Home Improvement — a Love Story

by Tara Lain

  “Okay, but give me a few minutes to scope out the appliances and find everything.”

  He grinned. “Good. You can teach me when you’ve got it mastered.”

  She wrapped her towel around her curvy, cute figure in her not-very-daring bikini and padded into the house through the mudroom entrance, where they’d installed a shower and an infrared sauna.

  Gabe said, “She sure loves your pool. She’s having a hard time yelling at you for spending the money to heat it.”

  “I promised her I’d have solar installed right away.” Jerry smiled. “Do you know somebody?”

  “Yeah. Got to keep the budget police off your case.” He chuckled.

  “Actually, it’s fun to have somebody worry about spending my money. Most people forget I work for a living.” He glanced at Gabe. “I appreciate both of you looking out for me.”

  Gabe lifted his brows. “I’ve spent a lot of your money with that weird black card.”

  “Yes, but you account for every penny, and you’re not exactly using the most expensive sources. I really am grateful. Nobody could have gotten this much comfort and style for such a reasonable price.”

  The compliment shut Gabe up. He’d only thought of himself as a stopgap—a way to get things done when Jerry didn’t want to do them himself. The idea that he brought something special to the process made him blink.

  Ellie’s voice came from the family room door. “Okay, ready for helpers.”

  Gabe followed Jerry into the house, enjoying the view of the slim hips in tight denim gently swaying. Any way he could come back to Jerry’s after he took Ellie home? He sighed softly. Not fair to leave his daughter by herself while Gabe sneaked out to get laid, even if she’d tell him to go.

  He stepped into the kitchen and caught his breath. Ellie had a big pot of homemade soup she’d made at their house and was heating here on Jerry’s shiny new professional-quality range. She’d spread out all the salad makings they’d brought on the quartz counters. The whole scene looked kind of like an ad for the cooking channel, but best of all was Jerry, who stood with a hand over his mouth, staring at his own kitchen. Gabe walked up beside him and settled a hand in the small of Jerry’s back.

  He whispered, “You okay?”

  Jerry nodded but didn’t get any words out.

  Gabe smiled. “Looks like a real home, huh?”

  Jerry shook his head again, then turned and burrowed his head in Gabe’s shoulder.

  For a second, Gabe looked uneasily at Ellie, but she glanced up, grinned, and winked. Gabe tightened his arm around Jerry’s back and gently patted him until he raised his head.

  Jerry slowly shared a smile. “Sorry, it’s just so nice to see—all this. Thank you for making it happen.” He wiped a hand over his eyes, turned to the already washed lettuce and spinach, and started ripping them into a big wooden bowl that Gabe had bought for the kitchen. Jerry sniffed as he grabbed an avocado.

  With a grin, Gabe started washing tomatoes, and ten minutes later the three of them sat down at Gabe’s handmade table that was now installed in Jerry’s dining room.

  Jerry looked down at the pretty patterned soup bowl and plate in front of him. “We’re inaugurating this room.” He raised his iced tea glass. “Thank you, Ellie, for this great moment.”

  She blushed and raised her glass. “My pleasure. I put the extra soup in your freezer, so all you have to do is remember to defrost it, and you don’t have to eat pizza for one meal.”

  Jerry started singing the song from Oliver about glorious food, and Ellie joined in. Jerry jumped up and segued to “Let It Go.” He waltzed around the room singing something about looking like he was the queen while draping his head with a place mat. Gabe and Ellie rocked in their chairs, but despite the laughter, Gabe could have listened to that voice all day. Man, could Jerry sing.

  After they ate, they cleaned up the kitchen, then Ellie asked, “Can I take one more swim? Is it okay, Jerry?”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay. I’m going to turn on the dishwasher and then change back into my suit.”

  Gabe and Jerry walked back out into the early afternoon sunshine. Jerry glanced at the door, then rested his head against Gabe’s shoulder. “I didn’t know I could have a day like this.”

  All around them, the branches of the trees Gabe still hadn’t had time to get pruned were starting to leaf. Gabe sighed. Perfect.

  “Jerry! Hey, Jer, where the hell are you?”

  The shout came from inside the house.

  Jerry stiffened and leaped back like someone had stepped on the cat’s tail.

  Or his dreams.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “JERRY!”

  Gabe turned. Jerry stared toward the source of the voice like he’d heard an oracle of doom.

  Through the family room doors came the guy Gabe had seen sitting with Jerry at the restaurant that night, but this time he wasn’t wearing a hat. His hair was cut in one of those styles where the top’s long and the sides are short, and the color was almost white with a streak of blue shooting through it. He was shorter than Jerry and stockier, but the resemblance was there.

  Jerry started to say something, then gasped as three other men came out of the door after the blond guy. They looked familiar. Gabe was pretty sure these were the musicians who’d played with Jet Gemini.

  Jerry clenched his teeth. “Shit!” He took a few steps forward. “What in the bloody fuck are you doing here?”

  The blond stopped a few feet away and raised his hands. “Hey, bro, come on. We’ve been cooling our heels in San Francisco waiting for you to show up.” He glanced at Gabe. “Finally I figured we needed to come to you.”

  Jerry’s voice was icy. “How did you know where to come?”

  The guy looked up uneasily. “I figured you were coming back to Ashland. I, uh, had somebody follow you when you got off the freeway.”

  “Goddammit, Fred!” Since there was more than one exit, it meant Fred the Asshole had more than one spy following him.

  “Come on, kiddo, I had to make sure you were all right and nobody was, uh—” He glanced at Gabe again. “—taking advantage of you. You can be such an easy mark.” He plastered a smile on his face and stuck out his hand to Gabe. “Hi. I’m Fred Castor.”

  Gabe shook Fred’s hand automatically, then looked at Jerry.

  Jerry gave him one glance that seemed to contain all the pain and longing of his life, but it only took a second for his expression to cool and harden. “This is Gabe Mason. He’s heading the construction on my house.”

  The words were only true—but they froze his blood. Gabe dropped his hand.

  Fred said, “Hi.” His gaze moved back and forth between Gabe and Jerry like a Ping-Pong ball. How much had he seen?

  Ellie’s voice preceded her bounding entrance through the mudroom door, singing. She stopped, staring at the men who openly ogled her. “Oh, sorry.”

  Gabe said, “Ellie, we best be going. Please get your things.”

  “But—”

  “Get your things, please.”

  She turned and walked back into the house.

  Gabe mumbled, “I’ll check with the landscaper before I go.”

  “Good, thanks.” Jerry kept glaring at his brother without a glance for Gabe.

  Gabe stalked into the house, wanting not to feel hurt and stupid, except it would be stupid not to feel stupid. Ellie met him at the door holding her still-damp bikini. She said, “I left the extra food here.”

  Gabe just nodded.

  “That’s his band. And his brother. Did Jerry invite them here?”

  “No.”

  “Is Jerry okay? He looked really weird.”

  He acted really weird. “I’m sure he’s fine. Let’s go.”

  Gabe trotted down the front porch steps, checked with the guys working on the landscaping of the entry path, and walked toward the driveway. As they came around the corner, Gabe thought he saw a person scoot past the edge of the wall that surrounded the
pool. He glanced at Ellie. “Did you see something?”

  She seemed distracted. “What? Oh, I wasn’t watching. What happened?”

  “I thought I saw somebody wandering around out here.”

  She shrugged. “Probably one of your landscapers. Or maybe another member of the band got lost.”

  “Yeah.” They climbed in the truck, and Gabe wound down the narrow drive.

  As they pulled onto Mountain Avenue, Ellie said, “I’m worried about Jerry. He really seemed different. Upset, I think.”

  Gabe softly sighed. “I think he was embarrassed.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That the big rock star was caught socializing with his hired help.”

  “Come on, Dad. Jerry doesn’t think of you that way.”

  “Sure he does. Why wouldn’t he? That’s what I am. He only invited us because he’s grateful that I got his house partly done.” He flashed her a big smile and hoped it reached his eyes. “And I got paid well to do it, so no complaints.” The great night in the soaking pool had merely been his bonus.

  “But you like Jerry.” Surprisingly, he saw a glitter in her eyes like tears.

  “Sure I do. He’s a great guy.” He took a breath. “But he lives in a different world from us, honey. Once his house is done, he doesn’t have any reason to see us. Not like Jet Gemini’s going to be dropping into ImproveMart.”

  “He did once.”

  “Yeah.” He stopped talking, afraid his voice might shake, and flipped on the radio. It was still on the local classical channel where Jerry had set it last time he was in the truck. Gabe swallowed and changed to a country western station.

  PERCHED ON the edge of the chair in the second guest room, Jerry glared at Fred. “What was it about me wanting some time and privacy you didn’t get?”

  Fred frowned. “Come on, Jer, is this time and privacy?” He waved an arm. “I leave you to yourself for a few weeks, and you buy a ramshackle house and hire some home-improvement dude to fix it up? Jesus, you’ve got a perfectly great penthouse in San Francisco and a palatial mansion in LA. Whatever possessed you to buy this?” He looked around in disgust. “You’re the one who’s always telling me I need to be more careful with money.”

  Jerry opened his mouth to answer, but Fred, as usual, pushed on. “And your fix-up guy?” He sneered. “You don’t care about his skills. You just like his ass. Seriously, Jer. I thought you’d grown out of that phase. Just when the rumors start to die down, you go back to your old tricks. At least the guys saw that cute girl. Hopefully they think you’re balling her.”

  Jerry sprang to his feet. “Fuck, Fred! She’s seventeen years old! She’s his daughter.”

  “I didn’t say you were sleeping with her. Plus, they don’t know how old she is.” He leaned forward on the bed where he’d planted himself, leaving the band downstairs in the family room sipping beer and watching some sports or other on the TV that Gabe had worked so hard to get attached to the solid plaster walls. Damn, just thinking of Gabe made Jerry’s chest hurt. What’s he thinking? Gabe had looked so shocked and offended. And Ellie?

  Fred said, “Since we lost Marty until his mom gets well, we need to rehearse with Swizzle on bass, and we’ve got the big performance in Vegas.”

  “So instead of calling me and asking me to meet you, you thought you’d just have me followed like some kind of cheating spouse to see whether I was behaving in accordance with your exalted standards.”

  Fred narrowed his eyes, an expression that had cowed Jerry lots of times as a kid. “I don’t make the rules, Jerry. I don’t give a shit if you’re gay, but your fans do. Older women don’t care, but young girls get squigged out by sex, to say nothing of their parents keeping them home. Theoni’s told you that a million times.”

  True. His publicist didn’t actually know he was gay, but whenever there was a rumor, she preached how bad it would be for his career. Gay might be cool in most circles, but not for movie and rock stars. Sex symbols could dress in spangled tights as long as they had a woman on their arm.

  Man, I’m tired of this shit.

  Fred got his sincere face on. “I’m sorry I had you tailed. I’ve got to admit, you kind of made it a challenge.” He grinned just a little, probably hoping for a smile back. He didn’t get one. “Anyway, I may not get this whole house thing, but I’ll defend your right to have it. And since you do have it and it’s as big as Colorado, how about we set up and rehearse here?”

  “No.”

  “What?” He looked shocked.

  “You and the guys get out of here. I’ll meet you back in the studio in San Francisco tomorrow.”

  “Come on, that’s dumb. We’re here.”

  “And I didn’t invite you. This house is mine. Get back on a plane, and I’ll meet you tomorrow.”

  “Jesus, Jer, you’re acting like a crazy man.”

  “That’s what comes from spending twelve years living everybody else’s fucking life.” It took all his guts to stare his brother down. Too many years where Fred was the only one on his side. Of course, he was more on his own side. Jerry said, “There are lots of flights from Medford. Get on one and go home.” He kept staring, arms folded over his chest.

  “Well shit.” Fred rose and stomped out of the bedroom, scowling.

  Jerry walked to the top of the stairs and listened as the guys grumbled, laughed, clomped around, and finally slammed the front door behind them.

  Jerry padded down the stairs quietly, peering along the hall, afraid some other member of his team would leap out at him. Everything was quiet.

  He rushed back to his interim bedroom, grabbed his phone from the nightstand where he’d left it, and dialed before he could lose his nerve. It rang. And rang. Third ring.

  It went to voicemail, and for a second he heard Gabe’s recorded voice. Jerry clicked off and immediately dialed again. It rang. After another ring, it stopped, but no voice came on.

  Jerry said, “Hello?”

  No answer.

  “Gabe?”

  “Jerry?” It wasn’t Gabe; it was Ellie, and she was whispering.

  The words tumbled out. “Hi, Ellie. I’m so sorry about what happened today. I didn’t know they were coming, and I didn’t want them to stay. That’s why I didn’t introduce you. I didn’t want them to know anything about you or your dad because you don’t need to be involved in that world. Will you tell him that, Ellie? I’m so, so sorry about—everything. Please.”

  “Jerry, I can’t talk. I grabbed Dad’s phone from the couch, but he doesn’t want me to talk to you. I’ll try to tell him you’re sorry, but—” The phone clicked off.

  Damn.

  He dialed again. Ring. Ring. Ring. Voicemail.

  He hung up and dialed again. Ring. Ring.

  Gabe bellowed into the phone. “Dammit, Jerry, what the hell—”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Come on, you were embarrassed, and I totally understand.” He breathed out. “I like you more than I should, but what can we possibly have going, Jerry? Are we going to meet in secret from time to time hoping that no one finds out? Let’s face it, the likes of you doesn’t mingle with the likes of me. I forgot that for a little while, but now I remember. There’s no Cinderella in real life. The guy from ImproveMart doesn’t get to end up with the handsome prince. So thanks for the reminder. I’m really glad I got to—” His voice broke and the phone went dead.

  Jerry stared at the phone. “Fuck this!” He ran down the stairs, into the mudroom, and through the hall to the garage.

  He was pretty sure he didn’t take a full breath on the twenty-minute drive to Talent.

  ELLIE’S WARM hands on his back were the only thing keeping him from flying into a million pieces.

  “Come on, Dad, call him. I believe him. He’s really upset. So are you. How does it make sense to not talk to each other?”

  He just shook his head. He was acting like a big baby, but he couldn’t stop. Too much longing pressing against a huge wall of reality. Ho
w could it be that the one guy he’d really liked in most of his adult life had to be—who he was?

  The sound of the doorbell made him jump a foot.

  Ellie yelled, “I’ll get it!” She was out of his bedroom so fast there should have been speed lines.

  He heard voices from the living room, Ellie’s soprano and the lower sound of a man’s voice. Gabe strained to hear who it was, but no go. Don’t get your hopes up. Why would he come here?

  Things got quiet, but there was no sound of the front door closing, so he turned to go see and gasped. Jerry stood in his bedroom door, pale hair hanging around his face and shoulders.

  Gabe’s heart slammed so hard it should have bruised his ribs. The anger, hurt, and shame all dissolved in a burst of elation. He came!

  Gabe took a step forward, and Jerry did the rest. He cleared the space in one jump and landed with his arms around Gabe’s neck. After a serious nose bump, he managed to fuse their lips together, his fingers digging into Gabe’s hair.

  Gabe wrapped his arms around Jerry and pressed their bodies together. All he wanted was to kiss until he didn’t have to think anymore.

  It didn’t work.

  Gabe might be going up in smoke, but his well-trained dad brain reminded him that Ellie could be right outside the door. He pulled back, looked into Jerry’s face, and that was all it took to realize nothing had really changed. “Wait.”

  Jerry opened his beautiful, odd eyes. “Do I have to?”

  Gabe smiled and flicked the hair from Jerry’s eyes with a finger, then trailed it down the lean, pale cheek. “Yeah.”

  Jerry sighed. “You’re right. We need to talk.”

  Gabe gazed at the crease between Jerry’s brows. How can I care so much about something so impossible? Gabe said, “Sadly, I don’t think there’s much to talk about.”

  “Yes there is. Come on.” Jerry took Gabe’s hand and led him into the living room. Ellie sat at the dining room card table putting on a big show of working. Likely story.

  Jerry sat on the couch and pulled Gabe down beside him. Ellie seemed to get the message that she was included, because she walked in and sat on the easy chair with her legs tucked under her.