Coda Books 06 - Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding (MM)

you. He wants this so much, and he was worried that you wouldn’t like him. But what you saw the other night? That wasn’t us. I know they say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, but please. I’m begging you. Give us a second chance. Let us show you what we’re really like.”
    She sighed, but somehow, I was pretty sure she was smiling too. “All right. Between you and Julia, I think I’m convinced. When would you like to meet?”
    I had her. All I needed now was a plan.

    T HOMAS ’ S schedule turned out to be more difficult than before, but Taylor agreed to meet with us without him present. The hard part was that she didn’t have a car. It took a couple of calls back and forth between her and my dad, but I finally had it arranged.
    I found Cole in the empty bedroom at the end of the hall, sitting in the window seat, staring blankly out the window. He didn’t turn to face me.
    “Do we have anything planned for tomorrow night?” I asked.
    “Do we ever?”
    “I invited my father over for dinner.”
    “That’s fine.”
    “He’s bringing a date.”
    He whipped his head around to face me, his eyes wide. “Really?”
    No, not really. At least, not the way he probably assumed. I felt a little bad about lying to him, but I was also sure it was the right thing to do. He wouldn’t have time to worry about how to act. “That’s what he said.”
    “I’m so happy he’s dating again!”
    “I figured you would be. He said to make something good. I think he wants to impress her.”
    He smiled at me, possibly the first genuine smile I’d seen on his face in days. “You can count on me.”
    Of course, I already knew that.

    T HE next day was one of the best we’d had in ages. Cole was all smiles. He bustled around the house and ordered me to the store twice. He talked nonstop about dinner and about what kind of woman my dad might have met.
    “You really don’t know where he met her?”
    “He didn’t tell me anything,” I said for the third time, trying not to feel guilty for deceiving him. “You know how he is.”
    “I suppose, but—”
    “We’ll find out soon enough.” I wrapped my arms around him from behind. I breathed in the smell of strawberries and kissed the butterfly mark on the back of his neck. “We still have a couple of hours before they get here.”
    “Yes.”
    I moved one hand down his stomach to caress his groin. “Plenty of time still for you to cook dinner, right?”
    He laughed and relaxed against me. He put his head back on my shoulder. “Right.”
    “So it’s okay if I distract you for a bit?”
    “Advisable, even.”
    I undid his pants and slid my hand inside. “All our time together, and I don’t think we’ve ever made love in this kitchen.”
    He laughed breathlessly. “A terrible oversight, love. We should do something about it right away.”
    “I couldn’t agree more.”
    We took our time, but it ended up wild, both of us breathless, driving forward with an urgency we’d been lacking for months. It wasn’t that our sex had become routine, but since the summer before, there’d been a mournful edge to it. It had felt as if we were making love for comfort more than anything. But for today at least, the grief was gone. There was only the joy of loving each other, and the sheer pleasure of fucking like there was no tomorrow.
    “We should do that more often.” He sighed when it was over.
    “I’d like that.” But in order for that to happen, we had to settle the adoption issue, one way or the other. Between the hope and the fear, his passion for all things was being strangled.
    He looked up at me as if reading my thoughts. His lips were swollen and red from the attention I’d given them. “I don’t know how you put up with me. I’ve been so out of sorts.”
    “Hush. This year has been hard, but I don’t mind.”
    “What if it never gets better?”
    I pulled him close and kissed his forehead. “It will.”
    And if Taylor was willing, it would be resolved sooner rather than later. I crossed my fingers and hoped like crazy the dinner went well. It wasn’t until the doorbell rang that I began to worry I’d made a bad decision.
    “I don’t know why your dad still rings the bell,” Cole said as he went to answer it.
    “Because he’s afraid of walking in at an inopportune moment and getting an eyeful of something he’d never be able to forget.”
    He laughed. “I suppose that’s reason enough.”
    I’d been up front with