by Sue Brown
Chapter 7
DAN GRUMBLED in annoyance as sunlight filtered through his eyelids and interrupted his dreams. He must have forgotten to close the blinds before he went to bed. Too lazy to get up and close them, Dan slung an arm over his eyes. But despite being warm and comfy and listening to the purring in his ear, it was obvious that sleep was a distant memory. Dan sat up and scratched his belly. SmokeyJo rumbled her displeasure at being disturbed, and he rubbed behind her ears in apology.
“I must have been tired last night,” he told her. “I don’t remember getting undressed. How did I get here, Smokey?”
He frowned as he tried to work through his memories. He didn’t remember much after closing up the bar for the night. He hadn’t drunk anything, so he could only put it down to exhaustion. But he was at home, undressed down to his briefs, and in his own bed, so he must have gotten a car. Dan shuffled to the edge of the bed and heaved himself up. He took one step, tripped over his boots, and landed heavily on the floor. The downstairs apartment thumped their ceiling in annoyance. Dan yelled out an apology and received another thump in response.
His knees and palms stung as he got to his feet and threw the boots toward the front door. He narrowly missed SmokeyJo and once more had to apologize to her. He also received another thump thump from downstairs.
Why were his boots by the bed? He always put them by the front door unless he fell asleep on the bed still dressed in his outerwear, which happened more than Dan liked to admit.
He dressed in sweats and a hoodie and headed to the kitchen cabinets. SmokeyJo weaved around his legs in an open display of pleading. “Did I feed you last night?” The empty tin of kitty crap on the counter suggested he had, and Dan congratulated himself. He might have forgotten everything else, but he never forgot to feed his cat.
Dan frowned as he noticed a piece of paper stuck to the fridge, held on by a fridge magnet. That wasn’t there yesterday. He pulled it off. It was an empty envelope with a note on the back in a scrawling cursive he recognized.
Don’t come in today.
Gideon
Why would Gideon leave a note on his fridge? More to the point, when had Gideon been in his apartment?
Small snippets of memory plopped into the tired void of Dan’s mind. Gideon insisting he drive Dan home. Gideon’s arm around him as he stumbled up the stairs. Gideon saying something about feeding the cat. Dan looked at his boots and then at himself.
“Oh fuck. Please tell me he didn’t undress me.”
Who else would have stripped him of his clothing?
SmokeyJo meowed imperiously. She wasn’t interested in his mortification, so he fed her, made himself coffee, and returned to bed. If he was going to nurse humiliation, he could at least do it in comfort. On impulse he picked up his phone, intent on dialing Gideon’s number, but he had a message.
Hey, what are you doing tonight? I’m free. If you want to get together for dinner and a fuck you know where I am.
Dan nearly threw his phone across the room, but Disastrous Date wasn’t worth a broken phone. “What’s it gonna take for you to get the message?” SmokeyJo meowed her displeasure at the shouting, and he apologized profusely. He deleted the message and called Gideon instead.
“I’m surprised you’re awake,” Gideon said by way of greeting.
“Did you take me home last night, or did I just imagine that?”
“I brought you home.”
“And put me to bed.” Dan flushed bright red at the thought. At least Gideon couldn’t see that.
“I wasn’t going to leave you sleeping in your jacket and boots.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Dan admitted.
“I had a feeling that was the case. You didn’t even stir as I undressed you. I’ve never met anyone who sleeps as soundly as you.”
“I’ve always slept like the dead.”
“You looked so warm and cozy lying there, I was tempted to get in and join you.”
Dan’s mind went to a completely different place, he was sure, from Gideon’s. He’d had visions of Gideon in his bed, but they never involved sleeping. “You would’ve had to fight for space with the cat.”
“I’m sure SmokeyJo and I could have come to some arrangement.” Gideon sounded very sure of himself.
“She could out-stubborn you any day.”
“Maybe I’ll try that out someday.”
Before Dan could think of anything to say to that, Gideon continued. “Ariel wants to talk to you about your date.”
Dan buried his face in the pillows and groaned. “I hoped she’d forgotten.”
“Have you met my daughter?”
“I’ll come in later.”
“You stay in bed. I’ll get her to call you this evening.”
“I’ll be awake.”
Maybe. Dan didn’t think he’d ever be able to move out of his bed again.
“It can wait ’til tomorrow if you’re asleep, dar—Dan.”
That was the second time Gideon had stumbled over his name.
“Are you shorthanded?”
“Bradley is covering your shift tonight. Luis is in too. They’re suddenly well again.”
Dan smirked at Gideon’s unimpressed tone. “Thanks for covering my shifts.”
“Going back to the dating question, have you found your plus-one yet?” Gideon asked suddenly.
Dan covered his face. He’d been so busy with work and an assignment that he hadn’t even thought about it since their initial discussion. “I’ve still got time.”
“Three weeks left. Let Ariel do it for you.”
“Five hundred dollars, Gideon. Five hundred dollars. I’ll find my date, and I’ll be the one laughing.”
“I didn’t think you’d accept the bet.”
“Just shows you don’t know me as well as you think.”
Gideon snickered. “I know you a lot better after last night. Tweety Pie briefs? I expected something far more sedate.”
“Ariel bought them for me for Christmas. I hadn’t had time to do my laundry,” Dan protested.
“Hey, I won’t judge a man for wearing cartoon underwear.” Gideon paused. “She bought me Simba boxers.”
Gideon got the king and Dan got the small yellow bird.
“Why does that not surprise me?” Dan muttered.
“The Lion King is my favorite movie.”
Dan blinked. “That does surprise me.”
“I like animation.”
“Especially if they’re kids’ movies?”
“I used to watch them with Ariel and Simon.”
Dan was so tuned to Gideon that it was easy to catch the hurt in his voice. “They remind you of happier times?”
“They do. I guess that sounds silly.”
“I used to watch Tweety Pie with my grandfather. Paw-paw used to look after me when my mom went on a date,” Dan admitted. “He didn’t like new cartoons, so we watched all the old ones together.”
“I used to do the same with my father.”
Dan was caught by a sudden yawn. “Oh, sorry. Last night is catching up with me again.” He stretched and yawned.
“You need to sleep,” Gideon said briskly.
“Yessir.”
“Smartass.”
Dan laughed. “That’s you.”
“Go and dream of the man of your dreams.”
“I wonder about you, Gideon. I’ve never met a straight man who would say that.”
“What makes you think I’m straight? What the hell are you doing, Liam? Oh hell. I’ve got to go.”
Dan was left staring at the phone. Gideon? Not straight? What the hell?
BY THE following Monday, Dan had gotten himself into a knot about finding anyone to take to the wedding. Ariel had said nothing about finding him a date, but he didn’t think for a moment that Gideon or she would have forgotten. The Tylers didn’t forget. But Dan was doing his best to forget Gideon’s startling announcement.
At a quiet moment during the day, Dan took the op
portunity to call Marty at work and explain the whole bet debacle to him. He had to wait for Marty to stop howling with laughter.
“Thanks for your support,” Dan snapped when Marty finally shut up.
“You’re welcome.” Marty laughed again.
Dan chewed on a hangnail. “How am I going to find a date at this short notice?”
“Don’t you people use an app or something? Antonia, it’s supposed to go over there.” Marty’s attention was definitely elsewhere.
“‘You people?’ Nice. I’ve done Grindr before.” It was fun in his early twenties, but he was approaching thirty and was a down-to-earth, maybe too-old-fashioned kind of guy. He preferred to meet his dates face-to-face.
“Where do you normally meet your dates?”
“At a bar or a club.”
“Why can’t you do that, then? Oh, for fu—!”
Dan heard a huge crash, and then Marty said, “I’ve got to go. Go speed dating if you have to. Just find a date.”
“Speed dating?” Dan stared at the disconnected phone. “What the heck is speed dating?”
Chapter 8
DAN JUMPED as Ariel squealed loudly. The last time he checked, she was writing an essay at the far end of the bar. Now she was an inch away from his ear.
“Speed dating? That’s perfect.” She beamed at him. “Leave it to me.”
Dan stared at her with a sinking feeling. “What are you going to do?”
“Find you a date, silly. We’ll set up a speed-dating night at the bar.”
“Ariel, baby, Cowboys and Angels doesn’t do events. We’re not that type of bar. You know that.”
She tossed her hair. “Only because you guys never make an effort to organize anything. I’ve been telling Daddy he needs to hold events here. I have a ton of contacts who can help. All we need is another nineteen men as potential dates.”
Dan shook his head. “I only need one date.”
“You need to find the right one. Look, you can call that guy who keeps bothering you, or you can let me help. Come on, Dan, you don’t want to be taking a man you hate to Marty’s wedding.”
“I can find my own date, thank you. Wait, does the speed dating count as me finding myself a date or you finding me a date?”
Maybe he should call Disastrous Date. It would shut them up and get the dude to stop texting him.
Ariel tossed her head again, and her ponytail bounced wildly. “You find a man at this event, and Daddy has to pay up.”
Gideon had been watching them talk from the other side of the bar, but he hadn’t gotten involved until then. “That wasn’t the bet, darlin’.”
“It’s only fair, Daddy,” Ariel pointed out. “And an event like this will bring in more customers. It’s perfect.”
“How do we get it organized?” Gideon asked.
“You aren’t serious, boss?” Dan protested.
“Deadly serious. We’ll have to do it on a Monday night, and we need to warn the regulars.”
“They’re not going to be happy.”
“It’s one night, for a couple of hours,” Ariel said. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”
Dan could think of a million things more fun than speed dating, but from the determined looks on Gideon’s and Ariel’s faces, he wasn’t going to win the battle or the bet. It was kind of spooky how fiercely determined and identical their expressions were.
It was annoying, but Ariel was right. Dan had also suggested to Gideon that they hold special events and private functions. He just never thought he would be the focus of the event.
Gideon shook his head. “Ariel, darling, you get the men here. And Dan, you make sure there are drinks and food for them.” He twinkled at Dan. “And make sure you look your prettiest. I’ll forget the $500.”
Ariel burst into peals of laughter, and Dan stalked away to the basement, where he could bitch to the kegs about his absurd situation. Ariel and Gideon could laugh themselves senseless at his expense, and then he’d remind them who really ran the bar, and life would return to normal. Or not.
FOR THE rest of the week, life did return to normal as Dan dealt with a series of issues at the bar. He didn’t have time to think about the dating event. Three of the barmen caught the flu, the dishwasher broke down and flooded the kitchen, and there was an issue with the lines of one of the beers. The barrel had been changed, but one of the barmen told him it wasn’t working, so he was in the basement again, trying to sort out the problem.
“Dan?”
He looked up as Gideon clattered down the wooden stairs to join him. “Hey.”
“Problems?” Gideon came up behind Dan, so close Dan could feel Gideon’s breath on his neck.
“Damn thing’s still not working right. Liam changed the barrel yesterday, and it hasn’t worked since. There are no kinks in the line.”
“Did he clean it through?”
Gideon stepped forward to take a closer look at the line, and his long body pressed against Dan’s. For one moment Dan forgot how to breathe, but then he focused on what Gideon had said.
“Juan told him to, but it’s Liam.” Gideon insisted the lines be cleaned and replaced regularly, and usually Dan or whoever the senior barman was took care of the barrels and lines, but Dan hadn’t been on the shift, and Liam wasn’t the most conscientious of the staff. The customers liked him well enough, but he frustrated the hell out of Dan. “I’ll clean the line now. Hopefully that’ll fix the problem.”
“Okay. I’m gonna talk to Liam.” Gideon sounded resigned.
Dan pressed his lips together. He wasn’t the manager yet, but when he was, Liam was going to pull his weight or he’d be out on his ear.
Gideon looked over his shoulder and obviously caught Dan’s expression. “You wanna talk to him?”
“Why do you keep him on? He’s lazy and inefficient.”
He’d had that argument with Gideon before, but Gideon always insisted that Liam just needed more training. Dan had pointed out Liam got the same training as all the other staff, and they didn’t fuck up, but Gideon insisted that Liam stay.
“He’s Sarah’s nephew.”
Dan frowned. “Sarah? Your wife?”
“Yeah. He couldn’t find a job after high school, and his mom, Sarah’s sister, asked me to help. I didn’t realize how lazy he was.”
“You never told me.” Dan felt strangely hurt, which was stupid, because he’d never really talked with Gideon about personal stuff.
“Liam asked me to keep it quiet, and I agreed. He said he didn’t want people using him to get at me. I didn’t think he was gonna take advantage of our relationship.”
“He’s been here two years,” Dan pointed out. He should have noticed. Gideon had no issues firing staff who didn’t match his standards, but Liam had always been off the table.
Gideon sighed. “It’s the one thing I can’t do. I can deal with anyone but family.”
“If you’re making me manager, Liam either pulls his weight or he’s fired,” Dan warned. “And you back me up, family or not. Are there any other family members you want to spring on me?”
“None. Just Ariel and Liam.” The relief in Gideon’s voice suggested Dan could ask for the world if Gideon didn’t have to deal with his errant family.
“Do you need to talk to his mom first?” The last thing Dan wanted was to get caught between Gideon and his late wife’s family.
Gideon shook his head. “He’s not a kid. There’s no reason why he can’t stand on his own two feet now.”
Footsteps sounded on the steps from the bar.
“Dan? Is the line fixed?” Bradley appeared. “Oh hey, Gideon. I didn’t realize you were down here. Is it fixed?”
Dan shook his head. “I’m gonna clean the line. See if that solves the problem.”
“’Kay.”
Bradley clattered back up the stairs and left Dan and Gideon behind. Dan shivered, bone-cold after the time he’d spent down in the basement.
“Send Liam down here,” Gideon said. “We�
�ll clean the line. You go back up, Dan.”
Dan shivered again, and his teeth chattered. “Are you sure?”
“You stay down here any longer and you’ll turn into an icicle.” Gideon gently pushed Dan to the stairs.
“Thanks.” He took the stairs two at a time and headed for Liam, who looked at him warily.
“Am I in trouble?” Liam asked.
“Don’t know yet,” Dan said. “Did you clean the line when you changed the barrel?”
Liam flushed and looked away. “No. I meant to—”
“Just get downstairs. Gideon’s down there.” He couldn’t fail to notice Liam brightened at Gideon’s name. Dan pressed his lips together. Any reprimand this time was up to Gideon. He would talk to Liam separately, but it was time Liam found out who was in charge. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Liam, get your butt down here,” Gideon roared.
Dan worked his way through the waiting customers, soothed his regulars who were annoyed at the temporary loss of their favorite beer, and made lists of what was needed for the speed-dating evening. He and Ariel would meet later to finalize plans. He also dealt with a blocked toilet in the men’s bathroom and averted a potential fight with two guys over a card game.
After a while a subdued and cold-looking Liam emerged, followed by Gideon. Dan didn’t have time to talk to either of them because it was happy hour and a gaggle of students entered in search of cheap drinks and good music. To Dan’s amusement, Liam went as far away as he could to man one end of the bar.
Gideon joined Dan to help at his end. “It’s working again, and if Liam screws up again he’s out the door.”
“Great. Buck will be happy.”
“I’ll take him a pint.”
Dan poured the beer and handed it to Gideon, who went over to Buck, a customer who’d been coming to the bar for as long as it had been open. The old man gave a toothless grin and a salute as Gideon handed him the glass and exchanged a few words with him.
