Page 56 of Ring Rust

“Lucky for me, I have enough hope for the both of us,” he said. “Have a great trip. I love you.”

“Love you. I’ll be in touch,” she said, hugging him awkwardly to avoid his soapy arms.

Ryan worked his way through the stacks of dishes in silence. About ten minutes passed before he felt Jasper approach, sidling up next to him at the sink, grabbing a towel, and drying the next round, all without a word.

Chapter Fifteen

“Hold still, wiggle monster,”Jasper said through the pins pressed between his lips.

“I am!” Nina said.

“The pricks in my fingers from these pins would beg to differ. You’re almost done, just stay still for twenty more seconds.”

Jasper was cross legged on the floor, glancing between Ryan and the ends of Nina’s costume, ready to get on with his day. Ryan was leaning on the door frame to the kitchen, swallowing a handful of ibuprofen and rubbing his back, watching them, mostly focused on Nina as she squirmed on the top step of a stool.

“Okay,” Jasper said. “You’re free.”

“Looks beautiful, Nina! You’ll be the most sparkly fairy of them all.”

“I’m not a fairy, I’m just a sparkly person,” Nina said, rolling her eyes as she headed to her bedroom.

Despite the minor injuries from the pins, a week into their babysitting quest had Jasper in a good mood. He and Ryan had landed a decent routine. Jasper helped Nina get ready in the morning and encouraged Winnie to wake up after hitting thesnooze button three times, Ryan did bedtime routines with Nina and reminded Winnie to do her homework before she spent the rest of the evening locked away in the bedroom on her phone.

It was Friday evening now, almost one week done. Just one and a half weeks to go, and Jasper was glad, if only because he wanted certain freedoms back, like walking around without pants and peeing with the door open. But he could be patient.

After getting changed, Nina ran down the hall to join Winnie in the living room. Jasper walked in a few minutes later with a tray of snacks and found the kids arguing over a board game, while Ryan buried his face in a pillow on the ground, oozing regret over the game he’d suggested for their fun family game time. It was too old for Nina, but she refused to accept that and made up her own rules. That further aggravated an already disgruntled Winnie, who hadn’t wanted to “play a stupid board game in the first place.” Calliope was kneading the meat of Ryan’s ass to make a bed. He caught himself smiling at the mayhem, and not for the first time.

He stayed put, snacks in hand, staring at the chaos, absorbing the scene, and laughing to himself about how wrong he’d been. A week ago, he’d been convinced this arrangement would be unbearable. Awkward silences and forced conversations, constant reminders of why he’d left Ryan that would make existing around him so much harder.

Instead, it had been… easy. Well, that was a stretch, because taking care of two kids was hard when he was used to taking care of zero kids, but the Ryan part was easy. They were a team, the two of them, and he’d found himself smiling more and even laughing again at Ryan’s stupid jokes. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed them. And he’d never say this out loud, but he hadn’t realized how much he’d missedRyan. He knew he missed how things used to be, but he’d convinced himself Ryan wasdifferent now, too intoxicated by the anger and hurt he carried to remember how great he could be.

That realization, though, was making it difficult for him to blurt out the question he needed to ask. Craig had invited Jasper out for drinks. Nothing major, but his basketball season had ended, and he had a free evening. Normally, Jasper wouldn’t think twice about it, but it felt weird leaving Ryan with Nina while he went out with a friend.

Not that it should have felt weird. God knows Ryan had left Jasper alone with the kids a million times, and it’s not like Ryan could say no. But still, after a week of unexpected enjoyment from living this domestic life with him, it was surprisingly difficult to say he had better places to be.

It’s not that he thought Ryan would be angry—Ryan wasn’t like that, really, but he did worry it would just put a damper on the mood of the otherwise pleasant household.

“I’m gonna go to my room to get some quiet before Nina goes to bed,” Winnie said.

“Sounds good,” Ryan said. “I’ll let you know when dinner is ready.”

Nina packed up the game quietly, and Jasper decided this was his chance.

“Hey, um, Ryan?”

“What’s up, possum?” Ryan said, then caught himself, his face crumpling slightly. “Ah, shit. Sorry. Just slipped out.”

As if Jasper needed something else to make him feel guilty, that was the second time in a week Ryan had accidentally called him possum. He’d heard that nickname more times than he’d ever heard his real name out of Ryan’s mouth. He’d missed that, too, but again—he could never admit it.

“Craig asked if I wanted to get a drink, and I’d like to meet up with him.”

Ryan glanced outside and then back to Jasper. There was light snowfall outside, but nothing like the last time he’d been out with Craig. Ryan hummed. “Craig and snow. And how did that go last time?”

Jasper huffed a laugh. “Okay, smartass, I?—”

Ryan let out an exaggerated gasp. “Language,” he said, pressing his hands to a giggling Nina’s ears.

“He said ass!” she yelled.