Page 121 of It's Complicated

“Yup. But I’m used to it. Are you worried about telling your family?”

“No.” He nuzzled his cheek against my chest. “Emma probably already knows, and Laura won’t care.”

“What about your parents?” I asked, already dreading his answer.

I was close with Jamie’s family, especially Emma and her family, but also with Jamie’s parents. They’d invited me over for every holiday since we became friends, and they always included me in family celebrations.

They treated me better than my own parents, and the thought of losing them, of being the reason Jamie lost them, terrified me.

“They won’t care,” he assured me. “I’m sure it’ll take time for them to get used to it, but they’ve told us since we were teenagers that they didn’t care who we dated as long as the person treated us right.”

“And all I heard as a teenager was that I was on my own if I knocked someone up.” I paused. “Do you think the kids will be okay with it?”

“I’m sure they will. Emma and Mike have queer friends, so they’ve seen two men in a relationship. And it’s not like it really changes anything. You’ll still be Uncle Isaac. Now you’ll be Uncle Isaac my boyfriend instead of my best friend.”

“What about work?”

He propped himself up on his arms and looked down at me. “I’ll tell Delilah, but I don’t really give a fuck what anyone else thinks.”

“You’re worried about telling your friends,” I said softly.

“A little.” He pursed his lips, like he was stopping himself from saying more.

“What?”

“It’s weird. I care about how they’ll react, but at the same time, I don’t.” He shrugged helplessly. “Most of them are my friends because we’ve always been friends. I won’t be devastated if they have issues with me being with a guy. Not all of them, at least.

“Andy should be okay with it. And Johnny too, considering he’s bi and has been out for years. Some of the others could go either way because we played hockey together for so long.” He shrugged helplessly. “It’s hard to say. But one thing I can guarantee is that everyone will gossip about us until the next big and exciting thing happens. And they’re going to watch us like hawks until the novelty wears off.” He dropped his forehead on my chest. “I know I shouldn’t care about any of that, but I do.”

“We don’t have to tell them right away if you don’t want,” I offered. “We can wait a bit for the dust to settle with everyone else first.”

He lifted his head. “No. I meant what I said. I don’t want to hide us or how I feel about you. I’m proud to be with you, and anyone who has a problem with that can fuck themselves with a cactus, as you so eloquently said last night.”

I tugged him down for a kiss, realizing I hadn’t done that yet this morning.

He let out a happy-sounding sigh and kissed me back.

“I have an idea,” I said between kisses.

“What’s that?”

“We should do a weekend in. Just you and me.”

“I like the sound of that.”

“How about we add no going out unless we need to get something, and no answering the phone or texts unless it’s an emergency. Just block out the rest of the world for a few days.”

“I really like the sound of that.”

“And no clothes.”

“No clothes?” He lifted his head and grinned at me.

“None. We’ll spend the whole weekend naked and getting each other off.”

“Counteroffer. We spend the whole weekend getting each other off and blocking out the world, but we put clothes on in between because eating and cooking naked isn’t exactly sanitary. And I can’t even remember the last time we cleaned the couch. I really don’t want to put our bare butts on there, or any other surfaces, for long periods of time before we’ve had a chance to scrub them clean.”

“Fine.” I heaved a sigh. “We can wear clothes when we’re not getting each other off.” I paused. “How many more times do you think you can come today?”

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