Should Old Acquaintance
Chapter 5
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Lindsay slid into a booth at the diner.
She had decided to get out of the gallery for a while.
Just as she got settled Hunter came in. He
spotted Lindsay and walked over to her booth. "Hey, mind if I join
you?"
"Hi, Hunter. No, please sit down. But, shouldn't you be at
work?"
"I'm taking a break and checking up
on one of my former charges." Hunter cocked his head toward the counter
where Lacy was taking cash from a customer.
"Oh, that's Lacy, isn't it?"
Lindsay asked. "How's she doing?"
"She moved into Debbie's house,
Michael's old room."
"And Michael let her?" Lindsay
laughed. "I would have thought it would be too traumatic for him to have a
girl living in his room."
Hunter made a face. "You don't know
the half of it. But he is over forty now, and he hasn't lived in the room for
like twenty years."
"But it's still his room,"
Lindsay chuckled.
"What can I get you?" Lacy asked
as she came over to their table.
"I'll have coffee and a lemon
bar," Lindsay said.
"Make it two," Hunter added.
Lacy hurried away to get their order.
"How long has she been working
here?"
"Not long, but she seems to be doing
pretty good. I'm glad she's off the streets."
"You're doing good things at the
clinic."
"Thanks. So how come you're in here
this time of day?" Hunter asked.
"Do you remember Edna Galloway?"
Lindsay asked him.
"Sure, I danced with her at John and
Bobby's wedding. She was a hoot."
"You heard she died?"
"Yeah, I was sorry to hear
that."
"Me too. Anyway, she has been investigating JAB Kinney and his
artwork ever since Brian and Justin visited her in
"Who's JAB Kinney?" Lacy asked
as she set down their orders.
"He's Brian's great, great
something-or-other," Lindsay chuckled.
"Did you say you have paintings of
his?"
"Yes. Why, are you interested in
art?" Lindsay asked.
"Lacy helped Justin with some of his
frescoes for the theater," Hunter offered.
"Mostly I got coffee for him and
helped him move his bench," Lacy laughed. "But I enjoyed it."
"Justin's going to
be really busy with all the papers that Edna amassed about Kinney. He's the one who went through them all the first
time. And now he's got his Rage show coming up as well," Lindsay
explained.
"Maybe I could help him," Lacy
offered.
"Oh, I don't know, honey,"
Lindsay replied thinking it wasn't a very good idea for Lacy to be working with
the old documents.
Lacy made a face. Obviously she didn't
like being called "honey" and being told that she couldn't do
something. "Well, tell Justin if he wants my help, he just has to
ask," Lacy stated as she walked away.
"What's with her?" Lindsay asked
Hunter.
"I think she has a crush on
Justin."
"A crush? But doesn't she know that he's…"
"Of course, she does, but it doesn't
seem to make any difference to her. Justin was nice to her and he's an artist.
That's all that matters to Lacy."
"I see. Is Lacy interested in men?"
"I don't really know what Lacy's
interested in, other than art."
"Hm," Lindsay replied.
"Well, I better get back to the gallery and see what
"See ya, Lindsay," Hunter said
as Lindsay left the diner.
"Hunter," Lacy said as Hunter
stood up, "will you tell Justin that I could help him with the
papers."
"Sure, Lacy, but don't get your hopes
up. Justin was very protective of all the documents surrounding the artist
Kinney when he first found out about him. He may not want your help."
"Just tell him, okay?"
"Sure," Hunter said as he left
her a big tip along with his bill.
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The four men continued to stare at the
answering machine wishing they hadn't heard what they had heard, but knowing it
wasn't going to magically disappear. Joan Kinney somehow had learned about
Briana. Now they were going to have to deal with her.
The cottage became very quiet, until Bree
tugged on her daddy Justin's hand.
"Pee pee,
Daddy." Bree looked up
at Justin. She was a little more than two, her potty training was going very
well but when you gotta go, you just gotta go.
"Okay, sweetheart, let's make a pit
stop before we go outside," Justin said to his daughter as he led her to
the bathroom.
Gordon and his work crew had shown up and
were out back preparing to mark and stake the area that was going to be
excavated for the addition.
"Patrick, why don't you come out with
me and say hi to Gordon. I want to get an update on the plans." John held
out his hand to his son.
"Okay, Dad!" Patrick's
enthusiastic voice answered back.
That left Brian and Bobby in the kitchen
to collect the backpacks and supplies for their outing. Bobby reached for a
backpack to swing on his back, his hand gently grazed Brian's forearm and Bobby
rested it there for a moment.
"Brian..."
"I know, Red. We have to tell them
about our night together."
"Yes, we do and nothing happened
between John and Justin."
"I know that too. I trust Justin and
I trust my brother, he's an honorable man."
"Both of them are." Brian nodded
in agreement. "Bri..."
"Bobby, Justin was probably tired and
worried. He has trouble sleeping when he's under stress. And with Edna's
passing, the Rage movie and now his art show, top that off with us being out of
town, he needed John."
"Just like I needed
you. They're not the only
honorable men in this house, Brian. You are too. You could have taken advantage
of the situation but you didn't. You were, are, a good friend. And I appreciate
your tenderness and caring."
"Please don't spread that
around," Brian said with just a touch of snark.
"Your secret's safe with me, Big
Guy." Bobby smiled his own sunny smile at Brian as Justin and Briana came
out of the bathroom.
"You wash your hands, Squirt?"
Brian queried his daughter.
"All keen, Dada!" Bree held up
her freshly scrubbed hands at her taller daddy.
"Then let's head 'em up and move 'em
out, people," Brian declared as he led his merry band out the sun porch
door and onto the path to the stream.
While John was speaking with Gordon,
Patrick was trailing one of the crew men, Stan, handing him the pegs he needed
as Stan marked out the perimeter for the cottage. Stan smiled fondly at the boy
who looked so much like his father, John. Patrick was growing tall like a weed.
Stan recognized a budding builder in their midst. Seeing Brian leading the
troops, John excused himself, calling Patrick then joining Brian and the gang.
The longer legs of the Kinney men made
short work of the trek through the woods, leaving Justin and Bobby with Bree in
between them. They each had one of Briana's hands, swinging the giggling
toddler over rocks and branches. Their slower trek gave Justin and Bobby time
to talk.
"Bobby, nothing happened between me
and John. You have to believe that. I needed..."
"...to be held. I believe you, I do,
Justin and well, the same thing happened to me and Brian. I was so tired and
missing Patrick and John. But I was also so wired that I couldn't..."
"...sleep. Yeah, I know. I was
tossing and turning and I saw John's shadow at the porch door. For a minute he
looked so much like Brian, I asked him to sleep with me. They almost..."
"...smell alike. Yeah. I mean, I'm
not a wuss and you and I are certainly not effeminate but the moment I laid
down and Brian hugged me close, I felt..."
"...safe. I know what you mean. When John and I had our little accident, that was the one thing that kept me calm. John
smells like Brian and I felt safe. What is it about those
Kinney men that turns us into..."
"...mush? I have no idea, Justin.
I've gone into court hundreds of times. Fought against injustice but one touch
of John's hand against my cheek and I feel so..."
"...loved, so
wanted and weak in the knees.
It's the..."
"...best. Yeah."
Blue eyes met blue eyes, moistened with happy allergies and sunny smiles.
"Brian, nothing happened between me
and Justin." Brian held up his hand to cut off his brother's explanation
or apology.
"Big bro, I know you and I know
Justin. No further explanation is warranted or required. Red and I had our own
needy moment down in
"Don't I know it!"
John and Brian shared a laughed as they made it to the glade near the stream.
Brian opened his pack for a blanket to spread on the soft grass. Patrick ran
toward the stream, his father calling out words of warning to be careful.
"Oh, Dad, our stream is much bigger
than this," Patrick called back. The woods were his playground.
"Let it go, John. You're not going to
win that one. Patrick's a smart little boy, besides I can see him from
here."
As Brian and John were smoothing out the
blankets, Justin, Bobby and Bree made it to the glade.
"It's about time you guys got here.
We were about to send out a search party," John said to his spouse then
bent down for a kiss, which was readily given.
The men settled on the blankets, Justin
pulled out his sketch pad and began to sketch St. Anthony's grotto from memory.
Bree toddled toward the stream and to Patrick who, by his Kinney nature, went
into his own protective mode. He took Bree's hand and began to teach her the
wonders of their corner of the world. Each man relished the peace and
tranquility of their surroundings until the memory of Claire's message loomed
over them. Brian, who was lazing on the blanket abruptly sat up.
"Oh fucking hell! What the fuck are
we going to do about Joan? And how the hell did she find out about the
Squirt?"
"Brian," John began, "I
think that may have been my fault."
"No, John, it was me," Justin
retorted.
"But I was the one who drove you to
the church."
"Well, I was the one who spent time
with Father Tom."
The explanations and apologies went flying
back and forth too quickly for Brian and Bobby to keep up. After a few minutes
of frustration, Brian stood up, effectively stopping the banter.
"Will you both shut the fuck up! John, explain how you guys got to St. Anthony's. The short version." John explained about the client he
needed to see near the church, Justin visiting Father Tom with the children and
their conversation about baptizing Bree.
Justin took over the conversation,
relating the details about the chat he had with Father Tom and how Tom would
perform the baptism here at the cottage if Brian wanted to go through with it.
John quickly added that he would be proud to be godfather if Brian so chose.
"We'd need a godmother," Brian
said softly, almost absentmindedly.
"Claire," John said.
"Your mother?"
"No, your sister. She'd be perfect and I bet she'd do it if you
asked." Brian nodded. He hadn't agreed to the baptism but he knew it would
make a lot of people happy including John, Claire senior, and Debbie.
"And I guess I've been good since my
last confession. This time around it wouldn't take so long." Brian
chuckled at the memory of him sitting with Father Tom as he confessed his sins
in preparation of becoming Patrick's godfather. "As I
recall that one took hours." The four men laughed jovially for a
few minutes.
"Damn it. How did Joan get into
this?" Brian grumbled.
"I don't know, Bri, but we know Joan
goes to church practically every day. Maybe she saw me there with the kids.
Maybe she saw John pick us up. She knows about him. Brian, you need to call
your sister."
"You're right, Sunshine, but later.
Right now I just want to relax in my own backyard." Brian laid back down,
using one of the backpacks as a pillow. As he began to doze off under the
canopy of trees in the warm Spring sun, he heard a
tiny giggle.
"Dada?" Bree's little voice broke through Brian's sleep fog.
"What is it, Squirt?"
"Look!" Brian opened his eyes as
his daughter held a fat frog inches away from Brian's nose.
"Holy shhhhhhhh...!"
"Brian!" John, Justin and Bobby
yelled out.
"...sugar!" Brian sprang up from
the blanket and began running in circles around the blankets. "Keep that
slimy thing away from me!" he called out with a look of horror on his
face. Bree wasn't sure if she really scared her dada and she froze in her
tracks then looked to Brian for reassurance. Her dada Brian, gave Bree a sly
smile then winked at his precious daughter and then began running around the
blankets again as Bree chased him with the frog. Justin, John, Bobby and
Patrick fell onto the blankets rolling around in hysterical laughter.
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Old Acquaintance