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“You know how there was that daddy who turned my bicycle all brand new? We’re going to go out to eat.”

Dog watched me and acted like he was listening. He probably was too, but more for words that told him he was getting a treat or we were going for a walk and less about my date.

“And maybe there’ll be leftovers, but if not, I will definitely give you something special when I get home. Don’t you worry.” I was careful not to say treat because he’d be demanding it right then and there.

Galan and I met at the restaurant. Even though I arrived ten minutes early, he was already there. I recognized him immediately and sailed past the host station. He was just as sexy inside a random restaurant as he was sitting all daddy-like with his daddy friends at Chained. Actually, he was kind of more so. This suited his powerful energy—not the creepy kind but the kind that commanded a room.

“Hi, Galan.”

He stood up, smiling like he was happy to see me. I could tell he recognized me, but he didn’t mention it, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Usually, people didn’t talk about Chained with others they didn’t know were comfortable talking about it when they weren’t there. It made sense that he didn’t bring it up right away, but I wanted to.

He pulled the chair out, all gentleman-like. I sat down and waited for him to sit across from me.

“You knew it was me?” he asked.

“Well, I recognized your name when Rico gave it to me. I wasn’t sure it was you you, so I looked it up online, and it was you.”

“So, you knew my name before?”

I nodded. Talk about awkward. I hadn’t meant to give my semi-stalkery past with him, away. He didn’t seem to mind.

Before the conversation could go any further, the server came, asked me if I wanted a drink, and told us the specials. The timing was good because it gave me a few seconds to center myself.

“Thank you again for restoring my bike,” I said. “It looks nicer than when I got it. I know it’s old, but that thing means a lot to me.”

“Rico told me it was a special bike, but I didn’t realize it was yours. If I had, I might’ve added a bell.”

I’d secretly always wanted one, and his recognitions that I was that kind of boy had me reading so much more into it than there was.

“I bought it when I was in college at an end-of-the-school-year sale for all the abandoned bikes on campus. For a long time, it was my only transportation. I love it.” And now it was no longer on its last legs, which I’d been kind of worried about. “Rico said you wouldn’t take any money for it, but the offer’s still there.”

I wasn’t going to push, but I had to at least put it on the table.

“Absolutely not. I loved working on it and making it new again. It was like a puzzle but without the picture telling you what it would look like at the end.”

Galan told me how he loved restoring bikes and hadn’t done one in too long. He talked about his own bike, which, unlike mine, hadn’t been used in a while. I wanted to say that I was looking forward to riding with him sometime, but it felt presumptuous. We’d only known each other for a handful of minutes.

“Well, thanks again, and please enjoy a great dinner on me.” It felt important he knew I was paying because I was already thinking of this as a date, the thank-you component the only thing keeping me from getting my hopes up too high.

“I’m already enjoying it.” He picked his water glass up and took a sip.

We hadn’t even ordered yet. I wasn’t going to argue with him, though, because I was already enjoying it too.

After we ordered our dinners, the conversation became much easier. We talked about our jobs. We both traveled for work. We both didn’t love it. I told him about my promotion, the adjustment it took, and how I wasn’t sure if this was where I wanted to stay or if I possibly wanted to move up another step so I could be home more. It was the first time I had expressed that to anyone, or even admitted it to myself. It was something I was going to have to consider again in another few months.

Then I shifted the conversation to Chained.

“Rico sometimes gives me guest passes, and I usually use them for the mommy-daddy-free events.”

“So you don’t have a mommy or daddy?”

“A daddy? No,” I clarified.

I had no problems with people who had mommies, and I had little friends who had both mommies and daddies over the years. But, for me, it was all about the daddy.

“It’s not because I don’t like mommies and daddies around. There’s, like, an added level of pressure, I guess you could say, when I’m playing where others do or random ones are.” I wasn’t explaining myself well. Ugg. “And my friends like Abbott, Brock, and Rowan, they all have daddies, and I like playing with them when all of them are there, too. But there is something special about just being little with my friends.”

I went on to tell him about our sleepovers and how I enjoyed that time.