by xxxxxxxxxxxx
“Now that I have your testimony, I’ll be recalling Detective Newman this afternoon to clarify some points. After that, it’s Mr. Hancock’s turn.”
“Hoyt’s testified already?” Keir said, sounding as surprised as Teague felt.
The attorney nodded. “He was my first witness after opening arguments on Friday.”
“I thought…”
“The trial began last Friday but since I knew I wouldn’t get to the two of you until today, I saw no reason to have you come to town until last night.”
Teague bit back a sigh of relief. He might get through all this without having to see Hoyt. That, he suddenly realized, didn’t sit as well with him as he wanted it to.
“All right. One more question. How long do you think the defense will take?” Teague asked. “I’m presuming if you need us, it will be for your rebuttal phase.”
“It will be. Hancock has two people on his list. They’re character witnesses. Irwin’s boss and a co-worker who works for the same company Irwin does.”
“He’s not calling Irwin to the stand?”
The prosecutor smiled dryly. “Would you, if you were him? I know you’ve seen the transcript from when Irwin was first questioned.”
Teague nodded. “Yeah. He definitely went on a rant, ignoring Hancock’s attempts to shut him up.”
“Exactly.”
Teague stood, saying, “You know where we’re staying and you have my number.”
“I do,” the prosecutor replied. “Thank you for your time. Hopefully I’ll know by the end of tomorrow when the two of you can leave.”
They all shook hands and then Teague and Keir left to go back to the motel.
* * * *
Teague had kept his ‘promise’ to Keir, giving him a list of names for which one of their clients needed background checks. Being a fair boss, Teague did his share of them, so they finished them up fairly quickly and Teague sent the results back to Jake to pass on to the client.
Thus it was late that afternoon when Keir asked, “Where are we going for dinner? And please don’t say you’re calling room service. I’m getting cabin fever.”
“After four hours?” Teague shook his head as he brought up a list of local restaurants on his phone. There were two he knew he wasn’t going to suggest, Hal and Mary’s, where he and Hoyt had eaten, and The Red Calf because he didn’t need any reminders of Bradley Irwin and what had transpired after their first meeting, when Irwin called himself Will. “How do you feel about Mexican?”
“As long as it’s hot and spicy, I’m good with it.”
“Okay. Grab your jacket and let’s get out of here. It’s only a few blocks away so we can walk.”
“In the snow?”
Teague cocked an eyebrow as they both got ready to leave. “What happened to the guy who was all for staying up at the resort so he could ski?”
“That’s different,” Keir replied. “You need snow up there. Down here…They should come up with a place where it’s snowy at the resorts and eighty degrees at the bottom of the mountains.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Should be,” Keir grumbled.
When they walked out of the hotel lobby onto the sidewalk it was snowing lightly, adding a thin layer of white to the snow that had fallen the day before they had arrived.
“You have to admit it’s pretty,” Teague commented. “With the lights glittering off the snow.”
“I guess it beats the dirty snow at home,” Keir admitted reluctantly.
The walk took five minutes, and when they arrived at the restaurant they had the same dusting of snow on them as the bushes that lined one side of the building.
“Gee, no one’s using the patio,” Keir said with a grin as they walked across it to the front entrance.
“If you feel like freezing, I’m sure they’ll let us sit there.”
“Umm, no.”
The interior was bright and cheerful, with booths lining one wall and tables between them and the ordering counter. Teague and Keir got in line behind several other people, giving them a chance to study the menu boards before they got to the front of the line. Teague decided on posole and a large burrito while Keir opted for two super tacos. They both asked for salsa verde on their food plus an extra serving on the side, and ordered Mexican beer to go with their meals.
Trays in hand, they made their way to a booth by the windows overlooking the street. Keir, being young and adventurous, added extra salsa to his tacos and began eating with gusto. As the older, wiser one, Teague took his time, letting his mouth acclimate to the spicy heat of his meal. Suddenly Keir drew in a deep breath. Teague was certain from the look on the young man’s face he’d reached his heat limit and then some.
He knew he was wrong when Keir said, “Don’t turn around.”
“Why?” Teague asked, tempted to do just that.
“You know who is here, and he’s with a very pretty woman. From the look of it, they’re quite…friendly.”
“If you mean Hoyt,” Teague said tightly, “I doubt it.” Now he definitely wanted to look but resisted, despite the fact his pulse was racing at the mere thought that Hoyt was behind him.
Keir ducked his head, obviously trying to keep Hoyt from spotting him. “I think we’re safe,” he finally whispered. “They’re heading to a booth at the other side of the room.” He looked at Teague, saying, “You know he has to know we’re in town for the trial.”
“Undoubtedly,” Teague agreed. Suddenly he wasn’t the least bit hungry. All he wanted to do was…What? Sneak out before he sees me? Go over and casually say hello?
Both choices were made moot when Keir said, “We’re about to have company. I think I feel a need to hit up the washroom.”
“Stay were you are,” Teague replied firmly just before Hoyt came into view at the end of the table.
“I thought that was you,” Hoyt said, his gaze locked on Teague. “Keir, why don’t you pay a visit to the men’s room or something?”
“My thought exactly,” Keir told him as he slid out of the booth.
As soon as Keir was gone, Hoyt took his place across from Teague. “You look good.”
“You do, too. How’s your shoulder?”
“Much better. According to Carolyn, my PT, it should regain about ninety percent of its former mobility.” Hoyt’s smile, such as it was, was bleak when he added, “I guess I can’t complain about that, all things considered.”
Teague started to reach for Hoyt’s hand, thought better of it, and asked, “Are you going to be able to go back to work?”
“I already have. Yeah, it’s just desk duty right now but at least I’m there. I go out to the shooting range every day to practice. Trying to get my edge back. Carolyn wasn’t too happy about that.”
Why is he on a first name basis with her? Teague wondered distractedly. Because he spends a lot of time with her while doing physical therapy. Don’t be a jealous idiot. Besides, women aren’t his thing. Unless…He’d never considered the idea that Hoyt might be bi. I guess it’s possible. “Are you and Carolyn…?”
Hoyt looked at Teague in question. Then he chuckled. “She’s my PT. Nothing more. Yeah, we’ve become good friends. As a matter of fact, she’s sitting over there. Probably wondering what’s taking so long since I told her I was just going to say hello.”
Teague turned to look and got a smile and a finger wave from Carolyn, who he recognized from the one time he took Hoyt to her office. He wanted to ask if Hoyt had someone in his life now. Someone male. But wasn’t certain he could deal with it if Hoyt said he did.
Hoyt apparently wasn’t so reticent. Leaning back, he studied Teague for a moment then asked, “Have you met anyone since…?” He spread his hands questioningly.
“No. Have you?”
“No.” Leaning forward, crossing his arms on the table, Hoyt said quietly. “But then I’m not looking. I know I’m crazy but I keep hoping you might…” He sighed.
Now Teague did rea
ch out to take Hoyt’s hand. “We’ve been through this before. How could it work?”
“Well, first you’d have to want it to,” Hoyt told him, gripping Teague’s hand tightly. “Obviously, since you never called or emailed or anything, you’ve decided I’m not worth the bother. We’re not worth the bother. Not that there was a ‘we’ but for a few days there I thought we were moving in that direction.”
“I didn’t call because I knew it would have hurt both of us.”
“Yeah,” Keir said from behind Teague, resting his hand on the back of the booth. “Instead, he threw himself into working twelve to fourteen hours a day, growled at anyone who came close to him, and as far as I can tell did nothing but go home just long enough to get some sleep before coming back the next morning.” He gestured for Teague to move over and when he did, Keir sat. “Mr. Donovan here claims it’s just because we’re too damned busy for him to do anything else. I think it’s because that way he doesn’t have time to think about how stupid he’s being.”
“Keir,” Teague growled.
“Well, it’s true. You two are both being stupid. It’s not like airplanes don’t exist, you know. And there’s holidays, and vacation time. Honestly, for two men who are old enough to know better, you’re acting like a few hundred miles is the same as halfway around the world. Now if you’ll excuse me again, I think I’ll go talk to the pretty lady Hoyt came in with, while the two of you figure out what it’ll take to make your relationship work.”
“What relationship?” Teague asked dryly.
“The one you started with him, before what you insist on calling common sense got in the way,” Keir replied, sliding out of the booth. “There’s nothing sensible about it, in my opinion.” With that said, he walked across the room to Carolyn’s booth and sat down across from her.
Teague took a deep breath. “He’s…right?”
“I think maybe?” Hoyt replied with a small smile. “Why don’t we, I don’t know. Take a walk and talk?”
“You do realize it’s snowing out there.”
Hoyt chuckled. “This is Colorado. It’s November and we’re in the mountains. So if it wasn’t I’d be worried.” He got up, looking down at Teague. “Are you game?”
With a nod, Teague grabbed his jacket and joined him, not caring in the least that he was leaving his unfinished meal behind. Hoyt stopped long enough at Carolyn’s booth to get his peacoat and then the two men left the restaurant.
“It’s beautiful,” Teague said, wrapping his arms around himself as he surveyed the still falling snow. “It reminds me of when I was a kid, all those many years ago.”
Hoyt smiled. “When you were a small town boy. Do you ever miss it?”
“Sometimes, I guess. There’s something to be said for knowing your neighbors by name, not just vaguely recognizing their faces when you see them in the elevator.”
“Like you do now.”
“Yeah,” Teague replied. “On the other hand there’s a lot I like about a big city. The excitement, the entertainment, the freedom to be who and what you are because—” he shrugged, “—because you don’t have to worry about what people you barely know think. If they don’t like it, who cares? Friends get it and that’s what counts.”
“I never asked, but it sounds like you live in an apartment.”
“A condo actually. Not too far from my agency.”
“We have a few condo buildings here. They’re mainly used for long-term rentals for the skiers who come up every weekend as soon as there’s enough snow.” Hoyt shook his head. “The joys of being well-to-do I guess.” He shot a look at Teague. “You could probably afford to do that.”
Teague snorted. “I’m hardly that rich.”
“I see. I guess I figured since you own the agency, and it’s a large, well respected one, you probably weren’t hurting.”
“I’m…comfortable. But I’m far from being a Buffett or Trump.”
“And you’re probably a lot more down-to-earth than either of them.”
“Good Lord, I hope so. Although never having met them, who knows? They could be very nice men.”
“One of whom needs a good hair stylist,” Hoyt said with a grin.
“There is that. And why are we talking about them?”
“When we should be talking about us?”
“Exactly.” Teague stopped walking, turning to look at Hoyt. “And deciding if it’s possible for us to make things work. That is if we both want to.”
“I know I do,” Hoyt said unwaveringly. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my head since you left.”
Teague winced. “I’ll admit that I tried to forget you. It hurt too much when I thought about what could have been, if things had been different.”
“Like the eight hundred miles separating us.”
“Yes. That’s not commuting distance.”
“No shit.”
“On the other hand, Keir does have a point. There are airplanes and it’s only four hours, give or take, with a short layover in Denver. I should know. We flew in on Sunday.”
“And probably the same going from here to visit you,” Hoyt replied, nodding.
Teague grinned. “Actually five hours, because of the time difference.”
“Uh-huh. Not.”
They looked at each other, both realizing what they were saying.
“Now we come down to the nitty-gritty,” Teague said softly. “Is there really enough going on between us to try making this work? Or was what we felt due to the stress we were under while trying to find a killer?”
“I’d say it started that way because we needed something to…distract us, I suppose. I mean…” Hoyt laughed softly. “Just looking at you was a definite distraction even though I didn’t want it to be. Then things changed. I wanted there to be something more. I wanted you to see me the same way I saw you—as someone who might become more than just a friend.”
“And I didn’t,” Teague admitted as they began walking again. “Not a first. I picked up on what you were feeling but I brushed it aside because I was so wrapped up in stopping Irwin and discovering if and how he was connected to Chris’s killer. I barely admitted to myself that I might be seeing you in the same way. And when I did, I fought it since I knew I’d be leaving as soon as the case was wrapped up. But then you know that.” Teague smiled ruefully. “Even Keir picked up on what was, or wasn’t, going on with us.”
“He’s pretty smart—for a straight kid. Why didn’t you tell me that he was straight when I acted like a jealous idiot about the two of you sharing a room?”
“If I remember right, he showed up in the middle of our conversation and afterwards, it just never came up because—” impulsively, Teague moved close enough to put his arm around Hoyt’s waist, ignoring Hoyt’s surprise, “—the second kid was murdered and everything got intense.”
Hoyt leaned into the embrace, saying with a gleam of amusement in his eyes, “Now, perhaps, things can get intense in a different way?”
Teague didn’t reply at first, only gazing at Hoyt, studying his face. “It’s definitely something to consider,” Teague finally replied. “We both want to try, I think. The thing of it is, will a long distance relationship work or will we get tired of it? Seeing each other only on weekends or holidays or vacations. Presuming either of us ever takes a vacation.”
Hoyt’s smile was wry as he replied, “It would certainly give us a reason to, when we get the chance. Usually I take a day here and a day there until my vacation time is used up. I think it’s been…Damn, ten years at least since I actually took off and went somewhere. And then—” he laughed, “—it was to a police convention in Atlanta. I came back smarter about my profession, and very sunburned.”
“Now that’s funny.”
“Uh-huh. What about you?”
“Me and vacations?” Teague said. “I never seem to have time for one. I think the week or so I spent here was the longest I’ve been away from the office since the second year I started the agency. I d
o tend to be a workaholic.”
“Not a bad thing, I suppose, if you have no life. Or rather no life outside of work.” Hoyt frowned momentarily. “I thought Keir said you were good at going undercover. Doesn’t that require being away from the office?”
“Yep. But it’s still work so it hardly counts as days off.”
“True enough.” Hoyt wrapped his arm around Teague’s waist. “Maybe it’s time we slowed down a bit.”
“We’re hardly running,” Teague replied.
“I didn’t mean it literally. Well, I did, but I was talking about work. Maybe we need to take time for ourselves, now that we have a reason to.”
Teague came to a halt, looking at Hoyt, a smile on his lips. “I think that’s a very good idea. We won’t rush things. Not until we’re certain this is what we both want. But spending time together with nothing to worry about except what to do to keep us busy…”
Hoyt laughed. “I can think of several things along that line but yeah, we’ll take it one step at a time. Starting with my inviting you, and Keir if he wants, over to my place for dinner tomorrow night.”
“He’d probably be happier going up to the resort.”
“He’s a skier?”
“A wannabe, according to him.”
“Oh boy. Well, he can make his choice. Good food or freezing his butt off.”
“I’ll let you know. Of course it all hinges on whether we’re going to be recalled by the prosecuting attorney, and he won’t know until sometime tomorrow, he said.”
“If you’re not, you’ll be grabbing the next flight home,” Hoyt muttered somewhat dispiritedly.
“I…” Teague shook his head. “No. We’ll still be here until Wednesday. After all, I’m hardly going to turn down an excellent meal prepared by a very interesting man.”
“Speaking of meals, you didn’t get to finish yours and I never ordered mine. Carolyn insisted we get a booth first.”
“Then let’s head back. Not that mine is probably still sitting there but you should eat. I at least got some of mine down before your unexpected appearance, so I’m not really hungry anymore.”