Page 93 of The New Place
“You’re so calm.”
“One of us ought to be. Ned, we’re good together. Better than good.”
“This will make everything different. I’ll have to tell Peggy. Oh fucking fuck.” Ned lets out a breathy laugh. “What the hell am I going to say? She’ll have so many questions.”
“You will. And soon,” Abbot says. “Tonight, before Liesl gets here.”
“Surprise, I’m suddenly engaged? Will she even understand that?”
“Of course she will.”
“She’ll want to know everything Liesl just asked.” Ned walks away again, only to spin on his heel and walk back.
“Tell her it’s a long engagement,” Abbot says. “That there’s no date set, and nothing really is changing. Like we said.”
“Everything is going to change,” Ned says. “But—okay. Yeah. We can just tell everyone we’re engaged, and not actually plan a wedding, so you and I can still figure out our own lives.”
It’ll take him seven to ten business days, Abbot hears Pat say and yes, Ned needs time, and Abbot can give him that. Time to adjust and come around, and sort through what this change means for them.
“Of course,” he agrees.
Ned nods, gaining momentum. “You can move down here, hopefully we’ll both be at Newbury, and hell, HR will be happy, won’t they?”
“Simple,” Abbot says, not because it is, but because he’s sure Ned needs to hear that.
“I’ll text Jen and see if I can go over there when Peggy’s out of school today. Though she’ll want me to take her overnight, if I do. Easier for Pegs, that way. And I think I should go alone. I’ll pick her up and—and yeah. Tell her, I guess.”
“And your parents?”
“Them too,” Ned says. “But Peggy first, in case…”
Abbot tries not to think of how he might finish that sentence. In case she’s upset. Angry. Horrified at the idea.
Because her accepting him as her father’s boyfriend is a lot different than welcoming a…
He can barely put words to it, even in the privacy of his mind. Stepfather?
It sounds impossible.
And wonderful.
21
NED
Ned practices on his way to Jen’s house, like he did last fall when he tried to gently introduce Peggy to the idea of Abbot being in her life. He’s more than a friend, Ned had led with, entirely unsure of Peggy’s concept of adult relationships. He’d floundered, he knew, reaching for anything she might have seen in a movie, and comparing everyone in their family to dinosaurs. He’d been sure he’d done a truly shitty job, only to find her summarily unimpressed once he’d managed his way through the talk.
Okay, she had said and dug into her ice cream. Abbot will stay over at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s with me sometimes, he had gone on, and she’d scooped out a chunk of cookie dough with such focus she’d nearly toppled her ice cream clear over and he’d been left trying to hold it in her cup, his hands sticky sweet in the chill of the autumn air.
She likes Abbot. Ned’s pretty sure, at least. He’s never worried about it before, and yes, she must. She talks about him when he’s not around and wants his attention when he is. Constantly asks to bake with him, and surely just the appeal of sugary treats must only be part of it, when they spend so much time together in the kitchen.
We have exciting news, he’s going to tell her. Start off with this being a happy occurrence, not the confusing mess it actually is.
For him, at least. Abbot seems fine. And not the stonewalling fine of not wanting to talk, but really fine. Which isn’t surprising, maybe, given that he’s apparently ready to move in together without sitting down and talking about it.
Yeah, he might rethink that plan if he has any idea of Ned’s actual financial situation.
He sits in his car for a long time, staring at the house he and Jen bought. Home, he had thought of it for so long, even after Jen had left him. The spot he was supposed to come back to after Callahan, before life took a sharp turn and he’s been here as a visitor only, a guest who makes it as far as the doorway before he leaves again.
