He had to envy how happy Walter was. He and Macy were engaged for years, finally moving in together a few years ago to save up enough to have the wedding they wanted. And never once in all that time did Walter seem conflicted or unsure. Never once did he doubt his worth, or that he was with the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
“How did you know?” Rory asked abruptly. “You were together a long time I know, but you knew right away, right? Saw Macy and just dropped where you stood Some Enchanted Evening style?”
“Hell no.” Walter looked at him as if he were crazy. “This isn’t a movie, dumbass. In real life, you can’t see anybody that clearly across a crowded room, and one look wouldn’t show you their heart. No, Macy was my neighbor’s granddaughter. Lived right next to me for most of my life.”
“I had no idea.”
Walter smiled as he remembered. “She was a brat. Liked to tease me about my droopy pants and big shoes. I pulled her braids once when we were five and she decided I was the enemy from then on. Always telling me off, talking to my dates about me when I brought them home. She got such a kick out of getting me in trouble.”
It was hard to believe. The woman Rory knew was charming and warm, a great cook with a wonderful sense of humor and a love of mythology that was driving her degree in higher education. “Stop lying. My Macy doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”
“Are you sure about that? The body has a lot of bones.” Walter took a pull from his water and looked thoughtful. “She says it was all an act. That she just wanted my attention, but I don’t buy it. She dated her share of handsome college boys and I know at least one of them tried to butter up her grandma with proposing in mind. Lucky for me he was easy to scare away.”
Rory grinned at that. “How did you two finally get together?”
Walter’s eyes were shining in the darkness. “The strangest thing. I was sitting on my porch one afternoon, watching her with her family. I saw her smile and it felt like I’d been hit over the head with a frying pan. All of a sudden I wanted to be over there with my arm wrapped around her. I wanted it to be our kids playing on the sidewalk. One moment, one smile and everything changed. I wanted it so badly, saw it so clearly that I went over there, asked for a moment alone and told her all about it.”
“What did she say?”
“About time,” Walter answered with a grin. “I asked for her grandmother’s permission and we went ring shopping the next day.”
How long had he known how he felt about David? About Rig? He’d buried his feelings for so long he wasn’t sure. David hadn’t even realized Rory wanted to kiss him until the Mistletoe Meltdown. And he didn’t know what to think about how long Rig said he’d been waiting for Rory to get his head out of his ass.
Not exactly the romance of Walter and Macy.
“You’ve never asked me about that before, Rory. In fact, you usually tune out when I start talking about love and the like. Did you get hit over the head with a frying pan recently?”
Repeatedly. “I have a lot on my plate right now. Too much to bring other people into it, frying pans or no.”
Walter stared at him for a long time. “You’re a good guy, you know. Anybody would be lucky to have you, heaping plate or not. You’re trained to save lives, according to Macy you’re easy on the eyes, and last year you talked me into spending most of our free time entertaining the kids in the pediatric wing.
“Sure. I also used to lure unsuspecting straight guys into bed for fun and only went to family dinners to shop for fresh produce and gossip.”
Walter choked out a laugh. “Yeah, but that was before your cleanse.” He paused, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. “Is this about David again? Or was Rig the one you kissed at the wedding?”
“I told you about that?”
“It was a late shift and you were kind of a mess. Like tonight. Is it him?”
“With David and Rig… It’s complicated.”
“Both? Well, sure. It would be,” he agreed slowly as if digesting the information. “Personally, I wouldn’t be able to handle more than Macy, but we all come to love in our own way. And whatever way it comes to us—I think love is our gift for dealing with all the complicated things life throws at us. All the pain and suffering. We need it to help balance those scales.”
Rory looked down at his sandwich and set it aside. “There is such a thing as too complicated.” And some scales could never be balanced.
“Tell me.”
His breath escaped in one heavy sigh. “Sol the Elder is dying. He had a stroke, then another in the hospital before we could get him home and now he’s on life support. My brothers wanted me to see him tonight—in about an hour—and I volunteered us for this shift instead.” He wiped his face with the back of his hand, too distracted to notice it came away damp. “Why did I do that? Even if it wasn’t complicated, who could love someone like that? Someone who’d miss their father’s last night on earth?”
Walter patted his shoulder and got to his feet. “Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”
“We’re on duty.”
Walter ran a hand over his smooth head and reached for the phone at his hip. “I have a favor I can call in.”
That reminded him of Rig and he swallowed past the lump in his throat. “Thanks, Walter.”
“You’ve done the same for me and you know it. Now let’s go.”
Chapter Nine
David wasn’t sure what kind of reception he’d get, but he knew he had to be here. It had been a week since he’d heard from Rory. A week that felt so much longer than the last year he wasn’t sure he could survive another like it.
It was clear now that Rory had been overwhelmed. His father, his family, what the three of them had done together... It was too much, so he’d shut down. David could relate to that, he’d done it himself, but that didn’t mean he was willing to accept it.
He couldn’t.
He’d discovered recently that ignorance was bliss, because knowing what he was missing was so much fucking worse than having no idea. How could anyone expect him to go back to his safe, boring life after knowing what he could have instead? Three days with Rig and Rory and he was hooked. That was it for him. He knew it. He didn’t even want to think about a scenario where he couldn’t experience what he felt around them every day for the rest of his life, but he might not have a choice.
Rory was the one in control at the moment, the one who’d asked for time, and he wasn’t talking.
He and Rig had agreed that they would give him the space he asked for, but every day that went by without Rory felt wrong.
When David got the text to come to the hospital, he took it as a sign. Rory wasn’t allowed to push them away. Not now. He needed his best friends in his corner whether he knew it or not. He needed the people who loved him to stand beside him.
And David loved him.
He walked through the corridors until he saw a familiar group of handsome men and attractive women, most with blue eyes, huddled together in the waiting room. He even recognized a few of them from the wedding. He’d found the Finns.
“You too, David?” He turned to see Owen standing behind him, brow furrowed, coffee in both hands.
Me too? “You remember me?”
“How could I not? Your kiss was the talk of my wedding reception. If you don’t include how good I looked in a tux, Noah’s disappearance, or that giant chocolate demon.”
David rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward. “I don’t mean to intrude, I know your family is going through a lot right now. I just wanted to be here. In case Rory needs me.”
“Join the club.” Rig appeared beside him, a tense smile on his face. Though they’d met for dinner every night this week, neither one of them was eating well or getting enough sleep. They couldn’t stop worrying about Rory. About their future. “Rory isn’t here yet.”
“His partner’s wife called to say they were on their way. I guess there was a work schedule mix up. Hang on a s
econd.” Owen left them to hand coffees to Rory’s brother James and a man with a long black braid that David thought was Brady’s fiancé, then he strode back in their direction. “Did he know you two were coming?”
Rig and David looked at each other then as one pulled out their phones. They’d both gotten a text from Jen about what was happening tonight. Owen swore. “You’d think she’d be too wrapped up with keeping her big secret to stick her nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
Jen chose that moment to join the trio. “Did you tell them?” she gasped in a hushed whisper, giving herself away by clutching her flat stomach with her hand.
She was pregnant?
“This isn’t the time or place, and you know that, Owen. Our father is losing his brother.”
“I know who he’s losing.” Owen quickly concealed his reaction, but David saw it. He couldn’t blame him. He wasn’t here for Sol the Elder either.
“Is there anything we can do?”
Jen put her hand on David’s arm. “You’re sweet to ask, but as soon as Rory gets here and the boys say their goodbyes, things should happen pretty fast. Sol didn’t want a service or a big funeral, which surprised a lot of us because of how proud he was of his years as police chief but… We’ll probably end up at Owen and Jeremy’s for a while. Dad loves the lake and the guys will want to be near him, I think.”
They all looked toward the double doors that led to the ICU and watched Shawn Finn stumble out with bleak, red-rimmed eyes. His wife pulled him into her arms as the nearby family surrounded them protectively.
Jen stifled a sob and her brother hugged her close, whispering something that seemed to soothe her.
David felt like an intruder. Helpless. His family was small and thankfully healthy. He couldn’t imagine what they were going through. What Rory must be going through. No matter how strict he’d been, Sol was still his father. The idea of anything happening to his dad was enough to fell him.
As if he’d conjured him, Rory appeared with a somber black man beside him, obviously another EMT based on his matching uniform. That must be his partner. The man patted his arm and stepped back with a respectful nod, wandering over to sit against the far wall. His body language was clear. He wouldn’t get in the way, but he was here for the duration.
Were the two of them that close?
Before he or Rig could step forward, Rory’s oldest brother took him firmly by the shoulders. “Rory and I are going in alone. When we come back, the rest of you can have a private moment before we shut off the machines.”
Rory looked like he wanted to resist but he was just too exhausted to try. David’s heart had a squeezing fist around it, tightening with each step that took Rory away from him.
We should be with him.
Rig took David’s hand without a word and walked him toward the back wall. David leaned against it as Rig twined their fingers together. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”
David offered a worried smile. “Neither did you. But where else would we be tonight?”
Rig pressed his forehead into the wall and sighed. “I hate hospitals. The last time I was in a room like this my grandfather passed away. But after seeing that look on Rory’s face, there’s no way I can go.”
David squeezed his hand. “I’m not leaving him again. I want us to be on the same page about that.”
Rig’s lips quirked. “I had no idea you were this bossy, Mills. You used to be so easygoing.”
“I never cared before.” David held Rig’s darkening gaze and tried to let him see how much he meant it. “Not like this.”
Rig nodded, his expression hopeful before he stepped back and glanced over at the silent man alone in the corner. Rory’s partner. He gestured to David and walked over to sit beside him. After a glance back at the huddled family, David joined them.
The man tilted his head to study them, and then offered a wary smile. “Would you two happen to be Rigatoni and David?”
Rig’s eyes widened enough to show his surprise. “Just Rig, please. How do you know who we are?”
“I’m Walter,” he said instead of answering the question, holding out his hand to shake both of theirs. “And I’m guessing he has no idea you’re here, since he wasn’t planning on coming himself.”
David shook his head. “His cousin let us know. We didn’t want him to be alone.” Rory hadn’t been planning to come? “We haven’t met before, have we?”
“We might as well have.” Walter shrugged. “Late shifts and my wife’s cooking can make a man chatty. I think if I tried I could name everyone here, starting with that Paul Bunyan ginger over there. That has to be his brother Brady. And that pretty one with the braid is his boyfriend. Tanaka, right? I could write a pretty juicy tell-all with the stories he’s told me,” he chuckled. “Not that I would ever do that to him. I don’t think he has that many people he can talk to.”
David looked around the crowded room and back at Rig and Walter. Rory had more than enough people to talk to; the real question was who did he trust enough to tell his problems to?
Apparently Walter.
“I hate the way he does that,” Rig murmured beside him, his thoughts headed in a similar direction. “Sections off people in his life, trying to keep everyone separate and happy. It’s frustrating.”
Was that how David had known him for so long but barely knew his family? Why he didn’t know his partner’s name or anything about his father until it got thrown in his face?
Walter nodded at Rig, eyeing the whispering Finns. “He was in my wedding. My wife adores him and I’ve worked with him for years, but I know there’s huge chunks of himself he’s always holding back. Personally, I think one of the biggest missing pieces is in that hospital room. It’s the only reason I can think of that he wouldn’t want to be here.”
Rig nodded grimly and David frowned, hating himself for his ignorance. “He’s my—he’s been my best friend since high school and I didn’t realize…” What? He still didn’t know, and he was getting the feeling the truth might make him ill.
“You’re the one he most wanted to keep in the dark.” Rig didn’t blink when David glared at him.
“What does that even mean?”
“It means maybe we shouldn’t have come after all.” Rig sighed and glanced over at the double doors in concern. “This is going to be hard enough as it is.”
David crossed his arms, trying to restrain himself from storming down that hall and making sure Rory was okay. “We’re not here because it’s easy. We’re here because he needs us to be.”
Walter smiled his approval. “I thought you were the cute, geeky one, not the muscle.”
Rig reached out to squeeze David’s arm in reassurance. “He’ll surprise you. And you’re right, David. We’ll be whatever he needs, whether he likes it or not.”
David nodded and the three men sat in silence as the clock on the wall became their world. Time may have slowed but David’s thoughts were racing. All of them focused on the man he had fallen in love with.
There was so much he didn’t know, but in the end those were details. There was no doubt in his mind who Rory was, or that he’d always belonged to him in one way or another. It had been true from the moment they met. He and Rig could share custody with his heart, but David was never letting go.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he stepped away from the observant men to talk to his sister. “David? How’s Rory doing?”
“I don’t know, Es. He’s in there now.”
“Are you okay?”
“Ask me again tomorrow.”
“You’re doing the right thing, David.” He heard the sincerity in Essie’s voice. “Fighting for what you want, protecting the man you love it’s just… I’m very proud of you.”
David felt his throat tighten. “You’re always proud of me, Es.”
“True, but I mean it, hon. Take care of him and call me when you can.”
David tensed when the doors opened and Rory’s brother came out alone. �
��I will. I have to go now.”
He didn’t think. He maneuvered his way through the family, watching as James cornered his brother and the two started whispering furiously while the others looked on in confusion.
David reached them just as James swore and spun away, punching the wall hard enough to leave a dent and flying bits of plaster in his wake as he walked out of the room without another word.
What the hell was going on?
David grabbed Younger’s arm. “Where’s Rory?”
The tall man looked down at him with so much pain in his eyes it made David flinch. “They gave him something.” He glanced over at his family and gestured behind him. “If you want to say goodbye, now’s the time.”
When the rest of Rory’s brothers disappeared through the doors Younger slid an old purple backpack off of his shoulder. “David, I think you should hold onto this. It’s—”
“Rory’s,” David answered in surprise. “I didn’t know he still had this.”
“He didn’t. My…Sol had asked me to bring it to him, but I need you to hang on to it so Rory doesn’t leave without it.”
David felt Rig’s heat behind him, giving him strength. “You said they gave him something. Like valium?”
Younger nodded absently, his eyes clouding. “I think so. Well, they called his therapist first and she okayed it, but it was a powerful dose. I’m hoping you can get him home and take care of him tonight? I have to stay, but I don’t think a large gathering is what he needs after… After.”
Therapist? David piled that new detail on top of the others he’d learned tonight, setting it aside for now.
“We’ll take care of him,” Rig said quietly. “Like we always have.”
Younger’s fists clenched and his expression went dark. “Nobody did, not when it mattered, and we’ll all have to live with that for the rest of our lives.”
“Oh Lord, please no.” Younger swore as his uncle suddenly appeared beside him, gripping his shirt with fresh tears in his eyes. “Tell me that doesn’t mean what I think it does. Rory said it was aphasia. He wouldn’t hurt him. Wouldn’t talk to his own son like that, no matter how—”
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