by Trina Solet
Julian was about to introduce Danny and the other kids when out of nowhere he heard a very unpleasant voice behind him. "I guess someone got a promotion," Pete Thayer said with a mean little chuckle.
Julian spun around. He couldn't believe his eyes. What was Thayer doing here? Dismayed and furious, Julian had to contain his reaction while Thayer smirked. Then suddenly, Rob was standing between him and Thayer.
"Yeah, I got a promotion. You here to congratulate me?" Rob asked Thayer, his voice pure menace.
"Who is that guy and why do I want to see Rob mash his face into the dirt?" Rico wondered from right behind Julian.
Seeing how Thayer and Rob eyed each other, Mr. Upton looked between them then sighed. "Pete, you're making friends everywhere you go," Mr. Upton said. He patted Rob on the back lightly to let him know to stand down. Stern-faced and protective, Rob wasn't eager to step aside but he did. "Pete, you did tell me that Brenner knew you were tagging along."
"Oh, I did mean to tell him, but then I got busy," Thayer lied.
Julian stared at him in disbelief while Thayer fixed him with a cadaverous smile. Mr. Upton seemed to know he was lying, but only harrumphed in response.
Danny came to stand close to Julian and grabbed hold of his hand. With an unhappy expression, he stared fixedly at Thayer.
"And who's this young man?" Mr. Upton asked, smiling down at Danny.
Right now, Danny wasn't paying any attention to Mr. Upton. He was furrowing his brow at Thayer and refusing to take his eyes off him. Rob stood as if to shield both Julian and Danny. He wore a dangerous look while his sister looked worried for him. Upton didn't fail to notice their reactions and how the mood had turned sour.
Thayer was acting like nothing was wrong and he and Julian were just going to chitchat, like any two colleagues who happened to run into each other. "I just couldn't resist a small town festival. Had to find out what was keeping Brenner here when there's work to be done back at the office," Thayer said.
"Now, now, Pete. Julian more than pulls his weight," Mr. Upton told him. "Why don't you go buy some souvenirs for your lovely wife."
Thayer didn't like being dismissed, but he had no choice but to leave. He shot Rob a venomous look, saying, "Nice to see you again." Then he pointed his fake smile all around and sauntered away. Soon he disappeared into the crowd, and Julian breathed a sigh of relief.
"That boy is a killjoy," Mr. Upton said. He turned his attention back to Stella, and she positively beamed at him. He offered her his arm, and they walked on together.
Julian was so glad Thayer was gone otherwise he would have to put on a mask and pretend to have a polite conversation with him in front of Mr. Upton and everyone else. As they all continued to explore the festival together, Julian couldn't help glancing around for Thayer, and he caught Rob doing the same thing, but there was no sign of him.
"I swear that was like you were in high school all over again," Christie said while glaring at her brother.
"Who was the creep?" Lara asked.
"Yeah. I noticed we didn't get introduced to him, and for the record, I'm fine with that," Stan said.
"I wanted to mace him," Raquel said and everyone gaped at her.
"And you're supposed to be the nice one," Rico said but she just shrugged.
"That was my boss, for now," Julian told them.
"Yuck. Quit. Quit right now," Rico ordered him.
"Wow, Thayer makes a good first impression," Rob said.
"Narrow face, thin lips, no chin or charm to speak of," Yu listed. "What's not to like?"
"You're so shallow," Raquel told him.
"Says the girl who wanted to mace him," Stan reminded her.
"Let's forget about him. We need to find a good spot to watch the parade," Sam reminded them. He was always the sensible one.
As they staked out a good corner, all the kids got hoisted up for a better view. Rob leaned down to talk to Danny. "You want to be up high too?" he asked.
Seeing all the other kids sitting on grown-ups' shoulders, Danny nodded. "Me too," he said.
Rob put him up on his shoulders, and Danny immediately hugged his head. "Don't cover my eyes or I won't be able to see the parade," Rob said with a laugh. Danny loosened his hold only a little.
"Don't worry, Rob won't let you fall," Julian told him and smiled at Rob.
Not long after that, the parade started. At the head of it was a float with a giant, colorful turkey followed by a marching band. That started the crowds cheering and waving. Then it was floats piled with arrangements of giant fall fruits and vegetables and some other foods too. A group of older kids waved giant cardboard leaves in different colors and did dance moves in synchronized formations. They were followed by a procession of elderly ladies in elaborate hats, and then a float with a giant chipmunk or maybe squirrel munching on an acorn. That got the crowd cheering loudly again.
In the midst of it all, Julian felt a sharp tug on his arm and then saw Thayer grinning at him, beckoning him. Rather than make a scene, Julian decided to step away. That's how Thayer always got him. Rob might not hesitate to get in his face, but Julian felt bound to keep things low key and outwardly civilized.
"I guess I just keep surprising you today," Thayer said smugly. "When I heard that the old man was paying you a visit, I thought I might pay you a little visit too. Aren't you glad to see me?"
"You really shouldn't be here. It's not your kind of place," Julian told him coldly.
"You don't tell me what to do. You still work under me," Thayer said eyeing him lewdly and giving his biceps a squeeze. He tried to pull Julian closer.
Julian jerked away from him, and in the same second, a punch landed Thayer flat on the ground.
Looking to his right, Julian saw Rob pull back his arm and shake out his hand as he stood over Thayer, glaring down at him. Stunned, Julian cursed under his breath. With a quick look around, he confirmed that only a few people saw that. He got down next to Thayer. Rob tried to pull him away from him, but Julian shook him off.
With Rob looming over him protectively, Julian leaned closer to warn Thayer, "You say a word about this, and I'll bury you under so many charges..."
Thayer didn't even let him finish his threat. "That was assault. Your boy toy is going to jail."
"What's this now?" Mr. Upton said suddenly appearing behind them with Stella at his side.
"That thug assaulted me," Thayer said pointing an accusing finger at Rob who stood by impassively, like he was fully prepared to be arrested and it didn't faze him.
Then Stella spoke up. "Not really. They got into a scuffle, that's all. Julian's boyfriend just got the better of him," Stella claimed while hanging on Mr. Upton's arm like she planned to make that her permanent position.
"Boys will be boys," Mr. Upton told her with a wink. Julian was pretty sure he was only going along with her lie.
Seeing how Mr. Upton was looking at her, Thayer knew better than to contradict Stella. Done playing the victim, he got up and brushed himself off.
"I'm sure we can settle this amicably. Can't we, Pete, my boy?" Mr. Upton said to him. On the surface, he was kindly, but there was a hard edge to his words, and Thayer didn't dare to defy him.
"Of course. This was all a misunderstanding. My friendly visit was misconstrued," Thayer said and stared daggers at both Rob and Julian.
Julian realized he was holding his breath. Did they just get very lucky? Looking over at Rob, Julian saw that he was still coldly furious under a mask of calm.
"Let's go join the others," Julian said to him and took his arm.
Rob came along, but first he glared at Thayer and nodded his thanks to Stella. She and Mr. Upton stayed behind to see Thayer off.
As they walked away, Julian let his hand slide down Rob's arm so he could take his hand.
"You doing OK?" Rob asked him while giving his hand a firm squeeze.
"I just want to see Danny, make sure he isn't scared," Julian told him.
They made their way throu
gh the crowd that was still cheering the parade. "Over there! Rob is over there with Danny's big brother!" a little girl's voice was saying. It was Sammy. Following her voice, they found their friends waiting anxiously for them.
"Oh good, we were just coming to find you," Lara said.
"Mean man, mean man," Danny was repeating in such a low voice.
Julian could barely hear him.
"He is gone, honey," Julian told him and got down to hug his little brother. "Everything is OK."
Rob got down on one knee in front of Danny and told him, "The mean man is gone."
"Rob made him go away," Julian added.
Danny looked from him to Rob. "Don't worry. I won't let anything bad happen to Julian or to you," Rob assured him and Danny threw himself at them and tried to hug them both at the same time with his little arms.
"You're missing it," Riley said, jumping impatiently and pointing toward the parade. The last of it was still going by, and they couldn't let the kids miss out. The crowd had thinned out, so they let the kids stand on the curb and wave at the last of the floats. Wyatt's friends were watching over them and that gave Rob and Julian a chance to talk to everyone else. First they got to hear how they knew something was wrong.
"Rob told us to take Danny. I wasn't sure what was going on," Christie said to Julian. "But Danny was so upset."
"Danny spotted the 'mean, office man'. That's why I had to go,'" Rob told them.
"The kids were up high so they could see what was going on. They passed the word," Noreen explained.
"The children's spy network strikes again," Rico said.
"Gloria told me that the mean man was bothering Mr. Julian. So I got Stella on it," Lara said. "She took Mr. Upton to sort it out."
"Stella?" Rico said.
"She saved the day," Rob told him.
"Stella?" Rico asked again, refusing to believe it.
Julian nodded to confirm it, but Rico just kept shaking his head.
"Don't be like that," Lara told him. "My sister isn't evil incarnate. Not all the time."
"How did she save the day?" Sam asked.
"I punched that guy, but she said it was just a scuffle," Rob said.
That got Rico's approval. "Man, you take being protective to a whole other level. I bet you were ready to rip that guy's spine out and beat him with it."
Noreen didn't feel the same though. "What were you thinking, Rob. You could have been arrested, you know," she scolded him, but then Rob's sister cut in.
"Um, excuse me," Christie said to her then she started in on Rob. "What the hell were you thinking? You're worse than in high school."
Rob just shushed her and pointed toward Danny. Surrounded by all the other children, he did glance back at them all the time, but he couldn't hear them.
"That guy isn't the first creep to get decked at one of these things," Wyatt told them. "It's practically a tradition. But last time it was Sam throwing punches." He grinned at Sam with shameless pride.
Julian and Rob gaped at Sam in disbelief, but the rest seemed to already know about it. Sam glared at Wyatt then turned to Julian. "You OK?"
"I'm fine as long as Danny and Rob are fine."
"You're just being stoic?" Rico accused him and peered at Julian too closely.
"Don't crowd him," Rob told him.
"Right. That's your job," Rico said and pushed Rob at Julian.
The others went to join the kids and gave Rob and Julian a moment alone.
Rob was somber as he started to apologize. "Sorry. I flew off the handle back there, but seeing him put his hand on you, I..."
"You shouldn't have risked getting arrested," Julian told him, but he smiled too.
"So you're not mad at me for punching him? You only ever get fired up for the sake of other people, don't you?" Rob said.
"What do you mean?"
"The way you stepped in to protect me," Rob said.
"No, that's what you did. But I can handle myself pretty well as long as I don't have to worry about anyone else getting hurt," Julian admitted.
"Don't ask me to promise to stay out of it if I ever see that you're in trouble," Rob said.
"I know I can count on you," Julian told him.
"And I feel the same way." They kissed briefly, but Danny was looking back anxiously so they went over to him.
Mr. Upton was there too, handing out chocolate covered mini apples to all the kids. The festival was winding down and they were all making plans to go home before meeting up again at Mrs. Del Rio's. Mr. Upton was about to leave for his own family Thanksgiving.
"My apologies about Pete. That's no way for one of my executives to behave," Mr. Upton said to Julian. "One of these days I might need to fill his position. I'd be happy to consider you for the job."
Julian wasn't tempted by his offer. "I'm grateful but..."
"You want to stay here, don't you?" Mr. Upton guessed before Julian could finish.
"I do," Julian said with a glance toward Rob and Danny next to a display of pies. Raquel was buying a stack of them to take home with her, and Stan and Yu were calling her "pie crazy". The three of them were getting ready to leave too, and the others were busy saying goodbye to them.
"I don't blame you," Mr. Upton said and smiled wistfully. "If I had moved to a place like this maybe I wouldn't be on my second heart attack now. I don't know how you fell in with such a spirited bunch, but they'll be good for you."
Some of the others came over to say goodbye to Mr. Upton too, but Rob stayed back with Danny and the other kids. Maybe because Thayer showed up at the same time, Danny didn't warm up to Mr. Upton at all.
About to part company with them, Mr. Upton told Julian. "It was a very enjoyable day, except for that one hiccup." His eyes lingered on Rob for a moment. "I think our tastes run along the same lines, my boy."
Julian didn't know what he was talking about.
"You don't see it?" Mr. Upton said. "Your young man there is like the male version of young Stella."
Now everyone was looking back and forth between Rob and Stella, who was a few steps away, busy on her phone. Julian didn't bother comparing them, but when Mr. Upton stepped away, Rico was there squinted in Rob's direction. "I knew there was a reason I didn't like him."
"You are both insane," Julian told him while they watched Mr. Upton say his goodbyes to Stella. He was trying to tempt Stella to go with him to his Thanksgiving dinner. He didn't win out, but it looked like they were exchanging phone numbers.
"I thought she was into young and studly," Rico said and patted his fiancé's chest.
"Money well turn anyone into a stud," Lara said with a shrug.
As they looked on, Stella sent off Mr. Upton with a wave and a dazzling smile. After Mr. Upton was gone, Rico was still eyeing Stella suspiciously.
"We're leaving. Don't start anything," Sam warned him and went to join Wyatt and the boys.
That didn't stop Rico. As Julian went with Lara to thank Stella for her help, Rico was right there. Julian was barely done when Rico stepped up to have his say.
"I know you tried to steal Mitch away from me, but since you didn't get anywhere, and you helped out with that slimeball, all is forgiven," Rico declared haughtily.
"Excuse me?" Stella said, looking appalled.
Rico threw an arm over Julian's shoulder and elaborated. "You came to the aid of my buddy here and his boyfriend, so I forgive you."
Stella glared at him then turned to her sister. "The ego on this brat. Are we going now?" she asked and stalked away.
"Thanks for everything," Rico called out after her.
"Is there anyone you can't antagonize?" Rob asked him as he came over with Sammy and Mitch.
"Nope," Rico said easily and took Sammy's hand. "Did you leave any room in your tummy for Grandma's turkey?"
"A little room," she said.
"We'll see you later," Mitch told them as he took Sammy's other hand.
"See you guys at the turkey riot," Rico told them as they went off.
"We better get going too," Rob said as he put his arm around Julian. "But I have to warn you, it looks like Christie is trying to buy Danny the biggest caramel apple I ever saw."
"That's too much," Julian said seeing for himself that he wasn't kidding.
"He'll be working on that thing for days," Rob predicted.
When they went closer, Danny spotted them and panicked. He tried to hide the giant apple, which was wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon. "Oh, no. They're here," he said in alarm.
"Don't worry. They don't know anything. You can still surprise them," Christie assured him. "Right guys?"
They agree with that, then Christie encouraged Danny to go ahead.
"It's for you and Rob," Danny said and he gave them the apple. "Because you're boyfriends."
"You're supposed to share it," Christie said and Danny nodded.
"Boyfriends share things," Danny told them.
"That's what I told him when he asked me what boyfriends do," Christie said and raised an eyebrow at both of them.
"That was a good answer," Julian told her then he leaned down to kiss the top of Danny's head. "Thank you. This is a very nice surprise." He was so touched, and judging by the soft and loving look in his eyes, Rob was too.
"Thank you," Rob said and he hugged Danny. "Want to ride on my shoulders back to the car?"
After looking up at Rob and thinking about it for a bit, Danny agreed. He was still a little scared so he held on too tight, but eventually he settled in. With his chin on top of Rob's head and his arms wrapped around his neck, he looked all around. Julian rubbed his back and wondered if they could get him to take a nap. After all Thanksgiving wasn't over yet.
Chapter 27
Back at the house, Julian was checking on a few things for work before they headed to Mrs. Del Rio's. They were going to a house full of people, and Rob wished he could spend more time with him alone to make sure he was really OK. Too bad Rob couldn't drag him away from his office.
While Julian was busy, Rob and Christie went along with Danny so Lenny could have his walk. The dog groomer had put a new bow in Lenny's hair, which he was likely to lose by the end of the day, so Rob made sure to take pictures. That reminded him to take some selfies with Christie too. Running ahead of them with Lenny, Danny was happy that he would get to bring his little buddy to Thanksgiving dinner.
