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“Really? This is how you come out to the hospital? In the cafeteria?” she asked.
“Come out?” Snow asked, his head snapping up. Jude muttered something under his breath that he couldn’t quite catch, but it didn’t matter. His entire attention was on Rebecca. “What are you talking about? I’ve never hidden my orientation.”
“You know, come out to the staff that you guys are an item. Dating. A fucking adorable couple.”
“And how would you have done it?” Jude snapped.
“I don’t know. Something with a little more flare.”
“You’d rather us dance down from the ER and then finish with a big kiss in the middle of maternity?”
Rebecca gave a little shrug, completely unmoved by Jude’s tone. “It’d definitely be eye-catching.”
“Snow’s way was perfect.”
The only problem was that outing them as a couple had never been part of the plan. He’d just wanted to see Jude and with their opposing schedules, meeting Jude before he started his shift while he ate in the cafeteria was his only option. Had he outed them?
Why don’t we have someone doing this for us?
His own words echoed back in his brain. We…us…
Fuck, he had. He hadn’t thought about the words coming out of his mouth. It was just that he didn’t think of them separately any longer. They were a single unit, moving forward and always together. They were looking for a house together. It only made sense for him to confer with Jude on whether they had a realtor helping them. Had Jude minded? The smile he’d flashed after Snow spoke to him would have argued to the contrary.
“Snow?” Jude’s hand tightened on his wrist, drawing his eyes back to the sexy man on his right. “You need to eat.”
Snow nodded and picked up his fork with his left hand. It was awkward, but he managed because he didn’t want Jude removing his hand from his right arm.
“And that’s another thing!” Rebecca said, shifting to her next topic. “How do you stay like that,” she started, waving her hand up and down to encompass all of Snow, “when you eat that?” She wrinkled her nose at his salad topped with grilled chicken. Snow had to admit it wasn’t the best meal. It definitely wasn’t an Ian meal.
Jude chuckled. “He’s going with a salad because we ate at Mana’s last night. We made pastitsio. Way too many carbs. Even though Mana added a thick layer of spinach because she remembered Snow likes to eat healthy.” His chuckles turned into an outright laugh.
Snow stabbed the salad with a little more force than necessary and frowned at the leafy greens on the end of his fork. “Definitely not as good as pastitsio.” He then looked over the remains on Rebecca’s plate. “It can’t all be about tacos.”
“Hey now!” she said sharply, covering her plate with her hands as if to protect the crumbs from Snow’s words. “Tacos aren’t bad for you. They’ve got vegetables.”
“Not even close,” Snow muttered, fighting the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He’d heard all about Jude’s taco arguments with Rebecca.
“And dairy!” she continued, ignoring Snow. “Tacos have all the basic food groups.”
“Oh God, not this again,” Jude said with a laugh. For a second, he rocked to his side, his head touching Snow’s shoulder before he straightened again. Just that light touch and Snow could feel the last of the tension slip out of his frame.
Rebecca was ridiculous, but she made Jude happy. Jude accepted his strange family and their eccentricities. He found that it wasn’t much of a stretch to accept Rebecca into his life as well. He liked the way that she bickered with Jude as if they were siblings.
“Why weren’t you at Anna’s last night? I thought you usually made it to dinner,” Snow asked, spearing a cherry tomato.
Rebecca scowled and slumped in her chair while Jude snickered. “She and Carrick are fighting,” Jude said when Rebecca just glared at the tabletop.
“It’s not fighting. He’s a stubborn ass,” she complained.
Jude cackled, his hand tightening on Snow’s arm. “And you’re not?”
“Of course not,” she said with a dignified little sniff, but she ruined it all by throwing her arms out dramatically. “And then Anna goes and makes pasta. If I’d known she was making that, I would have totally caved to Carrick. Hell, I’d sell you out for pastitsio.”
“Gee, thanks,” Jude muttered.
Snow enjoyed their banter as they went back and forth while he picked through his salad. Maybe he’d hit the leftovers from Anna later that evening. Or maybe he’d wait until Jude got home and they’d curl up in bed together, feeding each other while watching the news. Two more people Snow knew only vaguely came up to talk to him very briefly. They seemed more than a little surprised that he was in the cafeteria and eating. Rebecca even joked after they left that she liked being at the cool kids’ table at long last.
