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“We should play a round of this Space Invaders game,” I said, nodding toward the machine in the corner of the lobby. The place was starting to get busier now that it was the early evening, and Marigold was busy talking with people and grabbing refreshments behind the counter.
“How does this thing still function?” Zach said as we stepped up to the Space Invaders machine.
“They built things to last, back in the day,” I said.
“You sound so old,” Zach said, grinning.
“You won’t be calling me old when I beat you in this game,” I said.
“Okay, game on,” Zach said.
We played three rounds, and Zach easily won each time. This was one of the few hobbies he and I shared—I couldn’t begin to keep up with his new, crazy video games, but we both loved old arcade games. I loaded a handful of quarters into the machine and we fired up for another round.
“This is too fun,” I said. “Next time we have to bring Evan, don’t you think?”
“Sure,” Zach said as he quickly beat me again, racking up the points.
I took a deep breath, looking at him. “You like having him around, right?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Sure.”
“Is that the only word you know how to say now?”
“...Sure?” he said, then laughed.
“Come on. I want to know, seriously. I like having Evan around, and I want to make sure you do, too.”
“Of course,” he said. “He’s a cool guy. He makes awesome food.”
“It is absolutely delicious,” I said. “And you get along with him even when I’m not around, it seems like.”
Zach turned to look at me, his gaze growing a little impatient. “Are you going to ask me ten more times how I feel about Mr. Bailey?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “What do you mean?”
He glanced to the side, then finally looked back at me. “Dad, I’m not a little kid anymore. It’s… pretty obvious that you’re beating around the bush for something. You keep bringing him up all the time. So are you going to keep acting like this, or are you just going to say it?”
I froze in place, the sound of popping popcorn coming from behind me. I hated how sometimes it felt like my son knew me better than I knew myself.
“I’m just trying to make sure we’re on the same page.”
Zach let out a sigh. “I know you guys have some... weird relationship bond.”
“Me and Evan?”
“Yeah.”
I swallowed hard. “That’s one way to put it,” I said.
Mitch and Evan: definitely not boyfriends, but in ‘some weird relationship bond.’ Maybe that was how I should describe our relationship all the time.
Zach let out a long breath. “I honestly wish you would just get over it and date him.”
I coughed hard on a sip of my watery root beer. “What?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s none of my business or whatever.”
My heart felt like it had just been plugged into an electrical socket. “Zach, I’m asking you right now, so it’s definitely your business. Talk to me, honey.”
I realized he was totally right—I had been beating around the bush. It was partially why I’d invited him out to go see a movie today. I wanted to pick his brain about how things were going in Amberfield. But of course, Zach was more perceptive than I was nowadays. He caught my bullshit from a mile away.
He groaned, exasperated, and focused on a solo game of Space Invaders for a moment. But he finally spoke. “You just… obviously seem happier with him than you ever did around Mom.”
“Hey,” I said. “I’ve told you a million times. I don’t hate your mother. I still love her, and I always did. It’s just different now. Things are more complex when you’re older.”
“I know, I know, the divorce isn’t my fault,” Zach said. “I’m not worried about that, I promise. But something just seems different when you’re with Evan. You act more like yourself, I guess.”
A large group of people came through the old glass double doors at the front of the lobby, and a cold rush of air accompanied it. I shivered.
I hadn’t expected Zach to say any of this. I was completely dumbfounded.
“I do feel like myself around him,” I said. “Definitely.”
“And when he sleeps in your bed?” Zach said, a grin forming at the corner of his mouth.
“Hey,” I said sternly.
“What?” he protested. He reached in his pocket for another quarter, but I stood up.
“No. No more games. Let’s head back. I need to be at work in an hour anyway.”
“Fine,” he said, heading outside into the cold with me.
My mind was reeling, and suddenly my heart was pounding a million beats per minute. Zach clearly had known that Evan shared my bed last weekend, but this was the first I was hearing of it. My brain had no idea how to process that information, and right now it felt like all of the gears in my head were suddenly halting, breaking under the pressure.
