“I meant to call you earlier, man. I’m not gonna make it this year.”

“What? What do you mean? Where you gonna be?”

Gio knew better than anyone that unless Noah was spending time with a chick or was at the gym he really didn’t have anywhere else to be. And since Gio’s family was the closest thing Noah had to family he wouldn’t pass up spending the holiday with them for a night of lust. But this was different. As cold as the shower had been that he was forced to take earlier this wasn’t about lust. “I’m having dinner here—at home.”

The second the words came out, it hit him. He’d never used the word home in relation to where he lived. It was always the Fuentes’ place or whatever other foster parent’s place he was staying at. The thought nearly suffocated him—he was getting too sucked into this whole thing. He had to keep in mind that this also was only temporary. Just like all the other homes he lived in through out his life, this was no more his home than any of those had been. So why the hell was he referring to it as that?

The silence on the other end went on a little too long. “You still there?”

“Yeah, I’m here,” Gio said, clearing his throat.

“So uh, yeah. Let your mom know—”

“Noah, what are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Noah squeezed his eyes shut, knowing exactly what Gio was getting at. Several times over the past couple of weeks, he’d gotten strange looks from Gio, especially when he’d slip and refer to Veronica as Roni in front of him—Gio already knew what Noah hadn’t even admitted to himself yet.

“Are you falling for this chick?”

Noah’s first thought was to play stupid. Act like Gio was being ridiculous but he knew it was pointless. So instead, he sat down on his bed, letting his head fall back and said nothing.

“Dude, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it, or that it couldn’t work out. I just hope you’re not getting too comfortable, in case it doesn’t. You’re my boy and you know with everything you’ve been through… I don’t wanna see you hurt is all.”

Noah wanted to smile but he couldn’t. Things weren’t even close to what he knew Gio must be imagining. “It’s not like that with us, man. So if you’re ever around her don’t go saying something that would make her think I said it was. She just… she has no one. I know what that feels like and she was gonna be alone tonight, so I decided to stay and keep her company. That’s all.”

Noah knew Gio would never buy that’s all it was, but he also knew he’d let it go. He heard his friend exhale and then he spoke again. “Okay. Well, I’ll tell Rita and you’ll be missed, bro. Enjoy your day with Roni.” He chuckled. “We’ll have plenty of leftovers so come by this weekend and grub. You know my moms. She’ll be disappointed you didn’t come by tonight so you’ll have to make it up to her.”

Noah chuckled. “Got it. I’ll make my rounds this weekend. Thanks.”

He hung up and took one last look in the mirror before walking out of the room. As he walked around the corner of the hallway, Veronica came into view. She stirred a coffee cup and then sipped it. He sucked in a hard breath when she glanced up and smiled at him. How was it possible that she’d gone from being average looking, when he first met her, even after she’d lost the weight he thought her somewhat attractive but now she was beautiful. Not much had changed in her appearance, but everything about her now seemed to glow—the curls, her eyes—those lips.

She raised her cup at him. “You thought of everything. Pumpkin spice creamer. I love it.”

Noah smiled, trying hard to conceal the fact that having pleased her for something as simple as picking the right creamer made him feel damn good. “I thought it fit the occasion.”

“I also saw the champagne in fridge. How’d you manage that? Didn’t they card you?”

Taking an annoyed deep breath he walked into the kitchen, the smell of her freshly shampooed hair, with a touch of something else—perfume maybe—very subtle, overwhelmed his senses as he walked by her. He almost forgot about the irritating question. He’d had a fake I.D. for over a year now, not that he got carded too often. Like this morning, the clerk glanced up at him and just asked him for his birthday. He gave it to her with the fake year and she just punched it in.

“I also got beer. And no they didn’t card me.” As smug as he had hoped to sound, his words sounded more defensive than anything. If she noticed, she didn’t let on. Instead, she barely glanced at him before her eyes were on the oven behind him. “It’s already lunch time. We spent so much time preparing the food we skipped breakfast.”

“You hungry?”

“Starving.”

“Well let’s do this.”

With everything done, they moved the food to the dining room table and sat down prepared to eat. Just as he saw her fork dig into the mashed potatoes, he had to ask. “Aren’t we supposed to say grace first?”

With a near frown Veronica shrugged and dropped her fork. “You can if you want to. God and I haven’t exactly been on speaking terms for a while.”

Ah. With that in mind Noah kept it short and to the point then they dug in. Noah glanced up at her after a few minutes of silent ravishing. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was starving and he hadn’t realized what an appetite he’d worked up with such a busy morning.