17
TANNER
“Hey Dad?”
“What’s up, Buddy?” The pot in my hand is almost dry as I drag the kitchen towel absentmindedly over the bottom.
“Is Deacon more than your friend?” Briggs asks, barely glancing up from the picture he’s drawing. He loves making his own graphic novels—little booklets of paper that I find all over the house.
“Why do you ask?” My question is light—or I think it is. I really can’t tell with the way my heart is hammering in my chest. There’d been no time to text Deacon since Briggs got here, and while Fallon made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal, aside from her wanting to tease me a little, I still wish I could have talked to him first.
Briggs shrugs and looks at me before returning to the paper, his pencil shading in something I can’t quite make out.
“Dunno. Mom was smiling and acting weird and then you guys wanted to talkwhen we got here.”
“Your mom and I alwaystalk.”
“Right.” He rolls his eyes. “I’m not a kid.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what you are.”
“Dad,” he huffs. “I’m just saying Mom was being weird about it.”
“Briggs—”
“And it makes sense. You had that thing with Uncle Cal. She took pictures.” He means the stranger photoshoot that Hannah roped me into and Cal wasn’t a stranger. There was no spark but it made for a hell of a story after the fact.
Still, that had been years ago.
My kid can’t remember where he put his hat two minutes before but he can remember something obscure like this. Or maybe it’s that he remembers the important things. I’d had what I’d considered an age-appropriate talk with Briggs before the shoot, and Fallon had been there to support both Briggs and me.
“It’s complicated.”
“But like, what do you do when I’m not here?” he asks with the sensitivity that only an elementary school-aged boy can possess.
“I…catch up on some TV shows, and believe it or not, I do have friends that I see.”
“Like who?” he challenges and then rolls his eyes when I don’t answer him right away. I was still thinking… “Whatever, Dad. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. I have you and Mom and Otto and his family and that chaos. You don’t need to worry.”
“You don’t like him?”
Clearly seeing that he’s not going to give this up, I sigh. “It’s new and we’re getting to know each other and?—”
“So heisyour boyfriend.” He grins and I fight like hell not to blush.
Why won’t he drop this?
He’s only ever known me with Fallon, so why is he adamant about making this a thing?
“If we continue seeing each other, then we’ll worry about labels and you getting to know him, okay? It’s too soon to be talking about that.”
“That’s boring,” he mumbles and I chuff out a laugh.
“Sorry to disappoint you.” I ruffle his hair and he ducks out of my reach.
“Come on,” he whines, fixing his hair before twirling his pencil between his fingers. The movement is clumsy, but he’s getting better and awfully proud of his new skill. “Dad?”
