by Ariel Tachna
“Everything in theater is temporary,” Blake reminded him. “I’m not sure we have anything that small, though. We use one-by-fours on the flats and two-by-fours on the platforms. And we’ve already stretched our budget on this one because of the number of sets we have.”
“Got a tape measure? Let’s figure out how much we’ll need. I can make a run to Congleton Lumber tomorrow before I come here.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Thane,” Blake protested.
Thane smiled. “Get your tape measure. You didn’t ask. I offered.”
TWO hours later, Thane looked around for Blake as he waited for Kit and Phillip to gather their backpacks. He found the other man in the light box, turning off the stage lights. “Where do you want to go for pizza, Kit?” he asked when the boys joined him outside the light box door.
“Can we go to Mellow Mushroom?” Kit asked.
“Sure,” Thane replied. “It’s your science test.”
Blake came out of the light box and locked the door behind him. “Oh, I thought everyone had left already. I didn’t mean to turn the lights out on you.”
“It’s fine,” Thane said. “We were waiting for you.”
“Did you need something?”
“Not as such. We’re going to Mellow Mushroom to get pizza for dinner. You should join us since you’re the one who motivated Kit to study so hard for his science test,” Thane said.
He could practically see Blake trying to find a way to refuse, but Kit and Phillip chimed in immediately. “Yeah, please come, Mr. B.,” Kit said.
“It’ll be fun,” Phillip added.
“All right, if you’re sure you want me to come along, I will,” Blake said. “I’m parked in the staff lot. I have to go by my office and pick up my coat, but I’ll meet you at the restaurant in about twenty minutes.”
“That works,” Thane said. “We’ll get a table if we get there before you.”
Blake nodded and gestured for them to precede him out of the theater. Thane was tempted to linger while he locked up, maybe even to walk with him to his office, but Kit and Phillip were right there waiting too, and Thane wasn’t quite ready to share his interest in Blake with them. They’d figure it out quickly enough, and if Blake agreed to a date, he’d have to discuss it with them, but they weren’t quite there yet. At least they already liked “Mr. B.” That would make things easier.
They piled into Thane’s truck and headed into town toward the restaurant.
“Can I borrow the truck Saturday, Uncle Thane?” Phillip asked once they were on the road.
“What for?” Thane asked.
“I, um, I took your advice,” Phillip said. “I asked Darcy out, and she said yes. We’re going to the movies, and I want to pick her up. It’ll feel more like a date that way.”
“Phillip’s got a date. Phillip’s got a date,” Kit crowed.
Phillip elbowed him.
“Not in the car,” Thane snapped. “If you act that way, I’m not sure I can trust you to drive.”
“Sorry,” Phillip said. “Kit’s just being a little shit.”
“Hey!” Kit protested.
“Boys,” Thane said with a sigh. “I just asked you to behave. Am I going to regret taking you to get pizza?”
“Sorry, Uncle Thane. We’ll be good,” Kit said.
Thane only barely believed that, but he’d take it for now.
They found street parking—the parking lot was already full—near the Mellow Mushroom, which didn’t bode well for getting a table, but the line inside wasn’t terribly long. Thane put their name on the list and settled down to wait. Kit and Phillip leaned against the far wall, heads together as they talked about something they clearly didn’t want Thane to hear. He could go over and barge in, but that wouldn’t help anything. They’d tell him when they were ready.
Blake came in a few minutes after them, his cheeks red from the wind or from hurrying, Thane didn’t know which. Either way, it looked good on him. He smiled at Thane as he undid his coat. He’d changed his sweatshirt for a green sweater that brought out the color of his eyes. Thane returned the smile as he drank in the sight of Blake dressed casually but not for stage crew or clubbing. This, he suspected, was the real Blake, the one he wanted to get to know.
“They should have a table for us in a few minutes,” Thane said.
“I’m not in any particular rush,” Blake replied. “Unless the boys have a lot of homework they need to finish?”
“I haven’t asked,” Thane admitted. “I should probably do that.”
“There will be time to ask them after dinner,” Blake replied. “We’re here now, and you can’t take away a promised reward after you’ve offered it.”
“I don’t know a lot about being a father, but I do know that much,” Thane said.
Blake’s smile grew wider. “I think you’re doing a wonderful job, especially given how short a time they’ve been with you.”
“Their father died when they were very young. He was in the Army during the second Gulf War. A roadside bomb destroyed his Jeep. I know Kit doesn’t remember him, and I don’t think Phillip really does either,” Thane said. “I tried to be around as much as I could. Lily lived in Louisville, so I could go visit on weekends or between jobs, and definitely for birthdays and holidays. I never tried to replace their dad, but at least I was familiar to them when Lily got sick.”
“There’s a big difference between being an uncle, no matter how beloved, and being the one in charge,” Blake said. “Don’t diminish what you’ve accomplished with them already.”
Kit grabbed Phillip around the neck, wrestling with him.
“We’ve still got a long way to go. Boys, not inside.”
Blake laughed. “They’re teenagers. That’s perfectly normal behavior.”
“Not in a restaurant.”
“I said normal, not acceptable. Honestly I’m glad to see them acting that way. It means they’re coming out from beneath the shadow of their grief. They didn’t play around much when they started working with the stage crew,” Blake said.
“Dalton, table for four.”
Getting seated and ordering ended the conversation, much to Thane’s relief. He wasn’t comfortable taking credit for anything where the boys were concerned. They were awesome and amazing, but that was their doing—and Lily’s. All he’d done was give them a roof over their heads and as much straight talk as he could manage. Hardly worth Blake’s admiration.
Blake didn’t seem to notice his silence, chatting instead with Kit and Phillip about their day and their upcoming assignments. Kit and Phillip answered with happy smiles and plenty of teasing, especially when Kit brought up Darcy.
“I thought I saw you hanging out with her,” Blake said with a smile for Phillip. “She’s a very nice girl. I hope you have a good time at the movies.”
Nothing in the conversation was in any way out of the ordinary, but maybe that’s what gave it its power, because as Thane sat there watching Blake with his nephews, a burst of longing hit him like a sledgehammer. He wanted this. This simple moment with his boys and Blake. Nothing fancy. Nothing earth-shattering. Just family.
He’d never thought about it for himself. He’d been busy building his business, too caught up in that to take the time to date seriously because no one could compete with his baby. Dalton Construction was established now, though. He could spend time with the boys without having to worry about not getting the next contract and what that would mean to the bottom line. These days he had more contract offers than he could take, even with hiring a second foreman and crew.
He tried to plug in to the conversation, to engage Blake as well as the boys, but his mind was still reeling from the realization. If Blake noticed, he didn’t give any sign, all his attention on Kit and Phillip. With anyone else, Thane might have felt neglected, but Blake wasn’t ignoring him. He was enjoying the boys, and that was another thing entirely.
He was such a goner.
The waiter brought the check at
the end of dinner, and Thane pulled out his wallet to pay. Blake reached for the check, but Thane slid it out of reach.
“My treat,” Thane said. “I invited you.”
“That’s really not necessary.”
“Maybe not, but I’m still paying for dinner.”
“We’re going to wash our hands.” Kit slid out of the booth, Phillip right behind him.
“This isn’t a date,” Blake said as soon as they were out of earshot.
“I know. I wouldn’t ask you on a first date with my nephews along,” Thane replied. Blake could say what he wanted. It was a date.
“Then why won’t you let me pay for my half?”
“Because you ate two slices. Kit and Phillip ate two-thirds of a pizza each. Your ‘half’ is about two dollars, and I’m not a cheapskate.”
“Fine,” Blake said with a huff that Thane found ridiculously adorable, “but next time it’s my treat.”
Thane grinned. He could live with that—because that meant there would be a next time. “Deal.”
Chapter Sixteen
BY the time Blake managed to leave Henry Clay on Friday, he didn’t know whether he wanted to scream, cry, or throw himself at Thane and never let go. He shouldn’t have agreed to have dinner with Thane, Kit, and Phillip last night. He’d known it was a bad idea when he said yes, and then he’d gone and had a great time. And then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Thane had shown back up again today for stage crew and brought enough lumber to brace all the platforms with some left over—in case someone measured wrong the first time, he’d said when Blake protested the extra—and had flat-out refused to give Blake the bill so he could reimburse Thane after the performance, when they’d have money in their account again.
He drove into town and found a table at Enoteca. Darren brought him a drink without him asking. He must look like he needed it. “Thanks, Darren.”
“You’re welcome. You okay? You look a little frazzled.”
“Nothing a drink and some tapas won’t fix. I’ll wait for Heidi to get here before I order, but you could bring me some of the Bucherondin to nibble on while I’m waiting for her.”
“You got it,” Darren said.
Blake took a sip of his drink and tried to remember if he’d had time for lunch today. He didn’t think so, which meant he’d better go slowly on the drink or he wouldn’t be driving home tonight. The last thing he needed was to end up with a DUI or be in an accident.
He took a sip of water instead and tried to figure out what to do next. Blake had expected Thane to be distant after he’d turned him down on Wednesday, but Thane hadn’t given any sign of being bothered by it Thursday or today. Of course, that could be because Blake had gone out with them last night, even if he’d insisted it wasn’t a date.
“What’s got that look on your face?” Heidi asked as she sat down across from him. “Dalton giving you trouble again?”
“You could say that,” Blake replied, although honesty compelled him to add, “but not the way you’re thinking.”
“Then what’s going on?”
“He asked me out on Wednesday,” Blake said. “I turned him down, of course, but somehow I still ended up having pizza with him and his nephews last night.”
“That might be a new record for the fastest about-face on the planet,” Heidi teased.
Blake sighed. “It wasn’t a date. Kit, the younger nephew, was struggling a bit with his grades, mostly because he wasn’t applying himself. I told him he had to start doing better or he couldn’t stay onstage crew, and he’s gotten As on the last two tests. The pizza was to celebrate.”
“And?”
“And what?”
She kicked him underneath the table. “Don’t play dumb. I know you better than that. Did you have fun?”
“Too much fun. I know most people think of adolescence as being the worst possible time to be around kids, but I love teenagers. I wouldn’t work in a high school if I didn’t. Kit and Phillip are such bright boys who could have been totally defeated by losing their parents and changing cities and schools and then having to deal with bullies, but they haven’t been. I know Thane has a lot to do with that. He’s worked so hard to help them adjust, and it shows. I can’t remember when I last laughed as hard as I did last night, listening to Kit and Phillip tell stories about his visits when they were younger. They adore him, and for all that he protested them telling some of the stories, it was all done in good fun. It makes it hard to keep my distance.”
“I don’t know why you didn’t get married and have a family years ago,” Heidi said. “And don’t give me that line about you being gay. You know as well as I do there are options—adoption, surrogacy, fostering. I’ve thought for years you’d make a great father.”
“I work too much to be a single father, especially to an infant, and I’ve never met anyone who wanted the same things and who I liked enough to take the risk,” Blake said. “I’ve seen too many kids torn apart by broken homes to take the chance on anything less than a sure bet.”
“There are no sure bets,” Heidi reminded him. “Maybe it’s not divorce, but Dalton is taking care of his nephews. I’m going to bet nobody planned on that happening.”
“Least of all him.”
“My point exactly. He didn’t set out to be a father, but now he is one through whatever twist of fate brought his nephews into his life. That same twist of fate could take you or your partner out of a child’s life regardless of your best intentions. If people didn’t take the chance, you’d be out of a job in a couple of years.”
“I still have to meet someone I like well enough to consider having a family with,” Blake said.
Heidi snorted. “I think you already have. And best of all, he comes with a family attached.”
“I can’t go out with him.”
“Why not? You went out with him last night.”
“Last night I went out with some of my stage crew students and their family. That’s already skirting the line of acceptable behavior. If I start dating the guardian of students I’m responsible for in an active discipline case, I’ll be lucky to have their case handed to someone else rather than be fired for conflict of interest,” Blake said. “I don’t care how attractive he is or how much I love Kit and Phillip. I can’t afford to lose my job.”
“If they weren’t sophomores, if they were juniors and on someone else’s caseload, would it be different?” Heidi asked.
“Yeah, but he’s not asking me out next year. He’s asking me out now.”
“You could try telling him what you just told me. If he’s really interested, he might be willing to wait three months until school’s out.”
“Maybe.”
“You’re going to let this get away from you. You’re an idiot, Blake. I love you like a brother, but you are a goddamn idiot.”
Blake shook his head, but he didn’t argue. Hell, she was probably right, but he couldn’t take the risk of getting his heart broken for what would never mean as much to Thane as it would to him.
BLAKE spent Monday torn between hoping Thane would come to stage crew and hoping he wouldn’t. If he came, Blake would get to see him and spend time with him in a way no one could question, but the more time they spent together, the harder it would be to resist the temptation Thane represented. By the time school let out, he was completely fed up with himself. He had a job to do, both during and after school, and obsessing over Thane didn’t help him accomplish any of it.
He changed clothes and headed to the theater. Jenny would be working on blocking the sewer scene all week, so he and the stage crew would work on something else, probably the Havana nightclub. It was a simpler set—walls in the background and tables and props for the rest—but they still had to build and paint the walls.
He heard Thane’s voice the moment he stepped into the theater. So much for keeping his distance. He was tempted to use the work onstage as an excuse to retreat to the light box and work on lighting for the scene, but until Jenny figured ou
t where everyone was during the scene, there was no point in worrying about which rows of lights to have on with which gels or where to have the spots pointing. He took a steadying breath and headed backstage. He’d just have to find other ways to keep his distance.
He managed it for most of the first hour. Thane seemed content to work with Kit on one set of walls while Blake worked with Zach and his crew on the finishing touches for the mission. When he came down off the ladder they’d been using to create the makeshift roof, though, he found Thane right there.
“Hi. I didn’t get a chance to say that earlier.”
“Hi.” Blake’s voice sounded like a croak in his own ears. He cleared his throat. “Did you have a good weekend?”
“Busy but good.” Thane leaned against the wall of the set, leaving Blake feeling caught between the mission wall and Thane’s body. He blinked a couple of times and slid out around the ladder.
“Good to hear it. Kit and Phillip deserved a break, as hard as they’ve been working.”
“Phillip had a date on Saturday,” Thane said with a shake of his head. “I’m not ready to be a parent. I’m certainly not ready for dating.”
Blake laughed. “You remember what it was like to be a teenager. He’ll be fine.”
“I remember.” Thane’s voice deepened. “That’s what I’m worried about.”
Blake wanted to laugh it off and tell Thane he had nothing to worry about, but the words died in his throat. Phillip didn’t have the same bad-boy air about him that Thane had developed so early, nor any of the self-confidence bordering on brazenness that had let him casually announce to the whole school that he’d had anal sex with a girl, but Blake remembered it all too clearly, and now, standing in close proximity to Thane, his magnetism was almost too much.
“I need to get more nails for the roof,” he squeaked, retreating toward the closet where they kept their supplies, but Thane followed on his heels. The closet was barely large enough for both of them to fit, but Thane seemed to have no qualms about crowding with Blake into the small space.