WALKING OUT the door Wednesday was a relief, and harder than Tenner had imagined. Ross had packed his duffel that morning with a little frown line between his eyes, and Tenner realized he was doing things like looking in the bathroom for his toothbrush, putting it in the duffel, then taking it out again and setting it in the spot it had inhabited for the last week.
The third time Tenner saw him do this, he grabbed a toothbrush from the closet and put it in Ross’s spot.
“What are you doing?” Ross asked, zipping his duffel for the umpteenth time.
“It’s there for Sunday,” Tenner said. They both had work waiting for them, and the odds of them doing more than waving at each other from across two baseball fields on game night were slim.
“Isn’t Piper here Sunday night?” Ross asked, sounding a little lost.
“Yeah,” Tenner said, sitting down on the bed and pulling Ross down next to him. “She is. I figure you’ve met Nina—not the best meeting in the world, but you’ve met. She knows. I’ll call her this week, okay?”
“And tell her what?” And again, he heard that lostness. It was reassuring in a way; Tenner was on uneven ground too.
“Tell her that you have to leave in two weeks and I don’t want to waste any of that time with you in the guest room.”
Ross raised his face to Tenner’s and smiled a little. “We can’t have loud sex with your daughter in the house,” he said seriously as if Tenner didn’t know this.
“Believe it or not, I don’t want you only for the sex.”
Ross smiled slightly. “It’s the hair, right? I know I’ve got sort of fabulous hair.”
Ass. Hole. “No, it’s not the hair.”
“The way I hit a softball? I may be the best player in the league.”
Tenner laughed in his face. “The league, hah?”
“Not to brag, but there’s this guy who might take my place on the team when I leave. He may be better.”
“He just takes batting practice seriously,” Tenner said softly. “Now kiss me, and let’s go downstairs, grab some coffee, and get to work. I’ll see you Sunday as we try to convince my team that they’re not supposed to be afraid of the ball—they’re supposed to catch it.”
Ross chuckled. “You know, they’re actually getting better.”
Tenner wrinkled his nose. “That remains to be seen,” he muttered. “We skipped a week, remember? Pat said they lost. Like, the other team never let them get to bat, lost. They timed out. First time it’s happened in the league. My team is going to be the reason the league adopts a mercy rule.”
“Oh, no!” Ross cracked up as he stood and offered his hand to help Tenner up. “Poor Hanford!”
Tenner grunted. “Patrick said he was in tears.”
“Poor kid.” Ross ruffled Tenner’s gelled hair, just to watch him flail. “You know he’s got a crush on you.”
“Still?” Tenner said. “I mean, at the beginning, sure, but not now, right?”
Ross laughed some more, and Tenner glared at him, feeling the tiniest bit guilty.
“He still does, unfortunately. That’s why his sister keeps bringing the kids. He wants you to think of him as good father material for Piper.”
Tenner almost fell down the stairs. “That’s horrifying,” he said, not laughing with Ross. “You’ve been there from that first day!”
“Well, yeah,” Ross said gently, “but we haven’t been there as a couple, because Piper was there.”
“Oh, no.” This felt awful. Huge. Like he’d led that poor kid on and betrayed him in the worst way. “I didn’t mean—”
“Ten, don’t sweat it. Did you mean it when you said Piper would know this weekend?”
“Yeah,” Tenner told him.
“Then we’ll be a couple on Sunday. You might break his heart a little, but you haven’t deliberately hurt him.” Ross went after his hair again and Tenner fended him off. “It’s going to be okay.”
Tenner nodded. There was nothing he could do about it now. He grabbed his own backpack, his long-neglected laptop inside, and his car keys, and they both reached for their travel cup of coffee.
It was time to rejoin the rat race.
Unbroken Circles
“YOU DON’T look comfortable,” Ross said, trying not to be hurt. He finally had Tenner, dressed up and on a date, but the circumstances weren’t anywhere near what he’d had in mind.
Friday morning, Nina had called to say Piper wasn’t feeling well—a mild fever, she’d said, a rumbly tummy. Tenner had stopped by after the game on Friday night to check on her, but she’d been sleeping.
He’d said Nina had been pale and tired too. He’d called that morning, but Nina waved him off and, Tenner had said, told him to go see his boyfriend and get out of her hair.
“She said that?” Ross asked when Tenner called him Saturday morning. “She told you to go see your boyfriend?”
“No, I made that part up. Yes, she said that, but I warn you, it didn’t sound like she was happy about it.”
And Ross could picture that too. “Well, forget her happiness. We are well, we are childfree and it’s Saturday. I’ll be over in an hour. We can catch a movie and go to a grown-up place to eat. Some place they serve beer. It’ll be great.”
“An hour!” The squeak in Tenner’s voice was gratifying. “I have to shower! Shave! Find something to wear—”
“I’m not taking you to prom, Ten. I said beer, not champagne.”
“I haven’t been out on a real date with someone I wanted to bang since college,” Tenner said firmly. “Just… just give me a minute.”
“I’ll give you an hour and you’ll like it. Now go. I need to get dressed myself!”
The movie had been the best kind of blow-shit-up with attractive leads who kissed at the end, and Tenner hadn’t even blinked when Ross had reached for his hand. And the restaurant was a sweet little hole-in-the-wall in downtown Folsom, the kind of place with only microbrews and local wineries. The appetizer had been oysters in the half shell—sautéed with butter and bread crumbs—and they were waiting for dinner.
Tenner, who had been attentive and happy for most of the date, was suddenly checking his phone, and Ross remembered—Tenner was a parent. Taking advantage of a free evening was fine, but it was going to come with an underlay of worry, especially since Tenner hadn’t been able to see his daughter that morning.
“She… she should have texted me back,” Tenner said apologetically. He glanced up from his phone, his forehead furrowed. “I’m sorry, this place is great, but—”
“But she’s your kid and you’re worried,” Ross said, his own hurt fading. “I get it. Do you want to stop by after dinner?”
Tenner nodded, that furrow in his forehead not diminishing in the least. “Yeah. I just… this thing hit us like a ton of bricks. I know they were taking prophylactics, but those don’t always work. What if they got the full-strength plague? Nina doesn’t have a Patrick and Desi to keep them in soup and tea, you know?”