by Trina Solet
"For the record we also like strawberry parfait and rainbow sherbet," Diego said. "We call that a well balanced diet. Jamie can't eat a whole steak. I usually only make one and share mine with him. So what do you say?"
"Are you treating me to steaks because you know that I'm on a budget?" Trevor said.
"What? I just want to eat steak. It's a package of two, and it's too much for us. I'm only asking you to help me out, as a neighbor." Diego gave him an innocent look.
"Aha," Trevor said. He couldn't help smiling.
"That smile says yes. I'll go get the steaks."
"I'll watch Zane," Jamie said.
"OK. You and Trevor watch Zane," his dad told him.
As his dad left, Jamie turned to Trevor. "You can help me watch Zane."
"I'll do that," Trevor told him and they both watched Zane poking around the underside of a chair.
Jamie then crawled under to see what he found. "He found a sticker."
"He loves tags, labels and stickers," Trevor told him. Zane's tiny fingers were always poking at them. The funniest things were irresistible to that little boy.
Soon, Diego was back with two very nice, rib-eye steaks. "These will fry up nice and I have blue cheese to top them."
Jamie objected to the topping. "No blue cheese, Dad."
"You don't have to have any," Diego told him.
"Zane doesn't want any either," Jamie said. He and Zane were still sitting on the floor exploring the undersides of chairs.
"You OK with blue cheese?" Diego asked Trevor.
"I like it. A place where I used to bus tables served buffalo wings and blue cheese. I couldn't get enough."
"Now I know what to treat you to next," Diego said with an evil gleam in his eyes.
Trevor hoped he was joking. He already owed him for breakfast and now for the steaks for dinner. He couldn't remember the last time he had steaks, but he remembered Aunt Chrissie's cheerful voice when she announced, "I got a raise and I spent it all on steaks." Even though she was gone, she could still make him smile but always with tears in his eyes.
Zane's carrots were done so Trevor seated him in his highchair. Jamie climbed into a regular chair across from him and got some carrots too. He wasn't thrilled with what was in front of him, but he was willing to eat the carrots to set a good example for Zane. Zane's spaghetti was served plain and it got cut into small pieces so he didn't put on as much of a show as Jamie was hoping for.
While they were busy, Trevor and Diego made the steaks. They were elbow to elbow in the small kitchen. The closeness made Trevor nervous so he got a little clumsy, but Diego didn't let him mess up anything.
Making dinner together with a guy while an undercurrent of tension and heat made things interesting was a new feeling for Trevor. It was something he imagined might happen one day when he had a boyfriend. He had also imagined leaning in for a kiss on the lips, on the side of his neck, maybe a nibble on his earlobe – every one a promise of what was to come later.
That wasn't what was happening here. Not at all. This was just a friendly gesture from a kindhearted neighbor who was unbelievably hot with a hard body and smoldering eyes. While they worked together, Trevor didn't dare look at him, and he hardly trusted himself to speak. He was relieved when it was time to get the plates.
By the time they sat down to eat, it was a little past Zane's bedtime but Trevor didn't have the heart to put him to bed. It wasn't every night they had guests and Zane was having a good time with Jamie. As for Trevor, he was wrapped in a warm glow of companionship and attraction. It was no different than being drunk and happy for no reason. But damn, it felt good.
To top it off, that night Trevor had the best sex dreams of his life. Then in the morning he had to remind himself of the stark reality of his life. He had Zane for now but making ends meet was a struggle, and he had no room in his life for love or reckless passion. Trevor might be a real flesh and blood sex god living just down the hall, but he could only reach for him in his dreams. He was off limits.
Chapter 4
Around noon Diego was telling himself to keep working and not to take a break for lunch. He wanted to be able to spend as much time as he could with Jamie. If he pushed through with work, Diego could take a break after he got Jamie from daycare. That's when he heard his doorbell ring a few times in a row. The ring didn't sound right for a package. He went and opened the door.
"What's the trouble?" Diego asked when he saw Trevor standing there holding Zane and a shopping bag, and looking panicked.
Trevor rattled off the facts. "My fridge died and the social worker is coming for a home visit. The super is sending someone to fix it today or tomorrow maybe. Can I put some stuff in your fridge? If Zane's caseworker sees milk for Zane in a fridge that doesn't work..."
"When is the social worker coming?" Diego asked.
"In two hours, two and a half," he said after awkwardly checking the time on his phone with the same hand that was holding the shopping bag. To help out, Zane leaned way over and grabbed for his phone of course.
"Come in here," Diego said then led the way into the kitchen. He thought for a minute. "We have room in the fridge, but maybe we could switch them out instead."
"Switch what?" Trevor wondered as he set the bag on the kitchen counter and tried to keep Zane from getting adventurous with the top cabinets.
"Let's switch my fridge for yours. We'll take my fridge over to your place so when the social worker comes, she'll find a working fridge," Diego told him.
"Seriously? That's crazy," Trevor said as he looked from the fridge to Diego.
"You need to make a good impression, don't you? It's better to show her a working fridge than to give her a explanation for why it isn't working, and why you have the milk stashed over at the neighbor's," Diego pointed out.
Trevor frowned. He still seemed doubtful, but he could see Diego's point. "OK. I'll take the fridge, but this is still crazy."
"Let's see. Carl, the super, has a dolly. I'll ask if we can borrow it," Diego said and he got on the phone with him.
While they waited for Carl, Diego looked inside his fridge. "We'll leave the good stuff in there, the vegetables and even better, the organic vegetables. I'll take out the vodka chilling in the freezer, the beer and the other beer. My friend likes this one." Diego held up the Corona he kept in his fridge for Lance.
"We better take out the jars so they don't break when the fridge is being moved," Trevor said.
"Oh, look, Zane wants to help," Diego said as Zane made a grab for stuff on the fridge door. "No, not the hot sauce. Want the mustard?" Diego gave him the bright yellow bottle to hold and he was happy.
Carl brought the dolly and then helped switch out the fridges. "I'm not supposed to do it, but I'll do it for that little Zane. A personal favor to him," Carl said.
"Did you hear that, Zane? You owe him one. One day you might have to help him grout the shower or something," Diego told him and Zane let out a noise and made a goofy face.
"I definitely owe you both. Thank you," Trevor said.
Diego stayed behind at Trevor's to make sure the fridge was clean. On his last visit to the apartment, he noticed that Trevor's place was spotless as was his fridge. Diego's fridge wasn't too bad, but he wanted to make sure Trevor had nothing to worry about with a social worker on the way.
"How come your aunt didn't name you Zane's guardian?" Diego wondered and hoped it wasn't some kind of thorny issue.
The answer turned out to be fairly simple. "She thought I was too young. Her best friend was supposed to take care of Zane if anything happened to Aunt Chrissie. Unfortunately, she was with my aunt in the car crash. She died as well. The next person in line moved to Belgium when she got married. I contacted her and told her I wanted Zane to be with me, and she agreed and wrote to social services to say that she believed I was the right person to take care of Zane. She's the one who is paying for the lawyer representing me in the custody case," Trevor explained solemnly. Diego could tell how d
ifficult it was for him to talk about what happened.
"That's generous of her," Diego said.
"It is. I'm really grateful that she's supporting me in this." He looked over at Zane and smiled at his antics.
Sitting on the floor, Zane was playing with an empty water bottle that had its cap removed. The noise it made when he squeezed it was grating, but Zane loved it.
"I should have never given it to him. Now I don't have the heart to take it away from him," Trevor said, so he must have hated that noise too.
Diego had to get back to work, so Trevor walked him to the door. "I can't thank you enough for the fridge."
"Sure you can. Have us over for dinner again. We don't have a working fridge at my place, you know," Diego said.
Trevor agreed right away. "That's the least I can do."
"OK. I'll order us a pizza," Diego told him.
"Wait. That's not having you over for dinner," Trevor pointed out.
"I'll order Chinese," Diego offered.
"Why don't you let me take care of dinner?" Trevor insisted. "Cooking will help me de-stress after the social worker's visit."
"OK. Looking forward to it. And good luck with the home visit. I'm sure it will go great." Diego gave his arm a quick squeeze. He hoped it came off as a supportive gesture not a grabby move.
Leaving straight from there, Diego went to get Jamie from daycare. On the way he found himself getting anxious, hoping that the visit from the social worker would go well. He couldn't imagine that anyone would look at Trevor and Zane and not know immediately that they should be together.
Jamie was happy to hear that they were going to Trevor and Zane's for dinner. After he got him home, Jamie kept asking if it was time yet and what was for dinner. For his part, Diego waited until after the social worker was gone then he texted Trevor to ask if he could come over and help with dinner, then if he could bring anything. Maybe he was just as bad as Jamie. Finally, Trevor texted that it was OK to come over.
"Something smells amazing," Diego said as he and Jamie went in.
"It's nothing fancy, just baked chicken and rice. It was my aunt's specialty." Trevor smiled sadly at the mention of his aunt.
Diego could tell that he was still grieving for her. He had seen some photos of her with both Trevor and Zane. She had strawberry blond hair like Zane and a bright look in her eyes. Next to her, Trevor always looked so serious. Even as a child, his big blue eyes seemed so solemn.
At dinner, Zane made a mess of his serving of rice and tiny pieces of chicken. Jamie liked the food but tried to eat around the vegetables that were mixed in with the rice.
"I see what you're doing there. Eat the veggies too. They're good," Diego told him. "You have to set a good example for Zane, you know."
Jamie sneaked a look at Zane to see if he was watching, and of course he was. For his sake, Jamie bravely ate some vegetables.
"This food is great. Thank you," Diego said. The rice had been baked with some chicken quarters and the flavor was really good. "This might be the best tasting rice I ever had."
"Thank you. This dish means a lot to me, so I wanted to make it for you guys to say thank you. I hope my fridge crisis didn't interrupt your work," Trevor said.
"Work went fine. There's a robotics fair coming up and the kids from low income areas need all the hardware they can get. The things these kids come up with are amazing. There was a long wish list for equipment they need. I hit up some tech companies for whatever I could get my hands on. When they start saying I'm robbing them blind, I know I've done my job."
"And it's for a good cause too. That's great," Trevor said. "I sold a fancy chandelier to a lady and her decorator."
"That needs doing too," Diego told him, but he imagined that Trevor must be a very low-key salesman. When he was shopping, that's the kind of salesperson Diego preferred so he might do fine. Plus he was gorgeous. Who wouldn't want to buy anything he was selling?
After dinner, with all of them there, Zane wasn't eager to go to sleep. Every time Trevor tried to put him in his crib, he started crying really loud. Seeing that he wasn't cooperating, Diego had an idea.
"Jamie, you want to help? Go and lie down next to Zane's crib and pretend to sleep. When he sees you're sleeping, he might fall asleep too."
"Trick him?" Jamie said and frowned at Diego.
"Yeah, but it's OK since it might keep him from crying," Diego told him.
Jamie agreed and the two of them went to Zane's small room, which was only lit by a night-light. Diego waited at the door and Jamie walked in to join Trevor.
"There's a big pillow in the corner. It's for sitting, but you can lie down on it," Trevor said.
Jamie dragged the pillow over to the crib and curled up on it. Now that he was there, Zane didn't cry. He chattered at him for a while as Jamie did a bad impression of someone who was asleep.
Trevor and Diego left them to it. It would either work or it wouldn't. There were dishes to be done and Diego figured he should help with that. He hated doing dishes with a passion, but he didn't mind being in close quarters with Trevor in that small kitchen of his.
After dishes were taken care of, Zane had gone quiet so they went over to check on him. Peeking inside Zane's room, they were surprised to see that it wasn't only Zane who had gone to sleep. With his eyes closed in a darkened room, Jamie had gone from pretending to sleep to the real thing.
Trevor and Diego tiptoed away then slumped on the couch together.
"I can't believe Jamie fell asleep while trying to get Zane to go to sleep," Diego said.
"I guess it's pretty close to his bedtime too."
"It is," Diego confirmed. Since they had some quiet time now, Diego thought it was a good chance to talk and get an update. "How did it go with the social worker today?"
"Not too bad. Mrs. Rivers seemed nice. I didn't see her frown at anything," Trevor said and he looked relieved but still apprehensive.
"What would she have to frown about? You're ahead of the curve. Your place is spotless." Diego waved his hand all around. "You take great care of Zane. Anyone can see that he's a happy, healthy kid."
Trevor smiled. "Once I got to borrow your fridge, I think the apartment made a pretty good impression." He spoke like he was afraid to be too optimistic.
Diego didn't blame him considering what was at stake. That's why a broken fridge sent him into crisis mode. "You just moved in and you had to deal with appliances breaking down. This place isn't quite the palace it was supposed to be."
"My old place had a huge leak over half the ceiling. The management company kept saying they would fix it, but they kept dragging their feet. My roommates and I put up with it because of the low rent, but I couldn't take Zane there."
"They're pretty good about fixing things here. I'm sure they'll fix up your fridge in no time. That would be my fridge now," Diego realized.
"We should switch back," Trevor said. He was obviously feeling bad that now Diego was the one stuck with a fridge that didn't work.
"The fridge will get fixed wherever it is. Don't worry about it," Diego told him.
"I just hate that I had a crisis right before Zane's social worker came here. I got lucky this time, but I don't like depending on the kindness of strangers when it comes to Zane's future."
"A stranger. That stings," Diego said.
"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I have to be careful who I lean on," Trevor said.
"Don't make me sound untrustworthy," Diego told him.
"Sorry. I keep saying the wrong thing. I appreciate your help. I really do. But I feel guilty that helping me means you end up with a broken fridge," Trevor said.
"We're good. Our food is safe over here, but I might need to pop in for milk in the morning," Diego told him.
"I'll be up. Zane is an early riser," Trevor said to him. "Sometimes he wakes up crying. Sometimes he wakes up babbling, like he has so much to say." The look in Trevor's eyes was beaming with happiness, but it quickly turned sad. The loss of
his aunt was probably never far from his thoughts. Diego remembered that mixture of sadness and happiness from the time when he adopted Jamie.
"I kind of envy you. You've known Zane since he was a squishy little baby. By the time I met Jamie, he was already walking, or speed walking," Diego said as he remembered that unstoppable little boy, his brand new son.
"You said you adopted Jamie from his grandfather, right?" From the way he asked, Trevor must have been curious about that.
"His name was Henry Carter. He was something else. His daughter, Jamie's mother, got pregnant when she was in her late forties, but there were complications. She only lived long enough to say hello to Jamie and kiss his little head. Henry wasn't in good health even then, and losing his daughter took a toll on him, but he gamely took on raising a baby, with a help of a nanny. Jamie was almost two when Henry's heart started to fail him. After a few surgeries that were supposed to fix him up, things didn't look good for him. That's when he started looking for someone to adopt Jamie. It was supposed to be my boyfriend and me. We were going to adopt Jamie and get married. Or get married and adopt Jamie. Either way was fine by me, but he backed out of the whole thing, and I adopted Jamie by myself." Diego tried not to let too much bitterness creep into his voice as he spoke about Simon.
Trevor wasn't focusing on Simon though. He was more interested in something else. "It's good that Jamie's grandfather was OK with a gay couple or a single gay dad adopting his grandson."
"Oh, Henry was gay too. He came out only after his wife died though. He was almost sixty when he came out, but he said he was happy to finally be himself. Jamie's grandfather was a great guy. He called himself a single grandfather and he adored Jamie."
"It's so sad that Jamie had to lose him," Trevor said.
"Henry made it till Jamie was two and a half. I wish Jamie had gotten to spend more time with him and get to know him so he would always remember him and how much his grandfather loved him."
Trevor now got a grave look on his face. "Zane won't remember anything about his mom."
