she follows her husband, leaving us alone with Jess.
Jess and Will glare at each other across the living room, so much between them I couldn’t possibly know what they think when they see each other.
But then, she looks at me, and there’s a lot between us too. Friendship, love, family, even after everything. We may not be in love anymore, but I hope that one day things will be okay between us.
“Karen,” she says one more time before she gets up and goes to the kitchen with her parents, ignoring the final apology I call out.
Will and I sit on the couch in the quiet, his hand still in mine, and he lets out a little chuckle before he leans over, resting his head on my shoulder. “I think that could have gone worse.”