Worth the Wait (3 page)

“Thanks for inviting me to dinner,” Tate said as they finished off a big piece of the best tiramisu he’d ever had.

Smiling, Brandon left him the last bite, which Tate instantly scooped onto his fork.

“You’re welcome. Can I see you tomorrow?”

At first Tate didn’t know what to say, but he slowly started nodding. “I’d like that.”

“Great. Ten? I’d like to show you something.”

Tate couldn’t get over how good Brandon looked when he was giving him a smile like he had some big secret. “What is it?” Tate asked.

But Brandon just shook his head. “Nope. You’ll have to come out with me for that.”

“Deal,” Tate agreed.

At the end of the night they hugged, and Tate held on to him, keeping him close with the snow coming down around them. It wasn’t as cold in his arms as it should have been while he was getting mostly soaked under Brandon’s awkwardly held umbrella.

H
E
ONLY
had on one sock, the other forgotten somewhere down the hall on his way to the computer, and his brain was fuzzy from a night spent reading Addie’s new copy of
The Mystery of the Falling Star
. At least now he could tell Brandon he’d actually read one of his mom’s books, and it really wasn’t bad at all.

“Hey,” he said, sitting down in front of his computer and answering the call.

“Uncle Tate!” she squealed excitedly. “Did you see her?”

He blushed, thinking about Brandon and the evening they’d had together. “Yep. I did. And….” He bent down to get her new books from beside his desk, where he’d left them the night before. “I got you new ones!”

She screamed so loud he was pretty sure she was going to be responsible for blowing out his speakers. “You got them for me! I can’t believe it! I love you so much, Uncle Tate! So, so much!”

Feeling like he was the best uncle in the world was pretty awesome for sure. Sometimes he’d see a new exhibit at the zoo or at a museum or something and think of how much Addie would have loved to see it, then remember that it would likely be something completely different by the time they got back.

Tate was just about to say something when there was a knock on his front door. “One second, Addie. Someone’s at the door.”

“Okay, Uncle Tate. Hurry back so we can read together!”

Tate had promised he’d read her the first chapter of whatever book she chose the last time he’d sent her an e-mail, and he was pretty sure she’d choose the newest book he picked up for her last night. She’d have to wait a while before the mail got it to her in Korea, but it was something they did together that he knew made her happy.

He went to the door and opened it, finding Brandon standing on his front porch.

“Hey.”

“Uhhh. Hi. Shit, did I forget you were coming over this early? Or is it already ten?”

Instead of being upset, Brandon just smiled. “It’s actually a little past ten. I was running a few minutes late, and I was hoping to take you to the Museum of Nature and Science today, but you might want to change out of your pajamas for that.”

“Right. Pants.” Tate shook his head, not believing he had screwed up the timing so badly. “Come in. I’ll just be a second. Actually, I’m also on Skype with my niece, so I need to say good-bye to her too. So two seconds.”

Brandon didn’t seem all that put out by it as Tate closed the door behind him and headed back to the living room, where he leaned over in front of his computer screen. “Addie, honey, I need to go. I have a date.”

She, on the other hand, was instantly pouty in the way only ten-year-old girls can be. “But you have a date with me! And I want you to read me the first chapter of
Spidersilk Bridge
like you promised.”

Tate glanced over to see Brandon quietly laughing. “And I will soon. I promise. But right now I need to go get dressed for an actual date. With a guy. That I like.”

“Uncle Tate….”

“Addie….” He could be a lot more stubborn and hold out far longer than she could.

“What if I read to her while you got dressed? Or what if I waited a bit while you read to her? The first chapter isn’t that long, and I don’t mind waiting. I’m sure the museum will still be there when you’re done,” Brandon offered, stepping toward him.

On the one hand, letting a guy he’d only just met spend time alone with his niece might be a bad idea. On the other, though, he would be just in the next room, and this guy was the son of the author. His gut said it would be fine, so he smiled at Brandon. “You sure you wouldn’t mind reading to her? I can do it if you’d really rather not.”

Brandon shook his head. “I like kids, and I helped edit it, so I practically know the whole book by heart anyway. There’s this one scene where the kids run into a giant web, and then—”

“No spoilers!” Addie cried out, covering her ears and beginning to hum loudly.

Tate cringed. “Yeah, no spoilers. But if you wouldn’t mind reading to her, I’d really owe you one. Even more than I already do for last night.”

Brandon blushed and sat down in front of the computer while Tate backed away. “I’ve got this. Go get ready,” Brandon said, dismissing him before he turned to the computer. “Hey. Addie is it? I’m Brandon. Mind if I read to you today?”

“Hmm. Maybe. Maybe not. You know who Anthea Withershine is, or are you just trying to date my uncle?”

Tate groaned, and Brandon waved him off, but not before Tate could mouth, “I’m sorry” to him.

“I do know her. She’s a close friend, actually. Ready for the first chapter?” Brandon asked her, picking up his mom’s latest book. Tate just smiled and shook his head before disappearing into his bedroom, where he could hear Addie laughing through the thin wall.

Tate dressed quickly in blue jeans and a soft gray sweater, found his missing sock and pulled it back on—whatever, they were clean enough—and, because he could still hear the murmur of Brandon’s voice, took a few minutes to style his hair before emerging again. Brandon must have just finished up, because Addie was talking now, and she sounded rather in awe.

“You do all the voices so good,” she marveled. “That’s exactly how I thought the spider queen would talk!”

“I have strong feelings about properly representing spiders,” Brandon replied, and Tate almost laughed before he saw how seriously Addie was nodding.

“I do too,” she said. “If I don’t become a writer like Anthea Withershine, I’m going to be an arachnologist. That’s a scientist who studies spiders especially.”

“That sounds like a great plan.”

As tempted as Tate was to stay silent and just watch his date continue to charm his niece, he was actually rather looking forward to the
date
part of the morning. “Good chapter, Addie?”

“So good,” she exclaimed. “You’re gonna send me the books soon, right? Today?”

“As soon as I can. Definitely this week,” he promised. “We’ve got to go now. Say hi to your mom and dad for me, okay?”

“Okay, but Uncle Tate! We have a date for next weekend, right?”

“You got it,” he assured her.

“Can Brandon come and read the next chapter? I’ll have the books anyway, but I like when you read them with me.”

Oh… awkward. And Brandon just sat back and smirked to see how Tate would handle it.

“We’ll see,” he said at last. “Bye, Addie.”

“Bye, Uncle Tate. Bye, Brandon.”

He closed the connection, then turned to Brandon. “Sorry about that. It wasn’t the way I thought we’d start things off, honestly.”

“Hey, Skype dates are important. She’s just as big a fan as you said.”

“Yeah, she’s completely in love with these books. It’s… probably a good thing she doesn’t know you’re actually related to the author.”

“I get that.” They sat and stared at each other for a long moment before Brandon cleared his throat. “So… museum?”

“Right!” God, when would he stop dropping the ball today? “Absolutely, I just need to put my shoes on and make some coffee.”

“We can get coffee on the way, if you want. My treat.”

Anything was probably better than the generic tub of freeze-dried granules Tate tended to buy. “You sure?”

Brandon smiled, and it went all the way up to his eyes. “I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t sure.”

H
ALF
AN
hour later, they pulled in to the Museum of Nature and Science. It was a cold day, but the sun was out, and none of yesterday’s snow had stuck around.

“Wow, it’s been a long time since I came here,” he said as they got out of Brandon’s car. “At least two years, since Addie last visited. She likes the animal exhibits,” he added, completely unnecessarily since Brandon had spent the morning reading a book about talking spiders to Tate’s niece.

“I like those too, and they’ve got a great traveling exhibit right now on the Silk Road, but I want to show you something else first.”

Brandon switched his coffee to his left hand and took Tate’s hand with his right. Tate smiled and squeezed his fingers a little, enjoying the sudden flare of warmth in his chest. This was so… date-like. So different from hooking up in a club or online. It was the sort of sweet he’d always kind of imagined but never really experienced before.

They walked together toward the entrance, and the closer they got the clearer the sound of… bells? Were those bells? Tate looked around. “What’s that sound?”

Brandon pointed to the right, at a sleek-looking metal sculpture that, now that they were closer, Tate could see was moving. Projecting from the raised base were ten slender arms with tiny metal sails attached that spun in the wind, and at the end of each arm was what looked like a ball bearing. As the sails powered the sculpture, the arms swung around in twos, and the balls clacked together in a scale that immediately reminded Tate of the
Sound of Music
.

“Is that… do re mi fa so?”

“Yeah.”

It was hard to tell, but Tate thought he could see a bit of a flush in Brandon’s darker skin.

“I didn’t have the budget to include la, ti, and do again. Plus, I figured people might start hating it if they listened to the same song for too long, and I’d never want to ruin the
Sound of Music
for anyone.”

“You made this?”

“Yeah. Do you like it?”

Tate grinned. “It’s so clever. A sculpture that makes its own music…. It gets faster the more wind there is, yeah? I’m a little surprised it’s holding together. You must have put a lot of thought into this.”

“The strikers are stainless steel, so they’re pretty sturdy,” Brandon said, but he looked pleased with the compliments. “It was fun, though.”

Tate squeezed his hand again, and Brandon turned to him with a smile.

“Inside?”

“Sure. Thanks for showing your sculpture to me. It’s beautiful,” Tate said as he followed Brandon back inside the bustling museum.

Brandon chuckled and gave him a soft smile, like he might have been a little embarrassed by what he could do.

“Thank you. I wanted you to know that I could do something great too. That the talent didn’t just stop with my mom.”

Tate grinned at him before leaning closer. “I thought you were great before this, anyway.”

Now Brandon was absolutely blushing, and Tate reached out to drag his fingers down the side of Brandon’s neck.

“Yeah?” Brandon asked him, sounding a little like he couldn’t believe it himself.

“Absolutely.” Tate meant to go for his cheek, but Brandon turned his face at the last minute, and Tate ended up kissing him lightly on his lips. He felt Brandon smile against his mouth a second before Brandon wrapped his arms around Tate’s back and pulled him close for a tentative kiss. Their first of many.

“Hey, what are you doing Monday?” Brandon asked him when they separated enough to put a few inches between them.

It was crazy, but even that little gap felt like too much in that moment to Tate.

Monday… Monday was Christmas, he remembered with a bit of a start. “I’m off, but the family I’d normally spend it with is all in Korea. So most likely I’ll grab some hot chocolate, a book, and spread out over my couch for a while. You?”

Brandon gave him a little smile. “I’m off too, and it’s always just my mom and I for the holidays. You’re welcome to join us, if you want. It’s casual, and usually I pick up sides from the grocery store, but she’s got a great fireplace, and you can have hot chocolate on her couch there too.”

Tate had never once spent the holidays with a guy and his family. The most he’d ever done was talk about someone who couldn’t be there while at dinner with his family. He was reluctant but not unwilling, and he couldn’t deny how his heart sped up just a little at the idea of spending Christmas with Brandon.

“That wouldn’t be weird? I mean, we only met yesterday.”

“I don’t think it would be. And my mom has been asking about you and when I’m bringing you over. If you’d rather not, though, let’s meet up in the morning, and we can see the lights downtown. Then I’ll go to dinner, and you can spend the evening with your book.”

It was a decent compromise, but seeing the hint of disappointment showing in the lines around Brandon’s eyes made Tate hesitate to agree to the lesser plan.

“I think spending Christmas with you and your mom would be fun. Can I bring anything to dinner?”

“The ability to cook would be nice, but barring that, how about a bottle of wine?”

Laughing, Tate nodded and took Brandon’s hand again. “Wine I can do. As for cooking, well, you’ll have to find someone else for that one.”

“Actually, I think I’ll stick with you and just do takeout.”

Brandon’s words made him blush, as did the kiss that came right after them.

31 stories of holiday love!