New Man in Town

by Edward Kendrick

  “Okay. What are you good at?”

  Wylie snorted. “Not much, other than what I did when I worked as a PI. I don’t think those are skills any business owner around here would need.”

  “Probably not,” Carl agreed. “On the other hand, if you opened your own agency…”

  “Come on. Who around here needs a detective?”

  “Says the man who figured out what was going on with Nelly and Emma, and stopped Alicia,” Garry retorted.

  “That was a one-time thing, and it was all three of us,” Wylie protested.

  “True, but…” Garry paused while the waitress set down their meals. “Okay, hear me out,” he continued when she was gone. “You’ve already told Roger you could set up security on Emma’s house. You installed the security on your place so we could catch Alicia. I’m sure there will be other people in town who want something, too, after what we’ve just gone through. I also know for a fact that the closest company who handles setting up a security system is in a city sixty miles from here.”

  “Did you do, I think they’re called background checks?” Carl asked.

  “Of course, but who’d need that here?” Wylie replied.

  “Anyone who hires temporary help during tourist season,” Carl said. “I’ve heard a couple of people who I do odd jobs for talking about how they worried that they might be taking on someone who would rob them blind.”

  “He’s right,” Garry agreed. “It happened to Mr. Edwards. He owns one of the antique shops on Market,” he added for Wylie’s benefit. “The girl who worked for him a couple of summers ago walked away with all the money in the till two weeks after she started. It turned out she had a record for doing that, which of course he didn’t find out about until after the fact.”

  Wylie thought about what they were saying as they began eating. He was aware that they were watching him, waiting for him to respond, but he didn’t until they were almost finished. “I suppose it’s worth a shot,” he said. “The worst that could happen is I’ll sit on my duff, waiting for clients who never show up.”

  “Advertising, kid,” Carl said. “Put an ad in the local paper for starters.”

  “There’s also word-of-mouth,” Garry pointed out. “Around here that works almost better than an ad as far as the locals are concerned.”

  “I’ll have to rent an office. Is that possible?” Wylie asked.

  Garry glanced at Carl, getting a wink in return, before answering Wylie’s question by asking one of his own. “How much room do you need?”

  “Not much, I guess. Space for a desk, at least one file cabinet, some shelves for equipment.”

  “Then you already have the perfect place.” When Wylie looked at him in question, Garry explained. “Clean up the garage, use part of the basement for whatever equipment you’re thinking about keeping on hand.”

  “Gramps truck is in there.”

  “And? Move it onto the street if you insist on keeping it,” Garry replied. “Better yet, if you do, I’m only using half of my garage so you can store it with me.”

  “I couldn’t impose like that,” Wylie protested.

  Garry snorted. “What part of I only use half didn’t you understand. Honest, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

  “Then you hire me to turn your garage into your new business space,” Carl told Wylie. “I work cheap.”

  “I know,” he replied. “How do you manage to keep your head above water?”

  “Lots of small jobs can add up.”

  “I guess.”

  Garry laid his hand on Wylie’s arm. “Think about it. For starters, it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than renting or buying a place.”

  “You’re right.” Wylie sucked in a long breath. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  “Yes!”

  “I need to make a list of—”

  “Not tonight,” Carl and Garry said at the same time, with Carl adding, “We need to finish dinner and then go in there—” he nodded to the bar, “—and bask in the glow of admiration from all our friends…or something like that.”

  They did, although by the time they returned to the bar most of the locals had left. That didn’t really surprise them as Thursday was a workday. Dave was about to leave, but stayed long enough to pay for a round of beers—“Because you earned them, big time.”

  Garry took his with him as he made closing rounds, thanking the few remaining tourists for stopping by as he tactfully suggested it was time for them to leave. It took several minutes, but finally the only people left were the ones who worked there and Wylie and Carl. Carl tossed back the last of his beer, told Wylie to give him a call as soon as he knew what he wanted him to do to the house and garage, and took off as well.

  “Alone, at last,” Garry said, taking the stool next to Wylie.

  “Other than…” Wylie waved a hand around to encompass Garry’s crew.

  “Give it ten and we will be. Then we can stop by your place to check on Coal.”

  “Huh?”

  Garry grinned. “You know. The puppy you adopted.”

  “I get that, but ‘stop by’?”

  “Yep. Then you’re coming home with me. I’ll fix dessert, since we passed on it earlier, and we can totally unwind.”

  Wylie lifted an eyebrow. “Unwind, how?”

  “Watch a movie, make out, you know, the usual thing when two people are moving on in a relationship.”

  Wylie decided he had no problem with that idea. Not in the least, as long as we don’t get carried away. I’m not sure either of us is ready to take the final step.

  Ten minutes later, Wylie and Garry had parked at their respective homes. Wylie left the front door unlocked for Garry and went into the main room to see what trouble Coal had gotten into. There was no trace of the puppy there, or in the kitchen, other than a chewed up dishtowel he’d somehow managed to pull off the hook by the cupboard under the sink.

  “Where’s the beast?” Garry asked, startling Wylie, who then held up the towel. “Uh-oh, you need to get him some toys.”

  “No kidding,” Wylie replied as he started upstairs. “I hope he hasn’t gotten hold of my shoes.”

  Garry smirked. “He is a puppy. Anything’s possible.”

  Coal wasn’t in sight when they reached the second floor hallway. Wylie found out why when he went into his bedroom. One of his pillows was on the floor beside the bed, the puppy curled up on it, sound asleep. Wylie tiptoed over, kneeling to stroke his head. Coal opened one eye and seconds later jumped up to lick Wylie’s face.

  “Thanks, it needed washing,” Wylie said with a laugh. “Do you need to go out?”

  Coal obviously knew the word, because he dashed to the top of the staircase and started down, one slow step at a time, looking back as Wylie hopefully.

  “You made it up here on your own, why can’t you…” Wylie grumbled as he picked him up—putting him down again when they were in the back yard. Coal did his business and then raced back into the house, stopping long enough to eat some dry food and drink some water before going straight to his blanket. Figuring it was a loss anyway; Wylie tied the dishtowel in knots and gave it to him while telling him that he’d be back in a while. Then, he and Garry left, walking down to Garry’s house.

  Ziggy greeted them enthusiastically before making a mad dash to the back door. Garry let him out, went into the kitchen, and started the coffee maker. “Do you want dessert?” he asked Wylie when he joined him, leaning against one of the counters.

  “You did promise,” Wylie replied. “But I’ll settle for a kiss, instead.”

  “I think I can give you that.” Garry put his arms on either side of Wylie, pinning him against the counter. For a moment, neither of them moved, and then they were kissing, opening to each other, Wylie’s arms now wrapped around Garry as they hungrily probed each other’s mouths with questing tongues.

  “Wow,” Wylie whispered when the kiss eventually ended.

  “I second that,” Garry said softly. “I wasn’t expecting fireworks
, but damn that came pretty close for our first genuine kiss.”

  “Genuine? I suppose so, because the others were only…experiments?”

  “You could call them that. Tests to see if what we thought was happening between us might be the real thing.” Garry brushed the pad of his thumb over Wylie’s lips. “As far as I’m concerned, it definitely feels like it is.”

  Wylie smiled, nipping Garry’s thumb. “You’ll get no argument from me.”

  They kissed again, falling into it; until by mutual if silent consent they ended it before things moved beyond where common sense said they should be at the moment.

  “I want you in my bed,” Garry said, gazing deeply into Wylie’s eyes, “but it’s too soon. I mean…how do I put this?”

  “We’re not looking for a one-night stand, or even a short-term romance? When we do it, and I’m sure we will, it will be because we love each other.”

  “Yes. I think we’re close to feeling that, but we have to be certain.” Garry smiled ruefully. “Are we talking this to death?”

  “No. We’re being honest with each other.”

  Garry nodded. “One of the most important things in a relationship. Honesty and trust. You can’t have one without the other.”

  “Absolutely.” Wylie gave him a quick kiss before stepping away, nodding at the coffeemaker. “I think it’s ready.”

  With a knowing look, Garry said, “Using coffee as a buffer?”

  “Hot coffee, to cool us down…or something like that.”

  Laughing, Garry got cups, filled them, and then suggested they go into the living room to do as he’d said earlier, “Watch a movie.”

  Wylie chuckled. “And make out, which I think we’d better put on hold.”

  “Yeah, probably. We’re adults; we should be able to rein in our libidos, right?”

  “If you say so.”

  They settled on the sofa, found a movie they both wanted to watch, and did. Part way through, Wylie put his arm around Garry in a loose embrace. Garry leaned into it as he commented on a scene in the movie that made both of them laugh. Wylie wanted to kiss him…No, I want to do more than that. He began to play with the buttons on Garry’s shirt, stopping when Garry shot him a look of amusement and shook his head.

  “You do that,” Garry said, “and you know what’ll happen.”

  Innocently, Wylie replied, “I’ll see you in half your naked glory?”

  “Yep, and then I’ll need to see you, we won’t stop with our shirts, and next thing you know I’ll be dragging you upstairs.”

  “I doubt dragging will be part of the equation, but yeah. Another kiss, though…” Wylie followed through with that thought and, as before, the kiss deepened. A series of barks from the back yard quickly put an end to it, however.

  Garry got up, apologizing as he went to let Ziggy in. “Are you trying to wake the whole neighborhood?” he admonished the dog.

  Obviously unrepentant, Ziggy jumped up on the sofa, pawing at Wylie’s hand until he scratched behind the dog’s ears. Grinning at Garry, he said, “I guess that puts an end to our making out.”

  Dropping down next to him, Garry replied, “Probably just as well, and you know it.”

  “Someday soon, though…”

  “Oh, yeah, you’d better believe it,” Garry agreed.

  They continued watching the movie, with Ziggy playing chaperone.

  “Now, I’d better get home and see what trouble the monster’s gotten into while I was gone,” Wylie said when it was over.

  Garry laughed. “Not sure he’s a monster, given his size, but still…”

  “Exactly.”

  When they got to the front door, Garry pulled Wylie into a tight embrace to kiss him. “Think that’ll hold you until next time?” he asked when they parted.

  Wylie nodded. “As long as the next time is tomorrow.”

  “I suspect that can be arranged. Now, off with you.”

  Wylie saluted and left. He was relieved to find, when he arrived home, that Coal hadn’t managed to chew up anything other than the rag Wylie had given him. After locking up, setting the alarm, and turning off the downstairs lights, he and the puppy went up to bed.

  * * * *

  It took well over a month, and a lot of work on Carl and Owen’s part, before the garage became what would be Wylie’s office for his new business. They also stripped the old linoleum from the kitchen floor. Underneath it was the original wood floor which they sanded to remove the glue that had held the linoleum down, and then varnished.

  When the office was close to completion, Wylie shopped for office furniture and a basic supply of security equipment to keep on hand. “If I don’t get any clients…” he said to Garry at that point, shaking his head.

  “You will,” Garry replied firmly. “The word is already out that you’re setting up as Earlston’s one and only private detective and security expert.”

  “That doesn’t mean…”

  “Will you stop! You might not get rich, but you won’t go broke, either.” Garry grinned at that point. “It’s going to give you something to do when you aren’t spending time keeping me company.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  Since their relationship had moved from sharing impassioned kisses to spending their nights together in either Garry’s or Wylie’s bed, he figured Garry had a valid point, and said so. “It’s funny,” he commented with an amused smile. “I sold my half of the business to John because I was bored. Now, I can’t think of anything I want to do more than help someone keep their home or business safe, and doing background checks so they know they’re hiring the best people for the job.”

  “And who knows,” Garry replied. “Maybe there’ll be another murder for you to solve.”

  Wylie snorted. “Kingman will love that.”

  “He likes you, now, so my bet is he probably won’t mind…too much.”

  “Time will tell, I guess. While I don’t wish a violent death on anyone, especially someone I’ll probably know, if it happens I’ll for damned sure do my best to find the killer.”

  “As long as you don’t have to do it in the middle of the night when we should be, umm, sleeping.”

  Wylie grinned, replying before he kissed him, “I’ll do my best to keep that from happening.”

  THE END

  ABOUT EDWARD KENDRICK

  Born and bred in Cleveland, I earned a degree in technical theater, later switched to costuming, and headed to NYC. Finally seeing the futility of trying to become rich and famous in the Big Apple, I joined VISTA—Volunteers in Service to America—ending up in Chicago for three years. Then it was on to Denver where I put down roots and worked as a costume designer until I retired in 2007.

  I began writing a few years ago after joining an online fanfic group. Two friends and I then started a group for writers, where they could post any story they wished no matter the genre or content. Since then, for the last five years, I’ve been writing for publication—my first book came out in February of 2011. Most, but not all, of my work is M/M, either mildly erotic or purely ‘romantic.’ More often than not it involves a mystery or action/adventure, and is sometimes paranormal to boot.

  For more information, visit edwardkendrick.blogspot.com.

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  JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!