Domestic Do-over

by Kate McMurray

  There was one from Sandy: So you WERE fucking him this whole time! I knew it!

  Travis sighed. He listened to his voicemail. Ismael said, “Hey, Trav. I know you have that other meeting today, but I just wanted to let you know we got the backsplash tiles in. The crew is putting in the appliances today. I’m not sure how we’re installing the backsplash. Call me when you get a chance.”

  So Travis returned that call.

  “Good news,” said Ismael. “We got the appliances into the kitchen, no problem. Plumber came by and checked the dishwasher and everything. And Brandon’s almost done putting in the backsplash tile. Erik filmed most of it, but there was some kind of hullabaloo around lunchtime.”

  So Brandon was at the house, working for the cameras. The show hadn’t been canceled and Brandon was still on it. Did that say anything about the choice Brandon had made? Travis glanced at the wall clock. It was almost three. He’d been seething most of the day away. “Hullabaloo?”

  “Yeah, Erik got a bunch of phone calls and we shut down production for about a half hour because he wanted to film the installation but had to talk to someone at Restoration corporate. I don’t really know what happened. And Brandon was really upset when he got here, so I just assumed something bad happened at the other house. Did it?”

  “Uh, I don’t know. I went home sick. Feeling better now, though.”

  “Oh. Sorry to hear that. Anyway, no one will tell me anything, so I don’t really know what’s going on. But if it’s related to the show production, that’s not my job anyway. We’re moving along with everything else.”

  “What have you got left to do today?”

  “Well, Mike and Sandy did the tub in the master bathroom. I was gonna finish putting up that wallpaper in the family room, but Brandon told me to wait.”

  “They probably want to film that too.”

  “I figured. Rest of the crew is working on the exterior. We’re trying to get the second coat done before we lose daylight.”

  “Excellent.”

  “And Brandon wants to show you the backsplash since you haven’t seen the tile yet. It’s kind of a bold choice, so I assume this is some TV thing where he calls you in so you can tell him how much you hate it.”

  Travis laughed. That seemed about right. If he was even welcome on the show. “He’s my next phone call.”

  “Cool. You coming by tomorrow or…?”

  “I don’t know, actually. I think Brandon and Virginia probably had a conversation about the other house without me, but I don’t know what the schedule is yet.”

  “Cool. Just let me know.”

  “I will. Thanks, Iz.”

  “No problema, boss.”

  When Ismael hung up, Travis held the phone to his chest for a moment. Then he called Brandon.

  “Hi,” Brandon said, sounding wary.

  “I’m sorry for storming out and disappearing today,” Travis said. “I’m home, by the way.”

  “I’m at Argyle Road. I have some news.”

  “I’m fired, aren’t I?”

  “What? No, of course you aren’t fired. If they fired you, I’d quit the show. But… actually, it would be better if we talk in person. Can you come to the Argyle Road house?”

  If they fired you, I’d quit the show. Travis closed his eyes and tried to feel that. “All right. Is Virginia there?”

  “No. I’ll send everyone home, even Erik. I want to show you something.”

  Travis took a deep breath and let it out. “No need to send Ismael’s crew home early if they’re still working. I just talked to Iz, he told me they’re trying to finish the exterior paint before the sun sets. But I can’t really deal with the cameras right now, so if Erik’s gone, I won’t be mad about it. Give me a little time to clean up. Then I’ll get a cab. Be there in a half hour.”

  “Okay. See you soon.”

  ABOUT FIFTEEN minutes after he got off the phone with Travis, Brandon stood beside Erik as he packed up for the day.

  “So what does this mean for the production?” Erik asked.

  “Harwood didn’t say exactly, just that we should keep shooting as if nothing happened.”

  “I hope you know how sorry I am. If I had known what Virginia would do, I never would have told her. We talk a few times a week so I can update her on the production when she’s not here, and I told her about seeing you two together as a bit of set gossip. Like, ha ha, Travis and Brandon were acting rather close on set today, isn’t that funny? I honestly had no idea you were gay or that the two of you were hooking up. I had a hunch, that’s all. I never wanted to out you or get you in trouble with the network or anything.”

  “All right. I believe you. Travis may not trust you going forward, but given how everything has shaken out, I think your job is okay.”

  “Okay. So you’re sending me away now because….”

  “I want Travis to come by and look at the backsplash, but he doesn’t want to deal with you or the cameras right now, which is fair under the circumstances. We can reshoot his reaction tomorrow if we think it would be good on camera.”

  “Is he that good of an actor?”

  “If he hates it, we’ll never hear the end of it.”

  Erik chuckled. “Fair enough.” He zipped up his bag. “For what it’s worth, I think you guys are good together. I like working with both of you. Travis never bullshits, which I appreciate.”

  Brandon nodded. He appreciated that too.

  When Erik was gone, Brandon walked into the kitchen and tried to see it as Travis might. It was exactly what they’d discussed. They’d picked custom craftsman cabinets stained a dark color, rich brown with red undertones, not too dark. The brown on the backsplash tiles matched the color of the cabinets nearly exactly, and the teal popped against the wood. They’d put down medium-gray ceramic tiles that had some of the same undertones as the cabinets, which tied everything together. The off-white quartz counters broke up the colors and made the room look balanced.

  It was perfect. Brandon loved this kitchen. Travis’s instincts had been dead-on. And that was why Brandon needed him on the show.

  Brandon needed him in his life.

  He supposed the fact that Travis was willing to come over was a good sign.

  Brandon heard the front door open a few minutes later. He headed in that direction and met Travis in the living room.

  Travis looked tired. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were rimmed red.

  “How much do you hate me?” Brandon asked.

  “I don’t hate you. I do hate Virginia. She’d better not be here.”

  “She’s not. I, uh… I called Garrett Harwood after the meeting with Jessica Benton. Virginia’s been fired.”

  Travis jerked his head up to look at Brandon. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. I called Harwood to tell him what happened, and I ended up telling him everything. I figured if the tabloids have the story, he’s heard by now anyway. So I told him about us, about Virginia finding out, and about her leaking the news to the press. I told him you were furious and that you were threatening to quit the show. And then I told him that if you quit, I was out too, so it was me or Virginia. I’m the cash cow, apparently, and Harwood picked me.”

  Travis’s eyes were wide. “You got her fired?”

  “So, fun story. I told all this to Harwood, and you know what he told me? He’s also gay. And he sees himself as an Andy Cohen type. He wants to do more where he’s on TV as a host and runs these specials where he gets people from all the different network shows to do a project together—to show that we’re all part of one big family. Which I guess is neither here nor there, but I told him I’d be game for that sort of thing. Harwood has no issue with us as a couple, and he gave me permission to run the show however I saw fit until we could hire a new producer.”

  “But he just… fired Virginia?”

  “Everything you said this morning about us being the ones who should decide when to come out was correct. Harwood understood that.”<
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  Travis nodded. He still looked unsure.

  Brandon paused to listen. Mike and Sandy had left after overseeing the last of the plumbing-related tasks, and Ismael and the rest of his crew were all outside doing exterior work. No one was inside the house. “Look, here’s the deal. I want to keep this job. The meeting with Jessica Benton this morning was awkward and I had trouble focusing, but I could tell she had good instincts. I think that house will be a hell of a lot of fun to work on. And I want to do the project with you, because you’re knowledgeable and we work together well. And I want you in my life because I care about you and being with you makes me happy.”

  Travis covered his mouth with his hand and wiped it away slowly. “So what now?”

  “Well, that depends on you.”

  Travis nodded. “What do you want to happen?”

  Brandon didn’t want to push Travis too hard yet. “You come back to work tomorrow. We can finish this house and start production at the Benton house. It’s gorgeous, by the way. Beat all to hell, in horrible shape, but I think we could do a really elegant design there—something a little softer than what we did here. And I want you and Jessica to help with the design. I want you to have whatever role on the show you’re most comfortable with. I want us to work together to hire a new producer to replace Virginia, someone we both like.”

  Travis nodded slowly.

  “And,” Brandon said, “I want you to come home with me tonight. I want you to be with me because we care about each other and make each other happy. I want to work with you at home and on set and in all the places in between. I want to make love to you every night and I want to fight about paint colors and wallpaper and tiles with you and I want to make over houses with you for the foreseeable future. That’s what I want.”

  Travis looked unconvinced. “Brandon, I—”

  “Before you say anything, I want to show you something.”

  “All right.”

  Brandon took Travis’s hand and wove their fingers together. Then he led Travis into the kitchen.

  Travis gasped. “Those tiles.”

  “They’re perfect, aren’t they?” Brandon said. “I saw those tiles in the store and they looked just like what you described. Did I get it right?”

  Travis blinked a few times. He looked around slowly, clearly taking in the whole picture because he hadn’t seen the kitchen put together yet. Then he looked at Brandon. “It is perfect. It’s exactly what I pictured.”

  “I know tiles are a silly thing to get excited over, but—”

  “No, Brandon. This is beautiful. I can’t believe you found tile exactly like what I saw in my head.”

  “They cost a pretty penny, but they were 100 percent worth it to get that expression on your face.”

  Travis lunged at Brandon and kissed him hard. Then he put his arms around Brandon and pressed his face into Brandon’s shoulder. Brandon almost didn’t know what to do with this rare show of emotion, but he rubbed Travis’s back and held him close.

  “These last few days have been a trial,” Travis said. “All I want is to fix houses and be with you. The rest of it is bullshit. I don’t want to be famous, I don’t care about television. I just want… this.”

  Brandon kissed the side of Travis’s head. “I wanted to surprise you.”

  “It’s a good surprise.” Travis’s voice was watery. “But why did you do this? You could have picked a more generic tile. Something safer.”

  Brandon considered that as he considered the man in his arms. Why had Brandon done this? Because he loved Travis.

  The thought came to him unbidden. He hugged Travis close and reveled in the sensation of their bodies pressed together. Yes, he loved Travis. But he wasn’t sure that was what Travis wanted to hear right now. “I wanted to. I knew it would make you happy.”

  Travis pulled away and looked up at Brandon. “That’s a stupid reason.”

  Brandon smiled. “I know.”

  The front door crashed open, and Travis pulled away.

  “Hey, boss?” Ismael called. “You here? Thought I saw you come in.”

  “Kitchen,” hollered Travis.

  For Brandon, it felt like the bubble burst. He stepped aside and listened while Ismael gave Travis a report on everything they’d accomplished that day. When Travis dismissed Ismael for the day, he turned around and looked at Brandon.

  “Your place or mine?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  THE PHRASE I love you felt like the carbonation in a soda inside of Brandon. If Travis shook up Brandon any more, it would just bubble up and overflow out of him.

  He worried Travis wasn’t ready to hear it, though he had some faith that Travis’s feelings for him were deep and genuine. But Travis had been acting a little strange since the big reveal with the tile. Not mysteriously so; Brandon understood that Travis felt overwhelmed. This day had been full of just the sort of messy, emotional moments Travis seemed not to like.

  But they were at Travis’s apartment, a space he seemed to feel safe. Travis moved through it, picking up clothes off the floor in the bedroom area of the studio while Brandon sat on the bed and watched him.

  “It doesn’t bother me that your apartment is messy,” Brandon said.

  “It bothers me.”

  “I can take a page from your playbook. I thought we were here to have sex.”

  Travis stopped what he was doing and turned to Brandon. “Today has been a lot. Can you just… give me a minute?”

  “All right.”

  Brandon liked that he could figure Travis out now. He recognized that Travis was cleaning up to avoid his messy emotions. That was fine; Brandon didn’t want to talk about emotions anyway. Instead, he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on the floor near Travis’s feet.

  Travis turned toward Brandon with a frown. “Really?”

  Brandon whipped off his undershirt and tossed it at Travis’s head. “Just trying to get the ball rolling.”

  Travis rolled his eyes, then picked up Brandon’s discarded clothes and put them in his own hamper. That was fine; Brandon had a drawer in Travis’s dresser now. Brandon viewed this as more evidence that he and Travis should just live together in the Argyle Road house already, but he didn’t say anything.

  Not yet.

  Travis sighed. “You did some incredible things for me today.”

  “I don’t need to talk about it. Unless you want to.”

  “I don’t. Just… I felt like I needed to say that.”

  “Travis, come here.”

  Travis picked the last item of clothing off the floor—one of Travis’s sexier and more form-fitting T-shirts—and tossed it in the hamper. He walked over to the bed and dropped down beside Brandon. “I fucking hate this.”

  “What do you hate?” But Brandon already knew.

  “I feel like a complete mess inside. I was so furious this morning. Now I’m kind of resigned about what happened. It’s out there. My sister, who I haven’t talked to in, like, six weeks because she’s too busy with her kids in Chicago, called today to congratulate me on landing such a hot guy. Like, what even is that? I’ve got people I haven’t seen since I dropped out of college leaving me messages on Facebook like, ‘I didn’t even know you were gay.’ Like… thanks, bro. I can’t even tell if you’re joking there.” Travis rubbed his forehead. “But whatever. It’s out there. It’s done. And you know what? I kind of expected you to just go along to get along, to pick the show over me, but no, you went over Virginia’s head and got her fired.”

  “What she did was wrong.” Brandon felt assured of that, at least. She’d outed them without their consent. Brandon had been mentally preparing himself for being gay publicly, but he’d wanted to do it in his own time, in a way that let him control the narrative. “And my social media has been far worse. I’m already famous, you know. People think this gives them license to write vile, homophobic things on my social media accounts. I’ve been called a faggot online about seven hundred times today, and that’s mild.
One young man told me he hoped I got AIDS and died.”

  Travis let out a long breath. “That’s… that’s hurtful.”

  Brandon was trying to be circumspect about it. For every vile comment he’d received, he’d gotten ten supportive ones. But every negative comment made his pulse spike and his stomach churn and made him angry at Virginia all over again. But he had to deal with the hand he’d been dealt.

  “Harwood wants to beef up security on the set,” said Brandon. “I’m sure most of the more violent comments are empty threats and everything will be fine, but I agreed that some extra security couldn’t hurt.”

  “Okay. Jesus.”

  “My point is, I was just as furious as you. But I was so stunned by the news at first that I kind of shut down. I regret not yelling at Virginia right alongside you, but I did give Harwood an earful, and she’s gone now. We’ll pick a producer we trust for the show, and I mean we. I want you to have a say in these decisions, even if you don’t accept the cohost position.”

  “Right. But you got that done. And then you… you put up those tiles. For me.”

  “It’s a small thing, I know.”

  “It’s a huge thing. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You listened and you deferred to my judgment and it came out beautifully. Like a dream kitchen. I love everything about it. And maybe it’s dumb to feel so excited about a kitchen, but I do.”

  “I’m glad. I saw that tile at the store and I couldn’t get over how perfect it was.”

  Travis looked up at the ceiling for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. Then he let out a breath. “I stormed out of that house today and I thought you would try to smooth everything over and sacrifice me for the sake of the show. But no, you stood up for me, for us, and you tried to fix the problem.” Travis put his hands on Brandon’s shoulders. “I thought it would be easiest to just walk away from all of this. I thought about that a lot this morning. But stuff like this just shows me that I can’t possibly walk away from you.”