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Taz had expected that when he stood on Jay's porch and knocked on the door, he would be nervous. After all, he had spent the better part of the past several months trying to act like he didn't wake up in Zoe's bed every morning. When he climbed out of his rental car and stepped up to the house, however, Taz's heart was steady in his chest. Whatever reaction he was about to unleash upon himself from Jay, Zoe Carlyle was worth it.
Jay was sticking his head through the neck of a shirt when he opened the door, moving aside to let Taz into the house. Jay was tugging the shirt down as Taz stepped over the threshold and into the house, mumbling, "Sorry. Bree was in and out all night and kept waking me up."
Taz waved off his apology, following Jay as he padded to the kitchen. Once they reached the kitchen, Jay went for the coffee maker that lived on the counter, stifling a yawn behind his hand. Taz pulled out one of the chairs at the kitchen table and sat down in it sideways so that he could still face Jay.
"So, are you sick of Zoe's air mattress yet?" Jay asked, his voice still thick with sleep even as he shot Taz a grin over his shoulder.
Taz laughed, but it sounded strange. "I, uh – I actually haven't been sleeping on it lately."
Jay snorted quietly. "What, are you on the couch now?"
Taz cleared his throat, his eyes fixed on the back of Jay's head as if he could gauge what Jay's reaction was going to be before he said a word. He waited until Jay's coffee was done and Jay was sitting down in the seat across from him, his hands wrapped around the mug to feel the warmth of the coffee it held. As he turned in his chair to face Jay, Taz realized that the mug was half of the pair of kissing mugs that Zoe had bought Jay and Bree for their engagement party.
"Me and Zoe got back together," Taz said finally.
Jay had been staring down into dark brown liquid in his mug, but he looked up at Taz's words. Taz expected him to sound angry, but his voice was level and strangely calm when he asked, "When did that happen?"
"Do you remember that day that we had Ethan for the day and I took him back to her?"
Taz could see Jay tired brain struggling to work behind his eyes until the caffeine kicked in, which was when he balked at his friend. "What the fuck?"
This was about the reaction that Taz had been expecting. "I thought it would be better to keep it quiet until we settled into it."
"And that took you two whole months?"
"Yes."
"So let me get this straight," Jay said, pushing his coffee aside so that he could lean across the table, fixing his eyes on Taz. "You and Zoe got back together, two months ago, and you just forgot to say anything until now?"
Taz bristled, his eyes turning hard as he leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. "You told me, on no uncertain terms, that you didn't think it was a good idea. I wasn't about to tell you about it if it the second it happened, just in case it didn't end up working."
