I stood in the doorway.
"Hi," I said.
"Hello," he said.
"You—"
"Come in, Wesley."
I came in.
The lamp was on a different setting. Lower. I had been in this apartment enough times now to know exactly where the lamp lived on the dial and this was not where the lamp lived on the dial. This was three clicks below where the lamp lived on the dial.
There was music. Low. Something classical that I didn't know the name of and definitely couldn't have identified in a lineup. Music that he had selected, on purpose, ahead of time, and pressed play on before opening the door.
Nathan Cross had set a mood.
I stood in the entryway processing this development.
He was already in the kitchen. Back slightly to me. Doing something at the counter.
"You cooked," I said.
He made a noise that kind of sounded like an answer.
I crossed to the counter where Nathan was doing something with something, back to me, sleeves rolled. I came up behind him and put my arms around him and leaned in.
He went still for a second. Then he didn't, which was Nathan Cross accepting being held from behind in his kitchen. I pressed my face briefly against the back of his neck and breathed in—clean soap, the same clean soap that had been on my shirt months ago—and felt the solid warmth of him, the actual size of him, which in this configuration with my arms around him and my chin at his shoulder was very apparent.
"Nathan," I said.
"Mm."
"Did you make this?"
"I prepared it," he said.
I unwrapped my arms and stepped back and looked at the counter properly. Really looked.
There were small little bowl things. There was something with a sauce. There was a garnish. A fuckinggarnish.Nathan Cross had cooked a romantic dinner with agarnish.
"Nathan." I looked at him. He was looking at the counter with great focus. "This is too good for you to have made."
A pause.
"I may have had some assistance," he said.
"What kind of assistance?"
"Logistical."
"Nathan."
"A delivery service," he said. With dignity.
I started laughing. I tried not to. I was actively trying not to and I was losing the battle.
"So you ordered it."
