Page 57 of A Little Bit Naughty

Remi managed to choke back the laugh, but he couldn’t remove the smile from his face. “Remi Carson. You can call me Remi.”

“OK, Mister Remi. Can I go, Daddy? Please, please, please? I’ve been waiting all day!”

Brick’s eyes sparkled. “Take your shoes off and then you can go.”

While Tommy hastily removed his shoes, Remi gave him directions. “Up the stairs, through the bedroom at the end of the hall, and then walk through the en suite bathroom. You’ll probably hear Izzy before you see him.” He’d been singing when Remi left, a song about marching dinosaurs.

One of the first things that Remi had done when he started renovating the playroom was remove the door connecting it to the hallway. He wanted it to be a private sanctum, a secret place no one would ever wander into accidentally. Something too special to be shared with the outside world.

It hadn’t occurred to him that he’d wind up with a boy whose best friend was already racing up the stairs to find him, shouting Izzy’s name at the top of his lungs. Tommy was about to race through his bedroom, which was, in this new context, a bit weirder than just having the playroom open.

Remi was already thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard to pull the door out of the garage and pop in a frame to decrease traffic through the bedroom, when he remembered, yet again, that Izzy wasn’t staying.

“What was that look?” Brick inquired.

Remi shook his head. “God, it’s been a crazy few days. Do you want to hear all of it?”

Brick laughed, a deep booming sound that shook his belly. “Of course. I think I’m, like, the fairy godfather of our crew. Tell me everything.”

“Water? Beer? Lemonade?” He raised one eyebrow. “Apple juice?”

“Ice water is good. I can’t drink because of my meds.”

Remi shook his head. “Same here. I mean, a beer once in a while, but I mostly keep them here for guests. Have a seat.”

“Nice place you’ve got here,” Brick commented as he settled onto the sofa.

“Thanks. It’s a work in progress. I feel like I should have invited you over sometime before…” He trailed off. He’d been to Brick’s house a few times for informal community gatherings.

“But you’re not a big party person, and before you didn’t have a little one who was attached at the hip to my boy.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” He handed Brick the water and settled onto an armchair with a glass of his own. “But I’m glad you two could make it today.”

“Alright, out with it,” Brick told him. “You’re stalling.”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to. I just don’t know where to start.” He took a sip of water. “I think the universe hates me.”

“Yeah? Seems like the universe just dropped a pretty nice gift in your lap.”

Remi sighed. “Yeah, that, too. I’m guessing that you’ve actually already heard most of this from Tommy. I don’t think those two have any secrets from each other, and I’m guessing Tommy shares everything with you, too.”

Brick eyes went soft and fond, no doubt thinking of something Tommy had done. “Yeah. The way I hear it, you’re this super-Daddy who flew in to sweep Isaac off his feet. I believe the phrase ‘perfect ev-ry-where’ has come up a few times.”

Remi buried his face in his hands. “Oh, God. Please don’t ever say that again. I’m far from perfect. I’m just this lonely guy who’s spent five years trying to find a boy who fits with me. And when I finally met someone—and I’m not saying we’re in love and destined to be together or anything extreme, but we really click together—he lives on the other side of the country.”

Brick gave him a skeptical look. “Doesn’t he graduate in May? If he’s the right one for you, that’s hardly anything. You can fly out to see him, he’ll fly out to see you. There are phones and video calls for the rest of it.”

Remi sighed. “You make it sound so easy. We talked about that, though, and I don’t think it would be right for us. He really needs the physical side of having a Daddy nearby. And I think I’m too much of a control freak to be able to manage having a boyfriend and little on the other side of the country. I would be a nervous wreck. Oh, and I think he doesn’t graduate till next August. It’s over a year. And then he could end up in a residency anywhere in the country for the year after that.”

Brick nodded slowly, seeming to take it in. “Is he worth waiting for?”

“Yes? I mean… right now I want to say yes. But not dating anyone for a year or two, just on the off-chance that some guy I met for a weekend wants to change all of his life plans to move to Portland with me? That’s even crazier.”

Brick’s nods slowed even further. “Would you move to be with him? I mean… I don’t even know what you do, but could you do it remotely?”

“I’m a chemical engineer, and I teach at the university. I have a contract to teach three in-person classes this fall and two in the spring. I can’t even imagine what it would look like to try to get out of that contract. I mean, I could quit, but I don’t think I could just up and leave for a year and then expect to come back. Especially not now. Classes start in five weeks or something.”

“Could he transfer his program?”