Stage Two

by Ariel Tachna

  “Hi, Mr. Barnes,” Phillip said with too much enthusiasm. He was up to something. “We didn’t expect to run into you here.”

  Kit stood up and Phillip pushed Thane toward the empty chair.

  “But since you’re both here, you should talk,” Kit added. “We’ll leave you in peace so you don’t have to worry about us listening in.”

  Thane glared at one nephew, then the other. They both beamed back at him, then Phillip sobered. “Look, I don’t know what went wrong between you, but I know you were happy when you were together and you’re unhappy now that you’re not. You’re both too damn smart to throw away something good. Talk to each other and fix it. We want you both to be happy again.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Blake began, but Kit and Phillip shook their heads and walked away.

  “I’m sorry they did this,” Thane said. “I’ll go.”

  “You don’t have to,” Blake replied softly. “They’re right. Or at least they aren’t wrong about me. I’ve been pretty much miserable since we broke up.”

  “You’re the one who ended things,” Thane said, trying to keep his voice even.

  “Yes, I know. Did you ever wonder why?” Blake asked, looking up at Thane with a pained smile.

  Of course he had, but the reasons hadn’t mattered when Blake was done with him.

  “Probably because I have a temper and let my big mouth get away from me,” Thane said. “I said some things I shouldn’t have.”

  Blake shrugged. “Yes, you did, and they hurt, but you were looking out for the boys. That wasn’t the problem.”

  “Then what was?”

  “That you couldn’t see how hard I was trying to do the same,” Blake replied. “Of all the things you could have accused me of, that was the one guaranteed to hurt the worst.”

  “What was I supposed to think?” Thane asked.

  “That I was doing the best I could, that I had a reason, maybe even a good one, for not being at that meeting, and that I care about them as much as you do,” Blake said incredulously. “Or even listen to me when I tried to explain why I wasn’t there before deciding I’d abandoned them. Thane, my principal was between a rock and a hard place. If I’d been in that meeting, everything I said would have made things worse because Mason’s parents found out about us. I don’t know how. I don’t suppose it matters. But they called my impartiality into question. If I’d so much as corroborated Kit’s story, it would have sounded like we’d rehearsed it, or that I’d told him what to say, and Mason might not have been punished. I sat out of that meeting with my job on the line so that Kit would be safe.”

  “You couldn’t have figured out a way to tell me that before the meeting?” Thane asked. “You have my cell number. You could have called.”

  “I intended to,” Blake said, “but there wasn’t time. I left the meeting with the principal and before I could even get back to my office to think about what to do next, I got pulled into a separate matter. And the meeting was in progress if not over by the time I’d dealt with that. I work in a high school. There’s always something demanding my attention, and a lot of times it’s urgent. I told you that night that I will always put my students first, no matter the cost to me, and I meant it. I just didn’t think the cost would be you.”

  “I fucked up, didn’t I?” Thane said.

  “That’s one way to put it.”

  Thane scrubbed at his face, acutely conscious of the sweat in his beard now that he was sitting across from Blake instead of Phillip. “I’m sorry. Kit was hurt and scared, and I was so angry.”

  “And I was a convenient scapegoat. I can’t blame you for wanting to protect Kit, but I can’t be with someone who’s going to turn on me when the going gets tough. You have two beautiful, amazing boys to raise, and I look forward to seeing the men they turn out to be. With you as their model, I know they’ll do great things. But raising teenagers isn’t easy, no matter how amazing they are. There are going to be days you’ll want to throttle them.”

  Today was one of those days, what with their little stunt in getting Blake and himself here.

  “No matter how much you want to throttle them, you won’t be able to, and you’ll have to find some other way to let out that frustration. The easiest outlet will always be your partner. I can’t be that person.”

  “This is going to get me in worse trouble instead of less,” Thane said, “but I wasn’t angry in general. I was angry at you. Wrongly so, maybe, but it was very specific. I do have enough sense not to lash out at random people for something someone else did to make me angry.”

  “Yeah, not helping,” Blake said, but he smiled as he said it, so Thane’s honesty must have counted for something. If that was the way to get Blake back, he could do that.

  “For what it’s worth, even thinking you’d let us all down, I missed you. Phillip and Kit were right. It hasn’t been a good two months. I came to all the performances of Guys and Dolls and sat in the back so I could catch a glimpse of you when you came out onstage at the end. Then I hung around to watch you congratulate the kids, and I saw how you stayed a little longer with Kit and Phillip than you did with the other kids. And every time you did, I got a flash of what I’d lost. Thrown away in ignorance, I guess. I had this vision of the four of us as a family, and family stands by each other no matter what.”

  “They do,” Blake agreed, “but we aren’t a family yet, not in any way anyone would recognize. If we had been, I would have taken steps to avoid the conflict of interest, and then I could have been at the meeting as their other guardian, or at least as your partner. I could have been part of that picture, but as it was, I had to step out completely or risk everything. I was going to tell you that night. I’d planned to call you and explain we had to take a break. Not a breakup, just a break until school was out. But I can’t be with someone who thinks the worst of me. I can’t do that to myself.”

  “No, you can’t,” Thane said. “I was too angry to listen when you explained why you hadn’t kept your promises, so I didn’t see that you were keeping your promises in a different way. I wish I could say the same for myself. I told you I’d treat you the way you deserved, and then I lost it the first time things got rough. If you’ll give me another chance, I’ll do better this time.”

  Blake laughed, the sound weak and a little watery. “And how exactly are you going to top your first attempt? Because up until the moment Mason punched Kit, you were everything I dreamed of and never thought I could have.”

  That did it. Thane wasn’t ever letting Blake go again. “I’m sure I can think of something. We could go to the Oakroom in Louisville or to Orchids in Cincinnati. Or Chicago is only six hours away. We could spend a few days there.”

  “Stop,” Blake said, laughing for real this time. “I don’t need you to wine and dine me.”

  “Then tell me what you want,” Thane said with complete seriousness.

  “How about dinner at your place with the boys? You said you wanted us to be a family. We already know we work romantically. I’ve never been swept off my feet the way you did. But keeping me means more than just romantic dinners and hot sex during your lunch break. Maybe we ought to see if I fit in to the rest of your life before you start planning more elaborate trips.”

  “I can’t cook,” Thane blurted out. “Dinner at my place is usually takeout or frozen lasagna or something like that. When it was just me, it never mattered.”

  “Good thing for you I can cook, then,” Blake said. “See? Those are the kinds of things we need to learn if we’re going to have a life together.”

  “Does this mean you’ll give me another chance?” Thane asked. He wouldn’t blame Blake at all for dragging this out and making him grovel. He’d do it, too, if it meant he got the family he hadn’t known he wanted until he lost it.

  “We’ll see how things go.”

  Thane would take it. He’d spend the rest of his life making sure Blake wouldn’t regret that decision. “Then in that case, can I buy you lunch?�
�

  “Why don’t you call Kit and Phillip back over, and you can buy us all lunch?” Blake suggested. “They have a bit of a vested interest in this too. We wouldn’t be here now if it wasn’t for them.”

  Blake was right, of course, but Thane wasn’t letting them off the hook that easily. “They can buy their own lunches.” Blake gave him an indulgent look. “They can sit with us, but only because you want them to.”

  “Does this mean I get my way from now on?” Blake teased.

  “Probably not always,” Thane admitted. “I have a temper, and I’m too proud to know when to back down sometimes. So I’ll probably do something stupid and storm out. Just remember that I’ll always come back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “THIS is the most understocked kitchen I have ever seen,” Blake said with a sigh as he opened cabinets and drawers at Thane’s house the next night. “You have this amazing space with beautiful counters and new appliances and not a thing to actually prepare food with.”

  “I have a couple of pans,” Thane replied defensively. He’d been a bachelor living alone until six months ago. He hadn’t needed anything more than a pan and maybe a skillet.

  Blake rolled his eyes at him. “Tomorrow we are going shopping to buy you some actual cookware. For tonight I’ll make do with what you have here. Where are the boys?”

  “Probably playing video games,” Thane said. “Why?”

  “Because it’s high time you all learned how to cook,” Blake declared. “They’ll be going off to college soon, and not being able to follow a simple recipe is ridiculous. If nothing else, they can use it to impress their dates later on.”

  “Is that what you’re doing?” Thane asked, taking a step closer to Blake.

  Blake shot him a reproving glare. “No, I’m feeding you so you don’t end up getting takeout again,” he said. “Go get the boys while I decide what I can make with what I have here. I knew I should have brought some things from home.”

  “We can go back and get them. Your apartment isn’t that far away,” Thane offered.

  Blake puttered around the kitchen a little more, finally pulling out a black pan from the drawer beneath the oven to go along with the frying pan and small pot on the stove. “No, we’ll make do for tonight. Go get the boys.”

  Thane stepped to the kitchen door and hollered for the boys. Kit and Phillip tumbled into the kitchen a few moments later.

  “I need help with dinner,” Blake announced. “Wash your hands and come over here.”

  “Aww, Mr. B.,” Phillip whined.

  “You’re both more than old enough to help in the kitchen,” Blake said, “and given that you plotted to get your uncle and me back together, I think you can call me Blake when we aren’t at school.”

  “Really?” Kit asked.

  “The first time you slip and call me that at school, I’ll have you both in ISS for a month.” Blake shook the knife in his hand at them for emphasis. Thane muffled a snicker at the way they blanched. He wouldn’t ever have to worry about discipline problems with Blake around.

  “We won’t,” Phillip said quickly.

  Blake smiled. “Good. Wash your hands and we’ll get started.”

  Both boys went to the kitchen sink. Thane slipped an arm around Blake’s waist. He was tempted to nuzzle Blake’s neck, but Kit and Phillip were right there, even if their backs were turned, and he didn’t know how Blake would feel about him being affectionate in front of them. He hoped they’d get there eventually, but he wasn’t going to push so soon after getting Blake back. “You’re so good with them.”

  Blake shrugged. “It’s my job. Wash your hands too. You’re not getting out of helping either.”

  Thane washed his hands obediently and came back to stand next to his nephews, who were looking at Blake expectantly. He handed Phillip a knife and a head of broccoli. “Cut it up into bite-sized pieces. It’s better for them to be a little small than too big. We don’t have a cutting board, so you’ll have to cut it on the counter. It should be fine as long as you don’t drive the knife directly into the surface.”

  Phillip nodded and set to work carefully cutting one section of the broccoli at a time.

  “Kit, you’re going to work on the corn. Let me show you.”

  He peeled back the husks on one ear, washed it, and wrapped the husks back up. “Wash them all and then we’ll steam them in the microwave.”

  “I can do that,” Kit said.

  “What about me?” Thane asked.

  “You’re going to help me with the pork chops,” Blake said. “We need to mix up some breading to dredge them in and then we’ll fry them lightly in the pan.”

  “In English,” Thane joked.

  Blake swatted his hip. Thane grinned and swatted back… right on Blake’s ass. Blake flushed but didn’t scold Thane or pull away. Good.

  “Get the package over there that says bread crumbs and a plate,” Blake said. “Is that simple enough for you?”

  “I can handle that.” He got the package and a plate and then watched as Blake poured some onto the surface and added a pinch of this and a spoonful of that. “What are you mixing in?”

  “Spices,” Blake said. “That’s an advanced lesson. We’ll start with cooking the meat, because you can make it without all the different extras. And different people like different spices, so that’s a trial-and-error thing, not something set in stone. Now, I need a bowl to put the egg in.”

  “What’s the egg for?” Thane asked as he got a bowl out of the cabinet.

  “We have to have something sticky so the breading will stick to the pork or else we’ll just have browned chops, not breaded chops,” Blake explained. He cracked an egg into the bowl and beat it with a fork. “Get a pork chop out of the package, dip it in the egg, and then coat it in the breading.”

  “What are you doing?” Thane asked as he followed Blake’s instructions.

  “Heating up the pan with a little olive oil so the meat doesn’t stick,” Blake said. “When you’re done, set it in the pan.”

  Thane set the meat in the pan gingerly, not wanting to mess anything up or get burned. Blake laughed at him, but he didn’t say anything as Thane moved on to the next one and the next until the whole package was cooking.

  “What do I do with the broccoli now that it’s cut?” Phillip asked, drawing their attention.

  “We’ll toss it with a little oil and salt and put it in the oven,” Blake said. “Nothing fancy, but it’ll get a little crispy and have a nice flavor to it.”

  He helped Phillip get the broccoli in the oven and then checked on Kit’s progress with the corn, and Thane thought he’d died and gone to heaven. This was what he’d dreamed of having. This was what he would have now that Blake had given him a second chance.

  THE boys disappeared somewhere after helping with the dishes, leaving Thane and Blake alone in the kitchen. “Want to watch a movie and make out on the couch?” Thane asked.

  Blake laughed, as Thane had no doubt intended, but he wasn’t quite ready to go that far. “I’ll watch a movie with you, but if you want to make out, we have to go to my place. I don’t have any desire to get interrupted again.”

  “They know we’re back together,” Thane said. “They aren’t stupid. They’re going to guess we’re having sex. If not tonight, then soon.”

  “I know,” Blake said. “It’s just….” How to put his concerns into words? “I know I’m not their principal anymore now that they’re officially juniors, but I’m still a principal at their school, and there’s only so much I’m comfortable with my students knowing about me.”

  “My guess is that they’ve gone back to play video games and that they have their headphones on so they don’t have to worry about hearing anything,” Thane said. “Because unless kids have changed a whole lot in the past twenty years, the last thing they want to think about is their old uncle and their principal getting busy.”

  “You aren’t old,” Blake blurted.

  “And
you aren’t their principal here,” Thane reminded him. “You’re their uncle’s boyfriend and maybe eventually a surrogate uncle yourself, if you want that role. You told them to call you Blake. How many other students have you invited to do that?”

  “None,” Blake had to admit. “I hear what you’re saying. I just need a little more time to wrap my head around it. Can you give me that?”

  “Whatever you need,” Thane replied. “I’ve missed you, and that includes taking you to bed, but I’ve spent the past several months reminding Phillip about the definition of consent now that he’s started dating. I’m not going to pressure you into something you don’t feel comfortable with. It’s just….”

  “Just what?” Blake prompted, charmed at the idea of Thane stumbling through a sex talk with Phillip. Then again, as blunt as Thane was, maybe he hadn’t stumbled at all.

  “I want it all. The house, the kids, a life together as a family,” Thane said. “I know that’ll take time to work out, especially with the way I screwed things up, but I want to reach a point where we can talk about you moving in here or the four of us looking for a new place of our own. I want to laugh with you over dinner every night and have more cooking lessons. I want Kit and Phillip to have everything you can offer them. I’m not cultured. I’m not educated. I haven’t really traveled. I spent all my time until recently building a business that could support me. You’re all those things, just like Lily was. I don’t want them to lose that because she’s gone. But part of you moving in is being able to be affectionate, even intimate, while Kit and Phillip are around.”

  “You aren’t really an exhibitionist, are you?” Blake asked, just to see if he could fluster Thane. To his surprise, it worked.

  “I don’t mean like that,” he spluttered, “but I don’t want to have to wonder if I should kiss you because they’re in the room. I don’t want to ask myself if it’s okay to whisper dirty things in your ear and lure you to bed while they’re home. Our relationship isn’t something to be ashamed of, and I won’t act like it is.”