Page 88 of Pippin & Nacho

“Thanks.”

When we jumped off our boards, we walked up to a man smoking and leaning against the building. As soon as he saw me, he dropped his cigarette and stepped on it.

“Nate,” he said breathlessly.

“Hey… Isaiah.” I still had a tough time calling him dad, but we were working on it. Inviting him here today was the first step toward hopefully building something special between us.

“Stix, this is my… father, Isaiah. Uhm, this is Stix, or you can call him Nico.”

They shook hands, eying each other. “How do you do, Stix?”

“Hey, Mr. L.”

Isaiah smiled at that, and then he looked at me. “So, what are the plans for today?”

I hadn’t told him why he was meeting me, only to be here. Hell, I hadn’t told Stix either.

“Well, I need some support while I try to find a ring for Sam… a wedding ring. I’m going to ask him to marry me. Yeah, we’re young, but we’ve been together for seven years now, pushing eight, and will be together for the rest of our lives. I just want to make that promise to him.”

Stix grabbed me and lifted me off my feet.

“Oof…”

“I’m so fucking happy for you, Nach! This is the best news ever. Sam’s going to be so surprised and happy.”

“I think you broke something.”

Stix snorted a laugh as I rubbed my ribs and turned to face my father. Isaiah beamed a smile my way with a hand on his nape. “Can I… give you a hug?”

I nodded. It was tentative and quick, but it was our first hug. Look at me growing. “I invited you here to move forward together, if that’s okay. And Stix is here because we’ve become really close, and he’s been dealing with my pining over Sam since the beginning.”

My father’s eyes watered, and he looked away. “It’s more than okay, Nate. Thank you for… giving me a chance.”

“I’m giving us a chance. Would you come with me to the diner where we first met after this? I’m going to ask him there, surrounded by my family.”

“I’d like that.” He gently clapped me on the back and steered me inside. “Let’s find your special man a ring.”

This store was Sam's and my favorite. It had a huge selection, and it was affordable. Sometimes, we could spend hours here perusing the racks, even if we had only bought one thing.

We made our way to the back of the store, passing clothes, shoes, and home decor to the jewelry cases. There were a surprising number of wedding bands for sale, and even better, I could afford them because I’d been saving up my tips to buy him something nice.

“I tricked Sam a while back. We went shopping for rings, pretending we were getting married just for fun so I could learn his damn ring size. I tried to get an idea of what he liked, but he tried on silver, gold, black metal… So I just need to guess here.”

“Nah, if I know Sam, he’s going to love whatever you get him,” Stix said.

“How about that one?” Isaiah pointed to a ring that really stood out. It had rose gold in the middle, but the outside was gunmetal and hammered, so it had a cool texture.

“That’s actually pretty nice.”

I looked at the salesperson helping us. “What size is that?”

“This is a ten.”

I deflated. “It’s too big.”

“I may have a couple more of these in the back. What size are you looking for?”

“Nine.”

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