Page 38 of Inevitable

“How was your day?” Ezra’s voice sounded frantic to his own ears, but Drew didn’t seem to detect anything out of the ordinary.

“Fine. I stopped by Sharon and Nick’s place on my way home. Sharon’s pregnant,” Drew said almost absently as he sliced the carrots. He was biting down on his lower lip, concentrating on making them all roughly equal size. Even that was endearing to watch.

“You work fast,” Ezra said and winced at the sheer idiocy of his joke.

Drew chuckled. “I had absolutely nothing to do with it, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to you.” Drew caught Ezra’s gaze, and for a moment, it felt impossible to ever look away from the depths of Drew’s eyes.

“Nick is really excited,” Drew said, breaking the weird moment. Ezra was thankful at least one of them still seemed to have his wits about him. “He keeps asking her how she’s feeling and bringing her food five times a day to help her with morning sickness. Sharon seems a tiny bit exasperated with it already, and they just found out about the baby, so the next seven months should be entertaining to witness.”

“Sounds kind of sweet,” Ezra said.

“I thought so, too.”

Ezra put the pan on the stove and prepped the steaks.

“Do you want that?” Ezra asked after a little while.

“Kids?” Drew asked.

Ezra nodded. He busied himself with laying the steaks on the pan, so he wouldn’t have to look at Drew.

“And marriage and everything else,” he added.

Drew’s knife stopped.

“Why?” he asked carefully.

Ezra shrugged one shoulder.

“Isn’t that what people do?”

Drew put his knife down. He turned around and leaned against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. He seemed to consider his answer for a long time.

“I think,” Drew said in a very measured voice, “that you should do what makes you happy. Who’s to say the path that most people take is the right one for you?”

“That’s not really an answer. It’s a nice sentiment, sure, but I was asking about you and not other people.”

Drew’s lips stretched into a wide smile.

“That you did. I guess I always figured that if at some point I had the urge to have kids, I’d do it, but so far I haven’t really felt like I’m missing out on anything. I don’t think I’m really a kid person. Being an uncle is nice, though. Zach and Tristan—Ellie’s kids—are… they’re just the sweetest little guys. Plus, you know, there’s the added benefit that if I take them out to have fun, I can feed them ice cream and junk food, and then when they hit peak sugar rush, I can take them back to their parents.” He had a smile on his face as he talked about his nephews. “It doesn’t hurt that they think I’m absolutely the coolest. I think it’ll pass once they’re older, but I have a plan for that.”

“Which is?”

“Box seats to whatever sport they end up liking most, of course,” Drew said with a laugh, making Ezra smile. “We get all sorts of tickets sent to the office, so I’m covered.”

“And marriage?” Ezra asked after a few moments had passed working in companionable silence.

The vivid image of Bas and Drew promising forever to each other created a strange mix of feelings inside him. A part of him felt sorry for himself, but there was also hope. Hope that one day Drew would get exactly what he wanted out of life.

“Maybe,” Drew said. He looked far away in his thoughts. “I like the idea of forever. Permanence. Somebody on your side in good and bad. Yeah. I’d like that.”

Ezra tried to think of something to say. Something reassuring that would make it clear Drew could have it. That one day he and Bas would have that forever they both clearly craved.

“What about you?” Drew shook his head as if forcing his thoughts away and turned back to his slicing and dicing duties. Ezra put the steaks to rest.

“What about me?”

“Marriage. Kids. Is it in the cards for you?”