Starting early on Saturday morning, Miller waited way too eagerly for Austin to show up. When he arrived in front, Miller couldn't help rushing out to meet him by his car.
"Good morning. I wasn't sure you could get here so early."
"It didn't take me long and me and my boy are early risers," Austin said as he leaned over the baby in his car seat and smiled down at him. "I'm still getting used to thinking of him as mine, but it feels good."
He was getting the baby out of the car, and Jeremiah was fussing a little. Despite that, Austin kept smiling at him. He got the little guy out of his carrier and held him. That made the baby happy.
"I can get some of this stuff and take it inside," Miller said seeing some boxes and bags in the back.
"You don't have to do that."
"You have your hands full with the baby and I don't mind," Miller said.
"I was going to get the rocker out and set it up to free my hands," Austin said but that turned out to be tricky.
"Who wedged it in here like this?" Miller wondered.
"Ben, my cousin. He wasn't exactly heartbroken when I told him I was moving, but he did help me load up my car."
"You mostly have baby stuff in here," Miller noticed.
"I don't have much else, only some clothes and that sort of thing," Austin said.
Miller took the rocker inside and into the living room. He managed to set it up with only a few instructions from Austin.
"Thanks for doing that," Austin said and put the baby to rock. "Now I can go unload my car."
"Is it OK to leave him here by himself in a new place. Won't he be scared?" Miller said and Austin gave him a funny smile.
"If you're worried, you can watch him for me while I bring more stuff in," Austin said.
"I can watch him," Miller said then he immediately lost his confidence. "As long as he doesn't need anything. I don't know the first thing about taking care of a baby."
"He should be OK. I won't be long," Austin said and he jogged outside.
Miller turned his eyes to the baby and watched him like a hawk. "Jeremiah," he said trying out the name while talking to the baby. "Too big? How about Jeremy? Little Jeremy. Tiny little Jeremy. Or Remi. Remi, Remi, Remi. You like that?"
The baby made a gurgling sound and from behind them, Austin surprised Miller as he spoke up. "Remi? Is that what you're calling him?"
Realizing he heard him, Miller started to apologize in case he offended Austin by trying to rename his kid. "I'm sorry. I was just..."
"No. It's cool. I think I like it. I can see myself calling him Remi. It suits him," Austin said as he set two boxes down in the hallway and came over. He leaned down to look at the baby. "Are you my little Remi? Yes, you are."
"Did I just give him a nickname?" Miller asked, amazed.
"You sure did," Austin said and he smiled.
It didn't take him long to unload his car and have the boxes stacked by the stairs. Miller thought he could help him carry some of them up, but Austin told him, "Before I take the stuff upstairs, I want to give my boy his bottle." He picked up a cooler and headed for the kitchen.
The baby chose that moment to start crying. "Oh no," Miller said.
"I'll be right there, little buddy," Austin said, and Miller could see him through the doorway to the kitchen.
"What do I do? Should I do something?" Miller asked helplessly as little Remi got red faced and cried. "Oh, he looks so upset."
"He isn't too upset, just hungry, but you can go ahead if you want and pick him up."
"Me? I'm not sure I know how," Miller said as he reached for the baby then drew back. "Should I make sure to support his... everything?"
"Sure, why not. But he holds his own head up like a big boy," Austin said.
"Oh, OK." Miller lifted the baby very carefully and felt that he was light but not fragile. "He's so squishy."
"And he stopped crying," Austin noticed.
"He doesn't look happy. Daddy is bringing your bottle. Yes, he is. Oh I probably sound stupid," Miller said.
"Nah. It's natural."
"I guess you can't talk to a baby like he's your accountant," Miller said as Austin came over with the bottle. He sat down on the couch and reached for the baby.
"Thanks for letting me hold him," Miller said as he handed him the baby and felt how strong and muscular Austin's arms were.
"I guess you never held a baby before," Austin said.
That was obvious. "No. Never."
"Remi is the first baby I got to hold too," Austin told him as he gave Remi his bottle. "It's gonna be hard when I have to leave him to go to work."
Thinking about how Austin only just met his little son, Miller wished they wouldn't have to be separated. "You work as a welder, right? That must be interesting," Miller said but he tried not to picture Austin at work. Despite that some seriously sexy images popped into his head. Austin shirtless as he worked with hot flame and metal, wearing that face shield thingy as his muscles glistened.
"We do get to make some cool stuff that goes into pricey buildings and such, gates, railings and that sort of thing," Austin said.
"It sounds way more interesting that sitting at the computer all day doing marketing research."
Austin couldn't disagree. "I admit I wouldn't trade you."
Remi finished up his bottle and Austin put some things away in the kitchen. After a while he was ready to take the remaining boxes upstairs. Before going up, he stopped in front of the large, framed photo in the foyer. He pointed it out to Remi. "Look at that. A baby."
Coming to stand next to him, Miller told him, "That's my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and the little one is my mom."
"She's a baby. Check it out, Remi. A baby like you," Austin said but Remi was only looking at him.
"My mom was the baby of the family. That was taken right in this house on Mom's first birthday." Miller couldn't take his eyes off her in his grandmother's arms. He couldn't recognize either of them as the mother and grandmother he knew.
"Were you your grandma's favorite? Is that why she left you the house?" Austin asked.
"Oh, no. Not at all. She didn't like that I was gay. She was always telling me to be 'normal' and find a girl. She said, you don't need to be in love with her just as long as she isn't ugly or disagreeable." Miller knew he was kind of babbling, but he wanted to make sure Austin knew he was gay. He was pretty sure that Casey had told him, but he never confirmed it with her.
Austin didn't seem fazed so he must have known already. "That was her recipe for a happy life?"
"I don't think she cared if I was happy. But then my aunt and uncle wanted to put her in a home, so she got mad and left the house to me."
"I'm glad she did since I'm living here," Austin said.
Miller helped carry some boxes upstairs but there wasn't much. Austin was already putting things away in his room, and Miller hoped he wasn't bothering him while he hovered. It was OK when he was being helpful, but right now he didn't have anything to do.
He watched Austin set down a framed photo on the dresser. It was of a very pretty, very blond, stylishly dressed girl and she was holding a newborn Remi.
"Is that Remi with his mother?" Miller asked as he leaned forward to take a closer look.
"That's her," Austin said but he seemed dour as he turned away from the photo.
"It's nice of you to put her picture up," Miller said since he knew from Casey that Austin's ex basically abandoned Remi.
"It's for Remi, but I'm not OK with what she did." Austin went over to the baby where he had set him down on the bed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he played with Remi's feet. "I still haven't heard from Diana even though she knows the baby is with me now. A friend of hers did speak to her, but Diana didn't say when she would be back. I thought she might call to talk to me. It makes me wonder if she knew the whole time that I was the father and not her rich boyfriend."
"That would mean she was keeping your son from you," Miller said in a low voice. Seeing Austin with Remi, that seemed so terrible to him.
"She might have been using Remi to hold onto one rich guy until she moved on to a richer one."
Miller couldn't believe that she would deny Austin a chance to know his child and then leave the baby when he was only a few months old. It made him feel sick, but it must have been so much worse for Austin.
Seeing the wounded look on his face, Miller told him, "I'm sorry."
"Thinking of how Diana left, it makes me remember all the times my mom didn't come back." Austin looked at Miller and shook his head. "But that was different. My mom didn't leave me alone on purpose. She just made bad choices. When she didn't come back, I was still terrified and it hurt."
Miller could see that he was torn about his mom, that he didn't want to blame her. Knowing that he lost her not long ago, Miller could understand why.
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, but Remi has you now," Miller reminded him.
"Yeah, and I'm going to make sure my son never feels the way I did," Austin vowed then he frowned. "You know it's funny. Here I am pissed at Diana for abandoning Remi, but I'm really afraid that she might come back and want to take the baby away from me."
"She can't do that."
"I don't know, but Casey is working on making sure it doesn't happen."
"Good, and you're almost done here," Miller noticed since Austin didn't have all that much to put away. "Are you ready for lunch, or is it too early? We can order from the deli down the street. Lunch is on me to welcome you and Remi to your new home," Miller said and hoped Austin wouldn't refuse or think that he was hitting on him.
"You've done more than enough helping me out."
Miller still thought there was a chance of getting a yes. "It's not a big deal, just sandwiches. Unless you're going to tell me you had a big breakfast."
"Nah, more like no breakfast," Austin admitted.
"You have to have lunch," Miller decided.
"We could go out and eat around here somewhere," Austin said. "I was going to take Remi on a tour of the neighborhood anyway. Yesterday we dropped in on the mattress store next door with Casey. Remi was a hit with the ladies who own the place. They said to visit any time."
"I haven't met them yet. I haven't been living here long myself," Miller said. That wasn't the only reason. He could already tell that Austin would find it easy to meet people and make friends, unlike him.
"Then you should come along so I can treat you to lunch and we can meet your neighbors," Austin said.
"You don't have to treat me, but maybe I could join you and we could have lunch together. Or just lunch. I mean, OK. We should go," Miller said and turned away quickly, red-faced.
Of course Austin laughed at the dumb, confused way he accepted his invitation.
Taking a lot of baby stuff with them, they headed downstairs. Austin had Remi in the baby carrier and he seemed to be dozing. "He might sleep right through lunch," Austin said.
"I don't mind staying in," Miller told him.
"Nah. He sleeps a lot. And he's not too picky about where," Austin said and they went outside to be greeted by a bright, sunny day. "Great day to take a walk around the neighborhood."
Miller couldn't believe how positive he was. He was nice to be around, but his positive attitude was just one more thing they didn't have in common.
He didn't want to admit it, but Miller wasn't dying to meet his neighbors. He preferred to keep to himself, he just couldn't say no to Austin.
They started their tour of the neighborhood on the residential side where they got barked at by dogs and waved at by an old lady doing some gardening. As far as meeting the neighbors, the only people they actually spoke to were a girl and her fiancé. She went crazy for Remi while her fiancé mumbled something about waiting a few years to have kids.
"The neighbors seem nice," Austin said.
"Maybe you'll make some friends," Miller said though he didn't expect the same for himself. Then he remembered that Austin wasn't new to town. "But maybe you already have friends here."
Austin sighed and looked at the pavement. "I moved back here when my mom was sick and didn't really get a chance to go out much, to hook up with friends I used to have around here. Some of them moved away and I wasn't all that good a friend with the others. And now that I have Remi, I wouldn't even have the time to hang with them." He was smiling at Remi sleeping in his carrier so it didn't seem like he regretted how things turned out.
Taking the other side of the street, they went back to the commercial side of their neighborhood. Their first stop was the place next door. Austin introduced him to Tami and Tanya, the mother and daughter who owned the TnT Mattress Emporium.
"We're thrilled to see you and the baby again and you brought us our mysterious new neighbor," Tami said to Austin.
"Who? Me?" Miller said since she was smiling at him.
"Mom has a crush on you," Tanya said to him deadpan, and her mother threw a piece of junk mail at her.
Tanya worried Miller. She was cute, though what he first noticed about her was her bold sense of style. She had turquoise hair and fuchsia eyeglasses. Miller didn't know if Austin would be into that, but she was also petite with a great body.
Miller was just being stupidly possessive of his new roommate. He did feel better that Tanya spent more time looking at Remi than Austin.
Continuing on their walk, Austin familiarized himself with all the businesses there until they ended up at Dinkins Deli for lunch. Here Miller had to deal with another cute girl who was taking their lunch order. Unlike Tanya, Natalia couldn't take her eyes off Austin. Miller also noticed that she was blond and slim, like Remi's mother.
As they sat down to eat at one of the tiny tables, Miller brought over a third chair for Remi's carrier. Then he made sure Natalia was out of earshot. "She seems nice, and she has an interesting accent," Miller said so he could find out what Austin thought of her.
"My boss at the shop has that kind of accent," Austin said unexpectedly. "But his is a lot thicker. At first I couldn't make heads or tails of what he was telling me. Boy, that made him mad. 'What do you mean you can't understand me. I'm speaking good English.' Then he'd swear a blue streak at me. The swear words came through loud and clear."
Austin was grinning at the memory then taking a big bite of his Italian sub, and apparently not giving lovely Natalia or her lilting accent much thought. Miller was the one obsessing over her.
Of course he would be lucky just to be friends with Austin. Which girl he might or might not be interested in wasn't any of his business. The sooner Miller got it through his head that he could never be anything more than a friend to him, the better.