Third Time's the Charm

by K. Evan Coles

  “Oh, I don’t know—you seem pretty friendly for a local guy,” Finn said with a teasing grin.

  “Well, you broke the ice.” Luke shrugged at Finn’s disbelieving expression. “If you hadn’t, I’d still be standing there, staring at the traffic and sulking until the rain stopped.”

  Finn laughed. “Oh, no! You did look pretty dejected.”

  “I’m sure the wet head doesn’t help.” Luke ran a hand through his hair. “I’m probably the only gay man in the city who doesn’t carry an umbrella on his person.” Finn’s chuckle made his stomach flip pleasantly.

  “Well, I’m glad you don’t,” Finn said. “Otherwise, I’d have missed another opportunity to be a big Midwestern nerd.”

  Luke smiled. “You’re about the furthest thing from a nerd I’ve ever seen, Finn. I’m a software developer, so I know what I’m talking about.”

  “No way.” Finn scanned Luke out head to toe as they crossed the street. “But you’re built like a brick shithouse!” he blurted and his cheeks flushed again at Luke’s laugh. “Wow, sorry.”

  “You should see your face right now!”

  “I think my filter broke,” Finn said. “But come on, you know you don’t quite radiate stereotypical tech guy, right?”

  “That doesn’t change the fact that I am a tech guy, though. I just happen to work out, too.” Luke softened his teasing with a grin. “Besides, it’s 2018—surely you’ve met nerds like me before.”

  “I went to medical school so, yes, I’ve met plenty of nerds,” Finn replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a nerd who looked like you, though.”

  Luke hummed. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

  “Definitely good,” Finn said, his expression so warm Luke’s stomach gave another giddy flip.

  They walked through Chinatown and continued chatting, and it was easy, Luke thought. The flirty banter came as if they knew each other well instead of having met only a few minutes before. By the time they turned onto Berkeley Street, he’d learned Finn worked as a trauma surgeon at Mass General, often alongside the friend he’d been staying with, Paul. Like Luke, Paul was a Boston native, and it had been through him that Finn had learned about the position at MGH.

  “You mentioned house hunting earlier, so where are you looking to live?” Luke asked. They turned right onto Stanhope Street and, man, did he want to keep talking to this handsome doctor with the big umbrella and the pretty eyes.

  “Beacon Hill’s my first choice,” Finn replied. “It’s close to the hospital, and I’ll appreciate that after a long shift. I really like Back Bay and the South End too, though, so I’m torn.”

  “You’re not buying, right?”

  “Right—I’m renting for now. I don’t even know if I’ll be here five years from now, never mind what neighborhood I’ll want to live in.”

  Luke slowed his steps as they arrived at the diner, and he waited until Finn stopped and faced him. It felt risky pushing for more than this playful interlude—Luke didn’t even know if Finn was single. Hell, he wasn’t even sure Finn was into men. No chance in hell would Luke let the opportunity slip through his fingers twice in one day, though, not with Finn smiling at him.

  “This is me,” Luke said. “Would you like to grab coffee with me sometime, Finn? You got me out of a jam tonight, and I’d love to repay the favor.”

  Finn’s face lit up. “I’d like that.” He pulled a wallet from his pocket and Luke took control of the umbrella. Finn produced a business card embossed with the MGH logo.

  “My cell’s at the bottom.” He handed Luke the card. “I’m working a lot of nights lately, but that’ll change next week. Some days I work six hours, some days eight, then I’ll work a string of twelve-hour shifts, so we could be having coffee at ten in the morning or three in the afternoon.”

  “I have no set rules for coffee drinking,” Luke declared. He paused a moment and glanced over the card. “Griffin Thomason.”

  “My mother spent time in Wales as a child and developed a thing for Welsh names. Which is pretty random considering she’s Turkish. My sister is Seren, my brother Aeron and Griffin for me.” Finn took back the umbrella so Luke could grab his own wallet. “The traditional spelling reads something like ‘Gruffydd,’ but luckily, my dad convinced Mom to spare me a lifetime of explaining myself. My brother started calling me Finn after I was born and it stuck.”

  Luke smiled and tucked Finn’s card away, then handed over one of his own. “My parents went with Biblical names, so my brother and I are Peter and Luke.”

  “Luke suits you.” Finn grinned. “And if I haven’t said it already, it’s been a pleasure meeting you. Properly this time.”

  Luke extended his hand again. “Same here. Thanks for the shelter, Dr. Thomason.”

  “I’ll look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Ryan.” Finn’s touch lingered an extra few seconds as they shook hands, then they each went their separate ways.

  Luke jogged toward the diner’s door but spotted a trio of familiar faces in the front window and stopped in his tracks. Simon, Melissa and Ella were seated at one of the front tables, each eyeing Luke with varying levels of curiosity. Luke gave them a smile and his insides fluttered at the way Ella studied him. Oh, boy, am I going to have to answer a lot of questions. At least he’d have good food and beer while he suffered through the interrogation.

  “Who was that?” Ella asked before he’d sat down. She’d pulled her braids back off her face and wore a Black Widow T-shirt and jeans, and Luke thought she seemed far too grown up as she stared him down. He patted her hand where it rested on the table, his fair skin cool against her own golden bronze.

  “That was a man I met named Finn.”

  “How come you were holding his hand?”

  “I was shaking his hand, not holding it.” Luke picked up a menu and wanted terribly to kick a snickering Simon under the table.

  “That’s not what it looked like to me,” Ella said. “What kind of name is Finn?”

  “It’s short for Griffin, which is Welsh.”

  “Huh. That’s cool, I guess.” Her expression turned thoughtful.

  “I met him on my way here. Simon told you I got caught in the rain, right?”

  Ella’s amber eyes gleamed. “Yep. He said ‘that silly idiot’s stuck without an umbrella.’”

  “Charming.” Luke shot a glare at Simon. “Well, I stopped to wait out the rain and ran into Finn. He offered to share his umbrella because he was coming this way, too.”

  “Oh, man. That sounds like something out of a movie,” Melissa sighed. Her dreamy smile made Ella and Simon roll their eyes in tandem.

  “It sounds like something out of a shitty soap opera,” Simon muttered.

  Luke bit back a laugh. “Finn’s new to Boston, and I told him I’d buy him coffee as a thank you for sharing his umbrella.”

  A small grin crossed Ella’s face. “That was nice of you. When are you doing that?”

  “I don’t know—we said we’d try next week after his work schedule changes. Finn’s a surgeon,” he added and felt very smug at Simon’s arch expression. “He works in the Trauma Division at MGH.”

  “Of course he does.” Simon almost sneered when Melissa went moony again. “Good to hear he’s got a job at least. Other than rescuing stranded pedestrians with his mammoth umbrella, I mean.” He winked at Ella’s giggling.

  “Anyway, we can talk about that another time,” Luke said. “After I tell Ella my terrible joke.”

  This time, Ella smiled widely. “Okay, go,” she urged.

  “What did the cow say to the milk jug?” Luke kept a straight face and waited for Ella’s answer. After a moment, she shook her head.

  “Tell me,” she said.

  Luke made his voice deep and Darth Vader-y. “I am your father!” he boomed, and grinned as Ella burst out laughing.

  Chapter Four

  Finn stepped up to the door of the oyster bar and closed the oversized umbrella. The earlier downpour had weakened to
a light shower, and he went still under the raindrops for a moment, a grin growing on his face.

  He pulled Luke’s business card out of his pocket and stared at the piece of cardstock. “I used an umbrella to pick up a man,” he murmured to himself. Not just any man but big, broad-shouldered Luke with the cheeky smile—the very same guy Finn had thought about all afternoon after their run-in at Starbucks.

  Finn’s phone vibrated in his pocket and snapped him out of his daze. Quickly, he slipped the card away and reached for the restaurant’s door, ignoring the persistent buzz. Once inside, he left the umbrella at the coat check and scanned the room until he spotted his friends at a table near the bar.

  Paul nailed Finn with a glare as he approached their table. “What, you can’t pick up the phone when I call?”

  “Sorry, Mom.” Finn sat down but flinched when Paul smacked his shoulder. “Hey!”

  Paul scowled. “So rude.”

  “I was literally just outside,” Finn replied. “It seemed ridiculous to answer when I could almost see you from the door.”

  Paul’s glower softened. “Sorry. I thought you’d decided to blow us off.” He reached for the bottle in the marble chiller at the end of the table, and Mick slid an empty wine glass toward him. “You can’t blame me after all the bitching you did earlier today.”

  “I said I’d be here.” Finn gestured at the room around them. “Mick doesn’t seem surprised to see me, so why should you?”

  “Well, unlike me, Mick is a kind and trusting soul.” Paul glanced fondly at his husband and filled the glass with wine. “He was adamant you’d make it.”

  Mick nodded at Finn. “I told him not to call, but you can see how well that went.”

  “It’s okay.” Finn accepted the glass with a nod. “There are worse things in the world than to have someone overly interested in your well-being. My mother appreciates it. And she did ask you guys to keep an eye on me when I moved out here.”

  “That’s because Ayla knows you need mothering from time to time.” Finn’s mother and Paul had always been fond of each other. “Take now for example,” he said, then reached over and gently fingered the lapel of Finn’s black blazer. “Why are you wet? Didn’t you bring an umbrella?”

  “Of course I did—I checked it at the door and got splashed a little when I closed it, that’s all. It’s one of yours and the thing is the size of a circus tent.”

  “Every umbrella we have is huge,” Paul replied. “There’s one with rainbow stripes that is one of the most glorious things you’ve ever seen.”

  “That means it looks like a circus tent, too. Thankfully, the one I picked up was plain black.”

  Finn was arrested by a sudden yen to open a giant rainbow umbrella over Luke’s head, just to see his expression. Paul and Mick went quiet then, and Finn glanced up to find them watching him closely.

  “O-o-kay—what’s going on with you?” Paul drew his eyebrows together until the skin of his forehead puckered. “You’ve been acting goofy ever since you got home this afternoon.”

  “Don’t say it’s nothing because neither of us is buying it,” Mick chimed in. “At least, not right now because, holy shit, I think you are actually blushing.”

  Finn laughed. His cheeks were on fire and he kind of wanted to kick himself, but another part of him was excited that he had a story for his friends. Especially a story about Luke.

  “I may have met someone,” he hedged and laughed again at Paul’s grimace.

  “What the hell does that mean, ‘may have met someone’?” Paul asked. “I mean, either you did or you didn’t, Finn, unless this someone is an inter-dimensional being. Did you meet a ghost?”

  “No, I met a man.” Finn grinned at his friends’ eager faces. “I met a man outside your building, and we shared your umbrella on the walk over here.”

  “Hey, that’s great!” Paul exclaimed before his smile wavered. “Wait, ‘sharing an umbrella’ isn’t a euphemism for something sexual, right?”

  “What? No! Or, not that I know of?” Finn clapped a hand over a laugh while Mick and Paul cackled across the table. “I literally shared an umbrella with a guy so he wouldn’t get rained on,” he said. “And get this—I saw the same guy earlier today in line at Starbucks.”

  “Really?” Paul asked. “You met him buying coffee?”

  “Well, we didn’t quite meet—he was ahead of me in line and we smiled at each other, but I chickened out and never said anything to him.”

  Paul frowned. “That doesn’t sound like you. He must be smoking hot for you to go all shy.”

  “He’s so that,” Finn agreed. “Big and built with a killer smile. Very much my type.”

  Understanding flashed across Mick’s face. “Aha! That’s why you were moody earlier today.”

  “Yeah, I was pissed at myself for blowing it. But whatever, I ran into him again and didn’t lose my shit.”

  “This happened outside our building?” Mick asked.

  “Yep. It was raining when I came down and the guy had stopped under your awning to stay dry. We recognized each other and somehow got talking. I realized we were headed in the same direction and offered to share the umbrella.”

  Paul’s jaw dropped open. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  Mick reached over and tapped his glass against Finn’s. “Very nice, Finn. That is some next level chick-flick kind of chivalry, my friend.”

  “Thank you. I didn’t even think about it at the time—I was just happy I got another chance to talk to him.” Delight shot through Finn as he recalled the way Luke’s smile had lit up his big eyes, and he grinned.

  Paul hummed. “Oh, my God. You are smitten.”

  Finn didn’t bother denying it—he’d seen enough of Luke during their short time together to become infatuated. If only he knew where Luke’s blond friend fit in the picture.

  “Are you going to tell us more about the umbrella man or keep us in suspense?” Mick asked.

  Before Finn could respond, a familiar voice cut through the buzz of the crowd around them and popped his happy flirt bubble.

  “Finn! What on earth are you doing hiding out over here with the old married guys?”

  Problematic Chad squeezed behind Finn and plopped down at the table’s remaining empty chair. He was impeccably put together in a sleek black suit and clearly didn’t care that he’d interrupted their conversation. He aimed a smile at Paul and Mick and leaned over to kiss Finn’s cheek.

  “Hey, Chad,” Finn replied. “I just got here a minute ago. I’m here at Paul and Mick’s invitation.”

  “Pfft, I’d have invited you if I’d known you had the night off,” Chad replied. He set his glass beside Finn’s and reached for the wine bottle. “How have you been since the last time I saw you? No, let me guess—you’ve been working crazy hours and continuing to abuse your friends’ hospitality. I’m sure they can’t wait to have their place back to themselves.”

  Finn raised his eyebrows. He’d extended his stay in Paul and Mick’s apartment several times since his move, but they’d assured him repeatedly he should treat their home as his own. Finn glanced across the table and felt relieved when he saw them staring at Chad with shock on their faces. Mick almost radiated offense.

  “You’re out of line.” An edge lurked in his deep voice, and Chad’s demeanor sobered.

  “Oh, come on—you know I didn’t mean anything by it. I was teasing!” Chad met Mick’s stare over the rims of his stylish glasses. “Of course you’ve welcomed Finn into your home. You wouldn’t be the men I know and love if you hadn’t. I’m sure he’s a very considerate housemate, too, but that doesn’t mean you and Paul aren’t looking forward to getting your privacy back.”

  “That day’s not far off,” Finn said. “I decided on an apartment this afternoon.”

  Paul’s face lost some of its glower. “You did? Which one?”

  “The place on Primus Avenue,” Finn replied. “The one with the garden courtyard.”

  “I
loved that place!” Paul beamed. “Are you sure it’s still available?”

  “I called the realtor on my way out of the hospital today,” Finn said. “I hadn’t quite decided at the time and asked her to hold Primus and the apartment on Spruce.”

  Mick snapped his fingers. “Did the apartment on Spruce have a lofted bedroom?”

  “That’s the one,” Finn replied.

  Chad waved a hand at them all. “Wait, wait, wait.” His expression had turned peevish, probably at being left out of the conversation. “Primus and Spruce? Where are these streets? Neither rings a bell, and I pride myself on knowing this city quite well. Are you moving to Cambridge, Finn?”

  “No, I’m staying in Boston. Primus Avenue and Spruce Street are on Beacon Hill.”

  Chad’s haughty attitude deflated. “Ah. That’s disappointing. Are you sure you’ve made up your mind? That part of town is so stuffy.” He made a face. “Lawyers and politicians and all those cobblestone streets that eat up your shoes.”

  “I’m sure I’ll manage. I need to be near the hospital, what with all my crazy hours.” Finn offered Chad a smile so fake his face ached, but Chad continued heedlessly.

  “The South End is much more vibrant, Finn, not to mention more fun. Even Back Bay isn’t half-bad in comparison. I’ve been trying to talk our friends here into moving away from that dumpy place on the Common for years, but they won’t hear of it.”

  Paul pressed his lips together in what Finn recognized as a valiant attempt to keep his temper in check, but he lost the battle in seconds. He’d inherited his condo from his grandmother, and Finn knew Paul loved it and the neighborhood unreservedly. Finn felt sorry for Chad as Paul scolded him but not enough to insinuate himself into their argument. Mick simply sat back and a grin played about his lips as he watched his husband lay into their friend.

  Finn sipped his wine and let the quarreling voices fade into the background. Despite Paul’s and Mick’s assurances he could stay with them as long as he needed, he wanted to get the ball rolling on his own apartment. Finn needed a place to call his own again, especially if he planned to get to know someone like Luke better.