by Rafe Jadison
“How do I know I can trust you?” Dane asked.
“You can,” Heath said, looking him in the eye.
Dane looked at him without speaking for a moment. “I know I can. I was going to tell you about Amanda leaving.”
“You were?” Heath asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to go out for the beers tonight,” Dane said with a shrug.
“Oh, shit, and I was such an ass,” Heath said, scrunching up his face.
“It’s fine,” Dane answered. “We’re going now, right?”
“Yeah, definitely. Wait, what about the guy in college?”
“How about I tell you that over beers as well?” Dane asked, tapping Heath on the shoulder and nodding toward the exit.
“Awesome. You’ll probably give me better details once you have a few drinks,” Heath said with a laugh.
As they walked to the car, Heath realized that Suzanne was a whole lot better on her feet than they were. Of course, Dane’s SUV was about a hundred feet from the building. The minute they left the sidewalk, Heath slid and fell straight on his ass.
“Here, let me help,” Dane said, placing one arm on Heath’s back, and the other on his arm.
Heath knew that Dane was being helpful, but even through his thick jacket, Heath was sure that he felt something from Dane’s hands. He couldn’t remember Dane ever touching him before today, but he did remember what Dane had said about how he would want to do him if he were gay. He was just being nice, Heath thought, not entirely convincing himself.
Dane held onto his arm until they got to the car, and Heath didn’t protest. Dane’s hand was warm and it did make him feel a little more secure on this icy snow.
“So you learned to walk in it too?” Heath asked.
“Snow? We had no choice,” Dane said. “You learned to get around in it or you stayed put.”
Dane’s SUV was covered in snow, and a few feet before they got to it, Heath heard a small beep as Dane unlocked the car. About the same time, the motor started running.
“I can turn it on remotely,” Dane explained.
“I bet that was a blessing in Buffalo,” Heath said.
Dane nodded as he walked Heath toward the passenger side door.
“Climb in,” Dane said.
Heath got into the truck and Dane closed the door. A second later he opened it.
“I forgot something,” Dane said, reaching around Heath and into the back seat.
Heath could smell Dane’s cologne, and noticed how soft his skin was when his neck accidentally brushed Heath’s face in the reach.
Don’t think about him like that, Heath told himself. He’s your boss, and he’s not into dudes.
“Sorry,” Dane said, pulling an ice scraper from behind Heath.
“No worries,” Heath answered with a laugh.
From inside the car, Heath could see nothing but the white that covered the windows. He opened the passenger side door, climbed out, and pulled something from his wallet.
“I think I can use a credit card to help you,” Heath said, beginning to scrape the passenger side window.
“You’ll ruin your credit card,” Dane said with a touch of worry in his voice.
“I already did that in college. This is just a final farewell. As a matter of fact, I have a few more I should use also,” Heath said, increasing the speed of his scrape.
Dane laughed. “That bad?”
“I’ve almost paid them off now, and my credit’s looking a lot better, but grad school was tough,” Heath explained.
They worked in silence, each with a slight smile on his face.
After a few minutes, the icy snow mixture that covered the SUV was off the windows and the excess snow had been removed from the body of the car. Dane and Heath, on the other hand, had a small layer of snow covering them.
“I think we got it all,” Dane said, opening the driver’s side door.
Heath nodded and got into the passenger seat unassisted this time.
Heath watched carefully as Dane began to slowly back the car out of its spot. With Heath’s car in the opposite direction of where they were going, and no other cars around, the risk of hitting anything seemed improbable. The snowy mixture appeared to yield much better to tires than it did to dress shoes, and they moved through the parking lot at a fairly decent pace.
“So far so good,” Dane said as they approached the hill and started their descent.
Heath started to nod, but his head was jerked in a different manner when the car furiously slid down the first part of the hill. It moved recklessly over the ice, spinning around at the bottom of the hill, and stopping just about a foot from a very large tree.
Chapter 2
The whole thing was over in only a few seconds, but both men looked like they had just gotten off an hour-long upside-down roller coaster.
“Are you alright?” Dane asked, looking over at Heath.
It took Heath a second to process what had happened, and another to realize Dane’s arm was across his chest. Heath looked down at it.
“Sorry,” Dane said, pulling his arm away as if it had burned Heath. “I guess I wanted to protect you.”
Heath smiled. “No need to apologize. It was…nice. I mean, it was nice of you to do.”
Dane climbed out of the car and Heath joined him. They looked up at the parking lot and then around where they were now.
“We’re lucky we didn’t hit anything,” Dane said, taking in the area surrounding the part of the hill they were on.
“Especially that tree. I guess the hill was frozen,” Heath observed.
“Or at least the part we were on. Suzanne made it down okay.”
“Or so we think. She might have been a little shook up too.”
“I can’t see her below. She must have gotten to the bottom. At least we made it through the first part of the hill.”
“Yeah, but the remaining part is probably just as bad. Once we reach the end of the hill, the rest of the road is usually pretty decent. They probably haven’t treated the hill yet. I think we have a private contractor who does the parking lot and the hill,” Heath said.
“When do they usually do it?” Dane asked.
“I don’t know. It was done last year by the time we came back, but we had at least three days off last year.”
“For this?” Dane asked, surprised.
“Well, this will probably get worse. A foot’s a lot here.”
“I guess so,” Dane said, taking in the area again.
They stared at each other for a moment until Dane said, “So what now?”
“Maybe we should leave your car here. The rest of the hill isn’t so straight and we don’t want to end up on a tree,” Heath said.
“That we don’t,” Dane agreed. “So do we walk down the other part of the hill?”
“And do what?” Heath asked.
“Well, I guess walk to…Well, maybe there’s somewhere we can get a cab.”
Heath raised his eyebrow as he looked at Dane. “I think if you’re having trouble in an SUV with Buffalo driving experience, a DC cabbie’s not going to do any better. Icy roads suck no matter who you are or what you’re driving.”
Dane looked at Heath and shook his head in agreement. “So what do we do?”
“How far do you actually live?” Heath asked.
“Oh, we’re back to that are we?” Dane asked with a smile.
“Seriously,” Heath said.
“About fifteen miles,” Dane said. “It takes me about thirty minutes driving.”
“It’s a good forty-five minutes for me,” Heath said. “I guess we’re not going to anyone’s house.”
“There aren’t any hotels nearby, are there?”
“Now who’s being suggestive?” Heath asked.
“I didn’t mean it that way. We could each get a room, or get a room with two beds, or if they only had one, I’m sure we’d be fine.”
“I would be amazing. You, on the other hand, are out of practice,” Heath said, light
ly slapping Dane on the arm.
“As far as you know,” Dane said, raising an eyebrow. “We haven’t had our beer discussion yet.”
“The hotels are not a bad drive, but not a good walk, especially in this weather. And I don’t think we’re going to be able to have our beers today,” Heath said, the disappointment obvious in his voice.
“Not so, my friend,” Dane said, walking around to the back of the SUV. “Beer is the one thing we have no matter where we go.”
Heath followed Dane to the rear of the SUV and laughed as Dane opened it.
“Toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo, all-purpose cleaner. How much stuff is in there? Are you thinking of opening a convenience store?” Heath asked.
“I hate to shop, but I went out and did it after work yesterday. Now that I’m doing all the shopping, I buy in bulk. I was so tired by the time I got home last night that I left it all in the car. You cool with sleeping here tonight?”
“In your truck or the office?” Heath asked.
“Well, the SUV could be fun, but I was thinking the office,” Dane explained.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Heath answered. “Anyway, I had already thought about it a few hours ago. I think we have everything we need. Of course if we don’t, we can always come down to your car. Also, I forgot, I have boots in my car.”
“Great, but I think it’s easier to get to the office than your car. Can you close the hatch once I get this case of beer out?” Dane asked.
“Yeah, but wait, you’re going to take beer into the office?” Heath asked.
Dane looked at him as if Heath had asked him if he were going to breathe air, or some similarly stupid question. “You have been here a year, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ve never drank in the office. If you recall, the New Year’s Eve party was in a hotel. So, you’ve drank here?”
“Mr. Pristine toasted me in his office the day I transferred down here. That was only a few months ago. I doubt his policies have changed. He keeps a bottle in his desk. So do half the VPs, including the one over our department,” Dane said.
“Neil? He seems so uptight. So what are they, a bunch of alcoholics?”
“No, I get the feeling Mr. Pristine keeps it around for special occasions. The others, well, it’s a stressful job, and I get the feeling this company likes parties.”
“I’ve been to three since I’ve been here, and they have been kind of wild,” Heath admitted.
“Well, I’m inviting you to number four,” Dane said. “We’ll call it our snow party.”
“And will it be wild?” Heath asked, turning to Dane.
“That depends on you,” Dane said with a smile. “Now, I think the best thing for us to do is try walking up the grass surrounding the hill. Do much hiking?”
“Not in the snow,” Heath said, looking down at the new pair of dress shoes he had bought a few days ago, and really wishing for his boots.
“Well, it’s just office park landscaping,” Dane said with a smile. “I think we’ll make it.”
Dane walked over to the grassy part of the hill that had not been paved. It was a straight shot up to the parking lot, but it still took them about twenty minutes, passing the beer case back and forth as they climbed.
Although the parking lot was still icy, it seemed a little easier to navigate this time, and Heath was proud of the fact that dress shoes or not, he didn’t fall the entire time. When they reached the front lobby doors, Dane handed him the case of beer. Heath watched as Dane swiped his card and the light on the card reader changed from red to green.
“Where should we drink?” Dane asked once they were inside the lobby.
“Your office?”
“Sounds good,” Dane agreed, motioning for Heath to go first.
Dane’s office was in a line of glassed-in offices not far from the sea of cubicles. Backed up to an interior wall opposite the tinted glass wall of windows, it seemed to offer a little privacy. There were interior blinds that Dane kept down on the sides bordering the other offices, but the front glass wall that faced the cubicles was always easy to see into, as Dane usually kept the blinds on that side open.
Heath moved so that Dane could get in front of him and watched as Dane swiped his key card and opened the glass door into his office.
“Where do you want me?” Heath asked, placing the beer on Dane’s well-organized desk.
“You’ll probably be most comfortable on the couch,” Dane surmised.
Dane’s office wasn’t particularly large, but it seemed to hold a nice bit of furniture well, including a good-sized glass topped desk, a red leather couch opposite the desk, two matching chairs that faced the desk, and two filing cabinets and a small bookshelf on the wall opposite the door.
Heath sat on the couch, surprised at how roomy and comfortable it was while Dane ripped open the top of the beer case and pulled two bottles out. When Dane reached over his desk and grabbed a bottle top opener from his top drawer, Heath shook his head and laughed.
“I never knew when I might need it around here,” Dane said, popping the tops off their beers, shrugging his shoulders, and walking to Heath.
Dane sat at the opposite end of the couch from Heath and lifted his bottle in a toast. “To getting things done,” he said.
“To getting things done,” Heath repeated.
They sipped their beers for a minute or so in silence and then Heath looked at Dane.
“You want the scoop?” Dane asked.
“Most definitely,” Heath said, sitting up a little and leaning in toward Dane.
“Do you want to hear about Amanda or college first?” Dane asked.
“Whichever one you want to talk about now,” Heath said.
“Am I getting some good stories out of this, too?” Dane asked.
“Okay,” Heath said. “I’ll share something along the way.”
“Fair,” Dane said, and then paused for a moment. “So Amanda left.”
“I got that,” Heath said with a smile, and then his look changed to one of concern. “But why?”
“The baby wasn’t mine,” Dane said.
“Oh, fuck,” Heath said. “But at the New Year’s Eve party, you both were so excited.”
“I thought it was mine. We’ve been trying forever,” Dane said, a glum look on his face.
“How did you find out?”
“She left me a few weeks ago. We had a long talk the night before. She’d started sleeping with a married guy we knew in Buffalo about a year ago. We were good friends with him and his wife. They have seven kids. She said she went to him and asked him to help her out when she had finally decided that we weren’t going to be able to have one of our own. We had been to a lot of doctors. It was me who couldn’t produce.”
“So they were just having sex so she’d get pregnant? God, I’m glad I’m gay.”
“She said that’s how it started, but then things changed. She got pregnant pretty quickly. They didn’t plan on telling anyone about what had happened. The plan was for the baby to think that I was its father. Then we moved down here and she said they missed each other. He wanted to be part of the baby’s life, and she didn’t want to live a lie. He told his wife. She was pissed and agreed to divorce him.”
“His poor wife,” Heath said.
“Actually, his rather wealthy wife who I think was a little sick of him. She’s a high-powered attorney. He was a stay-at-home dad and from the way she used to jokingly complain, I don’t think he was that good at it. She gave him the divorce provided he took nothing.”
“Doe that include the kids?”
“Yep.”
“How are they doing? That would suck, finding out that your dad, your stay-at-home provider, was leaving you for a new baby.”
“Yeah, it sucks for them, but Amanda said that in lieu of spousal support Elaine agreed to fly the kids down to South Carolina for holidays and summers.”
“Why South Carolina?”
“Amanda’s father owns a lu
mber company there. Amanda’s an only child and he’s been bugging her to run it long before she met me.”
“So what’s the guy going to do?”
“Roger plans on staying at home with the new baby,” Dane said.
“Wow. It must have been hard to hear all that,” Heath said, standing up for a minute. He took the empty beer bottle from Dane’s hand and threw it in a small trash can near the desk.
“I knew something was up for a while. I think we were both being really nice because of the baby, but I think I knew deep down that something was wrong.”
Heath popped two new beer bottles and returned to the couch.
“You didn’t tell anyone here?”
“It’s not really the sort of thing you brag about at your new job, and it’s a little hard to explain. Mr. Pristine knows.”
“I guess he’s cooler than I realize,” Heath said, taking a big sip of his beer.
“He’s pretty cool. He liked my performance in Buffalo and brought me here. He’s been great.”
“So are you really pissed at her?” Heath asked.
“Not as much as you would think,” Dane said, taking a drink. “In a weird way, I’m happy for her. Maybe I’m not getting the baby I wanted, but she is. When you’ve been with someone long enough, sometimes you love them in a different way. I think the romance had gone out of our relationship a while ago, but the caring was still there. Her heart was in the right place when it started with Roger. She wanted the baby for us.”
“How long were you together?”
“About nine years. We met when we were about your age. We went to college together and then she moved back home to Buffalo with me.”
“No offense,” Heath said. “You don’t sound too devastated. If I were in a strange city and my spouse left me, taking what I had started to think of as my baby, I would…”
“Stop,” Dane said, standing and getting them two more beers. “I was feeling okay about it, but you’re about to make me really rethink it. When you put it like that…”
“Sorry,” Heath said, accepting a beer from Dane. “I keep putting my foot in my mouth today.”
“It’s okay,” Dane said. “You’re honest. It’s one of the things I like about you.”
Heath took a sip and said, “That’s good to hear. I wasn’t sure you liked me.”
