Clarity of Lines by N.R. Walker Read Free Book Online

get it,” I told him. “But I can hope, right?”
    He pecked my lips. “Why are you doing it then?” he asked. “If you know they won’t approve and it will cause problems, and you said it yourself, you don’t need their approval, then why?”
    “I don’t want any secrets with them. And I want them to know I’m happy,” I told him. “I’m not expecting them to be accepting of it, or even tolerable. They’ll more than likely choose to pretend I never told them and keep wishing I’ll get back with Sofia.”
    Cooper snorted. “Maybe you should just tell them you’re gay first, before you drop the ‘oh, and I’m seeing a twenty-two-year-old’ bomb.”
    I laughed and pecked his lips again. “I may as well hit them with both bombs. They won’t take it well no matter which I tell them.”
    Cooper sighed and nipped at the skin on my chin. “Tom?”
    “Yeah?”
    “We’ll need to keep one weekend free,” he said. Then he bit his lip. “How’s your self-defence skills?”
    I laughed. “Why?”
    “I want you to meet my parents,” he said. “And I’m pretty sure your parents are gonna take it a helluva lot better than mine.”

Chapter Seven
    Well, shit.
    “They won’t like the idea, huh?”
    “Um, your birthday’s in November, right?”
    “Yeah, why?”
    “Well, my dad’s birthday is December…”
    It took me a second. “I’m older than your dad?”
    Cooper laughed and nodded. “Is that weird?”
    Weird. That was one word to describe it. “Um, yes.” I didn’t know why it threw me so much. Our age difference had always been a glaring issue, but I’d come to accept it, ignore it. Yes, I was older than him. So what?
    But I was also older than his father ?
    “Hey,” Cooper said, putting his hand to my face. “It doesn’t change anything.”
    “Doesn’t it?”
    “Does it change how you feel about me?” he asked calmly.
    “No, of course not,” I said quietly.
    “Then it doesn’t change anything.”
    There wasn’t anything but absolute certainty in his hazel eyes. I smiled and asked him, “How did you get so wise?”
    “I’m just smart like that.”
    I kissed him with smiling lips. “You’re just smug like that.”
    “It’s a Gen Y thing?”
    “It’s a Cooper Jones thing,” I said. “Did you still want me to meet your parents?”
    “Yes,” he said adamantly. “They know I’m seeing someone. They know it’s serious, and they know his name is Tom. But that’s all I’ve told them.”
    “You told them about me?” I couldn’t help but smile.
    “Of course I did,” he said simply. “Just not exactly who Tom was. But if we’re that serious, they should meet you.”
    “Then I will meet them,” I told him. “Again,” I clarified, “because I met them years ago, but I was only Ryan’s dad back then, not their son’s boyfriend.”
    Cooper chuckled. “They’re gonna freak.”
    I rolled my eyes. “And this is funny because…?”
    He sighed and rolled onto his back. “Well, it’s not really,” he said. “But what else can I do? I’ve fallen in love with you, and if gender doesn’t matter, then neither should age.”
    I leaned up on my arm and stared at this remarkable man. “You’re incredible, you know that?”
    He grinned at me. “Actually, yeah. I do know that.” Then he added, “But you can keep telling me.”
    “I might have to write little notes, so I remember,” I told him seriously. “You know, my Alzheimer’s is getting bad.”
    Cooper laughed. “Oh my God! Thomas Elkin just made a joke! And it was even funny!”
    “Shut up, you little shit.”
    He leaned up and kissed me. “See? I can go from ‘incredible’ to ‘little shit’ in two seconds. It’s a talent.”
    I chuckled at him and pushed him to the side of the bed. “Well then, you incredible little shit, go and look up flights to Chicago, a rental car and a hotel.”
    “I will,” he said, getting off the bed and pulling on his pants. “If you organise dinner. I’m