Page 5 of Learning to Run

Brady’s mom patted his knees and sat down in front of us onthe coffee table…probably so we couldn’t escape. She was smart like that. “I’msure that will be helpful when dealing with Brady.”

Brady frowned like he couldn’t decide if he should beoffended or not, but Jude rolled his eyes as Bates nodded. “It does. I’m alsofamiliar with littles, and even though I’m not a Daddy, I have no problem withthe dynamic he shares with Jude.”

It really was nice to date someone who didn’t think Bradywas nuts…well, Jude knew he was nuts but not about the little and wanting aDaddy thing.

“I bet that’s made things a lot easier.” We all got morepats and smiles as she studied us, but when she glanced over to Jude and Brady,I knew things were bound to get interesting. “But it seems to have producedsome struggles as well.”

“Yeah, like holding us hostage.” Gareth’s mumbled words gota dramatic huff from Jude and a barely controlled laugh from Bates.

Brady’s mom didn’t let us get distracted, though. “It seemslike Jude and Brady are worried about how quickly things are moving between youthree.”

I kind of liked how she wasn’t surprised at all three of usdating, and it made me wonder what it would take before she was shocked aboutsomething. But I had to remind myself that it wasn’t what I was supposed to befocused on.

Hostage situations were more important than my curiosity.

Bates was good at keeping on track too. He smiled and noddedbefore glancing between the two of us like he was having so much fun he didn’tknow what to do with himself.

It looked kind of dangerous, honestly.

It was his let’s fuck with Jude face.

“I wouldn’t say we’re moving quickly.” Bates shrugged, dialingthe smile back and looking confused. “We’ve had a lot of very productiveconversations. Gareth especially had questions that Jude wasn’t reallycomfortable answering, so I stepped in and we got to know each other that way.Family should always be available to answer the hard questions, but sometimesthat isn’t possible.”

Oh.

The two nosy drama queens in question both sucked in abreath as Bates neatly tossed them right under the bus without looking guiltyat all.

Smart people were amazing.

“Some questions just make people uncomfortable, but you’resuch a wonderful mother I know that wouldn’t be a problem for you.” Batessmiled sweetly and even reached out to squeeze her hand. “Around Christmas, Iheard Brady talking about how wonderful you were to check up on him and Judeand how their deflowering was going.”

Jude’s mouth dropped open as Brady looked like he was tryingto figure out how Bates had heard that conversation, but he’d been so loudabout it that most of the building probably knew when he’d gotten deflowered.

“Gareth and Cashel weren’t sure how you’d feel about theirquestions, though, silly boys, but I knew you would want someone to help them,so I took them out to dinner for a neutral environment and did my best.” Heshrugged when she gave him a beaming smile and leaned over to give him a hug.

“Oh, that’s so sweet. Yes, some boys are silly about thingslike deflowering and being curious. All boys are curious.” She sighed like itwas just something she had to accept. “I was very lucky that Brady was my mostcurious child and he was just looking for a Daddy.”

Yeah, that was pretty easy in the scheme of things.

“That one is fairly self-explanatory and Jude is a wonderfulDaddy for Brady. He takes very good care of Brady and they communicate a lot.”Bates said it so nicely I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or if it wassome kind of sex joke.

Jude’s expression said he wasn’t sure either and Gareth justlooked relieved that someone was making sure he wouldn’t get held hostage anylonger.

My life was so weird.

“They’re so good together and he has a lot of patience withmy Brady.” She was still smiling but clearly knew her kid was nuts.

“He does.” Bates was still smiling as he glanced over atJude. “And he’s going to make sure Brady is doing his own chores and not talkingGareth into doing them.”

Brady’s dramatic huff had his mother trying not to laugh,but she was facing away from the drama queen little, so he didn’t know. She wasso amazing there weren’t even any giggles in her voice. “Oh yes, I’m sure he’llhandle that with an appropriate consequence.”

I wasn’t sure if the way she didn’t say punishment wasdeliberate or not but I was glad no one else asked about it.

“I’m sure he will.” Bates was so smooth as he shifted hisattention to us and gave us both knee pats. “And speaking of chores, how about wehead over to the grocery store now instead of later?”

He aimed his sweet smile at Brady’s mom. “I hate to run butyou know how the store gets if you wait too late in the day. It’ll be amadhouse and all the vegetables will be picked over. Cashel was talking aboutmaking soup for us and it sounds delicious. He takes very good care of us.”

And now she was smiling at me.

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