Page 20 of Places in Time
Chapter 9
TheMediterraneanrestaurant Jude chose wasn’t far and my parents spent the short drive chatting with him. Thankfully, they had enough to catch up on that nobody noticed my quiet panic attack. By the time we got there, found a parking spot, walked inside, and sat down, I had come up with a rational explanation for the Ginger Moonbeam situation—the whole place in time terminology was probably one of her patented phrases so she’d said it on TV when her hair was red, which had wedged into my subconscious and come out during my drive to Jude’s house. Why that drive took three hours, I still couldn’t explain, but I chalked it up to exhaustion and mindless driving.
“Ethan, honey, you’ve been very quiet. Is everything okay?” my mother asked from across the table.
Jude looked at me sympathetically, probably thinking I was worried my parents would notice the change in our relationship. On a day when I hadn’t run into someone I’d thought was a figment of my imagination, that might have been accurate. But in comparison to saying I’d been considering the possibility that I’d spent the previous night gallivanting through time with my mother’s yogini, coming out to my parents was easy.
“Jude and I are together now,” I announced. I lifted the menu, skimmed the options, and glanced at Jude. “I don’t know what I want to eat.”
“Want me to order and we can share?” Jude asked, his tone gentle.
“Uh-huh.” I nodded and set the menu down.
My parents were both staring at me, eyes wide, mouths gaping.
“What?” I scrunched my nose and then rubbed my hand over it, worried something gross was showing. “What?” I reached for my napkin and wiped it over my face. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I think your parents are a little surprised by your announcement, E.”
“Oh.” I blinked. “Do you, uh, have any questions about that you want me to answer?”
Jude started coughing.
“Not those kinds of questions,” I said hurriedly, my neck heating. “Just like, you know, questions.”
“And bytogether, you mean…?” my mother said, stretching out the last word.
“I mean together.” I furrowed my brow. “Like in a relationship.” We’d been best friends more than half our lives, so being in a relationship wasn’t new. “I mean a different type of relationship. Like dating.” No, that sounded too casual. There was nothing casual about my feelings for Jude. “Not dating, but more like boyfriends.” Except that title reminded me of high school and we were thirty-five years old. “Or, uh, partners.” That was what people called it, right? Partners? But that didn’t feel right either. I turned to Jude and said, “J, what’s the right word to describe us?”
He chuckled and gave me that fond smile. “I’ll be whatever you need me to be. You know that.”
I nodded because I did know. “Am I what you want too?” I whispered.
He cupped the side of my face and rubbed his thumb over my cheek. “You’re exactly what I want. You’ve always been exactly what I want.”
My father cleared his throat. “Well, that answers that question.” He tipped his head to the side. “Maria and I ordered, Jude. The waiter’s waiting for you.”
I hadn’t noticed anyone approach.
“We’ll have the hummus platter, a side of dolmades, a water with no ice for him, and a coffee for me.” Jude stacked my menu on top of his and handed both to the waiter.
My stomach growled. “I love dolmades.”
“I know.”
“I love hummus.”
“I know.”
I leaned close and pressed my mouth to his ear. “I love you.”
He beamed.
“It’s as if we’ve been transported to some alternate universe,” my mother said.
“Nope.” I kept my eyes locked on Jude’s. “We’re just finally in the right place in time.”
I’d always enjoyed the quiet moments with Jude—sitting on the sofa watching a game or reading, taking a drive to a trail and hiking for hours, relaxing together over a meal.
