Hormonal Shift

Chapter 9

“Morning, Mama,” JR said as she slid into the booth at the diner. She was doing her best not to grin from ear to ear. She didn’t want to give anything away as far as her mother was concerned.

“Hi, sweetheart,” Mel replied. “I’m glad you could meet for breakfast.” She studied her daughter for a moment before saying, “You look ... happy ... and glowing this morning.” She chose her words carefully.

JR grinned in spite of her best efforts not to. “I feel ... happy and glowing,” she admitted. Why not, when that was truly how she felt.

Melanie smiled. “So tell me.”

JR hesitated for a moment and then decided that she wanted to share this wonderful feeling with someone. Her mother, of all people, should understand. “I spent the night with Jacqueline.”

“I thought so.”

“Why? What made you think that?” JR asked with a crease in her forehead.

“I had a call from your father this morning. He was frantic about where you were.”

“He wasn’t up all night waiting for me, was he?” JR asked with a groan. Her father meant well, but he was so ... hard to deal with sometimes. He just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

“No, he got some sleep, but when he called you this morning, you weren’t there. There’s probably eighty messages from him on your phone.”

JR shook her head. “I couldn’t look. I almost didn’t answer your call because I thought it might be him. I didn’t want dad ... or anything ... to ruin last night.”

“So, you’re happy?”

“Very.”

“Perhaps...”

“Don’t tell me to be careful. I have been careful. I’ve gotten to know Jacqueline, and I really like her. I think we could even...”

“Oh! It’s like that, is it?”

JR nodded and smiled. “She’s very special, and she thinks I’m special too.”

“Are you going to introduce her to me and your father?” Mel asked.

JR made a face. “I’m not going to let daddy ruin this for me. I won’t bring Jacqueline near him as long as he says such awful things about her,” JR declared.

“What kind of things does he say?” Melanie wanted to know what Michael had been saying about Jacqueline. They both had some grave misgivings about JR and this young woman. Melanie had a pretty good idea what comments Michael might have made, but she knew enough to keep her mouth shut around JR. It would do no good to alienate her daughter by criticizing this Jacqueline. In fact, it would probably drive JR and the girl closer together. But she couldn’t get that through Michael’s head.

“He says she’s too old for me and that she’s only taking advantage of me. He thinks she’s out to use me and then toss me aside.”

“That doesn’t sound so terrible,” Melanie said slowly. “It sounds like he’s trying to protect you.”

“But there’s nothing to protect me from,” JR protested.

“You may not think there is, but the world isn’t all sweetness and light,” Mel cautioned.

“I know that, mama. I’m not a baby anymore.”

“I know,” Mel said gently. She reached across the table and touched her daughter’s hand. “You’re becoming a young woman in every sense of the word.”

“I’m not becoming, I am.”

“Okay, you’re right. Your father and I have to realize that, but you know you’ll always be our little girl.”

“At least you didn’t say our little honeybun,” JR tried to joke. She was clearly referring to her father’s pet name for her. At times that name drove her crazy.

“Jenny Rebecca,” Melanie said softly. “We just want the best for you. You know that, don’t you? We love you.”

“I know, but there’s some things you have to let me do by myself.”

Melanie drew in a deep breath. She nodded to indicate that she understood. “Let’s order some breakfast,” she said as she waved at Lacy to come to their table. JR nodded as she took a glance at the menu she knew so well.

“Why don’t we arrange for all of us to meet later today. You pick the time and the place. Let me know and I’ll call your father,” Mel ventured.

JR nodded again as Lacy came over to take their orders.

 

*****
 

Emmett stared at his ringing phone. Finally he pushed the connect button and answered. “Hello,” he said curtly.

“Hey, Babe,” Drew’s voice came back to him.

Emmett hesitated for a second. This sounded like his Drew, not like the aloof and foreign creature that he had been talking to every day since Drew left on this trip. Emmett decided it was time to take the bull by the horns. “I want you to come home,” he said sternly. “We need to talk.”

Drew chuckled on the other end of the line. “Emmett...”

“How dare you laugh at me!” Emmett reacted. This might be the most crucial moment of their relationship and his husband was laughing. Every nerve in Emmett’s body was snapping. He needed to talk to Drew, but he was so panicked about what that conversation might mean for his life that he could barely be civil with his husband.

“I wasn’t laughing at you...”

“Don’t you dare say that you were laughing with me.”

“I wasn’t going to say that...”

“Then what the fuck are you laughing at?” Emmett demanded.

“If you’d let me get a word in edgeways, I’d be happy to tell you.”

“I’ve been trying to get you to really talk to me for weeks. What the fuck is going on, Drew?”

Emmett felt tears well up in his eyes as silence was all he heard on the other end of the line. Was this the moment that he would hear that Drew was leaving him? The moment that would mean the end of his life as he knew it? Was this the beginning of a life alone and unwanted?

“Babe, I’m going to ask you a big favor,” Drew said in as gentle a voice as he could find.

“A favor?” Emmett croaked out, his voice breaking. This was not at all what he had been expecting to hear.

“Emmett, the favor is...”

“I don’t want to do you a favor!” Emmett almost shouted into the phone. “You should be doing me a favor. You should be the one trying to make things right.”

“Emmett, I love you.”

“Wha...What?” Emmett asked.

“I said I love you.”

“You do?”

“Of course I do. I always will love you, you big fairy,” Drew declared using Brian’s favorite phrase to refer to Emmett. “I love you very, very much.”

“Then why aren’t you here ... with me?” Emmett had to ask. The tears started running down his cheeks. All the pent up fear and emotion had finally broken.

“I’ve had some business to look after ... for the team and for ... myself.”

“Business, you had business. Really? Business?” Emmett swallowed hard. Could he have been wrong about everything. He didn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Really business,” Drew answered with a chuckle. “I love you, Emmett.” Drew hoped if he said that enough times, that Emmett would believe him and everything would be all right.

Emmett let out a long breath and swiped the tears away from his cheeks. “So, so what is this favor that you want?”

“I want you to tell me that you love me, before I say anything else,” Drew said pleading over the phone.

“Of course I love you, you big fairy,” Emmett joked, and this time he meant it.

Drew laughed aloud. “I love you right back.”

“That’s really all you had to say,” Emmett replied.

“So you don’t want to know what the favor is?”

“Well, since you’ve asked so nicely, I might decide to do you a favor ... or just do you,” Emmett added with a laugh.

“I can hardly wait,” Drew responded.

“As soon as you get here,” Emmett promised.

“That’s part of the favor,” Drew said.

“Okay, enough about this favor. What is it?”

“I’m booked on a flight tomorrow. I think we need to finish this conversation in person. I want to talk about everything face to face. And ... I have a surprise for you.”

“A surprise!” Emmett squealed. “Is it a good surprise?” he asked a second later as his worries flooded back.

“I sure hope you’ll love it.”

“Do you think I will?”

“I think you will so love it.”

“You want me to wait till tomorrow and not to yell at you anymore. And if I do that, I get a big surprise?” Emmett asked. “Have I got it right?’

“You have, but you get the surprise regardless.”

“Then we have a deal.”

“You make it sound so businesslike.”

“You are on a business trip, aren’t you?” Emmett asked coyly. “We’re doing business.”

“We’re going to be doing a lot more than business,” Drew informed his husband.

Emmett chuckled. “I’m going to hold you to that. See you tomorrow.”

“I love you, Emmett.”

“Love you right back,” Emmett replied as they hung up. The smile on Emmett’s face could rival one of Justin’s best.

*****
 

“Hey, Pop!”

“Hey, Sonny Boy! Welcome back. Where are you?”

“At Mom’s.”

“She’s in jolly old England.”

“I know. She sent me her itinerary. I need a few days to take care of some things so I’ll stay here. Besides, I should get my Jeep serviced and there’s some stuff around the house that needs to be done.”

“Call Doug; he handles our cars. And have Gordon or one of his guys check out the house.”

“I know, Dad. I have an appointment with Doug on Monday morning. And I already called Gordon. Stop being a mother hen.” Gus chuckled.

“Dad? Either I’m in trouble or you are. And I’m allowed to be a mother hen once in a while, although I’d rather be a father cock.”

“Where are you?” Gus asked, ignoring his father’s poor excuse for a joke.

“Loft.”

“Loft? Loft, in the Pitts, loft?”

“There’s only one loft in my life, Gus.”

“What are you doing at the loft? Wait, is everything okay?”

“Relax, we’re all fine. I needed to be close to Kinnetik for a while and Justin had some gallery business. Plus, we do own the building. I have to inspect my investments.”

“Riiight. Is my mother in one piece?”

“I’ll have you know I’ve been a gentleman when dealing with Smel...uh, your mother.”

“Sure you have.”

“Watch it, Sonny Boy. You’re not too old to spank.”

“You’ve never raised a hand to me and I can’t see you starting now. But I hear you. Seriously, how is she doing?”

“You haven’t spoken?”

“Not since I went on vacation.”

“While you’re here, spend a little time with her. She misses you.”

“Since when do you care?”

“Gus, Mel and I may not have had the best relationship but that’s all in the past and I do respect her. She’s a good lawyer. And she’s taken to Kinnetik like a condom to a dick.”

“Don’t think she’d appreciate your analogy.”

“Be that as it may, she’s doing very well. Call her soon.”

“I will, I promise. Dad, can I come over later, I really need to talk to you.”

“Is everything all right between you and Ray?” Brian asked. He heard Gus sigh loudly.

“We’re good, Pop. We’re real good. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

“Then come over whenever you want. I won’t be going anywhere today.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you later.”

“Later, Sonny Boy.”

“Was that your son?” Justin asked as he sidled into Brian’s arms, snaking his own around Brian’s trim waist.

“Our son. He has something to talk to us about so he’ll be over sometime today.” Justin nodded against Brian’s chest. “You know something that I don’t,” Brian said softly as he gently pushed back from Justin to scan his face. Justin knew he was caught.

“Nothing bad, but please let Gus tell you in his own way. Okay?” Justin’s blue eyes pleaded with Brian.

“Fine. I’ll drop it for now.” Brian scowled as he pecked a kiss onto Justin’s nose just before going to his desk to boot up his computer and do some work.

 

*****
 

Briana shuffled out of her room holding grey bunny. Still dressed in her pajamas, soft fuzzy slippers and thick warm robe she stood at the doorway to the sun porch to stare at its only occupant. Patrick was reading a book. He had a report due in a few weeks but he wanted to make an early start on it. He was lying comfortably on a chaise wearing cozy sweat pants, a long sleeve t-shirt and was wrapped in a warm throw.

Slowly Bree approached. While she thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Ashley, Bree had missed her home and her family. She understood why her dads had to stay in the city for a while, but Bree was happy to be sleeping in her own room, surrounded by her own things. She was especially happy to have Lady Lucie and Little Beau share her bedroom as well. They made her feel safe and Little Beau liked to snuggle with her.

Patrick smiled to himself; he knew he was being watched. Slowly he moved toward the side of the chaise to make room for Bree. He knew the chaise had more than enough room for the both of them. He had seen his dads share a chaise on several occasions. His uncles made a habit of it almost every night. Patrick then lifted the edge of the blanket. Bree needed no more encouragement than that. She scurried across the porch then dove onto the chaise. Patrick tucked her in while she made herself comfortable against him.

All was right in their world.

“That never ceases to amaze me,” Bobby murmured to John as he returned to his desk from the balcony rail. They were both up in their attic office enjoying the quiet and working on their individual projects.

“What does?” John asked from his drafting table. He was working on another cottage design.

“How much those two love each other. And how gentle Patrick is with her.”

“Patrick has a gentle soul. They’re best friends, perhaps more than that. Their devotion to each other is unbreakable,” John said reasonably.

“But their age difference...”

“Is not that much and is cancelled out by their personalities and the fact that Bree, for the most part, is way ahead of her chronological age.”

“True. He does seem to calm her down when she’s in one of her moods,” Bobby said with a chuckle. “Of course when it’s an hormonal mood, nothing will stop that.”

“We’ll have to wait it out like men have done since women were invented,” John said sagely.

The partners smiled at each then quietly returned to their work.

 

*****
 

“Hey.”

“Hi!”

“Miss you.”

“Miss you too. How’s the apartment?”

“Lonely without you. I had the kitchen faucet replaced and made the management company recaulk around the tub.”

“Wow. You’re a regular Mr. Fixit!”

“Naa, just used to dealing with landlords and supers. We’re lucky; they did a nice job getting the apartment ready for us. Uh, did you have the talk with your dad?”

“Today, soon. I’m going over later.”

“They’re in Pittsburgh?”

“Staying at the loft for a while.”

“Well that’s convenient. You all right doing this?”

“Yes. I wish you were here for moral support. I’m not really sure why I’m dreading this.”

“Probably for all the same reasons I hesitated telling my dads. But in the end it was them who helped us get the apartment.”

“Yeah, they’ve been so cool about everything.”

“Gus, your dad will be cool too. You told me he was out of the house as soon as he could get out. He’ll understand, I know he will.”

“I know. I just don’t want to disappoint him.”

“The way he loves you, you could never disappoint him. And some day, I think I’d like living in that loft.”

“Yeah? You give up all of New York City for me?”

“Not altogether but I could see us spending time there and some in New York. Lots of people do it. And just think of all the reunion sex we could be having.” Ray snickered as Gus groaned into the phone.

“Thanks a heap. Now I have to go speak to my dad with a hard on.”

“Nothing that he hasn’t seen hundreds of times before,” Ray laughed.

“Thousands of times,” Gus corrected him. “Okay, enough stalling. I’m going over. I’ll call you later.”

“Good luck. I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”

“Yeah, I know it will. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Gus stowed his phone in his pocket then slowly began to bundle up against the cold. He had errands to run before he mentally prepared himself to speak to his father.


 

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