Kyle hated walking away from Drea after the amazing weekend they’d had. If anything, what he really wanted to do was drag her out back and curl up with her in the hammock again. It would sound weird to anyone else, he knew that, but he felt the loss of her when she wasn’t within a few feet of him. But he needed to grab some food and call his mom, just like he did every Sunday night.
Making his way into the kitchen, he was almost plowed over by a waiter who was struggling with an overfilled tray. He apologized to the kid, hoping that everything on that tray made it to the table in the dining room. Making a mental note to leave via the alleyway, he crossed the kitchen until he was standing next to the family table.
“Kyle, my man! You guys are back,” Miller said, walking up and giving him a side hug.
“Yeah, we just got back. Drea should be making her way over in a bit, but I’ve got my weekly call with my mom, so I was hoping to grab some scraps or something,” Kyle said, returning the gesture.
“I’m not feeding you scraps—sit. How about a grilled cheese and some chips?”
“Sure, but please don’t go out of your way.”
“I’ll do what I want, young man, sit,” Miller answered, pointing a knife at the chair behind Kyle.
Kyle did as he was told, watching the older man prep two slices of bread and place them on the griddle.
“How’d things turn out with that girl of yours?” Miller asked.
“What?” Kyle asked, caught off guard.
“Last week, you were all tied up in knots. I take it by the smile on your face that things worked themselves out?”
“Indeed they did, sir.”
“Good. Well, you continue to put that smile on her face, then I don’t know that I’ll have much of a job left.”
“Come again?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Did Miller know? There was no way. Drea had said Miller would be understanding, but she would have said something had she actually told him. Maybe it was just a lucky guess. Or maybe even a stab in the dark. Miller saw all sorts of female employees on a daily basis—maybe someone else had an extra bright smile recently and Miller thought he’d put two and two together.
“I’m not saying things are always gonna be easy, or sunshine and roses, but I can tell that it’s a deep down, soul-reaching happiness, and that makes every last bit of it worth it.” Miller slid a spatula under the grilled cheese and flipped it into a to-go container.
“I don’t know what to say to that,” Kyle responded, still confused by Miller’s commentary.
“Just promise me you won’t be a dumbass and that you’ll cherish every moment,” he said, handing the to-go container to Kyle. Kyle took the box from him and smiled.
“That I will, Miller. I promise.”
The heavy door to his room made a loud bang as it swung open and hit the wall behind it. Kyle hadn’t meant to open it with that much force—he just hoped that whoever was currently living next door wasn’t home. He threw the duffle he’d been carrying on the bed, before crashing down on it himself.
He thought about his conversation with Miller as he bit into the sandwich he brought back. The warm cheese oozed out from the bread, requiring him to take another quick bite to avoid a mess. Kind of like how Miller just oozes wisdom sometimes, Kyle thought. He laughed at the thought, but was thankful for the words and sentiment that Miller passed his way earlier. Regardless of whether he actually knew the woman in question was Drea or if he was just speaking in general, it was a comforting feeling to know that someone other than his mother had his best interests at heart.
He hadn’t felt this kind of connection with another man since losing Mr. Willett when he was in college. Even in his late forties, Miller was significantly younger than Mr. Willett had been when he and Kyle started hanging out, but the two men still shared the same innate ability to see right through to what other people were feeling. Neither man had a problem calling people out on it either, but managed to do it in a gentle way that left you feeling cared about in the end.
Finishing up his sandwich, he looked down at his phone. It was eight twenty, a full five minutes after his mother was supposed to call. She always managed to call at eight fifteen, seven fifteen her time, right on the dot, every Sunday. Worried something was wrong, he pulled up her contact info and hit the call button. The phone rang a couple of times before a tired sounding voice answered.
“Hi, baby. To what do I owe the honor?”
“It’s Sunday night, Mom.”
“Oh goodness, it is! Is it that late already? Oh my, where did the day go?”
“Is everything okay, Mom?”
“Of course it is! I just lost track of time, that’s all. How are you, Kyle?”
“I’m good. Just got back from San Juan with Drea.”
“Oh, did you guys have a weekend off? That must have been nice. What’d you do while you were there?”
“It was great—it was really nice to just get away from the resort for a bit, actually. The guests were crazy last week, so when Grayson offered us the cat for the weekend, we took it. We didn’t really go with an agenda in mind,” he answered, trying to figure out where the line was in sharing with his mom. “But we walked around a bunch. Drea showed me the church where her parents got married.”
