Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 01 - Dark Horse (26 page)

The waiter returns with a beautiful amber beverage, and Dan trades his empty glass for the full one before having a terrible thought. “Wait a second… is there gluten in beer?”

“Yeah, most beer.” The waiter shakes his head sadly but then grins. “Don’t worry, I’ve found other ways to make myself feel like shit the morning after.”

Dan nods. “Well, that’s something at least.” He’s got one bite of panini left, and he wants to save it forever but he also wants to eat it before it gets cold. He pops it in his mouth and chews reverentially, and when he looks up the waiter is still looking at him. And maybe he doesn’t look
quite
so nice anymore.

“You were at the Fireside last Saturday, right?” The waiter’s voice is still friendly, but it’s pitched a little lower, maybe just a bit husky, and Dan can feel his body reacting a little. This is what he came out for, after all.

“Uh, yeah, for about five minutes.” Dan plays it cool. He’ll wait and see where this guy is going.

“Yeah. I play in the band there.” The smooth pick-up line is clearly weakened by the current setting, and the waiter has the sense to see it and laugh a little. “Obviously we’re not exactly setting the music world on fire.”

“Yet,” Dan says. He likes it that the guy can laugh at himself, and he likes the smile his comment earns him.

“Yeah, yet.” He wipes his hand on his apron and holds it out. “I’m Ryan. You just moved to town?”
Dan checks for panini drool and then takes Ryan’s hand. “Yeah. I’m living on a farm a little east of here. I’m Dan.” They shake hands, and then Ryan sees a customer looking for him and ducks back to work.

Dan wonders what he’s doing. Ryan seems like a nice guy, albeit with some tragic food issues. And nothing’s exactly happened yet, but he can see the potential. The thing is, it’s been a long time since Dan’s needed to see potential, and he’s not sure he’s really ready for this. Ryan seems a bit too nice for the quick-fuck approach, and Dan really doesn’t think he’s looking for anything more than that. Then he tries to pull himself together. He’s not even sure Ryan’s gay. Dan’s not known for his precise gaydar, and Ryan hasn’t done anything totally overt. Nothing has happened, and nothing needs to happen. He could just talk to Ryan. Maybe they’ve got stuff in common. “Friend” doesn’t have to just be a euphemism. Dan thinks of Chris, and has a sudden flash of missing him. If Chris were here, he wouldn’t let Dan get away with over-thinking every damn thing. Dan needs to make a little puppet Chris. He could sit on his shoulder and whack him upside the head whenever he starts getting too stuck in his thoughts.

Dan is actually looking at his paper placemat and wondering if he could fold it into a human shape when a shadow falls on him, and he looks up to see two young women standing in his sunlight. He smiles cautiously, and they smile back, and then one of them puts her hand out. “You’re Dan Wheeler, right?”

Dan wasn’t expecting that, but he extends his hand as well, and they shake. “Yeah, hi. I’m sorry, have we met?”

The other one laughs, and puts her hand on the chair opposite him. “No, not really. Do you mind if we sit? We can explain.” He nods, and the first one pulls a chair over from an adjacent table while the second takes the chair from Dan’s. They both look athletic and well-dressed and, well, rich. These are the type of girls who expect men to approach them, not the other way around. At least according to Dan’s somewhat limited understanding of the rules of heterosexual dating.

“I’m Tamara,” the first one explains from behind her designer sunglasses, “and this is Victoria. We used to take riding lessons from Jeff Stevens, you know, back in our horse-crazy years.” She waves a hand dismissively, but Dan would be shocked if either of them is much over twenty-one. Their horse-crazy years can’t be that far behind them. “Anyway, our parents are still pretty active in the equestrian community, so we’re still up on all the gossip.”

Victoria breaks in, and brings a perfectly manicured hand over to rest on Dan’s wrist. “And you, Dan Wheeler, are gossip!” Dan appreciates their honesty, at least. And he adds a note to his mental collection of strange things about women. These two would never have approached him if they’d only been looking for sex, but add gossip into the mix, and all of a sudden he’s irresistible. It’s a bit invasive, but he doesn’t really mind. He’d pretty much decided against going for a cheap pick-up that afternoon anyway, so if he’s not looking for sex, he might as well talk to these two; give them something to chatter to their friends about. He’d rather talk to Ryan, but Ryan has work to do. Dan wonders if he should try to find a couple shifts bartending somewhere in town. He doesn’t need the money, but it might be a good way to meet people. Then he realizes that he’s already met two people and they’re happily chatting away while he ignores them entirely.

Ryan comes over to take the new arrivals’ drink orders, and raises an eyebrow at Dan. Dan just shrugs a little and tries to concentrate on what the ladies are saying. So far they’ve caught up on what a few of the girls they used to ride with are doing, but then they turn the conversation to Jeff, and Dan’s ears prick up a little.

“Do you remember how mad your dad was when he found out that Jeff was dating Evan Kaminski?” Victoria swivels her head in Dan’s direction. “You knew they were together, right? We didn’t just spill some big secret?”

Dan smiles. “No, I knew.”

Tamara almost snorts. Dan bets that if you got her really laughing, she’d sound like a pig, and it makes him like her a little more. “They’re not exactly subtle about it! Which is a bit weird, because my dad says that Jeff used to be friends with Evan’s father. I mean, isn’t that a bit skeevy? The dad dies and the friend swoops in on his innocent young son?”

Dan isn’t sure he likes where this is going. “Do you guys know Evan?” They both nod, and Tamara blushes a little when Dan adds, “Because he really doesn’t seem all that innocent to me.” Dan decides to gamble a little. “Did he seem innocent to you, Tamara?”

Victoria’s head spins toward her friend, and Tamara blushes beet red. Victoria’s eyes widen with the triumph of the gossip victor and she says, “Excuse us, Dan. We just need to run to the ladies’ room.” She almost yanks Tamara out of her chair toward the bathroom, and Dan feels bad for a minute, then shrugs it away. She shouldn’t have called Jeff skeevy.

Ryan pops back over with a beer for Dan, telling him, “It’s on the house. If you’re going to deal with those two, you need alcohol.” He takes a quick look over his shoulder. “Seriously, man, be a little careful of them. Their dads combine to own half the damn valley. They’re not evil, they’re just….”

“Thoughtless?” Dan supplies. He knows the type. Anyone who’s worked in the horse world knows the type.
“Yeah, good word. Listen, man, I’m not gonna interrupt when they come back, and I’m off my shift in half an hour. But if you’re looking for something to do tonight, come by the Fireside. I can introduce you to some more
thoughtful
people, you know?”

Dan nods. “Yeah, thanks, I might do that.”

Ryan returns to his work, and the girls eventually come back from the bathroom. They both look a little high. Dan has no idea. It could be coke, or it could just be the excitement of gossip. Either way, he’s not interested. But the girls have different ideas.

“So, Dan, tell us about you.” Tamara leans forward and rests her hand on his forearm. Her chest is tanned as far down as he can see, and he can see a long way.

“Uh, there’s not really much to tell, sorry. I’m just working in the barn.”

“But there’s more to you than that!” Victoria looks to Tamara for reinforcements, and gets a nod. “When Evan told us about you, he mentioned that you’d been competing at Rolex. And, well, that’s a name dear to our hearts.” The girls giggle and hold out their watches. Dan bets that either one would cost more than his truck. “So we Googled you. It really was quite a story. I mean….” Victoria stops. “Oh. Would you rather not talk about it?”

Dan manages a nod. “Yeah, maybe not.” Dan can see them trying to decide how to play this. It’s frustrating to not get any fresh information, but….

Tamara leans forward and rests her hand on his arm. “That’s okay, we understand. It must be really hard. If you need anybody to talk to, or anyone to help you through this, please, think of us.” Dan realizes that these girls are officially the only people in the state who seem to care about his crap, and he finishes his beer in two swallows.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ve actually got to head out now. I’ve got some things I need to do this afternoon. But it was really nice meeting you both.” He smiles as sincerely as he can, and works his way through their protestations and insistence that he stay.

He catches Ryan’s eye, and meets him at the bar near the cash register. “Please, Jesus, let me pay you here—do not make me go back to that table.”

Ryan laughs. “So they got a little beyond ‘thoughtless’?”

“I don’t know. Probably not, really. I’m just never sure when my tolerance for that crap is gonna wear out, you know? I thought I had more to go, but then, bam! I was out. Had to leave before things got nasty.”

“Yeah, good call.” Ryan totals up Dan’s bill and hands it over to him, and Dan sends it back with the total plus twenty percent. Ryan takes it without looking, and then calls over to the woman at the bar. “Debbie, we’ve got two tables, just drinking. Can you cover them for me if I duck out a bit early?” She waves a hand in the affirmative, and Ryan takes off his apron. “I’m supposed to be helping a friend build a deck. If you want to start meeting folks now, he and his wife are good people.” Ryan seems totally casual about the whole thing.

“I don’t know. I don’t want to just invite myself over….” “Dude, they’re
building a deck
. The more muscle the merrier, you know?” Ryan grins. “But don’t worry about it if you’ve got something else to do. Come by the bar tonight, or any Saturday… it’s pretty much the same people every week.”

Dan knows what Puppet-Chris would say. “No, sure, if you could use a hand, I’d be happy to help.”

 

“Great.” Ryan pauses. “I was gonna hitch out, ’cause my car’s taking a little break. Have you got wheels?”

Dan nods and pulls his keys out. “It’s just your car taking a break, not your license?” Ryan grins and nods, so Dan tosses him the keys. “You drive, then. I pretty well chugged that last beer to get away from the Troublemint Twins.”

Ryan catches the keys and they head for the truck. Dan gets a different perspective from the passenger seat and spends half the trip picking up bits of garbage and tidying the glove box. He looks up eventually and sees Ryan smirking a little. Ryan sees him looking and says, “I might need directions. I didn’t realize we were gonna stop off and pick up Martha Stewart on the way.”

Dan shakes his head and digs his drawl up from wherever it hides. “Shoot, son, I’m from Texas. And in Texas, a man’s truck is his castle.”
Ryan shakes his head. “Well, your castle’s fan belt sounds like it’s on its last legs.”

Dan gets serious. “Shit, I know. It’s been bad for a couple weeks—I better get it changed before it strands me somewhere.”
“Donny, the guy whose deck we’re building? He’s a mechanic. He’ll get you a good deal.”
“Wait a second. If your friend’s a mechanic, how come your car isn’t fixed?”

Ryan just laughs. “I said it was a good deal, I didn’t say it was free. I’m working on his deck to trade off the labor, and then I’ve gotta find the money for the parts. I was hoping to apply your work to my labor bill, but now you want some fancy ‘fan belt’ for your castle, so I guess I won’t be able to claim it.” Ryan grins. “Then again, by the time I have enough money for parts, I’ll have enough labor time saved up to build a whole new car, so don’t worry about it!”

Dan laughs along with Ryan, but a part of his brain is thinking about Evan, about how he and Ryan would probably really get along. They’re both nice guys, pretty laid back, good sense of humor… but Evan and Ryan could never have this conversation with each other. How could Evan understand the concept of saving up to pay for something as basic as car repairs? Dan finds he has a better understanding of Jeff, and his decision to maintain a certain distance between himself and Evan. It would be too easy to get sucked into the world of easy money, and once you’re part of the world, once you’re addicted, you’re under the power of the one who has the cash. Dan doesn’t think Jeff would do well being under someone else’s control like that. Even someone as well-meaning as Evan.

They pull into the yard of a small but well-maintained house. Two people are already at work on the deck, and they watch the unfamiliar truck pull in and then smile when they see Ryan climb out of it. He calls, “I brought extra hands. This is Dan,” and they wave at him before the woman points toward a cooler by the house. Ryan helps himself to a rum cooler and points a stern finger at Dan to discourage mocking, and then pulls out a beer and hands it to Dan.

They get to work, and it feels right. It feels right to be working under the hot sun with a beer close at hand, and to be part of a team, working with people who don’t know or care where he came from or what he’s lost. They’re screwing the top boards onto the deck when Nikki goes inside and starts putting food together, and then Donny wanders over and fires up the barbeque while Dan and Ryan finish the last few boards and start cleaning up. They have grocery-store burgers on grocery-store buns, cheap beer and homemade potato salad, and it’s a good meal. Nikki asks Dan a few questions about himself, but she doesn’t pry, and when she sees that he’d rather be quiet, the conversation goes on around him without excluding him. They sit at the picnic table until the sun starts going down and Ryan looks at his watch.

“Damn, I’ve gotta go. Dan, do you mind giving me a ride into town?” Dan nods in agreement, and they say goodbye to their hosts, accepting thanks for their efforts and giving thanks for their dinners. Dan’s shirt is still damp from sweat and it sticks to him a bit as he drives, but he feels good. Ryan needs to go home to get cleaned up, so he directs Dan down a backstreet to his apartment above somebody’s garage. He climbs out of the truck and then peers back in, and smiles.