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Considering his brother, Chuck, had also sent me a text wanting to make sure his brother was okay, that didn’t make sense. “Why? Did you actually tell him?”
Eddie wrinkled his nose. “Kind of. I told him that I broke up with her. Which is true.”
The bartender slid my beer toward me, then set Eddie’s down in front of him. “Here you go, honey. Let me know when you’re ready for another.”
“Thanks.” He flushed again, then took a sip of his beer while swiveling his chair toward me. “So is this really why we’re here? You’re digging for information.”
I shrugged. “I’ll tell them whatever you want me to, but I’m more interested in if you’re okay. I thought things were going great with Cecilia, and if it ended so suddenly, I thought you might need to talk it out.” I personally hadn’t cared much for her, but I also hadn’t been the one dating her.
Eddie smiled. “I appreciate that. I actually went to The Tap and talked to Oz. I sat my butt at the bar in front of him for a good portion of his shift and poured out my tale of woe in between him serving his other customers.”
Oz was a good friend of ours who worked at the tavern we usually met up at. They were LGBTQ+ friendly there, and our friend worked all the time, so it was a fun place for us to go. “Man, you could've called me. I’d have joined you for a venting session.”
Eddie shook his head. “No way I was pulling you away from your family on Christmas Eve.”
“So tell me what happened,” I urged.
Eddie took another swig of his beer before setting it down. “Same old story. The one as old as time for men like us.”
I sighed internally, watching as a finely dressed cutie with black hair that had a slight curl approached the other side of the bar. His gaze flickered around, and I got the impression that he might be looking for some company. He was the exact type I’d normally hit on, but my friend needed me. Since both of us had problems in the past with partners who couldn’t handle the fact we liked both men and women or had issues with our chosen career, his issue with Cecilia could be anything.
“I'm sorry, dude. That's a bummer. What exactly happened that you broke up with her on Christmas Eve?”
“The usual. She was talking about how lots of people looked for new employment at the beginning of the year, so maybe I should get my resume ready. She insinuated that it was a shame for a man to have a college degree and be squandering it the way I did. Then she told me she’d held back on telling me what she wanted for Christmas because she didn’t want to make me feel bad that it was all out of my price range.”
So the problem was him being a manny. The familiar anger churned in my stomach. Unlike Eddie and the support he received from his dad and brother, I had people in my family who gave me grief over my decision to be a manny all the time. The main one was my cousin, Barry. That asshole never shut the hell up. It was different for my sweet friend, though. Every time he encountered someone who didn’t respect his chosen vocation—which had been the last several people he tried to date—it threw him. Neither of us were the type to give anyone grief about what they did for a living as long as it was legal and they were happy, so it was a disconnect for him. Plus, if Cecilia had stuck around longer, she’d have realized that Eddie earned a good living and saved most of the money he made. “That sucks.”
Absently, I noticed the black-haired man buying a drink. Into men, then? My heart skipped a beat before I reeled myself in. It didn’t matter if he was. I was here to hang out with Eddie and give him a shoulder to cry on. His snort drew my gaze back to him. “That one is totally your type.” He really was. As much as I enjoyed crawling around on the floor with toddlers, packing lunches, helping with homework, and all of the other activities that came with my job, I really loved a man or woman with a white-collar job. There was just something about someone who considered dress pants comfortable for casual attire. And as nicely as this one was dressed, there was a shy insecurity about him that called to me.
“He really is,” I agreed. “But it appears he found someone to spend time with, and I’m here with you.”
Joan set our food on the counter in front of us. “Here you go. Do you need anything else?”
She’d placed a nice stack of napkins between us, which was all I needed. “I’m all set.”
“What about you, honey?” she asked Eddie, smiling as he blushed.
“I’m good.”
She tapped the side of his plate. “Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll take care of you.”
He gulped, making me chuckle. As she went to help another patron, I rolled my eyes. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so worried about you. Looks like you’re going to be just fine.”
He flashed me a grin before digging into his wings. As we ate, my pulse sped up as the handsome guy on the other side of the bar ended up alone again. He frowned, looking so dejected that I wanted to go to him and soothe him. Which was ridiculous since I didn’t know him and would likely never see him again.
Eddie chuckled next to me. “You don’t have to babysit me, you know. I’m really not heartbroken or anything.”
I swallowed a bite, throwing the wing bone into the basket and focused on my friend. “Eddie, when’s the last time you invited a partner to a family dinner, much less a holiday? I’m pretty sure she meant something to you.”
He huffed, dropping his half-eaten wing back on to the rest of them and sat back. “Na. Talking it through with Oz helped me see that I never thought it was going to go anywhere with her. I just get so sick of looking like a failure, though, you know? I’m never in a steady relationship, and I bounce from job to job. Chuck’s been with his girl for almost a year. I wanted to feel normal.”
Staring at him like he’d grown ten heads, I said, “First of all, you’re twenty-six, and I know plenty of people who would argue that you should enjoy being single.” He opened his mouth, and I held up a hand to stop him. “I know, you want something special. Hell, so do I, but who we are or aren't dating definitely doesn't define us. Second, bouncing between families is literally part of the description for your job. You’re a vacation manny. The only reason anyone who might date you should have a problem with what you do is because you travel so much.
“On the flipside, dude, you’ve been to so many cool places. Which, if I remember correctly—which I do—is why you went this route instead of devoting yourself to one specific family at a time like I do. You want to see the world, and you’re getting to do that on other people’s dime, and they pay you to be there. Screw the haters.”
A smug grin appeared. “That’s true. I have been to some pretty epic places.”
“And you love what you do. There’s no shame in loving kids.”
