“Sleep,” Rob replied. “Maybe read, first, but definitely sleep.” He chuckled. “I won’t ask what yours are. I think they’re a given.”
“No kidding. Being that it’s Friday night, we’ll be busy, too. Busier than weeknights, anyway.”
“Keeping the drunks off the road?”
“Yep. One of the many joys of being a cop. I shouldn’t complain, though. I’d rather give them a ticket for a DUI than have to deal with a deadly accident because they thought they could drive safely after one too many drinks.”
“No shit.”
Darren looked at him, saying, “You don’t drink, do you?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because in all the times I saw you on the streets, you were never drunk, or even smelled of liquor.”
“Yeah, well…I tried it for a while, to forget my problems, but it didn’t help and left me with the mother of all hangovers every time I did. I figured I’d rather spend what little money I made on getting a decent meal, or clothes that didn’t look like I’d had them for a thousand years. Dumpsters were a good source, but when I could afford it, I’d hit up a near-new shop instead.”
Saying that reminded him of the clothes he’d bought on his way back to the house. Even if I don’t use them to go job hunting, I’ll have something decent to wear if we ever go to a movie, or something. Unlikely, he figured, given that Darren worked nights. But on his days off? Probably wouldn’t happen even then, but if it does, I’ll be prepared.
“It’s none of my business, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but is panhandling the only way you made money?” Darren asked.
“Yeah. I won’t have anything to do with drugs. I’ve seen what they did to too many guys I knew. For damned sure I won’t sell myself. I’d rather starve than do that. Besides, that’s a young man’s game. I mean, would you want to have some old dude going down on you when there are so many cute kids out there who will?”
Darren shook his head. “You are not old. Neither of us is. We’re in our prime. At least that’s what I tell myself when the newest batch of recruits hit the streets, ready to save the world.”
“If you say so,” Rob replied. He finished the last bite of his omelet, washing it down with coffee. Since Darren’s plate was empty, he picked it up, as well as his own, and took them to the sink. “You’d better get dressed.”
Darren arched an eyebrow. “I am dressed.”
“For work, you nut.”
“I have time. It’s not even seven, yet.”
Rob turned to look at him. “Then go watch TV or something while I do the dishes.”
“Aren’t you the bossy one,” Darren replied. But he was grinning, so Rob knew he hadn’t taken offense at his words.
Darren went into the living room, and while he rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher Rob heard a sportscaster giving the latest scores. Deeming it full enough, he turned the dishwasher on and went to join Darren.
They spent a few minutes talking about teams they liked, and then the closing news story about a dog with deformed front legs whose owner had gotten him a cart so he could run and play like the other dogs.
“That reminds me,” Darren said. “I was thinking about getting dog.”
Rob laughed dryly. “Instead, you got me.”
“Damn, Rob. I did not get you. You’re here because I want to keep you safe. Okay, yeah, I like your company, too. I think that goes without saying. So don’t go comparing yourself to a dog.”
“I was kidding.” He had been, mostly. “Are you still thinking about one?”
Darren shrugged. “Maybe.”
“What kind?”
“A shelter mutt.”
“Good choice,” Rob said. “They make the best pets.”
“So they say. Maybe Monday, when I’m off…” Darren got up. “Right now, though, I need to get ready for work.”
Rob nodded, watching as he went upstairs. Get a dog, then you won’t need me for company. He didn’t like that idea, but it was reality and he knew it. That being the case, I’d better get my ass in gear and see if I can find a job, even if it’s flipping burgers or pumping gas. He snorted. I don’t think gas stations do that anymore. Whatever. I have to find something because damn it, I do not want to go back to the streets if I can help it. He looked around the living room. A couple of days living here is all it took to make me decide that? After all the times I told him I liked my life the way it was, being my own person? He might have believed me, and I thought I did, too. I guess I was wrong.
Rob leaned his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. He opened them again when he felt Darren shake his shoulder and heard him say, “You are tired. Go up to bed.”
“I will,” Rob replied, getting up. “You be safe out there.”
“Planning on it,” Darren replied as he headed to the door. “See you in the morning.”
Chapter 5
Saturday went pretty much as Friday had. While Darren slept, Rob went out to the same spots he had the previous day. There wasn’t a lunchtime crowd of office workers, but there were plenty of locals who chose to eat out before doing their weekly shopping or whatever else they had planned—or so Rob figured. He made enough by the time he quit to feel as if it had been time well spent. When he got back to the house, around five-thirty, he changed into a better pair of jeans and a T-shirt then went down to see what he could make for breakfast.
“What did I tell you about that?” Darren said as he came into the kitchen, apologizing when he realized he’d obviously startled Rob. “I’m the breakfast cook.”
Rob laughed, replying, “I was making certain there was something edible you could use.”
“Uh-huh.” Darren checked then asked, “Do you like pancakes?”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Good point.” Darren had just gotten out what he needed, including some over-ripe bananas, and begun making the batter, when the doorbell rang. “Would you get that, please,” he asked Rob.
“What if it’s your kid?” When Darren shrugged, Rob asked, “Does he know I’m living here right now?”
Grinning, Darren replied, “He will when you let him in.”
“Gee, thanks,” Rob muttered, going to the front door.
Darren stopped what he was doing, going to the kitchen door to eavesdrop. “Who the hell are you,” he heard Jesse say.
“A friend of Darren’s,” Rob replied. “Who are you?”
“His son. Where is he?”
Darren snickered when Rob said, “In the kitchen making us breakfast. Care to join us?” He could envision the look of shock on Jesse’s face.
“Jesse,” Leah said in a tone of voice that told Darren she was cautioning him to calm down. Then, to Rob, she replied, “We’d love to.”
Jesse arrived in the kitchen first. “Who is he, and why is he eating breakfast with you?”
Of course, having grown up with Darren, Jesse knew why it was breakfast at six in the evening, rather than dinner.
“Hello to you, too,” Darren replied with a smile.
“Yeah. Sorry. Hi.” Jesse glanced at the bowl on the counter. “Banana pancakes? Can you make enough for all of us?” he asked hopefully. Then he seemed to remember he was upset. “Who is he?” He nodded at Rob.
“Robin Wright,” Rob replied before Darren could. “As I said, I’m a friend of your father’s.”
“He doesn’t…” Jesse snapped his mouth shut.
“I don’t have friends?” Darren asked, trying not to laugh. “And yes, I can make enough for everyone. Pancakes, that is.”
“I know you have friends, Dad,” Jesse said. “I only meant, you don’t usually have them for breakfast.”
Rob snorted. “He’s not going to eat me.”
“Oh my God!” Leah doubled over, laughing.
It obviously took Rob a second to figure out what struck her so funny. Then he muttered, “Time for me to shut up.”
“It might be best if we all did
, and started over again,” Darren said as he added more mix to the bowl. “Rob is here under protective custody,” he told Jesse. When his son asked why, Darren explained. It is the truth, sort of. The rest of it is nobody’s business but mine. Even Rob doesn’t know the whole of it. Not yet, anyway. Not until I’m sure he won’t take off when he finds out.
“Do you want me to set the table, Darren?” Leah asked, even as she opened a cupboard to get out plates.
“Sure. Have at it. Rob, if you’d start the coffee, please. Jesse, why are you here in the first place?”
“We were in the neighborhood and wanted to invite you for dinner on Monday.”
“I’d be delighted. Is it okay if Rob comes, as well?”
Jesse shot Leah a look. One that told Darren they’d probably asked Malcom, too. Now this could be fun…or not.
“Of course he can come,” Leah replied. “That way we can find out all about him.” She grinned wickedly at Rob. “All about you. Well, what we don’t dig out of you over breakfast.”
“Oh, boy,” Rob said, looking nonplused.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go easy on you. I promise.”
She finally put the plates on the table, while Rob got the coffee started. Darren finished mixing the batter, then with Jesse’s help made the pancakes and stacked them on the platter, along with sausage. Once it, butter, and syrup were on the table, and coffee poured, they sat down to eat.
“How old are you?” Jesse asked Rob, once he’d made inroads into his meal. “And why were you homeless?”
“Forty-two, and because,” Rob replied. When Jesse frowned, Rob expanded a bit on his answer, explaining about leaving the army and not being able to find work.
That, of course, led to a discussion of the sorry state of affairs for returning veterans which lasted until the end of the meal. Then, since they’d spent so much time eating and talking, it was time for Darren to get ready for work. Jesse and Leah said they had to leave if they were going to get to the movie they planned to see before it started.
“You’re welcome to come with us, if you want,” Leah said to Rob.
“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m bushed, so I’ll just watch TV then go to bed.”
Darren wasn’t too surprised when Jesse followed him out of the kitchen and then asked quietly, “You trust him here on his own while you’re at work?”
“Of course I do,” Darren replied. “I’ve known him for quite a while, even if it was while he was living on the streets. He’s a good man, Jesse.”
“Okay, if you say so.” Jesse sounded doubtful, but didn’t press the issue, much to Darren’s relief.
Leah joined them, saying, “We’ll see you, and Rob, Monday night.”
“You bet,” Darren replied. “Enjoy the movie.”
“We will.” She hugged Darren, then Jesse did as well, and they left.
“You really think they don’t mind my coming along for dinner?” Rob asked, coming out of the kitchen.
“I know they don’t, or they wouldn’t have asked.”
“Actually, it was you who suggested it,” Rob pointed out.
“And they were fine with the idea, so stop worrying. Right now, though…”
“You need to get dressed and head to work.”
“Got it in one.”
* * * *
As it was Monday, Darren’s day off, he and Rob spent the afternoon, once Darren had gotten up, giving the house a good cleaning then going grocery shopping. They came home loaded down with food, most of which Darren had let Rob select since he was, as Darren called it, the designated dinner cook. Something Rob wouldn’t have to do that evening however, because they were going to Jesse and Leah’s instead.
By the time they had everything put away, it was time to get dressed before heading out.
“If you want to borrow one of my shirts,” Darren said.
“No thanks. I’d swim in it. I’m good with what I have,” Rob replied as he went into his room.
“Well, look at you. Someone went shopping, I think,” Darren said several minutes later when Rob came back out wearing a decent pair of jeans and a button-down shirt, with his hair well-combed and parted to the side. He had to admit, he was surprised at how different his friend appeared. Normal? Intriguing? He should dress and comb his hair like that more often, like every day.
Rob said nervously, “I look okay?”
“You look fantastic. Are you ready?”
“No, but let’s do it, before I chicken out.”
“You’ll be fine,” Darren told him as they went downstairs. A few minutes later, they were on their way to Jesse and Leah’s. When he glanced at Rob and saw the panic in his expression, Darren was tempted to take his hand, to reassure him he wasn’t walking into the lion’s den, as it were. He had the feeling Rob wouldn’t believe him.
“Nice,” Rob commented once they were parked outside Jesse’s apartment building.
“You were expecting a tenement?” Darren asked, chortling as he led the way to the front entrance.
Rob gave him a disgusted look, muttering, “Of course not.”
Darren pressed the buzzer, told Jesse it was him when he answered, then opened the lobby door after Jesse buzzed them in. As he and Rob took the elevator up to Jesse’s floor, Darren could feel the tension rolling off his friend. “It’s going to be fine,” he told him.
“You do realize, the last time I was anywhere close to being in a social gathering was right after I left the army.” Rob smiled reminiscently. “It was a welcome home party a couple of my old friends threw for me. They even fixed me up with a friend of theirs. She was nice, but…” He shook his head. “Things started going downhill soon after that.”
The elevator came to a stop, and so did Rob’s talking as they walked down to the apartment. Leah greeted them at the door, giving both men a hug. Darren almost laughed at the look of shock on Rob’s face.
Jesse joined them, hugging Darren and then asking if they wanted wine or coffee before dinner.
“Coffee, please,” Rob said quietly as he looked around. Darren asked for wine, and moments later Jesse handed him a glass. Leah suggested that Rob come into the kitchen with her so he could doctor his coffee. He agreed, even though Darren knew he took it black. One step at a time, one person at a time, until he relaxes and realizes they aren’t going to make him feel…less, because of who he is.
At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Jesse went to answer, coming back with Malcom in tow. Darren resisted sighing, even though he’d sort of suspected the man would be there. What he didn’t expect was Rob’s reaction when he and Leah returned to the living room.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Rob said tightly, looking at Malcom.
“I could ask the same,” Malcom replied, seeming none too happy himself.
“You know each other?” Jesse asked in surprise.
“Yeah,” Rob spat out. “Not that he’d admit it if he could help it.”
“Rob,” Darren said, going to him. “Who is he? I mean, I know who he is, but who is he to you?”
“My brother,” Rob replied, pain and disgust warring in those two words.
“Oh, dear.” Leah sighed. “We didn’t know, Rob. Honestly we didn’t.”
“Why would you?” Malcom said before Rob could reply. “To all intents and purposes, he dropped out of our family’s lives, hell, over twenty years ago.”
“Dropped out?” Rob said scathingly. “Pushed out is more like it. By Mom and Dad, by you, by…by the whole damned lot.” He turned to Darren. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get out of here.”
“Please stay,” Malcom said—almost begged. “We need to talk.”
“Maybe you do, but I don’t. I’ve got nothing to say to you.” Rob started toward the door, only stopping because Darren gripped his shoulder to keep him from leaving.
“Running away isn’t going to help anything,” Darren told him softly.
“You think staying is?”
Darren nod
ded. “Maybe. He is family. At least hear him out, before you decide to sever ties again.”
“Talk,” Rob said, pointing a finger at Malcom.
“Only if you’ll calm down and listen. Right now, as upset as you are, I don’t think you’d hear a word I have to say.”
“No shit.” Rob took a deep breath. Then, looking as if it was the last thing on earth he wanted to do, he walked to one of the armchairs and sat. Darren went to stand behind him, putting his hand on Rob’s shoulder.
As he did, he heard Leah whisper to Jesse, “I’d better turn the oven to warm. I’ve got a feeling we won’t be eating anytime soon.”
“I’ll do it,” Jesse whispered back. “You’re a better mediator than me.”
By then, Malcom had taken a seat at one end of the sofa. He studied Rob for a long moment before saying, “You’re older, and thinner, than the last time we saw each other. Okay, older goes without saying.”
“So are you,” Rob replied grudgingly. “Older, I mean. From the look of you, life’s been treating you well.”
“I can’t complain. Are you still…? No, probably not. I don’t think the army allows beards and mustaches.”
“Not normally,” Rob replied. “Because…Hell, you don’t need to know why. I’m sure you couldn’t give a damn. You’re right, though. I left seven years ago.”
“What have you been doing since?” Malcom asked.
Rob looked down at his hands, gripped together in his lap. “Like you care?”
“Robert, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”
Robert? Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have expected Rob would be using his real name, given how he was living. Darren cocked an eyebrow when Rob turned his head to look up at him apologetically. “Robert, huh?” Darren said.
“Yeah. Sorry about that. Robert Tanner. Same last name as him, obviously.”
“I think I like Robin better. It suits you somehow.”
Rob nodded. “Me too.” Then he turned back to Malcom, saying with some malice, “I’ve been surviving on the streets. Does that make you happy? Your gay brother, the one you didn’t want around, living hand-to-mouth like a stray dog?”
“Rob, don’t,” Darren said, squeezing his shoulder. He looked at Malcom, seeing his tight expression, and wondered if he should have done as Rob had asked and taken him home—and stayed there with him.
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