This November

Chapter 15

He was kind of surprised by the sheer size of Nova's loft and that it was clean. She was usually the messy one growing up. Because his father was ex-military he was extremely neat, and Nova's place could pass her father's test. Also, it looked way above a teacher's salary, especially a young one just starting.

But it wasn't his business. Maybe she had a nice savings stashed away.

"Have a seat, what do you want to eat?"

"Nov, you don't have to make me anything, we can Door Dash something."

"It's not much to whip up some burgers and fries. My cooking skills have improved since high school."

He chuckled at that. Nova cooked a lot growing up, being the oldest and both of her parents working. That did not mean she was the best cook. She was good at warming up frozen foods and reheating leftovers. Once he rushed over because he thought she was burning the house down because she tried making burgers on the indoor grill and burned them.

"I like my burgers well done, not crispy," he said to her, following her into the kitchen. "Let's make them together."

"So, you don't trust me? I burned burgers one time when I was a kid and you think I can't cook."

"Well.." He grinned but did not finish the statement.

She playfully pushed him. "Get out of my kitchen. Find something on TV and I will make the food."

He had to trust her, though his stomach was aching he hoped the food would be edible. He left the kitchen and walked around the place. She did not offer him a tour, so he was going to be nosy. The furniture was nice, she had great taste. Dark colors to match the granite-colored walls. Very open living room-dining room-office area. He could still see into the kitchen from every side of the open room.

There was a large flat-screen television mounted to the wall with a sound system underneath it. A few pictures of herself and her sister and brothers. None of her parents, which he found strange because she was very close with them. He envied that about her. Her parents were totally into her life, came to every play and event she performed. His father never came to see him perform, he never even told his mother. Neither praised him for his work either.

His father wanted him to enlist in the military like him. His mother wanted him to go to college. Doing neither, he was sure he was their disappointment. The bad seed, unlike Davina who held high grades in school and on to college. Even with his success now, they never once said how proud they were of him.

He stopped short of going into Nova's bedroom and came back to the living room to sit on the couch. He wanted to be a better parent than his. That was going to be extremely hard since he missed the formative years of his son's life. If he ever was going to have a relationship with Anthony, he had a lot of catching up to do.

He wanted Nova's opinion about things, but he didn't know if she would talk to him about it.

Whatever she was doing in the kitchen started to smell good.

"You need help in there?" he called out to her.

"No! Turn on the TV and watch something."

He picked up the remote, cut the television on, clicked on Netflix, and scrolled through her watch history. Nova still loved her horror movies. He smiled at the memories of them staying up late watching movies at her place. With popcorn, candy, and drinks, it was like a date for them. He wanted her to get scared and cuddle with him, but she never even flinched at the movies.

He found a scary movie for them to watch but did not start the movie yet.

"I still remember how you like your burgers, with everything on it, right?"