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Straight to the point as always. Patty looked good tonight, her hair pulled back in a tight bun and just a hint of make-up coloring her cheeks. She also looked impatient, keeping only one eye on him as she checked her phone and swiped her thumb over the screen.
“Sort of.” He took a deep breath. “I’m seeing someone.”
She dropped the phone, and it bounced once on the emerald green tile. Thank goodness she had a case on it, or it would’ve been a goner. “Seeing? As in, dating?”
He couldn’t read her voice. “Yes. I am dating someone. A guy I work with. It’s serious.”
Patty retrieved her phone from the floor, then turned it over slowly in her hands. “What does this have to do with me?” Her voice was guarded…and cold.
“You’re always going to be part of my life. Even if we can’t make it being friends again, we’ll always be Jimmy’s parents.” He wiped his sweaty palms together. “Robby is going to be a part of my life too. I want him to meet my son.”
“Our son,” she snapped.
No. This could not go downhill, not so quickly. “Of course, our son. It’s why I’m here. I want your blessing to introduce them.”
Her left thumb tapped against her leg as she blinked her eyes rapidly. “What’s so special about this guy? Robby.” She seemed to catch her nervous hand movement and gripped her leg instead. “I’ve known you, what, eight years? You never so much as looked at anyone. But with this guy, it’s serious? What does the word even mean for you?”
“It means I’d like to keep him around long-term.” The red vinyl chair creaked as he tried to get more comfortable. Though to be fair, his discomfort had little to do with the furniture. “As for what’s special about him?” He shrugged. “Everything.”
She produced a fingernail file, seemingly out of nowhere, and suddenly grew very focused on shaping her stubby nails. “He’s in construction? A roughneck, then. You know, they say the musclebound guys all have little dicks, but maybe you don’t want to pack too much meat up your ass.”
With her overloud declaration, every person in the room swiveled their heads to stare in their direction. Everyone, including Patty’s boss, who growled low in his throat. “You want to take it outside, guys?”
“Sorry, Steve. We’ll keep it down.” Patty clenched the file tightly in her hand before stuffing it into her back pocket. “I shouldn’t have said that. It was a knee-jerk reaction.”
Matt leaned toward her. “He’s not part of the crew. He’s the foreman’s assistant. I get this is hard for you, but you don’t need to take it out on him. He’s a really nice guy. Tries to help other people. Volunteers. The kind of guy I hope you can find. Someone I’d be proud to introduce to our son.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “He doesn’t meet Jimmy until he meets me first.”
For Pete’s sake. Who knew what she would pull if she met Robby face-to-face?
“I’m his mama. As much as you’d like it to be otherwise. You want Jimmy around your boyfriend—you want to keep this whole custody thing out of court—you’ll do what I ask.”
Steve approached them, his customer presumably gone. “This the famous Matt I’ve heard so much about?”
“In the flesh.” He stuck out his hand, fully prepared for a brush off, but Steve took it in a firm grip and shook.
“My mom spoke highly of you. You and Patty both were always nice to her. It was a time in my life I’m not very proud of, so I appreciate you guys were around when I wasn’t very much.” Steve shot a reproachful look at Patty. “You need to stop giving him shit about the guy he’s dating.”
Patty huffed. “I have a right to know the people he is bringing around our child.”
“Is it about his partner being a stranger or about it being another man? Because you know I don’t tolerate bigoted bullshit in my shop, no matter what kind of history you have with my mother.”
“You know I don’t have a problem with you being gay, Steve.”
Matt laughed darkly. “You just have a problem withmebeing gay. Hell, woman, you’ve said it yourself for long enough. Or were you just trying to get under my skin?”
“It’s hard, okay? To think about you with anyone. I said I’d meet him, though, and I won’t be an asshole. All right?”
“All right.” He climbed out of the chair and headed for the door. The couple returned their attention to the design book so quickly, he almost missed their shameless eavesdropping on the conversation. Almost.
“Hey, Matty.”
He turned and looked over his shoulder.
“I want you to be happy.”
Despite the way she lashed out at first, he let himself believe her. Even a gamer-geek, single dad with two jobs and a terrible track record with love deserved a shot at a happy ending. Right?
