“Is the Ciabattina chorizo any good?”
“Are you kidding?” the doctor answered after quickly swallowing a bite, “You did notice it was Janet behind the counter, right? So the Ciabattina chorizo is perfect.”
“Ah, we have a fan,” Reid grinned, taking a seat in front of his co-worker.
“You bet,” Gary Morgan gave a wicked smile, “Bob’s might be your best idea ever.”
“Don’t know about that one. I’ve had some very genius ideas.”
Reid took a large bite from the bread and closed his eyes, nodding.
“But I’ll admit…it’s in the top five.”
Gary grinned and for a few minutes both men just silently enjoyed their lunch. When he noticed Reid’s eyes wandering off to the entrance of the room, Gary just had to ask, though.
“Expecting anyone?”
For a moment Reid looked startled out of his thoughts and then he shook his head.
“Not really. Luke has an appointment here, today. We didn’t make any plans, but apparently that doesn’t stop me from hoping he’ll show up.”
Gary forced himself to smile, while he scolded himself internally. He sincerely rejoiced in Reid’s happiness, he really did. But a small corner of his heart started bleeding anyway. Whispering thoughts like ‘what if’ and ‘why not me’. He hated himself for it.
Had Reid read his mind? The raised eyebrow suggested he did and Gary quickly shook his head.
“So how’s things at home?”
Now Gary was sure Reid had read his mind. Asking about his homefront wasn’t really Reid’s thing.
“They’re great. Kevin is making some amazing progress.”
“That’s good,” Reid nodded, while taking another bite.
“His son, Tommy, is living with us now. So in a way I’m a dad now, too.”
The look in Gary’s eyes made Reid frown.
“I didn’t know it was a competition,” Reid muttered and Gary had the decency to blush slightly.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” he said, but then shrugged. The one thing he’d always been proud of was the honesty between Reid and him. He wasn’t ready to jeopardize that. “Well, maybe I did. After seeing you with Danny…I’d never pictured you as a dad and it made me wonder how it would feel. And I think I’m starting to experience that, although the situation is completely different.”
“I recall this Tommy being very hostile to you. Did that change?”
“Some,” Gary shrugged. Having the boy in the house wasn’t a carefree joy. “We’re still finding a balance.”
“Sounds normal.”
“I guess,” Gary shrugged again. “He lived with his grandparents for a while and Kevin and Tommy are finding a balance too, so that’s tough sometimes. A lot of commotion. But I guess you had your share of turmoil too, lately.”
“We did,” Reid answered, emphasizing the we. “And it all came crashing down on us unexpectedly, so it was quite a challenge.”
“I can imagine,” Gary slurped his ice tea, “but you guys are okay, right?”
“We’re more than okay,” the glow in Reid’s eyes was almost luminous. “Looking back at it, it’s pretty amazing. The whole situation dropped us in this swamp of emotions, but somehow we managed to find a way through it.”
“Sharing something devastating can break you or make you stronger,” Gary said and Reid smiled at him.
“True. I’m sure you live that too. It’s must not be easy, with all the limitations.”
“It’s not,” Gary admitted, “but it would be even worse to live without him, so I guess that’s what it’s about.”
“It is,” Reid nodded. “As long as living without him isn’t an option, you can handle about everything.”
It made Gary laugh. “Even having a dog with pups…”
“Even having a dog with pups… how do you…”
“I overheard a conversation Gwen had with her husband and she mentioned the dog. I just had to know what it was about.”
Reid chuckled.
“I completely understand. You know my thought on pets.”
“Do I ever,” Gary softly laughed. “I often wondered if my cat was the only reason we were not living together.”
He wanted to bite his tongue. He wanted to take it back. But he couldn’t. The words were out there and he saw Reid narrow his eyes and knew what was coming.
“You know that wasn’t the reason.”
Ouch.
“Ah well, rationally I know. But the heart keeps creating its own version of the truth…”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Reid sounded aloof now and Gary tried to restore the friendly atmosphere by grinning.
“I guess you made a lasting impression. Your ego must be thrilled about that.”
“My ego doesn’t need any boosting,” Reid snorted, “I know I’m special.”
“You are,” Gary calmly nodded, “and so is Kevin. So I’m blessed to have two great men in my life. Must mean I’m doing something right.”
“Nah. You’re just lucky,” Reid winked and finished his soda. And just as he had given up all hope, his eyes landed on something very familiar and very attractive. Unaware of the change in his face, unaware of Gary’s stare.
Even without following Reid’s eyes, Gary knew what his ex was seeing. The love of his life. No doubt about that. And if he had to be honest, he’d known that from the start. From the very first phone call they had made after Reid had moved here, it had been in his voice. The love. The commitment.
He forced himself to stay put when Luke approached them with a full tray and that ridiculously beautiful smile on his face. He forced himself to watch when the two men kissed. Quickly, but undeniably loving.
“Hey Gary,” as always, Luke looked at him with mixture of a willingness to trust him and a powerlessness to do so.
“Hi Luke, good to see you again,” Gary lied as well as he could. “I’ll leave you guys alone…”
“Don’t let me scare you away…” Luke said politely and Gary smiled.
“You’re not. My lunch break is over and my chief is very strict about stuff like that.”
“I hear he’s unmanageable,” Luke nodded, sitting down next to Reid.
“He is. Utter dictator,” Gary agreed, moving to his feet.
“You’d better hurry, then,” Reid stated calmly, checking his watch. “You’ve been here for at least forty minutes.”
“Oh boy,” Gary managed to look scared, “please don’t tell him.”
“Not a word,” Reid promised and shook his head, watching his ex leave the room.
“He still has a thing for you,” Luke calmly concluded.
“He has,” Reid agreed, just as calm.
“I can’t blame him,” Luke fed Reid a french fry.
“Me neither,” Reid smiled, quickly licking Luke’s fingertips, causing a warm glow on his blond’s face.
“How fast can you eat that?” Reid’s eyes didn’t even wander to the food.
“Very fast,” Luke promised, already visualizing Reid’s private part of the office.
So he lived up to that promise.
