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“And what do you do now?”
“I bartend,” I say.
Or at least, I did. I’ll need to call and tell Mike I won’t be coming back anytime soon. There’s too much going on for me to carry on working and helping with this mission.
“Ma, stop with all the questions. Tell me about the others,” Felix says, saving me.
I’m sure Lottie is wondering why these simple questions are so hard for me. I’m guessing Felix didn’t fill her in on much of my story, which I am grateful for.
Lottie starts talking about Felix’s siblings and what’s going on in their lives. I catch bits and pieces as I try to compartmentalize my feelings and be in the moment. He has two sisters and a brother.
When the meal is over, Felix has eaten three full bowls and pushes the last one away from himself with a groan and a hand on his stomach.
“I can’t eat anymore. I am stuffed.”
Obviously, he likes his mother’s cooking.
“You should take some back with you,” Lottie says.
Felix grins. “That would be great. Thanks, Ma.”
“I’ll pack that up, you show Anna around the house.”
Felix stands up, offering me his hand before pulling me away from the table. He shows me the living room full of cozy seating and covered in blankets. There’s a fire in the mantle.
“You don’t need the blankets or the fire, why have them?”
Felix shrugs. “Just because we enjoy the cold doesn’t mean it isn’t nice to snuggle up. It’s a balance.”
“This entire place is warm and inviting. Like I could curl up and stay here for hours.”
“That’s exactly what my parents wanted it to feel like. My dads built this house. It was my mom’s vision.”
He doesn’t elaborate any more than that.
I follow him upstairs, trying not to stare at his tight ass in those jeans. He looks good in everything he wears.
I don’t realize he’s brought me into a room until I finally look up and see the walls. It’s clearly his room, full of pictures of him and posters. It’s clean and simple, like it hasn’t been touched in a while. His buttered popcorn scent has faded.
“Your room?” I say.
His smile is sheepish. “I thought you might want to see a glimpse of me as a kid.”
I take more than a glimpse. I study every picture in the room. Felix had a lot of friends. Picture after picture is him with his arms around different groups of people.
“Lots of friends. I guess you’ve always been this friendly.”
He just shrugs, but it’s tight, like he’s nervous about something. I’m about to ask what’s wrong when I see one of him, Lottie, and two other men. While Lottie passed down her hair to Felix, one of the men has the rest. He’s obviously his dad with the same jawline, height, and strong nose. The man dwarfs Lottie, it’s adorable.
The next picture has Felix, his parents, two younger girls, and one boy. His siblings I assume.
“Is this your family?” I ask.
He moves closer, looking at the picture over my shoulder.
“Yup. You heard my mom talking about Molly, Jen, and Kenny. And those are my dads. My mom only mated with two men which is abnormally small.” He swallows tightly. There’s pain in his voice.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I whisper.
