CHAPTER 26
CAT
One look at the weather app on her phone and Cat wanted to die. It was 91°F and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.
Indeed, it was a swelteringly hot Friday afternoon, uncannily so for mid-June in Chicago, and Cat was absolutely boiling. The landlord was supposed to get a guy to come to the complex and fix the air conditioning last week – but you know how those things are. He said he'd do it to shut everybody up, but so far no such luck, which meant dozens of very unpleased and very uncomfortable tenants.
"We might go sleep at Nick's tonight," Cat told her son, who was currently drawing a picture at the kitchen table. When she turned around to look at him, she found him with his face all scrunched up, staring at a blank sheet of paper like he was trying to make it explode.
"What is it?" Cat asked, smiling a little at the look of intense concentration on his face.
"Mama, do you think it's hard to learn Braille?" Luke asked.
Cat's gaze wandered to the clear Braille lettering on her stove, and then to the same clear bumps stuck to the microwave. Nick wasn't too big on the whole Braille thing, preferring audio to textile, so she hadn't had too many opportunities to get acquainted with it herself.
"I don't know, probably not too hard," she answered curiously, crossing to the kitchen table and sitting down in a chair next to him. "Why?" she asked.
"Well, you know how Sunday is Father's Day?" Luke began excitedly, wriggling in his chair as he began to explain his idea to his mom. "Adam made a card for his dad at his daycare and I think Nick should have a card too, but it has to be in Braille so he can read it... and I don't know Braille. Do you think I can learn how to read it by Sunday?"
"Well, you'd have to learn how to read print before you can even consider reading Braille, buddy," Cat giggled, ruffling his hair and earning a very disgusted look in return. "We can figure out how to write his name though," she told him, swiping an index finger over the lock screen of her phone and opening a Google page.
Cat ended up getting out her box of arts and crafts located at the back of the closet in the hallway. She had a few things in there that Luke could use for his card that'd be easy for Nick to feel with his fingertips, and that wouldn't cause too big of a mess for her to clean up afterward.
"You can use string to make the outline of things," she explained to Luke, demonstrating by molding a piece of string into the shape of a blob that vaguely resembled a bunny. "Doesn't that look like a bunny?" she asked.
"Yeah, I suppose it does," Luke nodded after inspecting Cat's piece of artwork.
"Now close your eyes," Cat told Luke, taking his hand in hers and running his finger over the string. "Does it feel like the shape of a bunny?" she asked.
"Yes, it does!" Luke exclaimed with such conviction in his voice.
"That's how Nick sees everything; he uses his fingers to feel the shape and texture of things and that's how he creates images in his head," Cat explained to him. "Now let's find something that we can use for the Braille dots—we could use these buttons... or beads..." she trailed off, inspecting the different types of supplies she kept in the big plastic container.
"No beads, they're too girly," Luke said, looking at a few pink and purple beads with distaste.
They ended up spending most of the afternoon making the Father's Day card together, putting all sorts of cute bits and bobbles onto blue construction paper folded in two. Cat had to admit, it looked super cute in the end and she was pretty sure he'd like the Braille lettering.
She just hoped she hadn't messed up any of the dots. Some of the letters could get pretty complicated, especially the N. The letter I also turned out a lot similar to the C, but she supposed it was a job well done regardless, and Nick would probably at least be able to tell that it was his name.
"Do you think there's enough room there to write the word Dad in Braille too?" Luke asked thoughtfully, inspecting his handy work.
"You want to write the word Dad?" Cat asked, trying to keep her voice level despite the bubbling excitement causing her stomach to do somersaults.
"Yeah, because Nick is kind of my dad... even if he's not my real dad," Luke explained in such a matter-of-fact tone that Cat knew he'd put a lot of thought into this. "Nick does all of the things real dads are supposed to do and he loves me like a real dad so maybe he could be my dad... do you think he'd want to be my dad? Adam said he'd like it if I was his cousin because he doesn't like to only have girl cousins."
Cat remained very still and kept her expression steady, but in reality all she wanted to do was get up and dance around the living room like a crazy person. She was just so excited!
"I think he'd love to be your dad," Cat smiled.
"Do you think he'll love my card?" Luke asked.
"Of course he will," Cat smiled.
Nick walked into the apartment a few hours after Cat and Luke were finished cleaning up. Luke was adamant to hide the card in a very secret hiding spot, so Cat put it on top of the refrigerator. It'd have plenty of time to dry – she only hoped now nothing would come loose and fall off before they had time to show him on Sunday.
"It's like a sauna up in this place! You don't have any AC?" Nick exclaimed, dropping his gym bag onto the ground and undoing Duke's harness so that the dog stampeded right into Cat's legs. He dropped to the floor at her feet and exposed his underside, demanding a good belly rub.
Cat crouched down and gave the dog some attention, a big smile on her face. "Hey baby boy, how've you been? Did you enjoy your workout? Yeah," she cooed.
"I hope you're talking to the dog in that voice and not me," Nick laughed.
Cat stood back up and greeted Nick in the middle of the living room with a short kiss. His muscle shirt was clinging to his skin and there were beads of sweat trickling down his forehead underneath the bill of his Chicago Bulls cap.
"The landlord needs to get on this AC situation pronto, we're dying over here," Cat sighed. "By the looks of you, it's pretty hot out there too," she added, watching him make a straight line for the refrigerator to grab some water.
"I also made a pitcher of lemonade earlier before Luke dragged me into a little art project, if you want some of that," Cat told him.
"Ah, an art project for what?" Nick asked.
"Just arts and crafts, something to pass the time that didn't require running around and getting heat stroke," Cat said dismissively, hoping her voice wasn't too revealing. She had a tendency to be pretty terrible at lying. "So how was your workout? Did you end up going to the pool?" she added, deciding a change of topic was in order.
"Oh yeah, I'll be feeling it tomorrow," Nick laughed.
She wished she could have the resolve he had to go to the gym a couple times a week, but she much preferred lounging around and doing little productive with her spare time – which she already didn't have a whole lot of to begin with.
He loved her anyway though, even if she wasn't a size zero and six feet tall in heels.
A little impishly, Cat sneaked her hand underneath his shirt and ran it up and down the hardened muscles of Nick's stomach. "Play your cards right and maybe that won't be the only thing you'll be feeling tomorrow," she smirked and grabbed the waistband of his shorts, giving a little tug.
She was getting better at the whole flirting thing, and she was so damn proud of herself when she didn't start blushing like an idiot.
"Oh, is that so?" Nick replied, pulling her against him and pressing his lips to hers. He kissed her so deeply, his tongue yearning for hers.
Cat molded her body to his, fire and electricity mixing in her belly at the thought of what they could get up to for the remainder of the afternoon and well into the evening.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss further, the idea of Luke walking in on them just a tiny little blip in the back of her mind. He still hadn't showered after going to the gym, so maybe—
Nick was the one that came to his senses first, his brain apparently still not completely fried by the heat.
"Is Luke here?" he asked, his hands gripping the hem of her tank top and seconds away from pulling it right over her head.
"Oh, um... yes, he's... he's here—shit, I really wanted to get laid," Cat giggled, swatting his hands away from her shirt and taking a tiny step backwards, the heat of the moment ebbing away.
"There's always tonight, I can be real quiet if you can," Nick said with a sexy, devious grin on his face that made Cat—ah, there it was, that blush. Even after almost five months of dating, he could still find ways to bring it out of her.
"Anyway, um," she smiled, glancing at her bare feet in an attempt to settle the butterflies in her belly. "Luke is in his bedroom, I don't know what he's up to, he's been quiet for a while," she added.
"When did Erin drop him off this morning?" Nick asked, their conversation seeming to resume as if none of that steamy pre-sex foreplay had even happened.
Cat's whole body begged to differ.
"It was around eleven I think, before her catering thing. She's been pretty busy with all of these weddings, huh?" Cat said, clearing her throat and turning around to go grab the pitcher of lemonade. She poured herself a glass and downed almost half of it, half-whishing she'd made margaritas instead.
"Prime wedding season I guess," Nick shrugged.
"So, what do you want to do tonight? We still have some of the leftover pizza you made with Luke the other day, we could heat that up... or we could go out instead... we could do something fun," she suggested, twirling her straw around in her glass.
"We could go to the beach," Nick suggested.
"Oh! That'd be so good. Luke would love it too! We haven't gone in over a year! Last summer he was a little too young to really enjoy it," Cat grinned excitedly. "Oh! We could have a picnic!"
They had a blast at the beach, staying there until the sun started going down and it got too chilly. They had a very difficult time getting Luke out of the water, but the promise of ice cream and a movie did wonders. So they went back to Nick's apartment that evening and hung out there, putting Luke to bed after ice cream was consumed and a cute kid's movie was watched.
Nick and Cat found out first hand that staying quiet when a child was sleeping in the other room was a lot harder than they thought it was going to be. Regardless, they managed it – twice.
Saturday was an eventful day. They went to Erin's for lunch and ended up spending a whole afternoon at the beach again, this time with Adam and Grace to keep Luke occupied. While Nick and Grant played in the water with the kids, Cat and Erin got their tan on, lounging lazily with a fun, upbeat music playlist on repeat.
"I used to worry about him and you," Erin admitted.
"What do you mean?" Cat asked.
"Dating, with, you know, a kid involved. I knew he was going to get attached to that little guy, and I guess I was afraid of what might happen if he did and things didn't work out," she said softly, looking at her brother with Luke on his shoulders. They were both laughing. When she looked at Cat, she gave her a reassuring grin. "Don't worry. I'm not worried about it anymore. I've seen you three together enough times to know you're the real deal... but uh... and I doubt you need me to tell you this, you probably already know... but Nick feels things very deeply... I guess it's the songwriter in him... Or maybe it's the reason why he's such a good songwriter... I don't know, but he just feels with all of his heart, you know, and when things don't work out... he goes to really bad places and I just don't want to see him go there again."
Cat smiled faintly, unsure exactly what to say. She tore her gaze away from Erin and found Nick out there in the water; he had that big, goofy grin on his plastered all over his face. Adam and Luke were taking turns climbing onto his back. He was so good with them, so careful and attentive.
No, Erin definitely had no reason to worry about them. She loved that man more than anything and although she realized it was only five months ago that he truly walked into her life, she already knew she had no intention of letting him walk away.
"So we're gonna light a bonfire tonight, if you and your boys wanna come around," Erin grinned, snapping Cat out of her thoughts.
After a dinner consisting of French fries, burgers and sugary soda, Nick and Cat made their way with Luke to Erin's again, prepared to load the little guy up with even more sugar in the form of marshmallows.
"Bet you he'll be passed out before nine after the crazy day we had," Nick said in Cat's ear.
"No way, he's gonna be so hopped up on sugar, he'll still be up well after ten," Cat countered, giving Nick's arm a playful nudge. Her gaze wandered over Luke and Adam playing a serious game of soccer a far enough distance away from the fire so that all Cat could really make out were their silhouettes.
"The loser has to entertain Luke tomorrow and let the other sleep in," Nick smirked.
"You're on! I'm so gonna get to sleep in tomorrow," Cat giggled.
As luck would have it, Nick ended up winning the bet. Luke was out like a light before they even got out of the cab in front of Cat's apartment complex and he clung sleepily to Nick's neck the whole way up to the apartment.
Nonetheless, Nick was still the one that woke up bright and early the following morning when Luke started to fuss around and make noise in his room. Cat argued with him, but he just told her to go back to sleep, he was taking care of it.
Cat sighed and decided not to argue. After all, rare were the Sunday mornings where she could properly sleep in.
She figured she'd sleep for about half an hour, but when she closed her eyes and opened them back up again, it was four hours later and she could smell pancakes – blueberry pancakes, if she wasn't mistaken.
She stretched and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. It read half past ten.
"Crap," she whispered, her mind immediately going to Luke's card on top of the refrigerator.
But also: pancakes. Specifically Nick's blueberry pancakes... probably with whipped cream and a whole bunch of maple syrup...
She got up and padded across the room in nothing but Nick's t-shirt, although it was technically hers at this point since she wore it more often than he did. She found a pair of sweatpants on the ground and pulled them on, ran a brush through her hair quickly and then made her way out to find her boys.
"Morning," she smiled.
"Morning," Nick replied.
"Mama," Luke yelped excitedly, wriggling out of the chair he had pressed up against the counter so that he could watch Nick hard at work. "Can we give him my present now?" he asked in a hushed voice that most definitely carried all the way to Nick.
"What present? It's not my birthday 'til August," Nick smirked.
Luke's eyes went wide and he pointed silently at the refrigerator, knowing full well that Nick wouldn't be able to see the frantic gesture.
"Should we have breakfast, first?" Cat wondered, a sly smile on her lips.
"No, mama," Luke said, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest and giving her a scathing, you-must-be-kidding-me look.
"I still don't get why I get a present," Nick chuckled, looking genuinely confused. Cat wondered if he had any idea today was Father's Day or if it'd completely slipped his mind. Was he just playing along?
Luke took Nick by the hand and led him to the couch in the living room. Meanwhile, Cat got the card from on top of the refrigerator – she was grateful to see all of the pieces were glued in place and none decided to fall off.
"This is very terrifying guys! I feel like I'm about to get ice water poured over my head... Cat, you're being silent, where you at, girl?" he laughed.
"I'm here, don't worry, we're not pranking you," Cat giggled. "OK Luke, you're going to give it to him facing this way, be very careful so nothing falls off," she explained.
"OK," Luke said proudly, handling the card with careful hands.
As Luke placed the card in Nick's lap, the man looked so confused. He reached for it, feeling the edges of the construction paper and scrunching up his face in concentration.
"Put your hand here," Luke said, reaching for Nick's hand and placing the tips of his fingers on the blue and silver beads that formed the Braille letter N. Nick ran his fingers over the letters and suddenly he seemed to understand. He felt the rest of the card, a slow grin forming on his lips.
"And here," Luke beamed, placing Nick's hand on the letter D.
Nick continued to read: DAD. His face went completely still, mouth slightly gaping. Cat wished she would've thought of grabbing her phone so that she could've caught his reaction on video. It was absolutely priceless.
"Dad," he breathed the word, barely audible.
"For Father's Day," Luke grinned, jumping on the couch next to Nick and flinging himself at him. Nick hugged him back, still looking rather speechless. With a bright smile, Cat joined them on the couch a few moments later, sniffing and dabbing at her eyes.
Nick kissed her long and hard.
"Hello," Luke said loudly, waving a hand in front of Nick and Cat's faces. "I'm here, remember?" he asked in a very offended voice.
"We know you're here, buddy," Nick chuckled.
"Why are you kissing mama? I'm the one that made the card," Luke shook his head in disbelief.
"Because I love you both very much," Nick grinned, wrapping his arm around Luke's torso and pulling him into his lap so that he could join in the group hug.
"Good, because I think you can be my dad now if you want," Luke grinned.