Too Soon For Love (18 page)

“It shouldn’t be a problem. And didn’t you say they promised you could make settlement by the end of next month?”

Tommy nodded. “But they promised me a lot of things and the goddamn condos are still only half built.”

“You need some help there?”

His brother had one end of the cable in his hand and he was reaching around to the back of one of the machines. He was bent over with his arms around it like he was about to give it a kiss.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“You look like you’re about to get overly friendly with that computer. Would the two of you like to be alone so you can stick whatever that is wherever you’re going to stick it in private?”

“Very funny. Don’t quit your day job, dude.” Tommy straightened and held out the other end of the cable. “Here, plug this into that hub over there.”

“What hub over where?”

142 Kimberly Gardner

Tommy sighed and pointed. “As soon as I get this up and running, I’ll take a look at your printer problem.”

After ten additional minutes of muttering, frantic typing and the occasional profane outburst, Tommy shoved back his chair and stood. “Okay, let’s go fix your printer. What’s it doing anyway?”

“It’s not printing.”

Alan led the way to the living room where his computer was set up. A single woof greeted them.

“Where’s Oscar?” Tommy asked.

“He’s in his crate. He can’t be trusted alone in the apartment and we were busy moving stuff.” Alan went through to the kitchen to spring the prisoner.

“What, did he get another pair of your shoes?” Tommy’s voice drifted in from the living room.

“Not exactly.” Alan opened the door of the dog crate. “He got two shoes, but they were each from different pairs.”

Oscar raced out in a blur of yellow fur and enthusiasm. He seized a stuffed, yellow ducky Alan had bought him and began squeaking it wildly as he raced into the living room to see who their company was.

Alan returned to the living room and found his brother on the floor playing tug-of-war with the dog. Tommy had a hold of one end of the ducky and Oscar had the other in his mouth.

“You aren’t really supposed to play with him like that. It sends the wrong message.”

“What wrong message? We’re just playing.”

“That he’s the pack leader, or could be the pack leader. That there’s a competition he could maybe win.”

“Well, he sure looks like the pack leader from where I’m sitting. Don’t you, pretty boy? Yes, you do. You look like the pack leader to me. You sure do.”

Oscar let go of the ducky. Wagging his entire body, he leaped too soon FoR Love
143

up and planted his paws in Tommy’s lap before bathing his face with kisses. Tommy laughed even harder and he kept laughing until one of the dog’s paws nearly caught him in the crotch.

“Hey, whoa, pal. Take it easy. Get down. You’re messing with my junk now.” He pushed the dog off his lap.

Now it was Alan’s turn to laugh. “If he gelds you with that paw, you’ve got zero chance at being pack leader. Now, quit messing with the dog and fix my printer. Oscar, no. No jumping.

Go lay down. Yeah, I’m talking to you.” Alan grinned at the dog’s goofy tilt of the head. He pointed. “Go on. Get your duckie and go lay down.”

Grabbing his duck, Oscar trotted over to the rug in front of the couch, circled twice then plopped down with his chin pillowed on his toy.

“He’s a great dog,” Tommy said. He opened the doors of the work station. “You should ask Guy if you can keep him.”

“I can’t keep him. He’s going to be a guide dog.” Even as he said it Alan felt a twinge of regret. He was getting used to the pain-in-butt, shoe-chewing little guy.

“Maybe your new boyfriend wants a guide dog. You should ask him.”

“He isn’t my new boyfriend.”

“Why not? I thought you had the hots for him.”

“He doesn’t have the hots for me. Okay, now watch what happens when I try to print.” Alan opened Word, brought up a document and hit control P.

An error message appeared. Tommy leaned in, his nose just about touching the screen. “Hmm. How long has it been doing that?”

“It just started this last time I tried to print.”

He had been signed on to the Inquirer’s web site, trying to print out Phillip’s obituary. He had decided to send the obit to the return address on the envelope of Robby’s letter. At least then the man would know that Phillip was dead and maybe he wouldn’t
144 Kimberly Gardner

try to contact Michael again. Maybe Michael would never have to find out what his lover had been up to.

“So he dumped you?” Tommy’s fingers flew over the keys.

“No, we’re still friends. He’s just not ready for a relationship.”

“You should have said, okay, forget the relationship and we’ll just have hot, no strings sex.”

Alan said nothing.

The printer hummed, let out a series of clicks and began to print.

“Except you probably don’t want that, do you? You’re always looking for Mr. Right.”

“And you’re always looking for Mr. Right Now.”

“Yeah, so? What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. Look, you did it. I was sure I was going to have to buy a new printer.”

“Of course I did it.” Tommy turned and grinned at him. “I am gooooood. Or that’s what Jeff says anyway.”

“Who’s Jeff?”

“He’s my new dick.” Tommy sighed dramatically. “I think I’m in love.”

“Yeah, right. That’ll be the day.”

Tommy grabbed the paper from the computer tray. Holding it up, he squinted at it. “Why are you printing out obituaries? And who’s Phillip Di Martino anyway?”

“He’s Michael’s ex. Give me that.” Alan grabbed the sheet from his brother’s fingers.

“The guy who sang you the song about why can’t we be friends?” Tommy started in on the chorus of the old War song.

Alan rolled his eyes. “That’s the one.”

“So why are you printing out his boyfriend’s obit?” Tommy sent his brother a speculative look. “What are you up to, Lanny?”

too soon FoR Love
145

What the hell was he up to, Alan wondered as he walked to the mailbox a half hour later. His brother was right when he said Alan should leave well enough alone, either that or tell Michael everything. And he was too far down that road to go back and make a clean breast of it.

He reached the mailbox and opened it. He put the envelope with the obit in the tray and let it close. He heard the quiet whoosh as the envelope started its journey. He hoped to God he had done the right thing.

“Janey was really glad you called, Michael.” Ross turned on the car radio, punched buttons then lowered the volume. The murmur of talk-radio filled the car’s interior. “She’s been totally out of sorts since the two of you had your little falling-out a couple weeks back.”

“Is that what she told you it was—a little falling out?” Michael clicked his seatbelt into place. He wished Jane had come to pick him up instead of sending Ross, although when you were dependent on someone else for wheels, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“She didn’t say exactly. But Janey never fights with anybody, not really. And she’d never want to fight with you, especially now with the way things are.”

“The way things are?”

“Yeah, you know, with Phil gone and all.”

“Yeah, well.” He wasn’t sure what Phillip’s death had to do with Jane not wanting hard feelings between them, but it was probably better to leave that alone.

“She spent the whole day up in the in-laws suite, cleaning. I told her, I said, relax, babe, Michael’s not going to see the dirt.”

Ross chuckled at his own joke.

Like that was supposed to be funny? Michael said nothing.

“Anyway, you know Jane. She had to have the whole friggin’

place spic and span before she could rest easy.”

Michael bit his tongue to keep from saying anything. He tried not to be offended by some of the shit Ross said, he really did.

But the guy was such an asshole sometimes. They used to laugh about it, Phillip and him.

He could still remember a conversation they’d had after a particularly bizarre family holiday dinner, back before Jane and
148 Kimberly Gardner

Ross were married, when Ross was still on probation with the family. They were evenly split over whether or not he was good enough, with Phillip’s younger brother Frank staunchly refusing to give an opinion either way.

“Why do you think she puts up with him?” Phillip had asked as they drove home in a light snowfall on Christmas night. He and Michael were firmly in the not good enough camp, while Karen and Mama D. were Ross fan-girls from the word go.

“Hmmm.” Michael pretended to consider. “Maybe he has a really big dick.”

Phillip groaned. “Shit, babe, thanks so much for putting that particular picture in my head.”

Michael laughed. “I just meant maybe he has a big dick as opposed to just
being
a big dick.”

From that day forward they had referred to Ross as BD, though never to his face. Except there was that one time when Michael, not realizing that Jane was close by, had said something about BD.

“Who’s BD?” Janey had asked.

There was a long pause during which Michael held his breath, then Phil said, “Big Daddy. What else?”

Remembering it now, Michael smiled. Phillip had always been quick on his feet, that was for sure.

A cell phone trilled in the console between the front seats.

“That must be Janey. She said she’d call when she was on her way home.”

Michael heard Ross fumbling in the console for the phone then suddenly everything happened at once. A horn blared. The car swerved and the phone fell on the floor at Michael’s feet.

There was a bump and a jolt. Michael was thrown forward, the seatbelt locking across his chest as metal crunched against metal.

“Shit, that asshole just hit me. Goddamn it!” Ross slammed too soon FoR Love
149

his fist down on the steering wheel. “Michael, can you grab the phone and answer it? But don’t tell Jane we were in an accident, whatever you do. She’ll flip.”

Leaning down, Michael retrieved the still ringing phone from the foot-well on his side of the car as Ross opened the door and climbed out. It was a flip phone, same as his. He opened it and held it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetie, how come you didn’t call me?”

The voice was light, girlish and definitely did not belong to Jane. So who was the chick with the cupie-doll voice who was calling Ross—or someone she thought was Ross—sweetie?

“Um, not Ross.”

“Oh.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Ross is a little busy at the moment. Can I take a message?”

“Um, sure. I guess.” There was a pause. “Just tell him Jessica called?”

“Jessica?”

“Yeah. I’m his esthetician.”

“His esthetician.” There must be an echo in here, Michael thought and suppressed a laugh.

“I do his waxing? I was calling to confirm his appointment.”

He wondered if she called all her clients sweetie, but didn’t ask.

“I’ll tell him, Jesse.”

“It’s Jessica.”

After they hung up, Michael sat there with the phone in his hand. Jessica, huh?

The driver’s door opened and Ross slid in behind the wheel.

He reached across Michael and opened the glove compartment.

“What a fucking mess. The guy doesn’t have his insurance card.

150 Kimberly Gardner

He swears he’s got insurance, but who the hell knows?”

Michael held out the phone in silence.

“Hold on to it a minute, will you?” He rummaged in the glove compartment, finally pulled something out and slammed the door. “You didn’t say anything to Janey about the accident, did you?”

“It wasn’t Jane.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No.” Michael held out the phone. “It was Jessica.”

Ross got very quiet. At last he said, “Jessica is my admin at the office. We have an early meeting in the morning. I guess she had some things she …What?”

“She said she was your esthetician.”

“Oh.” Another pause. “Hang on, Michael. I have to finish dealing with this cluster fuck.”

Ross climbed out of the car and slammed the door.

Hang on? Like he was going anywhere.

Michael rubbed at his shoulder where the belt had dug in. He was going to have a nice bruise there tomorrow. He waited, then after a few minutes, the driver’s door opened and Ross got back in the car.

“Is there much damage?” Michael asked.

“Not too bad.” Ross put the car in drive and pulled back onto the road.

They drove in silence the rest of the way to Jane and Ross’s place.

Not until he’d turned into the driveway, parked the car and shut off the engine did Ross speak again.

“Michael, listen, I’m going to be straight with you.”

Great. Just what he needed, a heart to heart with Ross.

“Look, Ross, it’s none of my business. Let’s just—” He reached for the door handle but Ross stopped him with a hand too soon FoR Love
151

on his arm.

“Just listen for a minute, okay?”

Michael shrank away from the hand on his arm. With a sigh, he released the door handle. “Okay.”

“A couple years ago, Jane and I had some trouble. I sort of…

slipped up and Janey found out. She was going to leave me, take the kids and go home to her parents. Then her dad died and everything was in such an uproar. Anyway, we worked it out and I thought we were better for it. It took a long time. And I was really good. I was perfect. I mean I didn’t slip once, not even when I traveled. Then I met Jessica and … Well, that was almost a year ago.”

“You’ve been fucking somebody else for a whole year?” Oh, he should so not be saying this, but he couldn’t stop. “A whole year, Ross? And you think Jane doesn’t know?”

“I know she doesn’t know. If she did—”

“Bullshit. How could she not know? I mean, I seriously doubt that you’re the same as ever, no matter what you think, now that you have your bimbo on the side.”