Page 29 of Forged

Joann huffed impatiently. “I just meant that gay men usually don’t like children.”

Bax’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s an alarming generalization. I happen to know several gay couples with kids of their own. I’m assuming they like those kids, although we do get irritated when they use our rainbow flags for dress-up.”

Mrs. Turner definitely wasn’t amused by the sharp joke. She huffed and shook her head. “Don’t you think Nick and Kate look charming together?” she asked, changing the subject.

“I suppose so,” Bax answered, grinning. “You’re being very obvious, you know,” he added.

“Obvious? What do you mean by that? What’s obvious?” Mrs. Turner demanded, flustered.

Bax just laughed and shook his head.

They walked on for several more minutes, pausing at one point so Jordan could watch the ducks at a pond just off the high street. Mrs. Turner and Joann gave up trying to alternately interrogate Bax and convince him that Kate was the ideal match for Nick when Bax made it clear he thought they were hilarious. When they stepped aside to get coffees at one of the outdoorstands, Bax did what he was certain they didn’t want him to do and walked up to join Nick and Kate.

“I’ve wanted children for the longest time,” Kate was chattering away. “They say twenty-seven is not too late to start having them, but I definitely feel my clock ticking. I want some of my own, of course, but I wouldn’t mind being with a man who had some of his own already.”

Bax wanted to snort at her heavy-handed hints.

While Nick was giving most of his attention to Jordan, which was probably a defense mechanism as much as a requirement of being a good father, he glanced at Bax and straightened a little once Bax drew near. Nick was visibly uncomfortable, but Bax knew him well enough now to know the strain on his face meant he was holding onto his patience by a thread.

Still, he wasn’t expecting it at all when Nick swayed subtly closer to him, like they were standing side-by-side in solidarity, then turned to Kate and said, “Actually, Kate, while I’m flattered by your interest, Bax and I are sort of together.”

Kate wasn’t the only one who gaped in shock. Bax could have been knocked over with a feather, too. Joy burst inside him and rippled through every part of him, like the water in the duck pond when Jordan picked up a stone and threw it in.

That was the perfect distraction for Nick to back away from the declaration he’d just made. Before either Kate or Bax could fully react, he scooped Jordan up into his arms with a quick, scolding, “No, Jordan. We don’t throw stones at ducks.”

While Nick was still dealing with the inevitable temper tantrum Jordan threw after that, Kate turned to Bax and muttered, “Oh my god. I didn’t know Nick was gay. His mum told me he was looking to date again.”

“In all fairness,” Bax said, taking pity on Kate and shifting closer to her, so he could speak to her like they were on the same team, “Mrs. Turner is in denial. But she is right about Nick beingready to date again.” He winked at her for good measure. Miss Kate wasn’t the enemy, and her reaction convinced Bax she felt genuinely bad for getting the wrong end of the stick.

She was still embarrassed enough to make an excuse to leave as soon as Mrs. Turner and Joann caught up to them with their coffees.

“It’s been great catching up with you again, Nick, and it was nice to meet you, Baxter,” she said, nervously fiddling with her purse and sliding away from their group. “I’ve just remembered that my brother needs my help with something this afternoon. I’ll call you later, Joann.”

“Wait, what? Where are you going?” Joann followed Kate as she marched quickly away.

“What did you say to her?” Mrs. Turner asked, frowning more at Bax than Nick.

“I told her I wasn’t interested in dating,” Nick said. It was a little bit of a lie, or maybe a big lie, but if Nick wasn’t ready to come out to his mum, it was good enough.

“Really, Nicholas,” she huffed in exasperation. “I work so hard for you, but you’re constantly rebuffing my attempts at making you happy.”

“I think we have different definitions of happiness,” Nick said in a flat voice.

“Now I have to go after Kate and apologize,” she said, shaking her head as if Nick had created the problem, not her.

She said a few curt goodbyes, kissed her grandbabies, then walked off, visibly disappointed.

“Now she’s upset,” Nick sighed.

“She shouldn’t have stuck her oar in like that anyhow,” Bax said as they turned away from the duck pond and headed back into the heart of the high street.

Nick grinned suddenly. “Stuck her oar in?”

“You know,” Bax said, relaxing more by the second. “It’s an old phrase for interfering.”

“I know that, I just didn’t expect it coming out of you.”

“There’s a lot of things you might not expect to come out of me,” Bax replied with a teasing grin.

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