Life Anew Chapter 5

Warning: This story does not contain any sex. None of the characters are based on real people nor are they meant to resemble any living or dead people.

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Characters in this chapter:

Ella Gaines – Cody's mom and Grandma to Chase

Cody Gaines – Chase's Dad, Andrew's date

Chase Gaines – Cody's Son

Andrew Brock – Cody's date

Jennifer Cross – A nurse for Cody, Andrew's co-worker

Jason Perez – Andrew's friend

Sydney Bing – Hostess at Restaurant

Clayton Erickson – Waiter at Restaurant

Life Anew

Chapter 5

A Date

The day of the date has arrived, and everything is ready. Cody has planned the day, and Andrew is all about spending the day with his hunky doctor. He is a little unsure of going out with his boss, but there is no backing out of date now. Cody won't have to worry about Chase meeting Andrew too soon. He knows Andrew is into him, but his nerves are still dancing in his stomach. Andrew can't help but have butterflies. Sure, in the past, all his first dates have been great; eventually, they all fell apart. Just once, he wants someone who will love him and not dump him or cheat on him. Someone who will show it and not just say it. Cody wants someone who will love him and not back out when Chase is mentioned for the first time.

***

Cody gets Chase out the door and into the car. On the way to his parent's house, Chase smiles and looks at him.

"Daddy, I want to go with you."

"Buddy, Grandma, and Grandpa have the whole day planned with you. Don't you want to see them?"

Cody asks, knowing that his son won't pass up a chance to see his grandparents. He's lucky to have them living as close as they do.

"Yeah!"

Chase has already spoken with his grandma and knows that she plans on taking him shopping for more items to add to his growing collection of replica animals. Cody doesn't know where this fascination comes from, but he'll support it, and his whole family supports it. Chase's future career is zookeeper right now, and if that is what he wants to do, Cody supports it because it's honest.

"Will I meet this him?"

Chase knows that Daddy has a date, and he feels a bit left out.

"Someday, I want to know that he wants to meet you before I have him meet you. I just don't want you hurt."

Cody answers his son. He doesn't want him hurt again. It doesn't happen very often, but it has happened and once was enough. It doesn't take too long for them to arrive at Grandma and Grandpa's house. By the time they arrive, Chase has forgotten all about wanting to meet Daddy's date. Cody greets his Mom and her a kiss and kisses his little man as well before he leaves.

***

As he gets into the car, he gets out his phone and calls Andrew long enough to say that he is coming to pick him up. Cody spent all of yesterday planning everything out for their date. He just hopes that Andrew hasn't done any of this with other guys. He wants all of this to be a bunch of firsts for his date. As he gets into the car, he heads straight for Andrew's place. Sadly, he doesn't have all day to spend with his date. His mom and dad have a dinner date with some friends, and he promised he wouldn't be too late. No matter, he has to be back at his parent's house before 5:00 this evening. He can't stop thinking about the date. He has planned to take Andrew out for breakfast and then driving out to the local botanical garden attached to the local zoo. Hopefully, he enjoys it. Cody loves the gardens because it gives him a place to sit back and think about life. He pulls up to the house, stops the car, and gets out so he can walk up to the door. Walking up to the door, Cody starts getting butterflies. He's super nervous.

***

Andrew knows that Cody is outside his door, but just as he is about to walk out the door, he gets two texts. One of the texts is from Jennifer, and the other is from Jason. They both know about the date, and they have questions. Jennifer's message is simple.

"Have fun, Andrew. Tell our boss to be nice to you."

The message from Jason is a little bit private.

"Hey, I hope you have fun. Let me know if you get any of the boss man's body up on you. LOL!"

He isn't about to tell Cody about Jason's message. He just doesn't want to hear anything from his date. He opens the door and greets his date with a kiss. Cody's hug seems like he might crush Andrew. Andrew has never felt safer in this moment; then he has on any first date.

"Are you ready to eat?"

Cody asks as he releases his date from the hug. Andrew looks up at him and smiles.

"Yeah, I am kind of hungry."

The shorter of the two guys says as he follows Cody to the car. Once they at the vehicle, Cody unlocks it and then opens it for his date. Andrew gets into the car, and Cody closes his door. He then walks around to the driver's side of the car and opens the driver's side door.

***

Cody starts up the car, and the guys head out towards their first stop. It's a place that Cody and Chase frequent for breakfast. The guys are hungry, and they are ready to eat. When the guys enter the restaurant, the hostess approaches Cody and Andrew with a smile on her face.

"Where is my little man?"

She asks Cody that Chase isn't sick.

"Cody is with his grandma, and I am here with a special guy."

Andrew has been called many things, but rarely has he been called special.

"Andrew, this is Sydney. She is a sweetheart. Always gives mints to my little guy."

Sydney smiles and reaches into a bag that sits across her shoulders. She pulls out four mints, then looks at Cody.

"These are for Chase, now make sure he gets them."

Cody frowns as he hands them back.

"We aren't going straight home; I don't want them melting before he gets them."

Sydney reluctantly takes the mints back.

"Are you ready to be seated then?"

"Yeah."

She takes them to their seats. It's the same table that Cody and Chase sit at, Sydney also knows it's an excellent place for a date. She gives them their menus and tells them to enjoy themselves. A few minutes later, a young man, the waiter, approaches the table. His name tag says, "Clayton."

"Are you ready to order?"

Cody looks at his date.

"Are you ready?"

Andrew replies by nodding his head. Clayton takes his orders, and instantly, Cody knows that he is giving them a slightly bigger tip then he usually gives to waiters. Already, the conversation is fantastic and the food hasn't even come out to them yet. They talk as they eat. There is something that Andrew doesn't want to discuss with Cody.

***

Andrew and Cody have talked about Ethan before, and things went pretty well. He doesn't want to discuss Ethan. He wants to simply forget that the guy was ever part of his life. He can't control what Cody decides to talk about with him, but he hopes his date will skip the subject. He spilled his heart to him on the phone. Will Ethan come up today?

***

He knows better to compare the guys he's been, but in this case, how could this go badly for him. First, Cody is hotter than Ethan. Ethan would argue that, but he is full of himself anyway. Cody doesn't ever mention how hot he is and seems to play it off. Second, Cody is intelligent. Sure, Ethan was smart, but Cody uses his intelligence daily, and he uses it for the benefit of others. The guy in his past would use his brains to serve himself or take advantage of others. His date is kind and caring. Again, it's something that Andrew has been delighted to see on just about every day or every other day. After all, he deals with kids, and he is fantastic at it too. Ethan didn't really like kids, and again the only time he was genuinely kind is when he wanted something. Like when he started dating Andrew. Suddenly, Andrew is pulled back to the present. The bottom line here is that Cody is a sexy guy, and it's not just physical. Cody is handsome and kind.

***

Cody doesn't get why Andrew keeps disappearing in his thoughts.

"Okay, tell me what is going on?"

If Andrew tells Cody what is going on, it will force Ethan to come up in the discussion, but starting with a lie is not happening, not this time.

"At first, I was hoping that you wouldn't bring up my ex, and then I got caught up in comparing you to him."

At first, Cody didn't want to be compared with someone like Ethan, but then he realized that he's not a bad guy, and Andrew could only see him one way. If Andrew didn't' like him, he would not have agreed to this date. Still, he does wonder how he scored compared to Ethan

"Don't worry; Ethan will never be at your level."

Cody smiles as he looks at his date.

"Good to know, Andrew."

Cody reaches across and puts his right hand on top of his Andrew's right hand.

`Is this man for real?'

Andrew can't help himself. He's falling for this guy, and he's falling hard.

"Andrew, I will never, and I mean never hurt you; that way, Ethan hurt you. I have too much at stake for that to happen. There is something that I need to tell you. I have a child. She knew that I was bi when we were together. We ended up having our son, but she got tired of waiting for me to graduate from medical school, so she took off. There has not been any communication from her all these years. My son was just 2 ½ years old when she left. Chase is now 4. He doesn't ask about her. He's even caught on that daddy likes guys. Andrew, I don't usually get very far with guys because of my son. Most guys find out about him and take off. I don't want this to be our last date, but I'll understand if you want to go home after this, and I will even get you a new job if you want it. I know some excellent doctors who could use a good nurse."

Cody is watching Andrew for any sign that he might be thinking about saying goodbye. Instead, Andrew looks into Cody's eyes, gathers his thoughts, and starts to speak.

"Cody, thanks for telling me. I'm sorry for what happened to you and Chase. Is Chase okay with you liking guys?"

Cody waste no time in replying to his date.

"I've done my best to make sure that Chase knows about me. I've done my best to try and keep my dates away from him unless I thought things were going well. I just didn't want him getting attached to anyone, and then they leave and break his heart. I can't do that to him."

Andrew has never seen Cody look so vulnerable as he does now.

"Cody, I want that second date. In case you're wondering, I want a family. I don't know if it will be with you just yet, but I know that I want a family someday. I'm not walking away."

No one that has ever been on a date with Cody has been this upfront. Andrew put his feelings out there for his date to hear and to feel. Cody's feelings are written all over his face.

"Thank you, Andrew, for everything."

Cody tells Andrew.

`I...I...hope that Chase and I are Andrew's family in the future.'

Cody thinks to himself as he looks at Andrew.

"You're welcome, Cody."

Andrew says with a smile. They go back to eating and chit-chatting for another fifteen minutes. Cody asks for the check, and a couple of minutes later, he is handed the receipt.

"Are you ready to move on to the second part of our date?"

Andrew just smiles as he digs for his wallet.

"If you are getting you're wallet out, stop. This date is on me. Oh, I don't want to rush this date, but I promised my mom and dad that I would be back at by around 4:30 pm. Sorry about that, but it was either see you for a little bit of time or not see you at all, and I wanted to see you."

They wanted to see each other, too; it was mutual.

"Then let's get going because time isn't slowing down."

Cody writes the check, and then they get up to pay. The minute that they leave the establishment, Andrew proudly takes Cody's hand, and together they walk to the car. Once it's open, they head out for the botanical garden.

***

They head out for the garden, and Andrew just feels right about this first date. Cody has helped Andrew feel like his world has finally come full circle. He's given him hope that the world can be a good place. They check-in at the office and donate to the botanical garden. They pass by several smaller garden sections, and when they reach the herb gardens. The fragrance of mints is heavy in the air; there is a slight smell of spiciness. The guys hold hands and take a few minutes to take in all the scents in the room. As they move towards the next garden section, Cody sees a bench with an arbor above it. It has fragrant roses climbing over it, and the spot looks out over the herb garden. It's beautiful here. Andrew loves being here. Despite what has happened in his life, he is finally feeling good about himself and the world. Sitting here with Cody just feels right.

"This place is beautiful, Cody."

Andrew says as he looks at Cody and briefly gets lost in his date's eyes. Cody sees him looking at him and then gives Andrew a kiss. Andrew loves, that kiss is the best kiss that he's ever gotten from a guy.

"I...I...don't know what to say."

Andrew tells Cody after the kiss. He wants to remember the kiss for a very long time. It caught him off guard, but it was wonderful.

"I've never had a kiss on a first date that left me feeling speechless."

Cody is surprised by his date's reaction to the kiss. They stand up and begin wandering through the next section of the garden, the rose garden. This section of the garden is one of Cody's favorites. It's the next section, though, that gets Andrew's attention. It's a beautiful cottage style garden filled with all manner of beautiful, fragrant plants. It's straight out of fairy tale. He doesn't want to leave.

"I think this is what Heaven must look like."

Andrew says out loud as he looks at the flowers in bloom.

`This is what heaven must feel like.'

Andrew thinks to himself as he moves about the garden with his date holding his hand. They walk through various other gardens, including the wild edibles garden. It's here where Cody does something that disappoints Andrew.

***

Cody looks at the time on his phone. Yes, the phone has been vibrating this entire time. As a proud dad, though, he makes sure that if something happens that he can still be reached. He frowns a bit and then looks at Andrew.

"I think we should go, Andrew. I need to drop you off at home and then head to my parent's house to pick up my son."

There was still a lot to see in the garden, but he knows best, so they head for the car. Andrew takes in everything as he heads out for the vehicle. It still feels incredible to be next to his date. There were times with his ex that he would catch Ethan glancing at other guys. With this guy, things were different; he had Cody's full attention. They get into the car, and Cody starts it up. In the car, they head for Andrew's house.

***

When they reach Andrew's house, Cody stops the car in front of the house. He gets out of the car and comes around to let Andrew out of the car. Andrew gets out and stands next to his date. Cody hugs his date and then takes his hand and escorts him up to the front door. When they reach the front door, Cody smiles as he pulls Andrew into a hug and then smiles.

"Can I have another kiss?"

Andrew smiles as he looks at the handsome man who has him in a hug.

"Yeah, you can kiss."

Cody gives a slow kiss that seems to burn Andrew's lips. Then it happens, Cody breaks the hug. Andrew wants to invite him inside, but he knows Cody won't accept the invite.

"I...I...need to go. I'll text you when I reach my parent's house."

Cody could barely get the words out of his mouth. He apparently would prefer to stay by his date's side.

"I'll see you later, right?"

Cody asks his date.

"Of course, you'll see me later."

Andrew says as he touches Cody's chest. Cody blushes and walks away. Cody waves to Andrew when he reaches the car. Andrew opens the door to the house but doesn't go into the house until Cody pulls away from the home. When Cody is in the car, he honks the horn before he pulls away. Cody must admit that while he was hugging Andrew, there was an electrical current flowing through them.

***

Cody hasn't even picked up his son yet, and he already wants that second date, and Andrew is a bundle of energy. Cody and Andrew are walking on cloud nine at the moment, and they aren't coming down any time now. Cody just wants things to stay good between them. Andrew knows that he owes Jason a phone call. Cody knows that he is going to get a thousand questions thrown at him when he reaches his parent's house. Andrew wastes little time as he sits in the living room and calls Jason.

***

It doesn't take long for Jason to answer the phone, and he is dying to know what happened on the date.

"Hey Andrew, how did the date go with the good doctor?"

Andrew doesn't want to kiss and tell, but he is ready to burst at the seams.

"It was amazing. He took me out for breakfast, and we spent some talking and eating when the food had settled. He paid for our meals, and then he took me to the Lake View Botanical Garden. I highly recommend the place. There are some stunning areas where you can sit down with a date and just talk and take in the sights and fragrances around you."

Course, none of this is what Jason wanted to know. It was nice to hear where they went, but he wanted to know if Andrew got a kiss.

"He wasn't a jerk at all, was he?"

Andrew laughed, which might have sent the wrong signal. Jason wasn't sure what to think of the laugh.

"Dude, why the laugh?"

"Cody was a perfect gentleman. He made sure to answer my questions, and I answered his. He revealed something pretty huge to me. He has a kid."

Now, Jason would walk away from a guy like Cody, but Andrew isn't one bit worried about it. Andrew wants to be a father, so it didn't bother him at all.

"Are you okay with the whole kid thing?"

Jason asks, and Andrew is glad to share his answer with him.

"I'm good with it. I want to be a dad at some point, so I am not worried about it at all."

Andrew knows very well, that Jason wouldn't date someone with kids to Andrew that just seems wrong.

"Did you get a kiss?"

Jason hopes that Andrew got a kiss from the doctor. Course, he did a kiss. They shared a beautiful kiss.

"Yeah, I got a beautiful kiss."

What a kiss it was, and Andrew is still super excited over that kiss.

"Andrew, are you happy with what happened on the date?"

Andrew couldn't be happier with the outcome of the date. He hopes that Cody is pleased with the date as well.

"I'm perfectly happy with the date."

Jason smiles, and his heart warms for his friend. He knows what life for Andrew was like after Ethan. They finished the discussion and ended the call

***

Cody arrives at his parent's house with plenty of time to spare. Not only did Chase get some extra time with Grandpa, while Cody's mom gave him a thousand questions.

"Cody, how did it go?"

His mom hopes that things went smoothly, while she does have her opinions about the fact that Andrew works under Cody, she keeps that out of the discussion. The date is still fresh on the mind of her son.

"It went well. Andrew proved to be the perfect date. He was polite, attentive, and super cute. If I can use the term cute to describe him. We had breakfast at Chase's favorite place. Andrew met Sydney, and that went amazing, by the way. We had a nice talk at the restaurant, which by the way, I mentioned Chase to him at the restaurant."

Now, Mrs. Gaines is super curious about how Andrew took to the news that Cody has a son. She hopes that he was okay with her grandson.

"Is okay with dating a father?"

Cody smiles at the thought.

"He is okay with Chase. I'm just not sure when I am going to introduce Chase to Andrew."

His mom is glad that her son's date is okay with the news that Cody has a kid. She is even more excited that he is thinking things over as far as introducing Chase to his date. The more time he spends thinking about introductions, the less she has to worry about it.

"Well, I think you should give it time and maybe allow Chase to decide when he is ready to meet Andrew. Did Chase know where you were going today?"

Cody is quick to answer the question.

"He knew that I was going on a date. I don't like keeping things from him. I know some people wouldn't do that, but I am not other people. Poor kid has had his heart broken before, and I don't want to go through that again. Emma leaving was hard on Chase and me."

His mom thinks about her son's answer to her second question. She might just surprise him by how she responds to his last statement.

"Honey, did your date go quiet after you told him that you had a son?"

Cody didn't waste any time replying to her question.

"He was fine it with it. I couldn't have asked for a better response. Course, he could have been lying, but I believe he was serious. Andrew wants a family."

Cody is offering the perfect opportunity for someone wanting a family. Course, whoever marries Cody will have to adopt the little guy. Cody would want them to adopt him.

"Okay, honey, Dad, and I need to run. You had better get Chase and head out. I love you."

Cody has Chase gather up his stuff, say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, and then they head for him.

***

Dinner is over for the night. Chase helped Cody fill the dishwasher, and since they can relax a little bit today. They are hanging out in the family room when Chase walks up to his dad and stares at him.

"Can I help you, Chase?"

Chase doesn't stop staring at his dad for a few seconds. When he does start talking, he looks super serious.

"Did you have fun?"

Cody wasn't sure exactly what his son is talking about right now.

"What do you mean?"

Again, Chase just looked at him.

"Your date? Grandma said, you had one."

Cody thinks about it and then smiles as he looks at his son's little face.

"Yeah, I had fun. Did you have fun at Grandma's and Grandpa's house?"

"Yeah, Grandpa took me to the pet shop where they have all the snakes, but he wouldn't let me get one. I got to pet a python."

Cody isn't afraid of snakes, but it sounds like his son was all about the snakes. If this keeps up, though, there may be a corn snake in the kid's future. Yikes! Out of nowhere, Chase asks Cody a question that surprises him.

"Daddy, are you mad at Grandma?"

He is not mad at his mom at all.

"No, buddy, I'm not mad at Grandma."

Chase is happy to hear that his dad isn't mad at Grandma. Chase wastes no time in popping out another question to his daddy.

"Daddy, what is a date?"

Cody thinks it over before giving his son an answer. He could ignore the question, but that is not something that Cody ever does. He tries to always answer his son's questions.

"You know-how, we talked about Daddy liking men?"

Chase shakes his head.

"Well, a date is when two people like each other and go on a date to get to know each other better."

Chase understands the answer that his daddy gave him.

"Daddy, can I go on your next date?"

Cody isn't quite ready to introduce him on to Andrew. He knows Andrew wants a family; still, the first date ended only a half-hour ago.

"I don't think so, buddy. Don't worry, though, you will meet him, and I think you'll like him."

Chase looks a little disappointed when he hears that his dad won't let him go on the next date. For the next few minutes, Chase is quiet. Finally, they pull up to the house.

***

After texting Andrew that they are finally home, Cody is watching Chase play in the living room. Funny though, his mind isn't on Chase at all despite watching him. His mind is back on Andrew. He's wondering if Andrew is really into him. Things seemed so perfect during the date. Andrew's eyes never wandered off to look at any other guy that walked by. He heard every word that came out of Cody's mouth, and yet something he said bothered Cody. His comment about not knowing if Cody is the one bothers him. He's not sure why it bugs him, but it does.

***

Chase is getting ready for bed when Dad gets a phone call from Jennifer. He tells her that he'll call her back after Chase is in bed. Chase is now in bed. Cody knows that he's not asleep but at least in bed. Cody gets on his cell phone to call Jennifer.

"Hi boss, how was the date?"

She asks, hoping that Andrew behaved himself on the date. Cody's behavior on dates is never questioned.

"It was amazing, Jennifer. Andrew is incredible. We could have spent hours at the botanical gardens. It was super romantic."

She chuckles a bit at the thought of a garden space being romantic, but this is Cody, that she's talking too. This man would think that an emergency room is romantic. She supposes that with the right person, a botanical garden could be romantic.

"I take it that Andrew behaved himself?"

Cody is taken back by the question. If she were another person, she might have been corrected, but he knows that she means well.

"He was a perfect gentleman."

Jennifer is glad to hear it. Now, she has one last question for her boss. It's a big one too.

"Did you tell him about Chase?"

"I did, and he was okay with it. He told me that he wants a family, but he doesn't know if that family will be with me or not, and that bothers me."

Jennifer is puzzled as to why that would bother him.

"Why does it bother you?"

She asks Cody to figure it all out.

"It's because a part of me already knows, he's the one."

`He can't know that already.'

She thinks to herself. He doesn't need to be angry at her. Voicing that fact or opinion could make Cody mad at her. She doesn't want that, now or at any time.

"Well, take your time Cody."

She says, wanting to hug him. As she says his name, Cody gets another phone call. He pauses the conversation to see who is calling him. It ends up that it's Andrew.

"Jennifer, I need to run. Andrew is calling."

She understands and ends the phone call.

***

Cody is excited to talk with his date and his nurse. He sits down and relaxes while Andrew starts to speak.

"I just wanted to say thank you for a wonderful day."

Andrew truly loved the time with Cody. Cody enjoyed his time with Andrew as well.

"I'm glad you enjoyed our time together. I enjoyed our time at the botanical garden."

Andrew is glad that Cody enjoyed their time together. It means that the experience was truly shared between them and that the interest was mutual.

"I have to be honest; I have been thinking about you all day long."

Andrew tells his date. He isn't lying either. Cody laughs excitedly. Cody wants to kiss the guy on the other side of the phone. Andrew manages to force the following question out of his mouth

"Are we going to have a second date?"

He wants the other date so bad.

"Yes, what are we doing?"

Cody asks Andrew.

"I don't know about you, but I love surprises, so can we just agree to keep our lips sealed about whatever is going to happen on the date."

Again Cody laughs a little. His chuckle is because he loves surprises too, well good surprises anyway.

"Cody, I am sorry, but I am starting to fall asleep on you."

Andrew is listening to Cody, but he doesn't want to fall asleep on his date.

"Okay then, I'll talk to you later."

Cody tells Andrew in a soft voice that seems to ooze with cuteness.

"Then, good night!"

Andrew says as he ends the phone call.

***

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