Page 7 of Chasing You

“So,” Ridge said after a long beat, “why exactly were you talking to yourself in your little desk mirror? And why do you have a little desk mirror?”

“Gage hates that I get blackheads, so he bought me one and demanded that I work on them before I come home,” Adele said—the truth. “And I was giving myself a little pep talk.” A lie. It wasn’t a pep talk. It was him practicing ways to get Kash to open up a little more and stop pulling so far away.

Ridge lifted a brow like he didn’t believe him, but he was a decent enough guy not to call him on it. “Well, I hope it’s working. You look a little stressed.”

He was. Not just because of Kash, though that was a big part of it. But also because his son was getting ready to graduate—something he was wholly unprepared for—and life was about to feel very different. Gage had gotten several acceptance letters, and he’d chosen SCAD, which was in Savannah. Not on the other side of the world, but enough hours away that Adele felt like he was sawing off a limb.

But he had to do this. He had to let it happen. In spite ofa handful of bad choices Gage had made in his teenage years, he was a good kid, and Adele trusted him. He just didn’t trust the world around him. Gage was also going because of his boyfriend, and that made Adele antsy. Gage had tried to convince Adele to let the two of them move in together off campus, but Adele nipped that one in the bud.

“If you two break up, you’ll be stuck there, and that’s not something you want.”

“We’re not breaking up,” Gage had tried to argue. Adele was too experienced to let his son die on that hill. “And the dorms won’t let us have sleepovers. Please! You know I’m safe.”

Adele wanted to believe that. He didn’t like the thought of his son in a sexual relationship because when he looked at Gage, he saw the tiny little infant, entirely helpless and dependent on him. He couldn’t help but wonder if that would ever change.

He also knew he had to cut the cord, so he made an agreement that Gage could go, and he could live off campus, but by a handful of rules that Adele set. He’d get his own apartment in a building near the schoolwithoutroommates—Adele would be covering the bills—and he would maintain his grades and avoid partying too much. And his boyfriend could stay over on weekends, but weekdays were school and work only.

Gage agreed a little too readily, but Adele took his wins where he could get them. He was no fool. He knew his son would experiment with his sudden freedom, but he also did trust his son.

This was just…hard. It had been the two of them alone for so long. He’d given up any real semblance of a personal life to raise his boy because he’d fucked up at the beginning, and he refused to fall into that self-pitying pit ever again.

But who was he now?

What did he do with his time?

He was too old to go out and find someone new, and the one person he’d been properly in love with for most of his life didn’t love him back the way he wanted. So what was next? A cat? He was pretty sure Bronx could hook him up with some kind of pet to keep the loneliness at bay, but he wasn’t sure that would be enough.

He’d bide his time, he supposed, until Gage met someone. His son was bi, so any gender was on the table, and there was the possibility of kids. Gage had been saying he wanted to be a dad for years—so someday, Adele might end up a pop pop.

Oh fuck.

“Hey, Cap? Are you going to cry?” Ridge asked.

Adele’s head snapped up, a defensive comeback dancing on his tongue until he realized Ridge was actually worried. Passing a hand down his face, he quickly shook his head. “No. Well, maybe, but I’ll keep it to myself until you’re gone.”

“Crying doesn’t bother me,” Ridge said. “I grew up with little brothers who were almost thirteen years younger than I was, and we had a home where we were allowed to be emotional.”

That must have been nice. That was the home Adele had worked his ass off to create because that wasn’t something he and Bowen had been given.

“Well, as your boss, I feel like it’s probably not a good idea to put you in an awkward situation.”

Ridge sighed but didn’t argue with him, though Adele probably didn’t feel like much of a boss. Their town was so small their fire department wasn’t more than a dozen members and no real structure apart from him and hisdeputy. Their calls were few and far between, and most of them were for animal rescue, car accidents, and the small pocket of senior citizens calling for chest pains or falls.

But he kind of liked it that way. He enjoyed the fact that he was more friend to all of his guys at the station than he was the captain with a stick lodged up his ass and a vendetta against fun.

“I should cook you dinner,” Ridge said.

Adele blinked in surprise. “I…okay. Why?”

“Because you’re always taking care of everyone else, and I thought it might be nice if someone took a turn for you.”

Adele didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t a lack of care for him in his friend group, but Ridge did have a point. No one was tripping over themselves to cook him dinner. Well, Lane and Bowen some nights, but that was a different dynamic when the other guys weren’t around.

“Look, I’m not a gourmet chef or anything, but I can make a mean enchilada pie.”

Adele raised a brow at him. “A what?”

“It’s the white people attempt at making decent enchiladas,” Ridge said with a small grin. “But I was taught by my best friend’s abuelita—I make the sauce from scratch and everything. I even refry my own beans.”

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