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Me:

Want to meet up Wednesday night?

This time, the answer doesn’t come right away, so I wipe down a counter that’s already clean. Then do it again. Fuck, he’s gotta know this is torturing me.

Marcus:

Miss me so much you want to see me right away?

Of course he’s not giving me a straight answer. He loves to tease me too much for that. But I’ve learned that with Marcus, teasing is usually a good sign.

Me:

Guess I could use another refresher ;)

Marcus:

Guess I can provide more spank bank material

I smile, but I want it to be about more than that. I’m not going to admit that, though. I don’t know what we are, if we’re anything or just two people who are passing the time together and having holiday sex. That’s why flirting feels safer, easier. It’s hard to know what to do with feelings for someone I’ve never spent more than a night with.

But god, do I want to know.

Me:

You gonna whisk me away to another hotel?

Marcus:

Probably. It’s either that or my apartment in Chicago.

I was not expecting that.

Fuck, I guess I should’ve mentioned flying into Chicago.

Next time.

Me:

Just got to my parents. Going to hang with my family for a bit, then I’ll meet you.

Somehow another year has passed. Claire is now seven, and Tommy is five and in kindergarten. Meanwhile, I’m twenty-six, still lusting after the same hookup I had when I was twenty-four.

So much has changed, yet so much hasn’t.

Heading back downstairs, Claire is still at the kitchen table, buried in construction paper, proudly holding up a paper turkey, while Tommy nearly tackles me with a dinosaur roar before Dad calls everyone in for dinner. It’s warm, familiar, and exactly what I flew home for. And yet, I can’t wait to leave to go see Marcus.

“Do you have dinosaurs in Seattle?” Tommy asks me.

“Not real ones. But there’s a really cool museum with dinosaur bones.”

“Whoa.” His eyes go wide. “I wanna come see it. Pleeease.”

“You hear that, Dan?” I direct my attention to my brother. “Your kids want to come visit me in Seattle.”

“Maybe we can go in the summer,” Dan calls back. “As long as your Uncle Evan can take some time off work.”

Mom appears in the doorway, smiling. “I think we should all come.”