Chapter Twenty

PARKER

 

“Please tell me he’s gay.”

“You tell me.” Parker shrugged. “Don’t you have gaydar?”

“I do. I think he’s gay. The whole dad thing is throwing me off the scent.”

“You know he was the donor, though, right? He didn’t do it the traditional way.” Parker gave him a look. “Hang on, why are you asking?”

Nathan just shrugged, but Parker knew. “No! No way! You are NOT going to do your thing with my pseudo-girlfriend’s housemate and co-parent. The parents of a kid at our school. Back away now.”

“I’m an adult; he’s an adult. You can’t tell me who I can and cannot date.”

“No, you’re right. I cannot, but I can make a request that you please, please, please leave him alone.” Parker sounded whiny and she knew it. It wasn’t her usual style, but she knew Nathan’s style, so she had to make an appeal.

“Don’t let it stress you out. He might not be interested. But…he’s gay?”

Parker shook her head but decided to not to tell him that Scott was gay. She certainly wasn’t going to mention that given how much time they’d spent together at the beach, she suspected Scott would be interested. She didn’t want to encourage Nathan.

“He’s a great guy. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed him at the school. Admittedly, I don’t usually check out the school dads. Parents are usually off-limits for me. Not off-limits for everyone, but for me…”

Parker ignored his dig and muttered, “Yeah, well let’s just keep it that way.”

Thankfully, Nathan kept his eyes on the road as he drove because Parker didn’t want him to see how anxious she was about all of this. She knew Nathan’s mode of operation, and she didn’t want to get between what could be something very promising between her and Lily through his short-term fling. “I mean there are plenty of other guys around.”

“Okay,” Nathan responded, and Parker could tell he was annoyed at her. “Let’s just leave it be. So, did you enjoy today?”

“I did. I enjoyed seeing Lily let down her hair a bit.”

“Oh, and you haven’t seen that in your twice weekly dates?” Nathan’s smile was cheeky, and Parker was relieved he didn’t seem to be annoyed with her anymore.

“Well, yeah, but that’s…different.” Parker looked down at her shoe to avoid catching Nathan’s eye. As open as they were about their lives, they never went into details about their sex lives. Sometimes Nathan tried, and Parker would generally cover her ears and say “Enough!”

“I love Jacqui. She’s great. And Scott seemed great, too. More chatty than I expected.”

“Yeah? Does Lily say he’s quiet?”

Parker shrugged. “Not exactly. I just get the sense they co-exist beside one another. Taking shifts as parents. Living together, but not necessarily by choice?”

“They don’t get along?”

“Well, they do, and they did choose to live together, but it wouldn’t have happened if Megan hadn’t died. I don’t know, it sounds complicated, and a bit depressing. So, it was nice to see them happy together, and to see that Jacqui clearly loves Scott too. I suppose today painted a picture of a happier family than I had expected.”

Nathan remained silent as he took it in. “Will they live together forever?”

She shrugged in response. “I have no idea. I think that’s the plan. I think they’d both struggle to not have Bodhi full time. That’s part of the reason she’s not ready for a relationship though.”

He nodded. “Must be so complicated, going into something expecting one thing and getting something entirely different. Must be hard for both of them.”

Parker hadn’t actually thought of it from Scott’s perspective. From the image she’d had of him in her head, she hadn’t really expected to like him, but she got to know him a bit at the beach and had been pleasantly surprised. Lily was right. He was clearly a good person, and very committed to their family. He’d set out to donate sperm to a couple and ended up becoming a full-time, live-in dad. He seemed like a good dad too.