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“I don’t do that,” Aaron snapped.
Ben laughed again. “Then with time. Anyway, I need to go, but we’ll talk again soon. Keep me posted on baby stuff, okay? I want to buy out all the baby stores.”
“You’ll have to fight Mom on that,” Aaron warned him.
Ben snorted. “She knows?”
“No. Just you for now.”
He was oddly touched that he was the first. “Give Naomi a hug for me, okay? Tell her to let you spoil the shit out of her.”
“Always,” Aaron said.
The line went dead without a real goodbye, but that had always been their way. Ben let the phone fall to his side, and he realized that what he’d said earlier was absolutely right. There was hope, and he couldn’t help but feel like it was all going to work out.
fifteen
“Who’s next?”
Ben smiled up at the ceiling as Nova’s voice wrapped around him, even if it sounded slightly tinny and wrong through the phone’s speaker. All he really wanted right then was a fast-forward button so he could zip through the next two nights and finally—finally—be allowed to call Nova his.
“Some guy named Levi,” Ben said, trying to recall the man’s profile. He was the only Jewish guy in the mix, which surprised him there were any, considering even he wouldn’t have considered going on a bunch of blind dates during a holiday week if it hadn’t been for his brother. Levi seemed average, but so had all the other men. He was a little younger than Ben, worked in the engineering field, and had two dogs.
Ben wasn’t super keen on the dogs, but in all honesty, he wasn’t super keen on the date at all. Maybe if Levi had been date one, he might have had a shot, but there was no point in pretending Ben would be giving this guy a chance in hell.
“That’s a nice name,” Nova said. “There are a ton of hot Levis.”
Ben rolled his eyes. “I know you’re fishing, but in the Jewish community, Levi’s about as popular as John or…I don’t know. Mike? I’m sure there are hot ones, but none of them are you. And for the record, I think Nova is the best name so far.”
Nova snorted a laugh. “It’s a shit name. Everyone thinks I’m a girl before they meet me. I’ve spent half my life explaining myself to total strangers.”
Ben grinned at Nova’s soul-deep offense and irritation. “Sounds like you need to send your mom the therapy bill.”
“For more than just one thing,” Nova said, and before Ben could wince at his own faux pas, Nova was laughing. “Anyway, are you at all excited? Is he cute?”
Ben realized he hadn’t even bothered looking at Levi’s photo since the first night he’d examined all of his dates. “He’s fine,” he lied. “Nothing to write home about.” In truth, the guy could have looked like someVogueFrancemodel, and he still wouldn’t have noticed or cared. “I’m sure he’s someone’s perfect match. He’s just not mine, and I’m not going to pretend like this guy has any hope against you.”
“That’s breaking the rules.”
Ben sat up and kicked his legs off the side of the couch. “The hell it is. You told me I had to go on the dates. You didn’t say I had to actually try.”
“I thought that was implied!” Nova said.
Ben slapped his hand over his face and groaned. Maybe he should have been getting angry about the way Nova was handling it, but he was oddly charmed by the whole thing. He couldn’t stop smiling, which probably made him look like a damn serial killer. “Considering you pinned me against the wall and kissed me, then talked into orgasming, I’d say it was most definitely not implied.”
Nova was silent for a long moment, then sighed. “Okay. I get how there might be mixed messages here.”
Ben choked on a laugh. “No, baby. There are no mixed messages. There’s the message that I’m indulging you in this, and then we’re going to have our happily ever after the day after tomorrow.”
Nova let out a long, slow breath. “Yeah?”
The vulnerability in Nova’s voice almost killed him, and he wanted more than anything to reach out and just pull him close. “Yes. And now I just need to figure out how I’m going to get through the night and sit through a date without telling the guy my heart’s being held in someone else’s hands.”
“Definitely don’t do that,” Nova said quietly. “You’ll make him feel bad.”
Ben softened even more. How was this man even real? “I’ll see you soon, okay?”
It was less than ten minutes before Ben had to light his candles and then head out the door to meet Levi. He stared in the windowsill at the drippings of wax from years prior. He saw a few silver streaks from the one year he’d gotten fancy glitter candles, thinking it would make Taylor want to participate a little more.
