Page 10 of Freeze Frame

“I’m sorry that it’s not, but I understand why you’re surprised. I’m fifty-two, and that might mean I’m still young insome ways, but I’m still older and I was raised differently than the younger generations. But I wasn’t straight before I had my son, and I’m still not straight. I wasn’t always out because I didn’t want to make shit harder for my kid, but then he came out. And when he did, I wanted to make sure I was a good example for him, so I came out to him shortly after.” I ran a hand through my hair, probably messing it up. “Shit, I didn’t mean to make this all about me. How about we go get that dinner now. The boys seem settled.”

There hadn’t been a single bark since we stepped outside, in fact. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I brought up the pet camera and showed the screen to Josh. Wally and Nitro were wrestling on the couch, happy as clams.

“Dinner sounds nice,” Josh agreed. “Did you want to ride together?”

“It’s up to you. If you want your own wheels, I can hitch a ride in your car.”

“I mean, my dog is in your house. I’d still have to come back here for him.”

“Yeah, but the bedroom window around the back is easy to open, and you could just hop in and get him real fast.”

Josh tipped his head back and laughed. “Did you just tell me how to break into your house?”

“No, I told you how you could retrieve your property if you decided that you wanted to ditch me early and vanish into thin air.”

Josh motioned to his car. “Get in. You’ll have to tell me where we’re going.”

“Have you heard of The Noodle Nest?” It was a restaurant that had been open for a few years and their affordable pasta dishes made them super popular with the locals. It was away from the university and closer to the downtown core which gave it a different sort of clientele. The places near the universitytended to be full of younger people. College-aged people. That’s when it dawned on me that a place with a younger vibe might have been a better idea.

“I love that place. Have you had the Amatriciana? They added it just recently,” Josh asked as we got into the car and strapped ourselves in.

“I haven’t been there in a while.” I’d been there with Jax a few times, but not lately. “Do you go there often?”

“Not as often as I’d like. Honestly, if I had the money, I’d eat there every day. Three times a day.”

“I like it, but maybe not as much as you do. Besides, I like cooking.”

“I like eating.” Josh’s eyes flashed with amusement. “See, we’re a good pair.”

Hearing him say that gave me a stupid flutter of hope in my chest that maybe this could be something real. Something lasting. If I didn’t fuck it up.

“About you being trans…”

Josh sucked in a breath and stiffened, bracing himself for whatever it was that I was about to say.

“You’ll have to tell me if I say or do something that’s stupid or insensitive. I’ll try my best to not fuck up, but I’m human. So if there are things I shouldn’t do or say, things that bother you, I’d like to know ahead of time so I can avoid doing the wrong thing. Or saying the wrong thing.”

Josh took his eyes off the road to glance at me. “How are you even real?”

“Um…”

“I just mean… that’s more consideration than I expected. And that’s on me, actually. I just—the whole gender reveal hasn’t always gone well.”

“Not always an occasion for cake, I take it.”

“Definitely no cake. Okay so, just… I’m a man. I use male pronouns. I think that’s it for now. I mean… yeah, you might say something that doesn’t jive with me, but we can just take it as it comes.” Josh changed lanes, moving to the right so he could take the upcoming turn. “I’m actually a bit surprised at the lack of questions. People are usually curious.”

“Curious or intrusive?”

“Touché.”

“I figure you’ll tell me what you want to tell me when you want to tell me. And until then, we’ll eat dinner and talk about our dogs an obsessive amount like regular, well-adjusted dog owners.”

Josh reached over and pinched my arm then flashed me a grin. “Just had to check that you were actually real in case I was about to have dinner with a hallucination."

“I’m real.”

Josh looked at me again, and this time I didn’t have quite the easy time of reading his expression.