“Somebody’s house is better than mine? Blasphemy.” Steven slid into the seat next to Holly and gave her a loud, wet kiss on the cheek.
“Obviously, Ace’s is going to be better than everybody’s,” Holly explained.
“Well, I’ll grant you that.”
John appeared with a steaming plate of thick-cut fries loaded with sour cream, chives and cheese, as well as a glass of Guinness for Steven.
“Mr. McDonnell, how are you my boy?” John asked.
“Better now,” Steven said. “Always better in here.”
“Ace, I’m going to be rude and order for you,” Holly announced. “You have to try the shepherd’s pie. It’s required.”
“Ah, she’s right at that, lad,” John said. “It’s the best in Kansas City or I’ll eat my hat.”
“Let’s do three pies then, John,” Steven said.
Ace sat back, content to let his new friends initiate him into the ways of the Gaf without much input from him. It reminded him of the early days of his friendship with Olive and Vince back in Baltimore – the way they acted with him, the light teasing, the comfortable atmosphere. Ace definitely wanted to keep this friendship going.
Throughout their delicious meal, Holly’s phone chirped with periodic text notices, and her fingers flew over the tiny keyboard to return them.
While Holly tapped away on her phone, Steven pulled out his wallet and extracted a piece of paper.
“Here,” he said. “I want to make sure you get paid for your extra work on my house.”
“Oh, no,” Ace said, pushing the check back to Steven. “David has already paid me.”
“Yeah, but I know how much you were sweating last week, and you didn’t have to do any of that,” Steven said. “Dave said I didn’t need to do this, but I want to.”
“Well, thank you,” Ace said, folding the check and tucking it into his pocket. “I appreciate this.”
“It’s worth every penny,” Steven said. “Besides, I don’t like it when people take advantage of a friendship to get free labor, you know?”
Ace smiled and nodded. Yep, definitely keeping these people as friends.
“People are always trying to do that to Paul,” Steven continued. “Trying to weasel free massages or full-out chiropractic work without offering to pay. Drives me nuts.”
Ace swallowed hard, thinking of the free massage Paul insisted on giving him. “I bet he gets that a lot.”
Steven drained the last drops of his drink and sighed. “Time to break the seal.” With that, he headed toward the bathroom.
When he was out of sight, Holly leaned across the table. “Paul is stopping by. Just a heads up.”
“Stopping by here? Now? Like right now?”
“Like soon. Like he’s on his way.”
Ace narrowed his eyes. “Was this your idea, matchmaker?”
Holly’s eyes slid to the left. “Sort of. I might have hinted. There might have been subtle innuendo in my recent texts.”
Ace sighed. “Well, my day isn’t complete without a dash of awkward. Awesome.”
Holly grasped his hand across the table. “Give him a chance. Please. For me.”
“Okay,” he conceded. “For you.”
Steven had just returned from the bathroom and resumed his seat next to Holly when his face lit up. Ace knew without looking that Paul had arrived.
“Hey bro!” Steven called out. “You just can’t get enough of us, can you?”
“Clearly,” Paul said, his voice low and rumbling and perfect. He turned to Ace and caught his eye. “Ace. Good to see you again.”
Ace nodded, not trusting his voice. Good to see me again? Since you sprinted away from me? Jackass.
“Sit, sit,” Holly instructed. Paul smoothly slid into the seat next to Ace, and Ace shifted to make room for him.
Ace’s body tensed with the sensation of being so close to Paul again, as if his molecules were on high alert from sharing the same air space.
“Working hard at your open house, I see,” Paul teased his brother.
“Listen, Mr. ‘I Hire a Cleaning Service for my Condo,'” Steven lectured, “we were up until the wee hours getting that joint ready. Do not speak to me of working hard.”
John stopped by the table to greet Paul and take his drink order, and Holly took that as her cue.
“I hate to run out on you just after you got here, Paul, but Steven and I have a long list to accomplish today,” Holly said. She pushed Steven out of the booth and scooted out after him.
“We do?” Steven asked, perplexed. “But Paul just got here. We do?”
“It’s Sunday,” she said slowly. “The busiest day of our week. I require your presence at various retail establishments.”
“That sounds serious,” Steven said, furrowing his brows.
“Deadly. Let’s go!” she chirped. “Paul, always lovely. Ace, we need a visit to your house next, I think. I’ll want to steal some ideas for our new place.”
“Oh, Steven, I apologize in advance,” Ace said.
“Nonsense,” Holly said, kissing his cheek. “You are nothing short of remarkable, and that means your house is, too. I’m sure of it. Bye, you guys!”
She left, tugging Steven behind her and leaving Ace and Paul in awkward silence.
“She’s right, you know,” Paul said finally. “About your house. It is remarkable.”
“You should have told her that,” Ace said. “Not that you could. Or would. Gives too much away, doesn’t it?”
Paul cleared his throat and looked away. Ace felt bad for snapping like that when all Paul did was pay him a compliment. But the sight of him recalled all those hurt feelings from last week, and Ace didn’t want to let him off the hook too quickly.
Ace took another drink of his tea as Paul fidgeted in his seat on the bench next to him. Ace could tell he was uncomfortable sitting next to him instead of across the table.
“Missing your beard?” Ace asked.
Paul looked puzzled and ran his hand across his facial hair.
Ace grinned despite himself. “I mean the heterosexuals,” he said quietly.
Paul’s hand dropped to his lap and he looked down.
“Look,” Paul said, quickly darting out of his seat and planting himself across the table. “I want to apologize for last time. For how I left, I mean. Not for the stuff that came before.”
“Yeah, what the hell happened there at the end?”
“I panicked,” Paul said. “Thought I’d be seen at your house and recognized.”
“Because of all the paparazzi stalking my place?” Ace snarked. “I’m not exactly famous.”
“Yeah, but you live there and people who know you know that you’re…” he trailed off.
“Are you accusing me of being overly fabulous?” That’s all it takes to freak him out? Man, this problem of his is serious.
“Panic is not rational, grasshopper.”
“Grasshopper, huh? Seems like you’re the one who needs a tutor,” Ace said. He leaned over the table and whispered, “A gay sensei?”
Paul cocked his head. “You applying?”
Ace pulled back. “Don’t know about that.”
“Give me another chance. Please.”
“That’s exactly what Holly told me,” Ace said.
“She’s a busy little bee these days.”
“I’ll say.” Ace blew out a breath and looked closely at Paul through their silence. “What do you have in mind, then?”
“A ballgame,” Paul said quickly. “Holly gave me these amazing tickets. Diamond Club seats at Kauffman Stadium. Thursday night. Royals and Red Sox.”
Ace winced. “Ouch. They’re gonna get murdered.”
“More than likely,” Paul smiled. “But there’s always the possibility of a miracle.”
“A baseball game,” Ace said slowly. “That’s about the straightest gay date you could dream up.”
“Not true. There’s always Nascar at the Kansas Speedway.”