“When you do.” Hawk amended. “Absolutely.”
“So when I’m done with that, I could come hang out with you whenever you’re not working, if that’s okay. The men’s tournament in hockey takes way longer than snowboard stuff.”
“I’d love that. You’re not worried about people seeing us together and adding two and two.”
Caleb chewed his lower lip for a second. “Are you worried about it?”
“These days, no. I don’t owe anybody my private life.”
“Cool. I feel the same way.”
Caleb’s chest loosened a little. That was hurdle number one.
Hawk picked up a piece of wedding cake on his fork and studied it, then chewed thoughtfully for a moment beforegoing on. “Do you want me to tell the guys I’m working with now so there’s no weird awkwardness?”
“You would do that?” The idea made his whole body clench up just a little bit because that was a serious thing. If Hawk talked to his co-workers about them, then Hawk intended for him to hang around and meet them and stuff.
“I totally would. You’d like Casey a lot. She would love for us to hang out with her wife and have dinner or something.”
“Can you wait until after the medal round for me?” Was that cowardly? Maybe. But he really needed to focus on his medal run over the next five days or so and not on anything else.
“Of course, of course.” Hawk nodded his expression incredibly serious. “I would never do anything that would disrupt your focus on that.”
God, Hawk was like the perfect guy. He really was.
“Cool, cool, cool. That’s what we’ll do. We’ll wait until after the medal round, no matter what happens. And then we’ll get back together, and I’ll hang out with you, and we can tell some people.” Honestly, it seemed like a huge step, but it also seemed like the most natural thing on earth.
Hawk grinned at him across the table, nodding. “That sounds great, and you know if you change your mind, we can do it differently.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, I guess we’ll see how I feel after the medal round, huh?”
He didn’t say it, but he knew Hawk understood what he meant. He might want to be alone for a little while and lick his wounds if things didn’t go well.
“Don’t worry, we’ll make it work.”
This was the first time he had been part of a “we” in his entire adult life. His sport was a solo one, and while he was on Team USA, it wasn’t like having a hockey team like Hawk had or anything like that. He got along with his fellow competitors,but they weren’t besties. And he’d never really had a full-time traveling partner like some of the guys and girls did.
This was new.
They ate their cake and meat and cheese and chatted. Hawk reached over to touch his leg under the table, because it was just a tiny table for two, and it felt like they were together, like they were part of a pair.
Maybe theycouldbe a couple.
Though Caleb knew it was way too early to be thinking about stuff like that, it didn’t stop him. But it was premature, probably.
He could go around and round about this all day, or he could simply enjoy spending time with Hawk, and that was what he wanted to do. So he put his hand over Hawk’s where it sat on his leg and squeezed. “We gonna do anything fun today?”
“What do you want to do? We could wander around and see some of the city, we could go to a museum, we could get out of town and do something not related to the Olympics…” Hawk gave him a wry smile. “I have no idea what there is to do. I’m way more familiar with Rome, and I’ve been to Venice, but this is my first time in Milan.”
“I’ve been in this area before for competitions, but I’ve never really had time to explore. Do some museums or something. Once my competition is over, and there’s a day you’re not working, then we could take a day trip.” That seemed fair, right?
“I like it. Let’s do it.”
He licked the wedding cake off his fork and let himself make some little fantasy plans in his head. It was going to be a great day, and he couldn’t think of anything else he’d rather do than hang out with Hawk.
Fourteen
Hawk worked the opening ceremonies, which he had to admit was not near as fun as attending them as an athlete. He had a good crew. He’d gelled with Casey, and the other two guys, Brian and Tony, were really decent, solid guys. Maybe a bit boring, but people probably said the same thing about him.