Line of Sight - 8. Chapter 8

“Here we go again.”

“What?” I looked over at Jamie. She shook her head and leaned down to kiss Jake.

“Why don’t you go play in your room for a few minutes while I talk to your dad?” She smiled at our son. “I’ll come say bye before I leave.”

“Okay.” Jake barely even glanced at me before disappearing down the hall to his bedroom, leaving me alone with his mother. Even Murray left the room. Traitors, the both of them.

Dread settled in my gut as I watched Jake go and I turned to Jamie.

“Okay, let me have it.”

“How long have you been seeing Tony?”

“A month or so.” We’d gotten together a few times, and each time Jake went over and spent time with Paul if Jamie wasn’t home. “In fact, he was over here last night.” He was still here this morning too, but she didn’t need to know that. We hadn’t actually slept together; well we had, but all we’d done is curled up together and slept.

“Don’t you think it’s time you had him over when Jake is actually home?” Jamie raised one eyebrow. “I know you want to be cautious, but you need to find out how Jake’s going to react before you get too involved.”

“I hate you, you know that, right?”

“No you don’t. You might at this moment, but only because you know I’m right.” Jamie walked over and hugged me. “At least give it some thought. I’ll support you in whatever you decide, but I can’t imagine Tony is all that happy with having to sneak around.”

I shook my head. He wasn’t. We’d actually had a similar talk before he’d left earlier. Tony had wanted to stay until after Jake came home and I’d refused. I wasn’t sure what I was so worried about. Jake adored his teacher and I already knew how Tony felt about kids. Tony had been rather unhappy when I’d ushered him out the door an hour or so before Jamie was due to bring Jake home.

“There you go.” Jamie kissed my cheek. “You need to make a decision, Brad. Either be willing to take a little risk, which really isn’t much of a risk as far as I can see, or let Tony go. I could understand you being cautious, at first, but it’s time to actually see if you guys can make a go of it. If that’s what you want. You can’t do that if you’re hiding him from Jake, plus, Tony deserves better than being your secret.”

I nodded. I knew she was right, even if I didn’t want to admit it. I watched her walk away, and a few seconds later I could hear her down the hall, talking to Jake.

“Damn it.” I dropped my head into my hands and forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths. I still wasn’t sure I was doing the right thing, but I needed to do it before I lost my nerve. I grabbed the phone and dialed the number I already knew by heart.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and saw Jamie watching from the doorway to the kitchen. Before I could tell Tony to hold on for just a second so I could get rid of her, she smiled and waved, then disappeared. A moment later I heard the front door close. I’d wait and see how the night turned out before I thanked her for once again pushing me in the direction I wanted, but was too afraid, to go.

“Hey, didn’t Jamie bring Jake home?”

“Yeah.” Even through the phone I could hear the aggravation in his voice. “Look, I’m sorry about earlier.”

“I shouldn’t have pushed.” Tony sighed. “I know you’re not ready to tell him about us.”

“Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come over and have ice cream with us.” At least, I thought we had ice cream in the freezer. I probably should have checked before I called. Oh well. We could always go out for dessert. I walked over to the freezer to check while I waited for his answer. His silence worried me a bit, but before I could start panicking he finally responded.

“You sure?”

“Yes. Though”—I stared into the freezer—“I think we’re going to have to go out. I don’t have any.”

Tony started laughing.

“Or I could just pick some up on my way over.”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.” Maybe I needed to quit asking Tony over for food, considering I’d burnt the lasagna on our first date and we’d ended up having to order in.

“I offered. Is there any particular kind Jake likes more than another?”

“Playdough.” I grimaced. I couldn’t stand the taste of it, but he loved it.

“That seems to be a favorite of kids. How about I get that and something else, anything in particular you don’t like?”

“A lot of the flavors geared towards kids, but other than that, not really.”

“Okay. I’ll stop at the store and be there in a half hour or so.”

“See you then.” I hung up and walked down the hall to Jake’s room. I paused in the doorway and smiled at the sight of my son playing with his trucks. “Hey bud.”

“Hi, Daddy.” Jake looked up at me before going back to the dump truck he driving over his city rug.

“It’s time for your bath, so put your trucks away.” If I had him ready for bed, we could enjoy ice cream with Tony, maybe even a movie, before Jake had to go to bed. “After your bath we’re going to have ice cream and watch a movie.”

“Playdough ice cream?” Jake’s eyes lit up as he jumped up and scrambled to put his trucks in his toy box.

“Yes, you get Playdough ice cream.” I barely managed to repress my shudder.

“Yay!” Jake started pulling his shirt over his head.

“I’ll go start your bath.” I chuckled and headed for the bathroom. I had barely taken two steps when a half-naked Jake darted past me. I followed him into the bathroom and started the water, adding his current bubble choice. There was barely two inches of water in the tub before Jake was climbing in and splashing around.

I shut the water off once the tub was full enough then headed to his bedroom for pajamas. I left the bathroom door open so I could hear him. I grabbed the first pair I found, his superhero ones, and took them back and set them on the closed toilet lid along with his towel.

“Make sure you get dressed in here, we have company coming over.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see, it’s a surprise.” I wasn’t sure why I didn’t tell him, but he’d find out soon enough. I still needed to figure out how I was going to explain Tony coming over. Was I ready for Jake to find out that I was dating his teacher? I wasn’t sure of the answer, but I knew I needed to figure it out soon.

Preferably before Tony arrived.