Deep Blue (Sand Dollar Shoal Book 3) by Pandora Pine (2)

“What do you mean?” Noble was dumping a metric ton of sugar into his coffee.

“I know you had a masquerade ball a few weeks ago to celebrate the re-opening of the hotel, but what if we had some kind of food tasting event to kick off changing the name of the dining room to Widow’s Walk?”

Griff, who had been taking large gulps of his coffee while Julian spoke, was nodding his head. “We’re missing out on a lot of business from the lunch and dinner crowd who would never think to come to the hotel for a fancy meal. I like it, tell me more.”

“Drake and Presley’s wedding is two weeks away, as well, so what I’d like to see is for Gregor to pick a couple of his favorite entrees and a few things he’d like to serve as part of the wedding menus. Maybe make it like tapas, with tiny plates and meat on sticks?”

“Who would you invite to this tasting?” Griff definitely had his head in the game now.

“I’m not sure. I’ve been thinking a lot about this person who’s out to get Gregor. Obviously he or she is someone who’s eating at the hotel. I’d like to open this event to the public and local bloggers and food critics, but I’m worried that this person or persons will end up getting into the event too.”

“Persons? Why do you think whoever is doing this is more than one person?” Landon looked back and forth between Julian and Noble.

“It’s what I would do. The same person coming in again and again would be easy to spot and then we’d have our man, but if this asshole is in it for the long haul, he needs to keep his identity a secret.”

“Like the Shadow?” Drake asked.

“Exactly!” Julian agreed.

“When would you want to hold this event?” Griff looked a bit more awake now.

“Next weekend.” The sooner the better in Julian’s eyes. They needed to combat the bad reviews as soon as possible.

Gregor let out a low whistle. “It’s a short time frame but with a little help from my friends, I’m sure I can knock this out of the park.”

“I’m sure you can too, Gregor.” Griff turned to Julian. “I want to meet with you and Pres later to go over the idea of who exactly we’re going to invite to the food tasting. Drake, I need you to organize social media campaigns that will talk up Widow’s Walk. I want you in the kitchen with Gregor shooting as many pictures as you can of him cooking and of the plated dishes. I’m also going to want Julian, Leo and Landon to write food reviews of the dishes and maybe a piece about Gregor himself. Play up his service in the Navy…” Griff’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit, that’s it!”

Julian locked eyes with Gregor. He had no idea what Griff was getting so excited about. “What’s it, Griff?”

“The Fourth of July is around the corner. Let’s make the food tasting a celebration to honor our active duty military members. We can invite airmen from Hanscom Air Force Base and members of the Coast Guard stationed in Chatham. We’d be sure to get news coverage this time around.”

“I love that idea, but I still think that this has to be open to the public. Like you said, Griff, we’re trying to attract the lunch and dinner crowds and we can’t do that if we only open the tasting up to military personnel.” Julian didn’t want this internet troll to ruin what he knew was going to be a huge day for Gregor, but there wasn’t any way of getting around what he or she might do next. “We’ll pepper the hotel’s website and the internet with the event details.”

“After what happened here at the masquerade ball, I think the Boston news stations are going to jump at the chance to cover an event here.” Presley elbowed Drake who rolled his eyes.

“What happened at the ball?” Julian looked around the table at his friends who all burst out laughing.

Gregor winked. “I’ll tell you over breakfast.”

XX

Gregor was dead on his feet. Not only had be spent the day cooking for the hotel, but he’d also been working on the dishes he wanted to serve at the food tasting.

Before Drake had taken over the social media accounts and the destination wedding side of the business for the hotel, he’d helped Gregor in the kitchen. So while Griff had suggested Drake document everything going on in the kitchen, Gregor thought it was a better use of resources if Drake cooked with him. He’d gotten Presley to work on the food staging, while Noble filled in as food photographer.

He hadn’t seen Julian since their impromptu breakfast meeting, but Griff had let him know that Landon, Leo and Julian had been working on articles about Widow’s Walk and the food that would be served.

Gregor had been so busy cooking all day, he hadn’t had much of a chance to even think about Julian. Last night had been the best first date of his entire life, even though it was marred by that second bad review of his food.

In the past, Gregor had gone out with men who he’d found attractive and usually asked out on the spur of the moment, but it was different with Julian. They had already built a friendship, to some degree, before they’d gone out with each other.

No other date he’d ever gone out with would have been able to talk him through the bad review and keep the date on track at the same time. Only Julian could have done that.

Gregor was walking through the parking lot on his way back to his cabin when he saw Henry and Julian dragging their suitcases toward the cottages. “Hey, guys!”

“Gregor!” Henry dropped the handle to his suitcase and ran toward Gregor. His over-stuffed backpack swayed behind him.

“Hey, buddy.” Gregor knelt to hug the little boy. “What’s going on with your suitcases?”

“It’s moving day!” Henry jumped up and down. “Daddy and I are bringing our stuff to our new house!”

Gregor shook his head. He’d been so lost in his work that he’d forgotten today was the day Julian and Henry were no longer guests of the hotel but residents of Sand Dollar Shoal. “Can I help you move?” His tiredness melted away at the thought of spending time with Henry and Julian.

“Why don’t you take Henry’s suitcase?” Julian leaned up on tiptoes to kiss Gregor’s cheek. “It’s loaded with comics, so watch out you don’t give yourself a hernia lugging it.”

“It’s not that heavy, Daddy.” Henry rolled his eyes and ran the rest of the way to the cabin.

“How was your day, dear?” Julian grinned.

“It was long and hot and tiring, but good, really good. I can’t thank you enough, Jules, for coming up with the idea for the food tasting.” Gregor knew he never would have thought of this idea on his own.  He really owed Julian.

“I hate to say it because of the circumstances, but I had an amazing day working with Leo and Landon. It’s not every day I get to write with an internationally best-selling author and renowned travel writer from Yankee magazine.”

“I’m glad you had such a good day. It’s nice for you to get to know some of the other guys too, especially since you’re going to be living here now.” Gregor didn’t begrudge Julian one bit of happiness. The circumstance of staging the food tasting event to combat the bad reviews was for shit, that was for sure, but he was thrilled that Julian felt like he was fitting in.

“Come on, guys!” Henry shouted. “I gotta unpack and hang up my new Spiderman poster!”

Julian burst out laughing. He set a hand against the side of Gregor’s face before running off to catch up with Henry.

 

Half an hour later, Gregor was sacked out on Julian’s sectional while the Parsons men finished unpacked their suitcases. He was struggling to stay awake, but was losing the battle. Hoping to make it a bit longer, he flipped to the Food Network and checked out what was coming up next. “Hey, Henry? Come here, I want to show you something.”

The little boy ran out of his room and threw himself on the couch next to Gregor. “Here I am!”

Gregor pointed to the television. “I wanted you to see this show that’s about to start, it’s called Chopped Junior. It’s a cooking competition with kids.”

Henry snuggled in next to Gregor. “They let kids cook?”

Gregor grinned at the little boy. “Yup! I think you’re gonna like this show.”

“How was your day, Gregor?” Henry looked up at him.

“It was really busy. Your Daddy came up with a good idea for the hotel.” Gregor loved that Henry cared enough about him to ask about his day.

“Is it gonna keep us from getting another bad review?” Concern marred Henry’s face.

“I really hope so. I’m gonna make appetizers out of my favorite meals that we serve at the hotel and serve them on a stick like shish-ka-bob and we’re going to invite members of the Coast Guard and Air Force to come and eat the food.”

“I think that’s a good idea. What are you gonna feed the little kids?” The look on Henry’s face was serious.

Gregor hadn’t given that a thought. “Well, they’ll eat the grown up food.”

Henry shook his head. “No they won’t. Kids don’t like grown up food. They like kids’ food.”

Julian snorted from the living room door. 

“Well, what kind of food do you think they’d eat?”

“Kids like food on sticks too, you know. We had a party at the end of the year at school and Jeff’s mom made fruit skewers.”

Gregor winked at Julian. “What’s a fruit skewer?”

Henry held his index fingers four inches apart. “It was a stick this big, with a chunk of pineapple, a piece of a red apple, grapes and a kiwi cut into the shape of a star on top.”

“Were they yummy?” Henry might just be on to something here. Gregor pulled out his phone and opened his Notes app.

“Yup! They were so yummy that we ate them all up.”

“I like that idea, Henry. What else do you think we could put on a stick?”

“PBJ sushi!” Henry hopped up on his knees, a big smile on his face. “Kids would love that!”

Julian stepped into the living room and sat next Gregor on the couch. “What is PBJ sushi?”

“It’s a rolled up peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into little roll-ups. Jessie’s mom made them for the party. They were super yummy.” Henry rubbed his tummy.

While Henry was explaining it to Julian, Gregor was looking it up on his phone. He flipped the picture around to show Henry. “Is this it?”

“That’s exactly it.”

Gregor turned the phone around to show Julian. “According to the recipe, you cut off the crusts and roll the bread flat before you spread the peanut butter and then the jelly. After that, you roll it up and slice it into rounds.”

“We never gave a thought to cooking for kids. That’s a really great idea, Henry!” Julian held up his hand for a high-five.

“I know!” Henry slapped Julian’s hand and smiled brightly at his father and Gregor. “Now shush, Chopped Junior is on!”

Gregor bit his lip so he wouldn’t burst out laughing. He wrapped one arm around Henry and the other around Julian, who rested his head on Gregor’s shoulder. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but sitting here like this, he couldn’t help feeling this is what having a family felt like.

 

 

11

As nice as it had been spending time curled up on Julian’s couch watching television together for the last three nights after work, Gregor wanted more.  He loved Henry with all his heart, but he wanted to spend some quality alone time with Julian. Quality naked time. The problem, as far as he saw it, was how to ask without sounding like he didn’t want Henry around.

“Good morning!” Noble breezed into the kitchen and grabbed one of Gregor’s coffee cake muffins.

Gregor half-growled and went back to thinking about how he could score some alone time with Julian without sounding like a total dick.

“I’m no expert,” Noble snorted and leaned against the counter, “but, you sound sexually frustrated.”

Gregor burst out laughing. Noble always had this way of hitting the nail on the head when things were bothering him. “I am. I need your help.”

Noble held up his hands. “Hold on there, cowboy, you’re barking up the wrong tree! I’m an engaged man.”

Growling again, Gregor rolled his eyes. “I don’t want you to help me physically, numbskull! I need your help with how to get some alone time with Julian.”

“Ohhh! Is Henry cramping your style?” Noble waggled his eyebrows before he took a huge bite out of his muffin.

“Jules and I are working such long days that by the time Henry goes to bed at 8pm, we’re too tired to do more than smile at each other.”

“I know you’re protective of your recipes and your kitchen, but you’ve gotta hire some help. There is no way that you can cook three meals a day and bake treats seven days a week. We’re all anxious to see the hotel and the restaurant succeed, but we can’t do that if you collapse from exhaustion or blue balls.”

Gregor burst out laughing. Noble was right and Gregor knew it. “I know I need help but the people applying just aren’t qualified.”

“Bullshit!” Noble slapped a hand down on the stainless-steel countertop. “Don’t forget we all saw the resumes that came in for the assistant’s job. Several of the people who applied graduated from culinary school. None of us understood why you hired Jimmy. The only experience that kid had was dropping chicken nuggets into the fryer at the McDonald’s across town.

“That was exactly why I hired him. He wasn’t going to try to take over my kitchen with his ideas.” There, the ugly truth was finally out.

“Pres wondered if something like that was the reason. Why the hell would you think we’d abandon you? You’re our brother, Gregor.”

Gregor let out a world-weary sigh.  “When I worked at that restaurant back in South Carolina, the executive chef never took me seriously because I was a senator’s son and had things handed to me on a silver platter all of my life. That wasn’t true, but it didn’t stop that asshole from believing it. When Griff offered me the job at the hotel, I knew I was going to finally get my chance to shine on my own merits and talent.”

“This job is yours for as long as you want it. Hire an assistant chef so that you’ll have some free time to spend with Julian and Henry. Not to mention having time to sleep. In the meantime, I’ll go see if Landon is interested in having a sleepover.”

“How is having you and Landon sleeping at Julian’s cabin going to help us get some time alone?” Gregor was convinced Noble had lost his fool mind.

Noble slapped the palm of his hand against Gregor’s forehead. “We wouldn’t sleep at Julian’s, doofus! Henry would spend the night with us! You really are sex-starved.”

“Ouch, damn it!” Gregor slapped out at Noble, cracking his hand against his friend’s shoulder.

“Hey! Friends don’t fight!” Henry crossed his arms over his chest and gave both men the hairy eyeball.

Noble snorted. “You’re right, Henry. Friends are supposed to love each other.” He yanked Gregor into his arms and peppered his face with kisses. “I love you, Gregor.”

“Wow, guess I picked the wrong time to see if you had a minute to chat.” Julian shot Gregor a confused look.

“Julian, I have a confession. I was a bad boy and hit Gregor. In my defense though, Gregor totally deserved it. Henry told us that friends don’t hurt each other, so I was showing Gregor how sorry I was for cracking him one against his stubborn skull.”

Henry was shaking his head. “I don’t think that was a very good apology. Do you, Daddy?”

Julian shook his head, biting his bottom lip to presumably keep from laughing.

“I’ve gotta run. Julian, can I talk to you for a second?” Without waiting for an answer, Noble grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the kitchen.

Shaking his head, Gregor scooped up Henry. “What do you think about making fruit skewers with me this afternoon?”

Henry nodded. “I want to be like the kids on Chopped Junior. They were such good cooks.”

The best part of watching Chopped Junior had been watching the expressions on Henry’s face while he watched the kids cook. He had been so sad for the losers and out of his mind with joy for the boy who won. “Well, all of those kids had to start somewhere. You’re gonna start with fruit skewers.”

XX

Julian hadn’t been too surprised when Noble asked if he and Landon could have Henry over for a slumber party. He knew Gregor wouldn’t have asked Noble to take his son for the night, so Noble must have sensed the restlessness that he’d seen growing in Gregor over the last few days.

As much as Julian wanted Gregor to fuck him into next week, he’d been content with the impromptu hand job Gregor had given him after their fight. In his experience, sex led to complications, but those complications had been of his own making because he’d been cheating on his wife and then later cheating on Marty with Rob.

Even though his relationship with Gregor was nothing like the mess in his past, he couldn’t help being worried that finally sealing the deal with Gregor was only going to bring heartbreak for both of them, but that wasn’t say Julian was a fool either. He was going to live in the moment and let Gregor have his wicked way.

With his fingers crossed he’d given Noble permission to have a slumber party with Henry, so long as he and Landon didn’t fill him with junk food and keep him up past his bedtime. Noble had laughed outright. He’d patted Julian’s shoulder saying they were going to have a weenie roast in their backyard fire pit and then make s’mores.

It was still Henry’s summer vacation even though Julian was back to work full-time. He knew it wasn’t going to hurt Henry to eat hot dogs and gooey sweet treats for one night. Knowing the other guys, they’d probably all be there too, while he and Gregor got their grooves back.

After he’d packed Henry’s backpack for the night, which ended up weighing almost as much as Henry did, he stood in the front door and watched Henry head off with Noble and Charlie. It seemed like such a big moment in Henry’s life, going off to his first sleepover.

It was a big moment for Julian too. Thanks to Gregor, he had a group of friends who loved and trusted him. In those dark days after he’d been caught cheating with Rob, Julian had wondered if anyone would ever trust him again as a friend or as a lover.

Heading back inside, Julian made sure the house was picked up before he hopped into the shower. He had no idea what Gregor’s plans with him were, but step one in the process was getting clean.

He might not have known what was going to happen tonight, but his dick had an idea of its own. The second Julian pictured Gregor in the wife-beater t-shirt he’d been wearing on the beach the day of the sandcastle competition, his cock woke up. Remembering the perfect way Gregor stroked his cock had him hard and leaking in record time.

He was torn between bringing himself off or waiting in hopes that Gregor would do it for him. His hand on his own cock felt good, but Gregor’s hand on his needy dick felt fucking phenomenal. He could wait it out and see what the night would bring.

Doing his best to ignore the urge to give his dick a few strokes, Julian finished washing his hair and hopped out of the shower. He dressed in a pair of cargo shorts and Red Sox tee-shirt. It’s not like he could have opened the door in a towel, could he?

Ten minutes after he’d shaved and brushed his teeth, there was a knock at his front door. Gregor was grinning from ear to ear and was carrying a large covered dish.

“Hey, there.” Gregor pressed a kiss to his lips and stepped into the house, heading for the kitchen.

“What’s that?” It smelled absolutely incredible.

“Fried chicken made with my secret recipe. It’s better than the Colonel’s! I guarantee it.” Gregor waggled his eyebrows. “I thought we might need a little pick-me-up later on in the evening.” Gregor set the dish down on the kitchen table.

Julian slipped his arms around Gregor’s hips, pulling their bodies flush against each other. “I’d love it if you picked me up right now.”

Gregor snorted, kissing Julian hard. “I’ve never wanted another man the way that I want you, Jules.”

“Me too.” Julian nibbled his way down Gregor’s neck, loving the taste of every salty inch of his hot skin.

“Don’t you think we should talk about this first?” Gregor raised an eyebrow.

Julian tilted his head to the side and thought it over a bit. The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk. “We like each other. We’re happy together. This is the next logical step, right?”

Instead of answering, Gregor scooped Julian up in his arms and headed toward the bedroom. “Shit! You’re a heavy bastard.”

“Well then put me down. I don’t want you to hurt yourself before we’re both naked and sweaty.”

Gregor set him back on the floor, just outside the bedroom. Pushing him against the wall, Gregor kissed him hard, slipping his tongue inside Julian’s mouth to mate with his. As their lips slid together, Gregor palmed Julian’s erection through his cargo shorts. “Can’t wait to get this down my throat.

Hitting his knees, Gregor yanked Julian’s shorts down with him while his lover hauled his shirt over his head. It seemed he couldn’t get enough of Julian’s creamy flesh. Gregor ran his hands up Julian’s legs, pushing them apart as he went.

Julian’s thick dick was calling to him like a Siren’s song. He slipped his lips over the plump head, moaning when the flavor of Julian hit his tongue. Why the hell had they waited so long to do this?

Julian wrapped his hands around Gregor’s bald head while fucking himself deeper into Gregor’s mouth. “Keep it up and this isn’t going to last very long.” Gregor’s mouth was heaven on his cock.

Gregor growled, redoubling his efforts to get Julian to keep his word. Slipping his hand between his lover’s legs, Gregor rubbed a dry finger against Julian’s entrance.

“Fuck!” Julian panted “I’m gonna come.” Nothing got him off faster than ass-play.

Rubbing the furl of muscle harder, Gregor lashed his tongue against the sensitive underside of Julian’s dick.

Julian moaned something that sounded like Gregor’s name as his dick pulsed in Gregor’s mouth. He cradled his lover’s head in his hands.

When Julian’s cock stopped twitching, Gregor swallowed his prize and released his dick with a wet plop. He sat back on his heels, wiping the back of his hand over his lips which were wet with his own spit and traces of Julian’s come.

Julian’s green eyes watched every move Gregor was making. The orgasm that had barreled through his body was good, but his eyes glowed with a hunger that Julian knew could only be satisfied by Gregor fucking him into the mattress.

Grabbing Julian’s left elbow, Gregor guided him into the bedroom and pushed him down on the queen-sized bed. “Condoms and lube?”

“Drawer.” Julian pointed to the night stand closest to Gregor.

Quickly slipping out of his wife-beater and black work pants, Gregor gave his aching dick a few strokes. “Spread those legs for me and show me your hole.” Gregor commanded as he opened the drawer and found an unopened box of condoms and full bottle of lube.

Julian did as he was asked and licked his index finger before fingering his hole with it. This was the sexiest moment of his life. He liked the commanding tone in Gregor’s voice. It make him want to say “Yes, Sir,” to all of Gregor’s orders.

“God, you’re fucking gorgeous like that, getting ready for my cock.” Tearing open the foil packet, Gregor suited himself up and climbed on the bed between Julian’s legs. He drizzled lube over his fingers and went to work opening Julian up to his invasion.

A few quick taps to his prostate had Julian’s cock standing at attention again. He hadn’t had a refractory period this short since he was in college.

“I’m ready, Gregor. Take me,” Julian pleaded.

“Are you sure?”

Julian smiled up at him. “I’ve been sure about you since the day we met.”

Replacing his fingers with his cock, Gregor slowly pushed forward into Julian’s tight passage. He could tell it had been a while since his love had been with anyone else. “Fuck, you feel good.”

Julian grimaced. Shutting his eyes, he took a few shallow breaths. “You’re huge. I should have been the one down on my knees checking you out.”

Gregor kissed him gently, sliding his cock into Julian as far as it would go. “There’s plenty of time for you to return the favor.”

Julian wrapped his legs around Gregor’s back. “Fuck me, Gregor.”

Gregor obeyed Julian’s direct order. He set a punishing pace, snapping his hips so hard, the headboard of the bed kept slamming into the wall. “Gonna break the wall.”

“Don’t care. Don’t stop,” Julian gritted out from behind his clenched teeth.

With every thrust into Julian’s tight channel, Julian could feel Gregor getting closer to his end. He wanted nothing more than for his lover to explode inside his tight ass.

Gregor wrapped his hands around Julian’s erection and stroked it in time with his hips. “Come for me, Julian.”

Julian gripped Gregor’s shoulders tighter, his eyes moving down to watch Gregor’s hand on his erection. Crying out for Gregor, Julian’s cock started to erupt all over Gregor’s hand and his stomach.

Gregor’s face was a mask of determination. With just a few more pumps into Julian’s body he started to come. “Julian!” Gregor roared, stilling the movements of his hips. He stared into his lover’s eyes as his cock emptied itself, buried to the hilt inside Julian’s sweet ass. When his dick stopped twitching, he leaned forward, resting his forehead against Julian’s..

“Wow!” Julian panted.

Gregor kissed Julian’s swollen lips. “You think that was something, give me half an hour and we’ll do it all over again.”

 

12

The day of the food tasting event arrived more quickly than Gregor would have liked. The last week had flown by as Gregor and the rest of the staff perfected recipes and plating techniques. Gregor had been so busy with final preparations that he’d barely had a chance to see Julian or Henry.

Julian had been just as busy, snapping photographs and getting food reviews ready to go live on social media in the days leading up to the event.

They’d managed a few stolen moments here and there, but for the most part, they’d only seen each other in passing. Memories of their amazing night together kept Gregor going. He knew once the event was over and he got his ass in gear and hired an assistant chef, there would be a lot more free time for him to spend with Julian and Henry.

“I’m ready to cook!” Henry announced, pushing through the kitchen doors. He was wearing his favorite Spiderman shirt and a determined look on his face.

Gregor laughed. He and Henry had spent part of yesterday afternoon cutting up the fruits they were going to use on the fruit skewers. “Okay, I’ll get all of your ingredients out for you.”

Henry climbed up on a stool to wash his hands while Gregor set the fruit and skewers out in front of him. “Are you my Daddy’s boyfriend, Gregor?”

That question stopped Gregor in his tracks. He’d thought about asking Julian if he wanted them to be exclusive, but he’d been scared about the answer Julian would give him. Gregor knew Julian’s cheating days were behind him, but what he didn’t know was if he was enough for Julian, when he’d been juggling two men and a wife in his not-so-distant past. “Well, I, um…” Gregor sighed.

“I think you should be Daddy’s boyfriend.” Henry seemed oblivious to Gregor’s struggle to answer the question. He hopped up onto his seat and grabbed the first skewer and threaded a piece of pineapple on it.

“Why do you think that?” Gregor was content to follow Henry’s lead and see where it went.

Henry shrugged and added a piece of apple to the skewer. “He’s happy when you’re together and he smiles a lot. When he lived with Mommy…” Henry sighed.

Gregor desperately wanted to know what Henry had been about to say, but he didn’t want to press the little boy into telling a story that upset him. He walked over to Henry and pulled out the stool next to his before he hugged the boy. “The most important thing to me is that you and your Daddy are happy.”

“You make us happy Gregor. Daddy was sad before and now he always laughs and tells funny stories and he has new friends.” Henry reached for a strawberry and threaded it on to his skewer.

“You have new friends too, right?” Come to think of it, the only people Gregor ever saw Henry spending time with were adults. There were plenty of kids near his age staying at the hotel, but Henry never seemed interested in them.

“Yup! But Daddy having friends is more important.”

“Why do you think that?” Gregor was always surprised by the way that Henry always put Julian’s feelings ahead of his own. Not many kids did that.

“I’m happy with my comic books, so it’s okay if I don’t have a lot of friends.”

Gregor’s heart broke for the little boy. Five-year-olds shouldn’t be happy spending time alone. Henry needed friends his own age who could make him laugh and feel secure in himself. “I’ll always be here for you both, no matter what.”

“Me too! Now get to work! We’ve got a lot of food to make for the party today!”

Gregor saluted Henry before obeying his little general’s command.

XX

Julian didn’t want to jinx anything but, the food tasting event was off to a good start. They’d estimated maybe a hundred people or so would show up and an hour in, they’d already served two hundred guests.

His job at the function was to walk around and talk to the guests about the food. He never thought he’d have a job where he’d be dressed up in a suit and walking around with a clipboard. Hell, he was even wearing a nametag with his job title on it.

The oddest part of the day was watching what Henry was up to. His first surprise was Henry asking him if he had a shirt with a collar like the one he was wearing. The closest thing Julian had to a dress shirt for him was a navy blue polo shirt and matching shorts.

When the event had started, Gregor was wearing a dark blue suit and was carrying around a silver tray with one of his appetizers. The other members of the wait staff were doing the same thing with other foods. What had surprised Julian was that Henry was mimicking Gregor’s movements.

His son walked around carrying a tray of the kids’ foods he’d helped Gregor prepare and when the chef stopped to offer a guest an appetizer, Henry did the same thing with their children. It wasn’t that Henry was anti-social in any way, it was that he preferred reading to spending time with kids his own age.

“My stars!” Leo said from behind him. “Look at him laughing with the other kids now that he has some common ground.”

Julian turned to Leo with a surprised look on his face. “What do you mean they have common ground?”

“I know you may find this hard to believe, but I was a bit of an odd duck when I was Henry’s age. I was the only kid at school whose father was dead, and to make matters worse, I was a history buff to boot.”

“I’m so sorry you lost your father that young. Do you have any memories of him at all?” Julian’s relationship with his father had been more business-like than warm and fuzzy. All the same, he couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for Leo to grow up without his dad.

Leo shook his head sadly. “He was killed in a car accident before I was born, so I never even met him. Not that I think having him in my life would have made me any less of a target for the bullies.” Leo shrugged. “I can’t imagine there were many kids in Henry’s kindergarten class who could read at such a high level.”

“He was the only one who could read at all. I’m not sure, but I think the other kids might have been intimidated by him being so smart for his age.”

“I’m sure that had a lot to do with it. Plus I can’t imagine there were any other boys or girls obsessed with The Amazing Spiderman.”

Julian shook his head. “Henry told me the other kids thought he was weird for liking Spiderman.”

“That’s why this situation is perfect for him. The kids are hungry. Henry is feeding them. He feels proud of his hard work, not to mention that he has Gregor at his side. Henry feels safe with him.” Leo set a hand on Julian’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of Henry for coming out of his shell. If you’ll excuse me, I must go bribe a child to get me a fruit skewer before they’re all snapped up!”

Julian burst out laughing as Leo headed off toward Henry and Gregor. He’d never been more proud of his son than he was today. He’d make a big point of telling Henry tonight.

“You won’t believe the pictures I got of Henry and Gregor serving food.” Drake pulled the pictures up on his camera and handed it over to Julian. “Do you need his mother’s permission for me to post them on Facebook or other sites?”

“Shit, I don’t know.” To be honest, Julian hadn’t really spoken much to Carolyn. When she called at night to wish Henry sweetdreams, he let his son have some privacy to speak to his mother. “I’ll shoot her a text and ask her, just to be on the safe side. Can you email one of those pics to my phone so I can send it along with the text?”

“Sure thing.” Drake took the camera back and started pressing buttons. Seconds later, the picture popped up on Julian’s phone.

“How’d you do that?”

“This camera has Wi-Fi. Can you believe that? All I had to do was enter your email address and presto! It’s in your email.” Drake still looked shocked over the camera’s features.

Pulling up his text app, Julian attached the picture and sent a quick message to Carolyn. He was certain he wouldn’t hear back from her for a few days. From what Henry told him, she was very busy with school and homework for her MBA program.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?” Gregor was standing in the middle of the hotel’s back deck with Henry at his side. When the crowd quieted down, he continued, “It’s been my honor to have members of the Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard here with us today. I want to thank each and every one of you for your service to our country.”

A round of applause went up through the crowd.

“Some of the food that we’re sampling today is part of Widow Walk’s menu. We’re open for lunch and dinner and we’d love it if you’d join us to sample our full menu. The rest of the food is from our destination wedding packages. Sand Dollar Shoal is available to book for your special day and myself as well as several other members of the staff are licensed to officiate weddings. Please feel free to speak with our wedding planner, Drake DeMelo, if you have any questions. Drake is the tall drink of water walking around with the camera.”

People craned their heads to locate Drake, who had a hand in the air and was waving.

“Lastly, I’d like to thank my assistant, Henry.” Gregor smiled down at the little boy.

Henry’s eyes popped open and he looked like he couldn’t believe his ears.

“As we were planning this event, Henry asked why there were no foods for kids on the menu for today. With my help, he designed and prepared the appetizers your kids have been enjoying.”

“Yay, Henry!” Leo shouted out and the crowd began to applaud.

Henry took a bow. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Julian reached for his phone to snap some pictures of Henry’s proudest moment, but couldn’t see through his happy tears to unlock his phone.

“Look,” Landon tapped Julian’s shoulder and pointed to Drake and Noble who were both filming the whole thing.

Swiping at his tears, Julian stared at Henry, who was the happiest he’d ever seen his son and at Gregor who he had to admit he’d fallen head over heels in love with. As much fun as he was having at the party, Julian couldn’t wait to get his favorite men home tonight. They had some tall celebrating to do.

 

 

13

Henry and Julian were sitting at the dining room table in their cottage eating some of the leftovers from the food tasting event when there was a knock at their door.

“Gregor!” Henry shouted, bolting from the table to the front door before Julian could even muster enough energy to stand up.

“Hey, buddy!” Gregor answered. A few moments later, Gregor carried Henry back into the kitchen holding a bag in his other hand. “Man, what a day!”

“I’m almost too tired to chew.” Gregor had sent doggie bags of leftover food home with everyone when the event ended. In between keeping an eye on Henry and speaking with the party guests, Julian hadn’t had much of a chance to eat. He had a plate full of short rib skewers and seafood kabobs sitting in front of him. 

“I brought dessert.” Gregor set the bag down on the counter.

“Dessert! Is it whoopee pies?”

Gregor shook his head. “Nope, it’s key lime ice cream.”

“I want to try some. Two of the kids on Chopped Junior cooked with limes and I want to taste it.”

Julian shook his head in shock. “Who are you and what have you done with my Henry?”

Gregor snorted and grabbed bowls for the ice cream.

“If I’m gonna be a chef like Gregor, I gotta be a more open-minded eater. I can’t cook with ingredients I haven’t tasted.” Henry hopped back up into his seat, looking pretty pleased with himself.

“I’m so proud of you today, Henry.” Julian was still stunned by how delicious the food was that Henry helped to create. “What I was even more proud of than the food was the way you made friends with the kids you met today.”

Gregor brought the bowls of ice cream to the table. He seemed to be watching Henry closely.

“They were easy to talk to since they weren’t making fun of me.” Henry dipped his spoon into the bowl. “Down the hatch, limes!” Henry slurped the bite off the spoon.

Julian exchanged a worried look with Gregor. Limes were sour and he had no idea how Henry was going to react to such a strong flavor.

“I love it!” Henry shouted. “Marc Murphy was right when he said limes brighten up a dish! My mouth feels super bright.”

Gregor burst out laughing.

“After we eat, can we watch more Chopped Junior?” Henry shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

“I don’t know if it’s on tonight, but we can check. Maybe the Food Network has some episodes On Demand?”

“Since Henry likes it so much, I set the DVR to record it.”

“Can we watch it after our family dinner?” Henry glanced back and forth between Gregor and Julian, a hopeful look in his eyes.

Julian grinned, setting a hand on one of Gregor’s. “You think this is a family dinner?”

Henry nodded and reached across the table for one of the seafood kabobs which he set on the plate Julian had set out for Gregor. He hopped down from his chair and climbed into Gregor’s lap. “Tell me what these things are. I want to try to eat them.”

“Is this part of you wanting to eat more new things?” Julian bit his bottom lip. His son had never been an adventurous eater. Trying a bite of buffalo mac and cheese was about as wild as Henry got.

Gregor grabbed a fork and used it to slide the seafood onto a plate. “This is a scallop. Do you remember we found an empty scallop shell on the beach?”

Henry nodded. “We used it for the whale’s eye in the sandcastle competition. It’s in my room.”

“This is the delicious little animal that lives inside. It uses two of the shells that we found as its home.” Gregor cut a small piece of it. “Give it a try and tell me what you think.”

While Henry forked up the bite, Gregor held up crossed fingers that only Julian could see. 

“Hmm,” Henry wore a thoughtful look as he chewed. “It doesn’t taste like fish sticks! I hate fish sticks!” Henry shuddered, as if the mere thought of fish sticks was gross to his new sophisticated palate.

“Did you think everything that came out of the ocean would taste like fish sticks?” Gregor grinned at him.

Henry nodded and shoved the rest of the scallop in his mouth. He wore a big smile as he chewed.

Julian shook his head. “I have a son who eats scallops.” His voice was filled with wonder.

“I’m gonna learn how cook them too!” Henry said proudly.

“You ready to try the next thing?” Gregor cut the shrimp into three pieces with his fork.

“I know what that is! It’s a shrimp. Mommy likes them.” Henry looked excited to try the next bite.

“Have you ever tried one?”

Henry shook his head no and popped a piece into his mouth. “WOW! No wonder Mommy loves shrimps! I do too!” He quickly gobbled up the rest of the crustacean.

“Last but not least is the lobster. This is my favorite thing to eat out of everything I cook.”

“Lobsters are scary looking, but I’ll try it.” Henry popped it in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully.

“Well? What do you think?” Gregor exchanged a worried look with Julian.

“I was right. It is scary. Scary good!” Henry giggled.

“I’m really proud of you, Henry. You were super brave to try all of those foods.”

“I’m proud too.” Henry yawned and tucked his head under Gregor’s chin.

“Looks like someone hit the wall.” Julian smiled at his nearly sleeping son. “Why don’t we go tuck him into bed?”

“We?” Gregor looked surprised.

“He said this was a family dinner, so I’m thinking his family should tuck him into bed.”

Gregor nodded and stood up carefully.

If Julian didn’t know better, he’d think the big, tough Navy SEAL had tears in his eyes.

XX

Gregor's head was still spinning as he and Julian walked down the hall toward the bedroom. He couldn't believe Julian had asked him to help put Henry to bed. 

Working together, they'd managed to get Henry to wake up enough to brush his teeth and put on his Spiderman pajamas. After that, he'd sat on the edge of the bed listening to Henry call his mother to say goodnight. 

So many amazing things had happened this day, but the best part, for him, was when Henry told his mother that his Daddy and his Gregor were tucking him into bed. She must have asked a question, because Henry said Gregor was his hero and he was going to be a famous chef too someday.

Julian shut the door to his bedroom halfway once they were inside. "Gregor, stay with me?"

"What? You mean spend the night here with you?"  Like we really are a family? 

Julian nodded, wrapping his arms around Gregor's hips. "Henry knows we're together and the worst part of my day is when you say goodbye and go back to your cottage at night."

Gregor wanted nothing more than to spend the night. His only worry was that he’d have a nightmare and scare the fuck out of Julian and Henry.  As afraid as he was, he wasn't about to spend another night alone because he might have a bad dream. "I'd love to stay." Gregor bent down to brush a line of kisses along Julian's jaw line.  “But there is something we need to talk about.”

Julian took a step back and hauled his tee shirt over his head. “This sounds serious.”

“It is. It’s about my trouble with nightmares. I should have told you when we spent our first night together, but I was so anxious to be with you that I kept quiet. Plus, Henry wasn’t here to see or hear me and he is tonight.”

“How can I help if you have one of these dreams?” Concern lit Julian’s green eyes.

Grinning at his lover, Gregor pressed a tender kiss to Julian’s forehead. As close as he was with his friends, he’d never really told them much about his fight against PTSD and the toll his time overseas still took on him. “Just be there to hold me and remind me where I am. You’re the first man I’ve spent the night with since I came home. “

Julian smiled up at him. “That means a lot to me, Gregor, that you’d trust me to be able to take care of you and keep you safe.”

Gregor had never thought about it that way before. He could feel tears pricking at the back of his eyes and didn’t want Julian to see how emotional this conversation was making him. "I can't believe Henry told his mom about me."

Julian snorted, raising an eyebrow as if he knew exactly why Gregor was abruptly changing the subject. "He's been telling her about you all along. He even let it slip last week that you were my boyfriend."

"Jesus! How did she take that?" Gregor was scared that Carolyn knowing they were a couple could possibly affect what little time Julian was going to get with Henry after the summer was over. 

"She actually said later that she was happy for me and admitted she was seeing someone else too. I think that might have softened the blow a bit. Plus, Henry has been so happy here on the Cape."

Gregor pushed down his pants and stepped out of them. He left his briefs on with Henry being just down the hall. "I remember how sad he was when you guys got here. He was so quiet and kept to himself. Today he was a superstar, meeting all of the kids and telling them about his food." He slid into bed, pulling Julian into his arms.

"We had so many meetings this year with his kindergarten teacher. She thought Henry was a brilliant little boy, but she kept harping on his lack of social skills. She wanted to have him tested for Asperger's." Julian held Gregor tighter.

"Jesus, what did you do?" Gregor shivered. 

"We fought a lot about it. Carolyn thought we should have the testing done so we'd know for sure and I didn't want my brilliant son slapped with a label that would follow him for the rest of his life."

"I don't talk about it much, but my sister was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was twelve years old." Gregor knew he could trust Julian with that story.

"I didn't even know you had a sister." Julian cuddled closer to his lover.

"My parents spent years taking her to all sorts of specialists. Going in for all of those tests made her feel like there was something wrong with her. When they finally got a diagnosis, my sister was at her breaking point and didn't want to go to special education classes for help with the problem."

"That's exactly what I was afraid of with Henry. Against my better judgment, we took him for the testing and thankfully he didn't end up on the ASD spectrum."

"What happened with his teacher?" Gregor knew teachers did so many good things for kids, but sometimes they were like a dog with a bone when they thought something was wrong with a child. 

"She kept sending home progress reports saying that Henry still wasn't making friends and that he was always off by himself reading."

Gregor burst out laughing. 

"What's so funny?" Julian leaned up on one elbow.

"I guess it never crossed the teacher's mind that Henry thought she and his classmates were assholes!" That theory explained perfectly why Henry didn’t engage with them.

Julian burst out laughing too.

Rolling them over, Gregor framed Julian's face with his hands and kissed his lover as they laughed together. "I was thinking..."

"I can feel what you're thinking. It's digging into my thigh." Julian burst out laughing again.

"I was definitely thinking that, but I also wondered about your situation now versus where you were when the divorced was finalized."

Julian sobered instantly. "What do you mean?"

"You had no job, no home, and no stability. I assume the judge made his decision for custody based on those things and the fact that it was your actions that caused the dissolution of your marriage."

Julian nodded. "Judges don't usually look too kindly on fathers who cheat."

Gregor didn't think judges looked favorably on fathers at all during custody cases, unless of course the mother was a drug addict or a criminal. "Now that things have changed so much, do you think Carolyn would be willing to revisit your amount of custody with Henry?" 

Julian's eyes lit up. "I never thought about it that way."

"The thought of only seeing Henry four days a month is killing me. I can't imagine how it makes you feel." After spending every day with the little boy it was going to feel like a huge part of Gregor was missing when Henry went back to live with his mother.

"It's ripping my heart out, Gregor. What do you think we should do to broach the subject with my ex?"

"What about inviting her down toward the end of the summer? You said she'd heard how happy Henry is through the phone. What about letting her see it for herself?" The last thing he wanted to do was meet Julian’s ex, but he’d do anything necessary to make sure Henry got to spend more time at Sand Dollar Shoal.

Julian nodded. "It's a good idea. I could let her stay here in my room and I could find someone to bunk with for a few days." Julian nibbled his bottom lip.

"Find someone to bunk with?" Gregor narrowed his eyes. He knew exactly who Julian could bunk with.

"Yeah! I think it would be a hoot to stay with Leo for a few days." Julian giggled.

"Leo?" He was the last person Gregor thought Julian would want to stay with.

"Yeah, you know, ‘Oh my stars!’" Julian burst out laughing. "Of course I'd want to stay with you, if you'd have me."

"Oh, I'll have you all right." Gregor palmed Julian's erection over his boxer briefs, his hand gliding over the wet spot where Julian's pre-come had soaked through the material. 

"Not fair," Julian whined, giving Gregor's cock the same treatment.

"Are we okay to do this with Henry down the hall? I don't want him to walk in and see something he shouldn't see."

"He's out like a light, but no screaming my name like you do when you come or pounding me into the mattress."

"I can keep quiet if you can!" Gregor waggled his eyebrows. "You're loud enough for all of Hyannis to hear."

"Well then maybe you should stuff my mouth full of something to muffle the noise?"

"I like the way you think." Gregor rolled off of Julian and pushed his boxers off before straddling Julian’s head. "There's no reason why you shouldn't stuff my mouth full of something at the same time, right?"

Julian answered by taking Gregor's cock into his mouth. He moaned quietly a moment later when Gregor did the same thing to him.

There was nothing Gregor liked more than sixty-nine-ing with a partner. He loved being able to pleasure his lover while being pleasured in return. 

The only problem was that his control was razor thin. He could tell Julian was in the same desperate situation. It wasn’t going to take a lot of stimulation before his release would be filling his lover’s mouth.

Upping the ante, Julian fondled Gregor’s balls with one hand while fingering his ass with the other.

Not wanting Julian to feel like he wasn’t a generous lover, Gregor gave as good as he was getting. He knew his lover was close when Julian’s tongue and lips slowed down on his cock. Gregor felt his dick get that much harder in his mouth and knew he was about to get a mouthful of Julian’s release. 

Seconds later, Julian moaned around Gregor’s cock while his own erupted in Gregor’s mouth.

Gregor swallowed as fast as he could, but he still couldn’t keep up with Julian’s spewing dick. He could feel Julian panting around his cock. Not wanting to give his lover a chance to catch his breath, Gregor fucked down into the sweet velvet heat of Julian’s mouth.

Julian gagged, but quickly got the message. He sucked harder, lashing his tongue faster against Gregor’s dick.

Letting Julian’s softening cock slip out of his mouth, Gregor whispered Julian’s name. One last tug on his balls was all it took and Gregor was lost. He was coming so hard and fast that it was almost painful. He could feel Julian swallowing around him.

When his cock stopped twitching, Gregor rolled off Julian and situated himself at the head of the bed so he could pull Julian into his arms. “Fucking amazing!” Gregor whispered against Julian’s ear.

“I was just thinking that was what it was going to feel like falling asleep in your arms again.”

Not that Gregor would ever say it, but holding Julian like this was almost as good as the sex.

 

 

14

Gregor felt like he was on top of the world. He’d fallen asleep last night with Julian in his arms, rather than taking the lonely walk back to his own cabin and hadn’t had any nightmares. Julian had woken up with him for a minute when it was time to leave to grab a shower and get to the kitchen. Before he left, he’d poked his head into Henry’s room and watched the little boy dream for a minute or two.

Around 7:00am, at the height of the breakfast rush, Henry had bounded into the kitchen wanting to help cook.  Gregor had quickly chopped up some fruit and had his little assistant make fruit skewers to go along with the breakfast plates. He was going to add them to the kid’s menu and what better way to introduce the fruit than by offering freebies.

An hour later, Griff strolled into the kitchen wearing a shit-eating grin. “The reviews are in and our food tasting event was a huge success!” He was holding up the Boston Globe’s Culture section which featured a picture of Gregor in the kitchen.

“I didn’t have a chance to check things out last night. I had dinner with Henry and Julian.”

“We had a family dinner, Gregor!” Henry said from his stool where he was using a small star shaped cookie cutter on slices of kiwi fruit.

“A family dinner, huh?” Griff slapped a hand on Gregor’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you, man.”

“I’m pretty damn happy myself.” These last few weeks with Julian and Henry were the best of his entire life.

“I didn’t get a chance to check out social media yet, but the Globe called you an inventive culinary genius and mentioned that your tiny assistant had impressive knowledge of his ingredients. Henry, they called you a budding chef.”

“Me?” Henry’s eyes popped wide open. “I’m gonna be a blooming chef one day, Griff.”

Griff snorted. “I believe it, buddy!”

“You are not going to believe this!” Drake swept into the kitchen carrying his open laptop.

“Is it another good review about the tiny assistant chef?” Henry laughed.

“No, Henry it’s not one review.” Drake paused. “It’s twenty!”

“What! Let me see!” Henry reached his arms out to Drake.

Drake set the laptop down in front of Henry. “There are a ton of reviews about you and the kid’s menu options.”

“This one says Gregor is masterful! And then the next one says my food is great way to get kids to eat fruit! We’re famous, Gregor!” Henry was bouncing up and down on the seat of his stool.

It was hard to argue with Henry’s enthusiasm. His entire personality had changed with his new-found confidence in himself. Maybe he’d suggest to Griff the idea of offering children’s cooking classes once he got the kitchen up to full staff.

“Oh, no!” Henry gasped, tears filling his green eyes.

“What’s wrong, Henry?” Drake stepped up beside him.

Henry pointed a finger at the screen as his bottom lip trembled. 

Drake wrapped an arm around Henry from behind and bent lower to read the screen. “Son of a bitch.” Drake sighed. “It’s another review from that same…” Drake threw up his hands.

“From that same asshole,” Henry said through his tears. “It says you used a child to hide behind your in-, inep,?”

“Ineptness in the kitchen,” Drake finished for him. “Then it goes on to talk about how shameful it was to say this was an event to honor our troops when it was clearly a ploy for media attention. Jesus Christ.” Drake ran a hand through his short, dark hair. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry too, man.” Griff moved to hug Gregor, but at the last second, Gregor pulled away. 

“I’d like everyone out of my kitchen, please.” Gregor’s voice was barely above a whisper. He needed to be alone before he lost his shit in front of Henry and his friends.

Griff tried to reach out again. “Gregor, I don’t think-”

“Now! Everyone out!” Gregor roared, unable to take one more second of their pity. Hearing that awful review in Henry’s sad voice made matters even worse. The last thing he needed was his friends fawning over him.

Griff and Drake headed toward the door, while Henry swiped at his tears. “I’ll go, Gregor, but don’t forget I love you and your food. Don’t let the bully win.” Henry hopped off his stool and left the kitchen with the other guys.

Gregor was a first-class asshole, no two ways about it. He’d yelled at his friends and Henry, who were all on his side. He was sure he’d have to deal with a pissed off Julian any second now. He shouldn’t have yelled with Henry in the room, but there was nothing he could do about that now.

From the moment he’d started culinary school, he’d known he was making the right decision about the direction of his life. He’d taken a lot of bullshit from his father about not using his G.I. Bill to go back to Yale and re-enroll in their political science program. He didn’t want to be a pundit or a politician. He wanted to feed people and until the first bad review came in a few weeks ago, he thought he was doing an amazing job.

He’d aced his classes, graduating at the top of his class at school at ICC, the same school his culinary hero, Bobby Flay, had attended. He knew his food was good, but for whatever reason someone was choosing to attack him. It must take an awful lot of hate to lash out like this. So far as he knew, no one hated him enough to do something like this.

Gregor needed to get to the bottom of this before these reviews destroyed him and Sand Dollar Shoal in the process. The biggest question right now, in his mind, anyway, was who was doing this to him? The second biggest question was why?

Gregor had only been back in Massachusetts since April and in those three short months, hadn't racked up any enemies that he was aware of. All of the one-night stands he'd had were happy with the arrangement and hadn't been looking for anything more.

He'd briefly thought about if this was a case of gay bashing, but he'd quickly discarded that idea since he was the target of the bad reviews.  If someone was disgruntled about gay people, they would have gone after all four of them, since Noble, Griff and Presley were all out and proud.

While he was trying to look at this situation from another angle, his phone buzzed in his pocket. His stomach sank when he saw it was from Julian. He knew his lover was gonna be pissed at the way he'd yelled for Henry to get out of the kitchen. Hell, Gregor was the one who watched Henry while Julian worked.

Gregor was about to put the phone back in his pocket without answering Julian’s message. He’d had about all the bad news he could take for one day. He was slipping it back into his pants when it buzzed again. Looking at the screen, he could see it was a picture of a smiling Julian and Henry. He scanned the message. [Dinner at our place? We love you!] 

He typed a quick message back, knowing that he didn’t deserve the kindness Julian and Henry were showing him. Gregor knew without a shadow of a doubt that both Julian and Henry had his back. With them on his side, he felt like the luckiest bastard alive even though it felt like his career was in shambles at his feet.

XX

Julian's first instinct had been to run to Gregor when Henry told him what had happened with the third bad review. He'd wanted to hug his lover and tell him they'd get through this together no matter what. 

He'd sat and listened to Henry tell the story of what happened and had to stop him twice during the telling to help his son calm down. He'd been trying to talk so fast that he'd started to stutter. 

Henry had been angry one minute at the "asshole bully" and sad the next at how upset Gregor had been. Julian had managed to look at the review and read it for himself once Henry had calmed down.

He'd suggested to Henry the idea of having dinner with Gregor and the little boy had been all for it. After Henry's tears were dry, he'd snapped a selfie of them together and had sent it to Gregor with the invitation to dinner. Out of the three reviews, this one was definitely the most mean-spirited, as if the author was looking to inflict as much damage as possible.

Once Gregor had accepted the invitation, Julian had gotten to work with Henry to plan the perfect night. He'd decided that they'd call out for pizza at Gregor's favorite place and he and Henry would decorate the kitchen for the party. 

Henry was still busy at the kitchen table working on another decoration when the doorbell rang. "I hope that's not Gregor. I'm not done working yet."

"It's the pizza," Julian called out when he opened the door." He paid the driver and hurried back inside with the pies. One small cheese pizza for himself and a large pepperoni for Henry and Gregor to share.

"There! Do you think Gregor will like it?" Henry held up the sign he'd been working on. 

"I think he'll love it, buddy." Julian pressed a kiss to the top of Henry's head and paced the kitchen waiting for Gregor to get there.

"Hello?" Gregor called from the front door.

"Gregor!" Henry bolted from his seat and flew into the living room. 

Julian stayed where he was, wanting to give Henry a chance to love on Gregor before he got his turn. It had been a hard day to get through without Gregor. Henry had this sadness about him that he knew only Gregor could soothe. It made him feel helpless that he couldn't make his little boy happy.

"You're gonna be so surprised!" Henry said, as he led Gregor into the kitchen. Gregor was holding a hand over his eyes as Henry guided him.

"Hey, that's a good look for you." Julian walked to his side and picked up his free hand. 

"Henry said there was a surprise for me. Can I open my eyes yet?" Gregor’s voice held a hint of amusement.

"Yup!" Henry crowed.

Pulling his hand back from his eyes, Gregor gasped."Oh wow!" He looked around the room at all of the decorations and signs Henry had made. 

"What do you think?" It had been Henry's idea to make posters and cards telling Gregor how much they and Spiderman loved him. While Julian had spent the afternoon working in his office, Henry had sat at Gregor's desk working on his cards with his crayons spread out all around him.

"I love it!" Gregor scooped Henry up and gave him a big kiss before hugging the life out of him. "I'm so sorry I yelled this morning."

"It's okay. I yelled too! Right, Daddy?" Henry wrapped his arms tighter around Gregor's neck and hugged him back. 

"You sure did. I've never seen Henry so mad." It was true. His son had always been a mild-mannered kid, which always gave him a chuckle since that was Clark Kent's calling card. He loved that he’d helped raise such a loyal and loving boy.

"Were you mad at me?" Gregor wore a guilty look.

"Nope! I was mad at the asshole bully!" Henry nodded his head firmly.

"Henry..." Julian rolled his eyes. He knew he needed to put a stop to his son saying that word, but even he had to admit it was an apt description of the dirty bastard who was trying to hurt Gregor. 

"I know, Daddy. I'm not supposed to say that word, but he makes me so mad." Henry’s little face scrunched into a frown.

Julian had to admit Henry had a point. They’d have to work on him not saying that word before he started the first grade. "The bully makes me so mad too, but we have to be better than that right?"

"When they go low, we go high, right?" Henry's smile beamed at his father and Gregor. 

Julian started to laugh. "Where did you hear that?" It never ceased to amaze him how much his son picked up on.

"From Michelle Obama! Mommy loves her. I do too. Did you know she has a garden at the White House, Gregor?"

Gregor laughed, cuddling the five-year-old tighter. "I did know that. Do you think we should have a garden here at the hotel?"

"Could we?" Henry’s eyes were as big as saucers.

Gregor nodded. "There’s a nice little plot of land behind our cottages. I was thinking about using that for a garden. What do you think we should grow?"

"Pepperoni!" Henry giggled. 

"Speaking of pepperoni, do I smell pizza?" Gregor looked around the kitchen, sniffing loudly, which made Henry laugh.

"We got pizza from your favorite place across town." Julian pressed a kiss to Gregor's lips and led him to his usual spot at the table, which was decorated with Henry's art.

"You can hang this one up in the kitchen." Henry held up a drawing of himself, Gregor and Spiderman cooking in the hotel kitchen.

"I think that's a great idea. Thank you for making me all of these pictures. I love them."

Julian served everyone pizza and sat back down with his own slice. "What's our next move?" He didn’t want to talk about the asshole bully at the table, but he hadn’t seen Gregor all day to ask where his head was in all of this bullshit.

"I want to spend the night watching Chopped Junior with Henry." He leaned across the table to smack a kiss against the side of Henry’s blond head.

"Me too!" Henry said around a mouthful of pizza. 

Julian started to laugh. "I meant our next move in dealing with the bully, but I'm down with Gregor's idea too."

Gregor was chewing with a thoughtful look on his face. "I'm not sure there is anything we can do. I haven't seen anyone around the hotel that I recognize from my past."

"I've had my eye out for people eating in the dining room that aren't staying at the hotel and haven't noticed anyone out of the ordinary." Damn, Julian had hoped Gregor would have had a different tact to take in figuring out who was behind the bad reviews. It seemed as though they were on the same page.

"I haven't seen anyone who looks mean," Henry offered.

"Well thank goodness for that." Gregor ruffled a hand through Henry's sandy blond hair. 

"I'm thinking that there's a mastermind behind this whole thing who's sending his minions to the hotel." It was the best idea Julian had and even he knew it sucked.

"I haven't seen any Minions either." Henry giggled. "BA-na-NA!"

Gregor burst out laughing. "You are too funny." He turned back to Julian. "Isn't that a bit far-fetched babe? I mean who the heck hates me so much that they'd go to all this trouble to hurt me and the hotel?"

"The minion theory is a stretch. I'll give you that, but it explains why we haven't seen the same person hanging around. I mean it's obvious they were at the hotel on the night you served the fisherman's platter and the short ribs. They knew all about Henry helping with the kids' food, but they could have seen that in the newspaper."

Gregor shook his head. "Yeah, but they knew about the food that I'd made for the adults. The review mentioned the garlic flavor of the scallops and that wasn't in the paper. Hell, I marinated the scallops with minced garlic and made sure none of the pieces were on them as I threaded them on to the skewers. So whoever wrote the review ate the scallops.”

"I just wish we could figure out who's doing this..." Julian sighed. For the second time that day he felt absolutely helpless. As far as he could see, the only thing they could do was prepare for the next bad review or wait for the bully to show his hand. Assholes like this guy always had an angle they were playing.

"Me too, but what would we do when we find out who it is? Call the police? Complain to Facebook? I don't see that there's a lot we can do to stop the mastermind even if we can give him a name." Gregor shook his head and got up from the table to grab another slice of pizza.

"His name is asshole!" Henry crowed.

Julian and Gregor both burst out laughing. 

 

15

The next week passed in a whirl of activity. Not only was the hotel gearing up for its first Fourth of July celebration, but for Drake and Presley’s wedding as well.

Everyone had gone nuts for Henry’s posters of himself, Gregor and Spiderman, so Pres and Drake had asked him to work on some artwork for their bachelor party. Every night that week after dinner, instead of watching an episode of Chopped Junior, Henry had worked on drawing artwork for the big night.

Julian loved that the guys had included Henry in the party. He figured Drake and Presley’s party would be one of those raucous bachelor parties with strippers and all sorts of phallic-shaped party favors and decorations. 

He’d been wrong. Julian spoke with the happy couple who both said they wanted to spend a low-key night with their friends, which included Henry.

Since they were having the party in Noble and Landon’s backyard, the happy grooms had insisted on simple cookout food for the party. Gregor said he was going to make tailgating type foods like burgers, dogs and wings.

Henry and Julian had been put in charge of dessert and decorations. After he’d finished work for the day, Julian took Henry to the store to get all of the fixings for an ice cream sundae bar. He’d also picked up a couple of decks of Go Fish cards, so there would be a game Henry could play with everyone.

It hadn’t been easy, but Julian had come up with a coping mechanism for the bad reviews. He watched a bunch of YouTube videos about meditation and he’d instituted ten minutes meditations after dinner every night. Henry seemed to enjoy the quiet time and Julian had noticed Gregor was a bit more easy-going as well.

As for himself, Julian had also taken a few moments for deep-breathing exercises at his desk in the morning. His first stop of the day once he was online was to check Facebook to see if another review had been posted.

Thankfully, the last review was the one about the food tasting event, but Julian knew the next one could come at any moment. Being vigilant like this sucked, but at least now he had a coping strategy for when the next review came and he had no doubt it would.

Julian couldn’t help but feel there was some sort of end game coming. Why else would the asshole bully be revving Gregor up with blatantly false reviews of his food? Taking a deep breath, Julian visualized the beach and tried to put this bullshit behind him for the night.

At 7:00pm, the bachelor party was in full swing. Gregor was manning the grill while Henry munched on grilled hot wings, which he all of a sudden loved because Gregor made them.

“Henry, where did you come up with the idea of Spiderman marrying me and Pres?” Drake pulled up a chair next to the five-year-old whose face was covered in buffalo sauce. Drake was holding the drawing Henry made of the wedding with Spiderman in the roll of the officiant.

“Well,” Henry grinned at Drake. “When I get married, I want Spiderman to marry me!”

Drake burst out laughing. “Babe, is it too late to get Spiderman to marry us?”

“What? Have you lost your mind?” Pres looked ready to fight.

Drake handed him Henry’s drawing.

“Oh! Now that I look at this picture, getting married by Spiderman would have been really neat.” Pres ruffled a hand through Henry’s blond hair. “Hey, you never told us why you love Spiderman so much.

“You never asked why I liked Spiderman so much, Pres!” Henry started to laugh.

Pres laughed along with the little boy. “I mean there are a lot of superheroes like Superman and Batman and Captain America. How come you picked Spidey?”

“Batman was looking for revenge and Superman is too perfect, but Spiderman is a regular guy, maybe someone who would be my friend.”

Julian’s heart clenched in his chest. When Henry spoke like that, he wanted to wrap his son in his arms and never let another bully hurt him.

“I’m your friend!” Gregor called from the grill.

“Me too!” Pres agreed. Soon everyone was counting himself as one of Henry’s friends.

“Does that make you all my Avengers?” Henry was giggling again.

“I want to be Thor!” Drake said, waggling his eyebrows at his fiancé.

“Why do you get to be Thor?” Griff asked with a whining tone in his voice.

“I think I can answer that!” Pres winked at his friend. “He’s got the hammer!”

“Oh my stars!” Leo burst out laughing and started fanning his face with both hands.

Not wanting to explain what that actually meant to his five-year-old son, Julian was quick to jump in, “What are your plans for the future, guys?”

Pres and Julian exchanged a happy look with each other, while Drake reached out for Presley’s hand. “We’re both excited to see what happens with the hotel and with the destination wedding side of the business. I’ve never been happier at a job in my life.” Drake pressed a kiss to Presley’s hand.

“We’ve also been talking about having kids, but we haven’t decided if we want to adopt or have a biological child.” Presley smiled at his husband-to-be.

“Can you imagine a little girl with Presley’s red hair and his blue eyes?” Drake shook his head, looking like he was fighting against his emotions.

“You guys are gonna be such great parents.” Noble slapped a hand on Presley’s shoulder.

“What about the two of you? I know you’ve only been engaged since Memorial Day, but have you guys set a date yet?” Griff asked.

Noble waggled his eyebrows at Landon. “Can I tell them, babe?”

Henry hopped out of his chair and climbed into Landon’s lap. “Tell us Landon!”

Landon ruffled a hand through Henry’s hair. “Sure, I’ve already told my mother and your dad knows too.”

“We’re getting married on October 21, right here at the hotel!” Noble was all smiles.

“Guys, that’s awesome!” Gregor hugged both of his friends.

“We wanted to wait until the season at Sand Dollar Shoal ended so that we could have a more intimate ceremony. Plus, I love the fall,” Landon gushed.

“What about you, Gregor? What do you see in your future?” Noble yanked Henry out of Landon’s lap and gave him a cuddle.

Gregor exchanged a smile with Julian. “I’m having so much fun teaching Henry to cook. He’s the best student.”

Henry flew off Noble’s lap and ran to Gregor. “I love cooking with you too, Gregor. That’s what I see in my future. I want to spend the rest of my life cooking with my best friend in the whole world!” Henry hugged him tight.

“I’m so proud of you, buddy. Your self-confidence has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few weeks.” Gregor pressed a kiss to the side of Henry’s head. “Then there’s Jules.”

“Ohh, does your future include me?” Julian’s heart was racing. He was sure it was going to beat clean out of his chest.

Nodding his head, Gregor threaded his hand with Julian’s. “You make me the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life. This time that I’ve been given with you and Henry has honestly been amazing.” Gregor took a deep breath. “I can’t believe this happened to me. I’m in love with you.”

“What?” Henry shouted, sliding bonelessly to the ground in a fake faint.

To Julian it felt like the Earth had stopped spinning on its axis. His mouth dropped open and it felt like he couldn’t get a full breath of air into his lungs. His mouth gaped open like a fish out of water.

“Say something, Jules,” Gregor begged. A worried look bloomed on his face.

After everything he’d been through over the last few months with his marriage breaking up and losing his best friend and his job, the last thing he’d expected to find on Cape Cod was love. “I-I just can’t believe that you’re in love with me. I love you too, Gregor.”

Gregor stood up and pulled Julian into his arms. “I can’t believe we found each other.” He wrapped his arms tightly around a trembling Julian.

Henry wrapped himself around the hugging men. “I can’t believe we found you either. I’m so happy we’re a family.”

Julian pulled Henry into his arms. “You think we’re a family?”

Henry nodded. “All of us are a family. Gregor told me the story about him and Griff and Pres and Noble being a band of brothers and now they just keep adding brothers. It’s like I have six uncles who love me and teach me so many new things.”

“What have you learned, Henry?” Pres asked curiously.

“Well, Gregor is teaching me to cook and you showed me how to greet guests at the hotel. Drake showed me how to use his camera. Noble and Landon taught me how to be a dog person. Leo teaches me about bow ties and history and Griff teaches me how to be a strong leader.”

The men all looked around at each other and nodded. “Wow,” Griff looked like he was blinking back tears. “I had no idea we’d taught you all of those things.”

“You’re the best family! I wish I could stay here with all of you forever.” Henry’s voice cracked on the last word and he tucked his head under Julian’s chin.

Julian couldn’t have said it better himself. As much as he loved Gregor, his heart was going to be absolutely broken when he had to bring Henry back to Carolyn at the end of the summer.

XX

Gregor could honestly say he’d never been to a bachelor party that featured a rollicking, cut-throat Go Fish tournament. He supposed there was a first time for everything and when all was said and done, it had been Henry versus Leo in the final round of competition.

Henry had won handily, but Gregor had been pretty certain Leo had thrown the game. Of course Leo had sworn up and down that it had been a fair fight. All that had mattered to Gregor was the triumphant look on Henry’s face when the game was over and he was crowned the champion.

After Henry accepted congratulations from everyone, they’d said their goodnights and carried the victor off to bed. Gregor had been blinking back tears when he’d told his mother that his Daddy and his Gregor were in love with each other. To Gregor’s ears, Julian’s ex had sounded truly happy for them both.

“What are you thinking about?” Julian said from the bedroom door.

Gregor startled and turned around to look at the man he was in love with. Julian was still dressed from the party, but he was carrying two bottles of water. He’d sat down on the bed to take his pants off and had just gotten lost in his thoughts. “I was just going over in my mind what happened tonight. You know, at the party, and then when Henry was on the phone with Carolyn.”

Julian nodded. He set both bottles of water down on Gregor’s nightstand and climbed into his lap. “Today was definitely one of the best days of my life. I never thought I’d hear someone tell me they were in love with me again.” He wrapped himself around Gregor and held on tight.

“I never thought I’d hear those words at all.” Gregor wrapped Julian up in his arms.

“What do you mean?”

In all the time he and Julian had been together, Gregor really hadn’t shared a lot about himself. He figured now was as good a time as any to start. “I grew up in South Carolina and I knew I was gay from an early age. Instead of chasing girls around the playground, I was chasing boys. I told my mother about it as soon as I figured it out. I think I was about twelve years old and she started crying, not because she was ashamed of me, but because she knew how my father would react. My mom made me promise I would keep my sexuality a secret.”

“Jesus, Gregor. What a rough way to grow up, not being able to express who you really were.” Julian cupped Gregor’s face in his hands.

“When I got to Andover for high school, I picked my lovers carefully and by carefully, I mean that I picked guys who had just as much to lose by their secret coming out as I did.”

“I can’t even imagine that. I never ended up coming out as bi until I was caught with the guy from work. I can’t imagine how hard that must have been for you, having needs and worrying about being caught when you tried to meet them.”

“Then of course it was the same thing when I went into the Navy. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was still in effect back in 2001, so I had to hide myself all over again. Needless to say, I haven’t had a lot of relationships in my life.”

“What a pair we make, huh? You’ve never really been in a relationship and all I ever seem to do is fuck them up.”

“None of that matters now. Our pasts are in the past and that’s where they’re going to stay as far as I’m concerned. This thing we’re building together is a fresh start for both of us.”

Julian sniffled, obviously trying to hold back his emotions. “I can’t tell you how much it means to hear you say that to me.”

“You bring so much joy and happiness into my life, Jules. I’ll never be able to thank you for that and for the gift of maybe one day being a father to Henry. I always wanted kids but just figured it wasn’t in the cards for me.”

Julian kissed the side of Gregor’s jaw. “Henry loves you with his whole heart. These last few weeks, Gregor, it’s like he’s a totally different kid. I know part of the reason for the change in Henry is because of you. If you ask me, I think he already sees you as a second father.”

Gregor’s mouth dropped open. He was speechless. “You really think so?” He knew that Henry had changed a lot since he and Julian had arrived at the hotel, but he never gave a thought that he could be part of the reason for the change in Henry.

“I know so. Henry’s blossomed because of your relationship and teaching him to cook.” Julian took a deep breath. I used to worry about his ability not to make friends all the time, but now it’s like Henry’s thriving because he’s met the right friends. It was like you said before that the kids in his class and his teachers were just assholes.”

Gregor burst out laughing. He’d been kidding when he’d said that to Julian, but it certainly seemed like he’d hit the nail on the head. Henry hadn’t been awkward or quiet around any of his friends.  He’d even come out of his shell with the kids at the food tasting. “I love that little guy with my whole heart too.”

“Do you think you’d like a child of your own someday?”

“What, you mean adopt a child?” Gregor was shocked by the question. He’d thought a lot about that very thing when he’d been stationed overseas. It was the one thing that carried him through the tough times.

“You could do that or you could have a surrogate carry your biological child.”Julian’s hands were rubbing Gregor’s back.

“I’ve always wanted to adopt.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“It wouldn’t have been something my father would have liked. So I was biding my time.”

“I don’t even know the man and I hate him already. Is it him that would be against you being a single father or would have he been worried about his constituents being against it?”

Gregor rolled his eyes. “Both. I finally came out to him when I left the Navy. I figured I’d hidden myself enough over the first twenty-five years of my life. I’d be damned if I was going to hide one second longer.”

“How did he take that?”

Shrugging, Gregor wrapped himself more tightly around Julian. “He took it badly, ranting and raving that I’d better not do anything to ruin his career in the Senate. He acted like having a gay son was the worst thing in the world.”

“You know that’s not true, right? I would think having a murderer or a magician for a son would be much worse.”

Gregor burst out laughing. “What’s wrong with magicians?”

Julian shuddered. “They creep me out with their hidden doves and sawing people in half.”

“You know,” Gregor lifted Julian up and dumped him onto his back. “Magician’s also make things disappear…” Gregor waggled his eyebrows and went for Julian’s belt.

“Maybe not all magic tricks are bad after all.”

Grinning, Gregor made Julian’s erection disappear.

 

 

16

Henry must have reminded Gregor ten times last night to wake him up when he got up so that he could help cook food for the wedding. When he’d stuck his head in Henry’s door, Gregor was afraid the little boy wasn’t going to want to wake up this early in the morning. “Henry?”

“Yup!” The little boy crowed, sitting up in bed. “That was a fast sleep, Gregor!” Henry jumped out of bed and ran barefoot to the bathroom. Seconds later, he was back, dressing himself in the clothes he’d set out the night before.

Even with as organized as Gregor was, he’d never set out clothes for himself the night before anything.

“What are you wearing for the wedding?” Henry frowned up at him while he put his sneakers on.

“Since I’m in the wedding, I’m wearing a tuxedo.”

“Ohhh, I bet Daddy’s gonna think you’re handsome dressed like that!” Henry got back to his feet and held his hand out to Gregor.

Gregor took his hand and led him outside. It was a cloudy morning, but the sun was supposed to come out later. He could only hope the weatherman was right. Rain was supposed to be good luck on your wedding day, but Gregor new Presley wouldn’t see it that way. “Henry, can I ask you a question?”

Henry nodded.

“What do you think about me being your Daddy’s boyfriend?”

“You mean ‘cause you’re not a girl like Mommy?”

Gregor burst out laughing. Julian hadn’t been kidding when he’d said Henry had this way of knowing what you were talking about. “Yeah, that.”

“My Daddy was never this happy with Mommy. He wore a lot of fake smiles when he was with her.” Henry nodded and tugged Gregor toward the hotel.

Figuring Henry was done answering the question, he let the little boy lead on. Knowing that Julian was truly happy with him filled his heart with so much joy he was afraid he’d burst with it.

“Timmy Kyle has two Daddies. He was in my kindergarten class. His second Daddy used to volunteer in our classroom and he baked the best cookies ever. Some of the kids made fun of Timmy for having two daddies.”

Gregor knew that Henry hadn’t been one of those kids. “Kids can be pretty mean sometimes.”

“That’s true, Gregor. Sometimes Timmy cried when people said mean things to him, but I won’t.”

“You won’t cry?” Gregor still wasn’t even sure he’d heard Henry right.

“Nope. I love you, Gregor, and I want you to be my Daddy too. It won’t matter if the kids make fun of me because I have you and Daddy and all of our friends here at the hotel. Now, let’s go cook!”

**

An hour later, Gregor was hip deep in breakfast orders for the hotel patrons. Even though the wedding started at 3:00pm, he still had to get breakfast and lunch prepared for all of the guests. Thank goodness, Griff and Leo were on board to help him out, as was Henry.

As he mindlessly mixed pancake batter and fried up bacon and hash browns, he’d had a chance to think about what Henry had told him about Timmy’s two daddies and how he would handle that situation himself.

Who would know better than Henry how to deal with bullies? On the one hand, he was so damn proud of the little boy’s attitude, but on the other, he didn’t want to be one more reason the kids had to pick on him.

What had surprised Gregor most of all was that Henry had been thinking that far ahead. Gregor only looked ahead in terms of his kitchen. He needed to know when to place orders for produce, meats and fish. Other than that, he took things one day at a time.

He realized now, that he should start looking ahead when it came to him and Julian. Maybe it was just the excitement of Pres and Drake’s wedding only being a few hours away that had him thinking that maybe one day it would be his and Julian’s turn to walk down the aisle and promise each other forever.

Gregor had spent a lot of his life hoping that he’d find someone to settle down with. It wasn’t until 2004 when Massachusetts became the first state in the country to allow same-sex marriage that he realized it was possible for him to do more than just settle down into a life of his own. He could actually marry the man of his dreams.

It was a nice thought, but he didn’t even know if Julian wanted to get married again. He supposed having a conversation with himself about their future wasn’t doing him a lot of good. He was going to need to sit down with Julian and discuss what they wanted as a couple.

“Gregor! Get your head out of the clouds. I’m done with the salads.” Henry was shaking his head and laughing.

“Okay, let’s see how you did.” Gregor had given Henry bowls of chopped lettuce and field greens for the wedding salads, along with cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumbers. He’d put one plate together himself and left Henry to assemble the rest. He looked the salads over and the ones Henry made were exact copies of his original. “Henry! These are perfect!”

“I know!” Henry giggled again. “You know what this reminds me of?”

“Tell me.” Gregor couldn’t wait to hear what was on Henry’s mind.

“It’s like art, only you can eat it. I watched the way you put the plate together and it reminded me of art class when the teacher taught us how to draw a picture.”

“Is is like art,” Gregor agreed. “Did you know that there are people who paint food or take photographs of food for a living?”

Henry tilted his head to the side like he was really thinking about it. “I think those are cool jobs, but nothing is more exciting than cooking the food and seeing the look on someone’s face when they eat what you made.”

“That happened a lot at the food tasting the other day, huh?” Gregor always watched the looks on people’s faces when they ate his food. He knew their reactions were always genuine where words sometimes weren’t.

“Yup! I think a lot about that day. It was a lot of fun.”

Gregor knew Henry was thinking about how good it made him feel when other people liked his food. It was a feeling he knew well.

“There are my best guys!” Julian was all smiles as he came into the kitchen.

“Daddy, come see my salads!” Henry was waving his father over.

Julian pressed a kiss to Henry’s head while he looked over the plates. “Wow! You made these yourself?”

“Gregor said presentation is very important and I agree with him.” Henry smiled up at his father.

“Well, I agree with both of you. I’m so proud, Henry. The salads are gorgeous. I’ll look forward to eating mine later.”

“Are you here to help out or just to visit?” Gregor pulled his lover into his arms. They’d been up pretty late last night making things disappear and he didn’t have the heart to wake Julian when he and Henry left this morning.

“I’m just stopping by. Since I got a late start, I need to get with Drake to go over details of the wedding. He asked me if I’d write a piece about the prep work so that we can use it to help promote the wedding service. I figured I’d start here with my favorite hard-working men.” Julian stood on tiptoes to kiss Gregor.

“I know it’s gonna be a long day for all of us with the wedding and then the clean-up, but if you’re up for it later, I’d like to talk about our future together.” Gregor wrapped his arms around Julian’s shoulders.

Julian’s green eyes glowed. “I’d like that and then maybe we could get back to where we left off last night?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Sold!” Gregor could feel his cock thickening. “Now scram so we can get back to work. I’ll bring Henry back with me so we can all get dressed together.”

“Okay.” Julian nodded. “I’ll see you both later.”

Gregor watched the sway of Julian’s ass as he walked out of the kitchen. What he needed now was a cold shower. As much as he wanted to pick right up where they’d left off last night, he was actually more excited about the talk concerning their future. Gregor said a silent prayer that they’d both be on the same page.

XX

Julian was distracted. He knew it and, more importantly, Drake knew it too. He’d been trying to work on his article for the website and all was doing was making moon eyes at the cursor while thinking about Gregor.

“Okay, let’s take a break.” Drake sighed and stood up, stretching his long legs. “I think I know what the problem is here.”

Julian knew what the problem was too. His name was Gregor Allen. Ever since his lover had mentioned talking about their future, it had been all he was able to think about. “What problem?” Julian shrugged innocently.

“Don’t give me that bullshit, Julian. You’re talking to a man whose getting married in a few hours. I know you’re daydreaming about Gregor, so spill it. Then we can get back to work and I’m not late for my own wedding.” Drake wore a good-natured grin.

“He wants to talk about our future.” Julian didn’t need to elaborate on who “he” was.

Drake nibbled his bottom lip. “Your future good or your future bad?”

“Good! Definitely good! I think maybe the romance of your wedding got him to thinking about where things are going with us. What do you think?” At least Gregor thinking about their future in a good way was what Julian was hoping for.

Drake laughed. “You know, it’s funny. I never believed the hype about weddings being romantic until Pres asked me to marry him. I can definitely see why Gregor’s head would be in that space now, especially after how lonely he’s been.”

“What do you mean?” He knew Gregor had been alone for the most part aside from the occasional one-night stand, but he hadn’t known his boyfriend had been lonely. It hurt his heart to think of Gregor feeling like that.

“He used to give me and Pres so much shit when we first got together. It was never angry shit, just grumpy shit, if you know what I mean.” Drake snorted. “But, as envious as he might have been of our relationship, he was the one who was on my side when my past came out and Pres was on the verge of dumping my sorry ass.”

Gregor had told Julian about Drake’s past as a porn star named Damien Lovecock and that someone had recognized him at the masquerade ball to celebrate the grand re-opening of the hotel.. “What happened? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“You know, it’s funny. Pres and the others think of themselves as a band of brothers and that’s exactly how I feel about you, Landon and Leo, even though he’s not together with Griff.”

“Yet!” Julian chimed in. He knew it was only a matter of time before Griff and Leo sorted themselves out.

Drake rolled his eyes. “Exactly, just don’t mention that to Griff. I like to think of the rest of us as our own little jolly band. Anyway, I kept my former career a secret when I came to Cape Cod to start a new life. I knew I’d need to tell Pres at some point, but I was terrified that he’d break up with me or think I was disgusting for doing what I did. When the truth came out, Pres was pissed and hurt. I don’t blame him for that one bit. I lied to him and that was on me, but Gregor was my rock through all of that. He may have been gruff and grumpy at times, but he was a real friend to me when it counted most. He managed to talk some sense into Presley’s fool head and now we’re hours away from saying ‘I do.’ It’s my own fairytale come to life and I owe a lot of it to Gregor.”

“I had no idea all of that happened.” It didn’t surprise him one bit that Gregor had downplayed his role in keeping Drake and Pres together.

“Gregor’s loyal like that. I grew up in foster care and he’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a brother. I just love the fuck out of him.” Drake wiped away a rogue tear. “All I wanted was for him to find a great guy to settle down with and not only did he find that but got Henry as well. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. If Gregor wants to talk about your future, I’m sure it has to do with moving forward. How do you feel about that?”

How did he feel? “I never even gave the thought of getting married again another thought. After the way my marriage ended with me getting caught cheating with another guy, I figured no one would ever feel that way about me again.”

“Take it from me, Julian, there’s nothing you’ve done in your past that can’t be forgiven when you’ve got the love of a good man on your side.”

Julian laughed, getting a kick out of Drake waxing poetic over love. “Henry is over the moon in love with Gregor. I think the reason for the huge turnaround in Henry’s behavior is Gregor.”

“I was thinking the same thing. What you were saying about Henry when you got to the hotel, about him being a shy boy who has a hard time making friends certainly isn’t true today.”

It warmed his heart thinking about all of the amazing things Gregor had done for their little family. “He’s so involved in everyone’s lives. Until the bachelor party last night when Henry talked about the things you all have done for him, I had no idea he was that close to all of you.”

Drake nodded. “When there’s a lull in the kitchen, Henry will sometimes show up in my office with a muffin or a travel mug of coffee. Don’t tell Pres, but it’s the best part of my day when he comes to visit. He’ll sit in the chair across from my desk and ask me questions about my day. He’s the most thoughtful kid I’ve ever met. I have no doubt he does the same thing with the others too.”

Julian loved hearing stories like that about his son from the other guys. “You know, I’d like to make a video of all of you talking about Henry to send to his kindergarten teacher. That woman has no idea what she was missing with Henry.”

“Not too many people know this, but I’m dyslexic. It took a while to get me diagnosed and even after that, not all of my teachers cared about my struggles. I didn’t have an advocate to stand up to those teachers or to get me moved away from their toxic influence.  If something similar happens with his first grade teacher, do whatever you can to get him out of that classroom. It would kill me if a teacher broke that little boy’s spirit.” Drake started blinking back tears. “Christ, look at me! I’m a mess. I’ll be right back and then we can finish this damned article.”

Julian nodded as Drake headed out the door. The one thing he knew for certain was that he wanted Gregor in his and Henry’s lives. If Gregor was willing to put enough faith in him to move their relationship forward, then he was on board with that decision.

 

 

17

“Daddy? Your hard workin’ men are home!”Henry yelled from the front door.

“I’m in your room, Henry!” Julian was convinced Henry was going to lose his mind when he saw the surprise Griff had left for him.

“Are you reading my comics?”Henry burst through the door and ran into Julian’s arms.

“Not today.” Julian laughed. It had never crossed his mind to read any of Henry’s comics. It really was something he and Gregor should do so that Henry would have someone he could talk to about Spiderman’s adventures.

“Are you doing my laundry?”

Julian shook his head. “I have a surprise for you although maybe it’s not a surprise to you.” Julian raised an eyebrow at Henry.

“What do you mean?” Gregor gave Julian and Henry a curious look.

“Do you remember a few weeks ago when Landon, Noble, Griff and Leo took Henry out for pizza and a trip to the comic book store?”

Gregor nodded. “Of course I do, that was the night we made up…” Gregor winked at Julian.

Julian bit his bottom lip, hoping Henry wouldn’t notice the way he was blushing. “Well, it seems like they made one more stop that Henry and the guys didn’t tell us about.”

“It’s a mystery!” Gregor grinned at Henry. “Can you tell me about the secret stop you made with the guys?”

Henry shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not a mystery. All we did was go to some boring clothes store.” The little boy rolled his eyes.

“What did you do at a clothes store?” Gregor shot Julian a confused look.

“A man used a long piece of tape and called out numbers.”

“A piece of tape?” Gregor frowned. “OH! I know what the man was doing. This is going to be a great surprise Henry. We were just talking about this very thing on our way to the kitchen this morning.”

“Okay, so I was wrong, it is a mystery. Now can one of you tell me about it?” Henry looked back and forth between them.”

“How about if I show you? Close your eyes.” Julian went to Henry’s closet and pulled out the little tuxedo.

“Wow!” Gregor patted Henry on the shoulder. “That’s a great surprise.”

“Can I open my eyes now?” Henry sounded impatient.

“Okay, now!”

“It’s a tuxedo!” Henry ran to Julian and ran his hand down the black material.

“Griff and Leo knew that Pres and Drake wanted you to be in their wedding. It was the reason they joined your trip to the comic book store at the last minute. They wanted the clothes to be a surprise for you.”

“Now I get to look like Gregor!”

“You sure do, buddy.” Gregor gave Henry a quick hug.

“There’s one more surprise.”Julian wore a mysterious smile.

“Another surprise? Is Spiderman going to marry Pres and Drake? That would be so awesome. Then he could marry you and Gregor!”

Julian looked up at Gregor who was smiling. “Would you like that, Henry? If Gregor and I got married?” Julian knew how much Henry loved Gregor but would he want the chef to become a permanent member of their family?

Henry nodded his head while tears sprung to his eyes. “Then I could have two Daddies who loved me.”

Julian swiped at Henry’s tears. “Why does the idea of having two Daddies make you so sad?” If Henry didn’t want Gregor to marry him, then they were going to have to put the brakes on their relationship. It would kill Julian, but Henry came first.

“I’m not sad! These are happy tears! Gregor would be the best Daddy in the world.” Henry giggled. “You two are tied for the best!”

Julian had known exactly what Henry meant. “Nothing’s carved in stone, but Gregor and I are going to talk about our future together.” Julian hugged Henry close. Maybe it really was possible to have a second shot at love. “Okay, time for the last surprise. Leo wants you to wear this tee-shirt under your white dress shirt.” Julian held up a shirt that looked like Spiderman’s spidersuit.

“Wow! I know what this is for!” Henry clutched the shirt to his chest and jumped up and down.

“You do?” Gregor exchanged a knowing look with Julian.

“Yup! We’re gonna be the Avengers after the wedding!” Henry looked back and forth between the two men.

Gregor burst out laughing. “That’s it exactly! Now let’s get dressed! We’ve got a wedding to get to!”

XX

An hour later everyone was gathered out on the back deck of the hotel. The official photographer had been taking pictures of both sides of the wedding party and now they were just waiting for Presley to make his grand appearance.

Gregor had been the one to hold a crying Presley when his parents refused to fly up for their son’s wedding. Even though Pres had personally trained his own replacement at Hound Dog Hooch, his parents’ whiskey distillery, they claimed they were too swamped with work to make the trip from Memphis to Cape Cod.

It had been gut-wrenching to see his friend in such pain, but he’d had an idea that he hoped would make Presley’s day a bit less painful. Unfortunately, that idea was running late.

“Jesus, Noble, where the hell is he?” Gregor’s hands were shaking with nerves.

“Calm down, Bobby Flay. I just spoke to him and he’ll be here any second now. Apparently, the tailor hadn’t finished the alterations yesterday like he promised.”

Gregor snorted. “When the hell was the last time he wore his tux?”

“Ten years ago at my wedding to Vincent.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up Vincent.” Noble’s first husband had been killed two years ago in a car accident. Losing Vincent was the reason Noble had turned to the bottle and ended up in rehab.

“I’m glad you did. I was thinking of him earlier when I was putting this monkey suit on. He would have loved it here at Sand Dollar Shoal. He was always a beach person.”

“Here I am! Now where’s my best boy!” Nick Killington shouted from the back doors of the hotel.

“Hey, Dad! I’m glad you finally made it.” Noble gave his father a big hug.

Nick rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t talking about you! Where’s Pres?”

Gregor burst out laughing. “It’s so good to see you, Nick.”

Nick hugged Gregor tight. “Rumor has it you’ve met the love of your life.”

Gregor nodded against Nick’s shoulder. Nick had always been like a second father to him. Actually, he’d been more like a real father. Gregor had never gone home on any of the school breaks and had practically lived at the Killingtons house for the four years they were all at Andover.

Nick had been there for him when boys had broken his heart. He had also been the first person he’d told when he decided to join the Navy. He’d been there to see Gregor off to SEAL training school and had been the one at the airport to pick him up when he’d left the Navy.

“When do I get to meet him? I need to make sure he’s good enough for you!” Nick laughed and slapped Gregor on the back.

Gregor swiped at the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He pointed down the beach to where the ceremony was going to be held. “See the man with the little boy having their pictures taken by the rocks? That’s Julian and his son, Henry.”

“I always knew you’d been an amazing father one day, son. I can’t wait to meet them both later. Now, where’s Pres? He must be shitting a gold brick right about now!”

**

Gregor was filled with nervous energy as he stood with the other guys at the altar. Noble was to his right, while Griff was to his left. Drake, Leo, Julian and Landon were on the opposite side of the aisle.

“Not that now is the time to talk about work, but this is gorgeous. I’m so glad we hired a second photographer to shoot this wedding for the website,” Griff whispered from behind Gregor.

“The photographers were all over the kitchen this morning shooting the food prep and my little assistant.” Gregor laughed. Henry had been such a ham for the camera. He couldn’t wait to see how the pictures of the little boy came out.

“It was also a great idea to invite the hotel guests to the wedding. With all of us in the wedding party, there wouldn’t have been anyone sitting in the seats.” Noble inclined his head to the full seats. There was even an overflow crowd at the back of the chairs. “Look, here comes Henry!”

The violinists started to play when Henry started walking down the aisle. He was dressed in his tuxedo, but his feet were bare. In his hand was a basket of rose petals which he was throwing up in the air and laughing when the red petals rained down on him.

Gregor leaned forward to get a look at Julian. His boyfriend was laughing so hard, tears were tracking down his cheeks. Drake was just as emotional, giving the little boy a big hug when he reached altar.

“How’d I do, Gregor?” Henry shouted.

“Two thumbs up, buddy!” God, he loved that little boy. If things worked out with Julian the way he wanted them to, there would never be a dull moment in their lives with Henry around.

The string orchestra changed the melody they were playing when Presley stepped on to the beach on Nick Killington’s arm. Pres was beaming. Gregor would swear his smile was brighter than the sun.

When Pres and Nick reached the officiant, the man said, “Who gives this man to be married today?”

“I do!” Nick shouted proudly before setting Presley’s hand in Drake’s. “You take good care of my boy.” He patted the side of Drake’s face and took the empty seat in the front row.

“We are here today to witness Presley and Drake take the next step in their lives together. The road before you might not always be easy. There will be mountains to climb, forks in the road and possibly some dead ends. The important thing is that as you move forward together, you’ll have each other to rely on for comfort and strength.”

Gregor swiped at the tears forming in his eyes and noticed all of his friends and the grooms were doing the same thing. He looked up at Julian who was staring at him. Julian patted his heart as if he was telling Gregor he loved him. Gregor repeated the gesture.

“Drake and Presley have written their own vows. Drake if you’d begin, please.”

“God, you are so handsome today.” Drake sucked in a deep breath and blinked up at the sky. “I knew the moment we met that I was destined to love you for the rest of my life. I mean, who takes in a perfect stranger on a dark and stormy night?”

The wedding guests laughed.

“You did, Presley Aaron Forrester. I’ll never forget the kindness in your eyes when you ordered me to strip after we’d only known each other for three minutes.”

Pres shrugged and turned to the seated guests. “He was dripping rainwater on my carpet.”

Drake pressed a kiss to Presley’s hand. “Our life together is going to be a journey and today is just the first step. I am so blessed to have you by my side for all of the steps to come. Some of them may be easy and I know some of them will be hard, but none of that matters since we’ll be together.  I love you so much, Pres.”

Presley nodded, swiping one-handedly at his own tears.

“Presley do you need a minute before reading your vows?”

Pres took a deep breath and shook his head no. “I never thought this would happen to me, that I’d fall in love and be standing here pledging forever to the man of my dreams. I know our future will be filled with ups and downs, but we can get through anything so long as we’re together. I can’t wait to start our life together. I know you’re going to be an amazing husband and an even better father one day. I love you, Drake.”

Drake, along with the rest of the wedding party swiped at their own tears.

“How can two men have a baby, Daddy?” Henry asked with a confused look on his face.

Gregor burst out laughing. He hoped the videographer got that little gem on video.

“I’ll tell you later.” Julian was blushing so hard he looked like a boiled lobster.

“May I have the rings?”

Noble reached into his pocket and pulled them out. He handed them to the officiant.

“Presley and Drake, repeat after me, ‘I give you this ring as a symbol of my love which has no beginning and no end.’”

Drake and Presley picked up the other’s ring and slipped them on each other’s hand. “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love which has no beginning and no end,” they said together.

“By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I pronounce you husbands. Drake, you may kiss your groom.”

Drake pulled Presley close and kissed him gently.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present for the first time Presley and Drake Forrester!”

Everyone gathered close to hug and congratulate the newlyweds, except Henry, who’d run to Gregor’s side.

“What did you think of the wedding?” Gregor scooped Henry up into his arms.

“I liked it, but your wedding to Daddy will be better.” Henry sounded so sure of himself.

“Why do you say that?” Gregor couldn’t wait to hear Henry’s thoughts.

“Because at the end of the wedding you’ll be my Daddy too.” Henry wrapped his arms around Gregor’s neck and rested his head on Gregor’s shoulder.

Gregor felt tears pricking the back of his eyes. While he’d been standing there watching his best friends marry each other, all he’d been able to think about was proposing to Julian. Maybe tonight after they’d put Henry to bed, he’d ask Julian that very question.

 

 

18

Julian felt like he was on cloud nine. He’d spent the entire evening dancing with Gregor and their friends under the moonlight.

His favorite part of the night was seeing how much fun Gregor was having. He and the guys had done all of the food prep work before the wedding and aside from an hour or so when Gregor was cooking the filet mignon and the pasta course, he’d been able to spend the entire night with Julian and Henry.

Speaking of Henry, it had been a surprise to Julian and the grooms when Henry had proposed a toast with his glass of milk.  He’d thanked Pres and Drake for being his friends and wished them lots of love and babies in their future.  Henry had been able to say that with confidence after Julian had explained how men could have babies with each other.

It was the tired five-year-old that ended his and Gregor’s night early. Henry had been enjoying a piece of wedding cake one minute and was asleep with his face on the table the next. Gregor had scooped him up and carried him home.

While Julian had been getting Henry out of his tux, his hands had been shaking so hard, Gregor had to finish it up for him.

“Babe, what’s up?” Gregor strolled into the kitchen dressed in his Ironman tee shirt and a pair of black jeans. “Why are you so nervous?”

Julian was sitting at the kitchen table toying with his work notebook. He’d thought that going over his notes would get his mind off the conversation he knew Gregor wanted to have about their future. “I’m okay. My mind is just all over the place about us.”

Gregor frowned. “What do you mean?”

Julian stood and walked to where Gregor was standing, half in and half out of the kitchen. “No, it’s nothing bad. I just know where I want this thing between us to go. What I don’t know is where you want it to go.”

Gregor’s frown eased into a smile. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that over the last week or so. Being with you and Henry has been the best time of my life. I never want this time to end. I’m just gonna lay all of my cards on the table and tell you that I want to marry you. I know we’ve only known each other for a month, but I know for certain you are the man I’m meant to spend my life loving.”

Julian gasped. If he lived to be a hundred, he’d never forget those words. “Is that a proposal?”

Gregor laughed. “I’m not down on one knee and I don’t have a ring, but, yeah.”

Julian laughed along with him. “I don’t need a ring, Gregor. I just need you.”

“I didn’t hear a yes in there.” Gregor raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you!” Julian hugged his new fiancé tightly. He still couldn’t believe this was his life. After spending years hiding his true identity and cheating on his wife and his lovers, he was actually going to get a chance to live his happily ever after.

“I can’t wait to tell Henry all about this in the morning,” Gregor spun Julian around the kitchen.

“I think I know how to pass the time between now and then…” Julian waggled his eyebrows and reached for the waistband of Gregor’s jeans. Just as he got the button undone, Gregor’s stomach rumbled.

“Well that’s embarrassing.” Gregor rolled his eyes.

“Didn’t you eat tonight?” Julian had been so busy dancing and having fun that he hadn’t really paid much attention to what was going on with Gregor.

Gregor shrugged. “I had a bit in the kitchen and I think I had a slice of wedding cake.”

“Well, sit and I’ll make you something to eat. We’ve got a ton of leftovers from the bachelor party last night.” Julian pressed Gregor into the chair he’d been sitting in earlier and hurried toward the fridge. “We’ve got cold hot wings. Will that do?”

Gregor smiled. “Cold hot wings would be perfect. Do we have any of that potato salad left?”

“Yup! Right here. Give me a minute and I’ll make you a plate.” Julian reached into the cabinet and grabbed a dish. He was spooning out potato salad when he heard a strangled gasp from behind him. He spun around to see Gregor holding his work notebook with a furious look on his face.  “What’s wrong?”

“It’s you,” Gregor whispered furiously. “You’re the one who’s been writing the bad reviews of my food.”

Julian was too stunned to speak. “Gregor, I-”

“Shut the fuck up, Julian! Jesus Christ, it’s all written here in your notebook.” Gregor shook the notebook at him, the pages fluttering in the breeze.

“I don’t like the way you’re speaking to me. Ten minutes ago you were asking me to marry you and now you’re accusing me of betraying you. How dare you?” Julian felt himself spiraling out of control. He’d never seen Gregor so mad in all the time they’d known each other and he wasn’t far off himself in the anger department.

Gregor’s laugh was filled with malice. “Marry you? You think I’d marry a low-life cheating son of a bitch who went behind my back to write these reviews?”

“What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t write those reviews!” Gregor actually thought he was behind the reviews?

“Oh no?” Gregor pushed out of his chair and strode toward where Julian was standing near the sink. “This is your handwriting, isn’t it?” Gregor practically shoved the notebook in his face.

“Yes, it’s my handwriting. I told you that’s my work notebook.” Julian still didn’t understand what the hell was going on. “What the hell started this whole thing? If you have cold feet about proposing to me then just say so. You don’t have to start a stupid fight.” Julian sighed, carding his hands through his hair.

“Stupid fight?” Gregor was shouting now. “It’s all here in your handwriting. Rubbery scallops in the fisherman’s platter and how you’d give the meal negative ten stars if you could. You ate the meal the night I served it, Julian!  Then, a few pages later, you talk about the braised short ribs, saying that you wouldn’t feed it to a dog. You ate that meal too! Jesus Christ, the reason we never saw anyone suspicious at the hotel is because it was YOU!”

“Daddy?” Henry was standing at the kitchen door in his Spiderman shirt, holding a ratty blanket and looking scared to death.

Julian ran to his son. “It’s okay buddy. Gregor and I were just having a disagreement. Why don’t I take you back to bed?”

“Disagreement?” Gregor roared. “You call trying to ruin my career and hurting the hotel a disagreement?”

Julian had been upset at the way Gregor was acting before, but this was over the line. “I was taking notes on the words used by the reviewer. I didn’t write those reviews myself. It’s obvious you don’t believe me. I can deal with you being angry at me, but you sure as heck aren’t going to speak that way to me in front of my son. He’s scared and you’re making it worse. Get out of my house now!”

“Your house? You think this is your house, Julian? I want you out first thing in the morning. As far as I’m concerned, you’re fired!”

Julian stood there staring at Gregor who was melting down before his eyes. He hadn’t written those reviews, but there wasn’t really a way that he could prove it. His heart was broken into a million pieces, but he’d do just as Gregor asked. He’d take Henry and leave Sand Dollar Shoal at first light.

XX

Gregor felt like he was losing his mind. He was angrier than he’d ever been in his life. No one had ever betrayed him as badly as Julian. Fifteen minutes ago they were getting engaged and now Gregor wanted to punch Julian in his smug little face.

Crying, Henry ran to Julian and wrapped himself around his father’s leg just as Noble, Landon and Nick burst into the house.

“What’s going on, son?” Nick stepped up to Gregor, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Gregor pointed at Julian. “He’s the bastard who’s been writing the bad reviews of my food.”

“Come on, Gregor.” Noble stepped up to his side. “Julian’s been your strongest supporter since all of this started.”

“And when did it start? The minute he got here.” Gregor was yelling again. “Who better to defend me than the man doing this? Makes him look all innocent. He’s nothing but a lying, cheating, son of a bitch. I want him gone now!”

“That’s enough, Gregor!” Landon hissed. “It’s one thing for you to be mad at Julian, but look at Henry! That little boy has done nothing but love you and he’s scared to death. You need to leave, now!” Landon grabbed his arm and started tugging him out of the kitchen.

Gregor yanked his arm free from Landon and turned to look at Henry. The little boy was wrapped in his father’s arms and was crying so hard his entire body was shaking. In that moment, Gregor’s anger broke and he just stared at the damage he caused.

Julian was crying too and Noble had his arms wrapped around him and Henry who was crying so hard his sobs were interspersed with him taking big gulps of air. He did this to men he loved the most.  “Jesus, Julian, I-”

“Get out, now!” Julian’s voice was harsh from crying.

“Landon, Dad, can you take him home? I’m gonna stay here for a while and help get Henry settled down.” Noble didn’t bother to turn around.

Nick grabbed Gregor’s elbow and pulled him toward the door. The last thing Gregor heard before the door shut behind him was Henry screaming his name.

He followed along a step behind Nick Killington as the man continued to drag him toward his own cabin. Once they were inside, Nick sat him down at the dining room table. A few minutes later, Landon came into the house with Griffin.

“Thank god, Pres and Drake left on their honeymoon before all this hullaballoo started.” Nick sighed, running a hand through his salt and pepper hair. “Start at the beginning and don’t leave a thing out. I’m still trying to decide if I should tan your hide.”

Gregor took a deep breath and tried to pull his scattered thoughts together. He set Julian’s notebook down on the table in front of him. “Henry fell asleep at the wedding.”

Griff nodded, taking the seat next to Gregor at the table. “We saw you and Julian carry him out.”

“I told Julian I wanted to have a talk about our future when we got back from the wedding. He must have been nervous about what I wanted to say because his hands were shaking when we were trying to get Henry out of his tux. So I sent Julian to the kitchen while I got Henry ready for bed.” Gregor felt tears pricking his eyes and was too far gone to try to stop them from falling.

Landon stepped over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. He set it next to Gregor and sat down next to him.

“Thanks, Landon.” Gregor opened the bottle and took a long sip that burned all the way down his sore throat. “When I came into the kitchen, Julian was going through this notebook.” He held it up to show them all.

“What did I miss?” Noble asked, striding into the kitchen. His hands were balled into fists.

“Who’s with Julian and Henry?” Landon asked.

“Leo. He heard the fight and knocked on the door a minute or so after you left. He’s with Henry right now.  Who, by the way, asshole, is still screaming for you.” Noble blew out a harsh breath.

“I asked him to marry me, Noble. Right there in the kitchen.” Gregor shook his head. He was still unable to believe all this was happening. One minute he was the happiest man alive and the next minute he’d started reading Julian’s notebook and his world collapsed around him.

“Did Julian say no? Is that what started the fight?” Griff asked gently

“He didn’t say no. He said yes. Julian was so fucking happy. He went for the button on my jeans and that’s when my stomach rumbled. I’d been having such a good time at the wedding and then cooking with Henry to get the meals out of the kitchen, that I didn’t really take the time to eat. Julian started putting a plate together for me, so I sat at the table and started reading his notebook. That’s when I saw-” Gregor sucked in a harsh breath as his eyes scanned the words again.

“What did you see, son?” Nick set a hand on the back of his neck.

“All the words in the first bad review. Then I flipped the page and saw the second and then third review. I just lost my mind. Instead of asking him what the notebook was, I just started shouting at him.”

Griff reached over and took the notebook. He scanned the first page and then flipped to the next one. “All I can see here are the key words in those reviews. I don’t see the body of the text.”

“Those are just his notes. He probably wrote the fucking review on his computer. We should go grab it before Julian can erase any damning evidence.”

Noble threw his hands up. “Damning evidence? Listen to yourself, Gregor. I’ve seen the way Julian is with you. That man loves you, despite the way you’ve treated him.”

“Despite the way I’ve treated him? He’s the one who fucked around for years on his wife with his best friend and then fucked around behind his back!”

“The man made a mistake in his past. We’ve all done that,” Noble said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You judged him on his mistakes. You hurt him and for some reason, he loved you enough to forgive you.” Noble shook his head and started pacing around the kitchen. “At least that time, you were smart enough to fight with him when Henry wasn’t there. Jesus, Gregor, you scared the life out of that kid.”

Gregor felt like a complete failure. “I know. I saw him standing in the kitchen door looking scared and I just kept yelling at Julian.” Tears rolled down Gregor’s cheeks. “I love Henry so much and look how I treated him. A father would never do that to his son.”

Nick snorted. Everyone turned to look at him. “Oh please. If I had a nickel for every time I yelled at Noble like that, I could have bought this hotel myself. What matters now is fixing this thing between you and Julian and then apologizing to Henry.”

“Fixing this thing with Julian? Jesus, Nick, he betrayed me!”

“I heard Julian say those were his notes on the reviews. Maybe he was telling the truth?” Noble looked around the table at his friends.

“Why is it so hard to believe Julian is telling the truth here? You loved this man enough to propose to him, so I don’t understand why you don’t trust him.” Nick rubbed the back of Gregor’s neck.

“I don’t deserve his love, Nick. If you knew all of the things I did overseas…” Gregor trailed off. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about what happened while he was a SEAL, but the things he saw, and worse, the things he did, made him feel like he had no place being loved like Julian and Henry loved him.

“We talked about this before you left. Do you remember that?” Nick asked softly.

Gregor nodded. They’d spent the night before he’d shipped off at a bar talking about the real world ramifications of what serving his country would mean for his life once he was a civilian again.

“What you need to do is put the Navy in your past. You can’t undo any of the things you did. Just like Julian can’t undo his past. You need to forgive yourself, for everything that happened yesterday and today.”

“What do I do now?” Gregor felt lost.

“Why don’t you take a shower and head to bed. We can sort this all out with Julian in the morning.” Griff stood up and stretched.

“No, we can’t. I fired Julian and told him I wanted him out of here first thing in the morning.”

“Jesus Christ, Gregor,” Griff swore under his breath. “I’ll take care of that. Just go to bed.” He walked out the door without another word or a backward glance.

Nick took the seat Griff had vacated. “Why don’t you two head off to bed? I’ll stay here with Gregor tonight.”

“We’ll figure it all out in the morning. I promise.” Noble slapped Gregor’s back and headed out with Landon.

Gregor watched them link hands as they walked away. He knew they’d go home, probably shower together and fall asleep tangled in each other. That’s just what he should have been doing with Julian. They should have spent the night celebrating their engagement, which Gregor guessed was going to end up in the Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest engagement ever.

 

 

19

Gregor hadn’t slept a wink all night. He’d sacked out on the couch with the television on the Food Network while Nick slept in the spare bedroom.

He’d sat through mini-marathons of Chopped and Chopped Junior, crying his eyes out when the winner of the kid’s show was crowned. All he could do was remember the way Henry would cheer wildly for the winning kid as if Henry knew them personally. Gregor knew deep in his heart that he’d never get a chance to watch Henry’s favorite show with him again.

Sitting up on the couch, Gregor stretched his tired arms and stood up. No matter what was going on in his personal life, he had to go to work. He was about to head back into his bedroom to change when someone started pounding on his door.

Shaking his head, Gregor went to answer it. It was barely 5:00am and he was most definitely not in the mood to fight with one of his friends this early in the morning. He jerked the door open and was shocked to see Henry standing at the door.

“Good, you’re up.” Henry shoved past Gregor and went to sit down on the couch.

If his life weren’t crashing down in pieces around him, Henry’s little display of temper would have been hilarious. “Good morning.”

“Is it, Gregor? Is it a good morning? I don’t think so!” A deep scowl marred Henry’s angry face.

“You’re right. It’s not a good morning at all. It’s the worst morning of my life.” Gregor sat in the easy chair across from Henry, not sure if the little boy wanted him to sit on the couch with him.

“It’s the worst morning of my life too.” Henry’s angry look softened a bit. “I read the reviews on Daddy’s phone this morning.”

Gregor did laugh then. It was such a Henry thing to do. “I don’t mean to laugh, but you’re the only kid I know who’d use his father’s phone to read and not play a game.”

Henry frowned again. “This is serious, Gregor. Daddy took out our suitcases last night and he’s gonna start packing them when he wakes up. I have to act fast so we don’t have to leave…” Henry trailed off, looking like he was going to cry.

Gregor went to reach out to the boy when Henry sat up straighter and cleared his throat. “I read all of the bad reviews and even though you don’t believe him, my Daddy didn’t write them. I read all of the reviews he wrote for Shadow Eats too. Even though they fired him, they left his reviews on the website. The writing doesn’t match.” Henry folded his arms over his chest.

“Who do you think wrote the reviews, Henry?” It wasn’t a lot to go on, but maybe Henry had a point with writing being different.

“I don’t care who wrote them!” Henry yelled, hopping off the couch. “It doesn’t matter who the bully is because you let him win! We’re a family, Gregor! We’re supposed to stick together and love each other, but you didn’t do that. You turned into the bully.” His eyes filled with tears. Henry swiped angrily at them. “Now what are you gonna do to fix it?” He stomped his foot for good measure.

Gregor thought his friends had been rough on him last night, but that was nothing compared to Henry’s wrath. “I’m so sorry I yelled at your Daddy and scared you.”

“Don’t tell me. Tell Daddy. He says we’re gonna leave today and this is my home. I love Griff, Leo, Pres, Drake, Noble, Landon and Leo and I just met Nick. I don’t want to leave all of my friends behind because you’re a stubborn asshole!” Stomping his foot again, Henry turned and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

Nick burst out laughing from the hallway. “Stubborn asshole! Oh man, that kid nailed it right on the head.”

“Funny, Nick.” Gregor sighed and moved toward the bedroom. Even after being dressed down by a five-year-old, he still had to go to work. “Why don’t you get dressed and come with me to the kitchen. My sous chef just stormed out the door.”

“Henry had a point you know,” Nick said as Gregor walked past him toward the bedroom.

“Henry had a lot of points, could you be more specific?”

Nick started laughing again. “You need to fix this. Do you actually think Julian wrote those reviews?”

Gregor sighed. “No, I don’t, but I did last night and now I’ve lost the man of my dreams because I’m a stubborn asshole.”

“Don’t lose hope, son. Go get dressed and I’ll round up the troops.”

“Oh good, being woken up by a cranky old man at 5am won’t make them hate me.” Gregor snorted and shut the bedroom door behind him.

When he’d lose his temper and go to Nick angry, he always used to say that you had to be smart enough to know when to stop digging. Gregor had never understood what the hell that phrase meant. He knew now though. He had to stop digging the hole he was in deeper and figure out a way to get out of this mess he’d created.

XX

Julian woke up when he felt Henry shake his shoulder. “Hey, buddy.” His voice sounded hoarse and raspy to his own ears.

“Come on, you have to get up. It’s 9am. We have to go to a meeting.” Henry’s face was serious.

“A meeting?” What the hell was Henry talking about? “What kind of a meeting? It doesn’t matter anyway. Now that I’m up, we need to start packing. I want to be out of here in an hour.”

“No, Daddy. Griff was just here. He said we have to come to the meeting. He said it’s very important.” Henry folded his arms over his chest.

“Okay, fine. Let me get dressed. I’m sure Griff just wants me to turn in the keys to the cabin and my work computer. I’ll be ready to go in a minute.”

Henry nodded and ran out of the room.

Julian sat up and stretched, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. Every muscle in his body ached. He guessed that was his price to pay for dancing like a fool all night like he was still a college kid.

The muscle that hurt the most though, was his heart. Julian had allowed himself to think this new life with Gregor was a sure thing, but it had only taken a few short minutes for the fairytale to go up in flames.  He’d have to learn to guard his heart better in the future, not only for his own sake but for Henry’s as well. There was no way he could let Henry get attached to another man only to lose him and get hurt like this again.

Getting out of bed, Julian did his business in the bathroom and threw on a clean tee shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. Henry was waiting for him on the sofa when he came out. The little boy was sitting quietly with his hands folded in his lap. This Henry reminded him a lot of the quiet and sad little boy his son had been when they’d arrived at Sand Dollar Shoal.

Sighing, Julian headed into the kitchen. He grabbed his work laptop from the counter and stuffed it into its black bag. “Ready to go?” There was no enthusiasm in the question. With his heart broken into a million pieces, Julian didn’t have the strength to plaster on a fake smile.

Wordlessly, Henry hopped off the couch and grabbed Julian’s hand.

He hated to admit, but he didn’t like this sad version of himself and his son.

They walked past the row of cabins where their friends lived. Ex-friends, Julian reminded himself with a chill. He led Henry into the main door of the hotel, not sparing a wave for the person manning the front desk. He could see everyone gathered at a back table in the dining room and he headed in that direction.

Christ, he’d lost two jobs in as many months. Julian had no idea what was going to come next for him professionally, but he needed to figure it out fast. He was going to be homeless as well as jobless once this meeting with Griff and the guys was over.

“Hey there, hot pants!” A familiar voice drawled from behind him. 

Julian turned around to see Rob Barnes, his former co-worker and former lover, sitting at a table behind him wearing a shit-eating grin.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Julian didn’t bother to be polite. With all the shit going on in his present, the last thing he needed to deal with was his past showing up at the hotel.

“Well,” Rob drawled, running a finger down the side of Julian’s face, “rumor has it you’re in the market for a new lover and a new job.”

Julian growled, grabbing Rob’s finger and ripping it off his skin. “Don’t touch me.”

“Used to be all you wanted me to do was touch you. ‘Harder Rob, fuck me harder with your monster cock,’ remember?” Rob growled and made like he was going to bite Julian. His teeth clacked together, while the look in his eyes was lecherous.

Julian shuddered. It made him sick to his stomach that he’d ever let this man touch, let alone fuck, him. “Who do you think you are speaking like that in front of my son?”

Rob turned to Henry. “Hey, little boy, why don’t you go find a friend or something? Your Daddy and I have a lot to talk about.”

“No! You’re not the boss of me!” Henry stood his ground and didn’t move.

Julian watched the exchange feeling like he was having an out of body experience, like he could see what was happening but wasn’t able to take action. His mind cast back to what Rob had said about him needing a new lover and a new job. “How did you know I broke up with my boyfriend?”

“Fiancé, don’t you mean?” Rob waggled his eyebrows. “I was standing outside your little love nest last night listening to you and the ex. I can’t believe some asshole was stupid enough to want to marry you. We both know you’re nothing but a dirty cheater.”

 “Hey, can I help you?” Gregor said from behind Julian.

“No, pal, but you can thank me.” Rob grinned.

“Thank you? For what? Who the hell are you?” Gregor’s voice was hard.

Rob laughed, merriment twinkled in his eyes. “For saving you from marrying this piece of shit.”

“Julian,” Gregor ground out through gritted teeth. “Who is this man?”

“This is Rob Barnes. He used to work with me on Shadow Eats and was the man Carolyn caught me with when she came home early.”

Rob burst out laughing. “You really think she came home early? God you’re such a dick. I texted her from your phone when you were tucking the brat into bed. I told her that you were in bed waiting for her to come home.”

Julian shook his head. “You baited my wife into coming home early? Why?” None of this made any sense. Rob had been after Julian for months before he’d finally given in and agreed to have him over.

“You were such a stuck-up asshole, never giving me a second look. Everyone at work knew you were fucking your best friend and I wanted a piece of the action. I wanted to make a life with you.” Anger warred with hurt in his eyes.

“And since he didn’t want you, you set out to destroy his life?” Gregor’s voice was barely above a whisper.

Julian shivered at the tone of Gregor’s voice. He sounded well and truly pissed off. His own anger was tempered by the fact that Henry was here. He didn’t want to do anything inappropriate in front of his boy, though Lord knew Rob deserved it.

Rob burst out laughing again. “It was so damn rewarding when his wife came home and found us together. Then she divorced him and got almost full custody of the kid. I’ve never been happier in my life…”

“Get out of here now, you sick bastard,” Gregor rasped, taking a step forward.

It was small comfort to Julian that Gregor wanted Rob gone as badly as he did.

Rob stopped laughing and his eyes turned serious. “Don’t you want to hear the best part of the story, chef?”

“You were the one writing the bad reviews of Gregor’s food. I thought those words sounded familiar.” Julian turned to Gregor who looked was looking even more pissed now than he had a few minutes ago. “That’s why I wrote them in my notebook. There was something niggling in the back of my mind, but we were so busy with the wedding and each other that I didn’t take the time to figure out why I thought those words sounded familiar.”

Gregor’s hands balled into fists while a muscle in his cheek started to tick. “How could he have been the one writing the reviews? This is the first time I’ve seen him at the hotel.”

“He sent minions to eat the food.” The look on Henry’s face was mutinous. “Daddy told you that’s what was going on, Gregor, and you didn’t believe him.”

Rob snorted. “Kid’s got quite a brain in that head. I sent three guys down here to sample the food and write reviews. I took their words and made a few changes of my own.”

“You did all of this because Julian wasn’t interested in you?” Gregor sounded dumbfounded by his realization.

“You got it, big boy!” Rob winked at Gregor.

“So you ruined my life twice now. Where does it end?” Julian was stunned at Rob’s level of hatred.

“When you’ve got nothing left and you crawl back to me begging for my forgiveness.” Rob waggled his eyebrows.

Julian shrugged, bending down to scoop Henry into his arms. “Bring it. You think you’ve won, but all you’ve done is show exactly why I was never interested in you in the first place. At least now that Gregor and I are broken up, you’ll leave him and our friends here alone.”

He walked over to the table where everyone else was sitting with their mouths gaping open. “Griff, here’s my work computer. The password is Spiderman.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a ring of keys. “These are for the cottage and my office. Thank you all so much for what you’ve done for me and Henry. We’ll be out of here in an hour or so.” Without waiting for an answer, Julian walked away from the love of his life and his friends.

Julian knew he was walking out of the hotel for the last time.

 

 

 

20

Gregor still couldn’t believe what had just happened. The grinning asshole standing in front of him was the person who’d written the bad reviews and he’d done it to get back at Julian for not loving him. Gregor’s hands fisted at his side. “Listen to me you-”

“Don’t do it, son.” Nick grabbed his arm and held it back. “Go to Julian. We’ll deal with this douche bag.”

Gregor turned and looked at the man who’d loved him like a son since he was fourteen years old. “I don’t know what to say, but I can’t let them leave.”

Nick laughed. “You’re a smart boy. You’ll figure out how to apologize and make them stay.”

Not bothering to give Rob one more look, Gregor bolted out of the dining room. He didn’t stop running until he got to Julian’s cabin. He ran through the front door and could hear the sound of Henry crying.

Gregor stopped to take a breath before running down the hall into Henry’s bedroom. Julian was sitting on the bed holding his crying son. “Julian,” He stopped to catch his breath. “Don’t go.”

“Why? So you’ll have someone to blame the next time something goes wrong in your life? No thanks.” Julian wrapped his arms tighter around Henry.

Henry swiped the backs of his hands across his tear soaked face. “Daddy, listen to Gregor. You always tell me how important it is to listen when someone is talking to you. I think we should listen to Gregor.”

“Why, Henry?”

“Because he loves us, Daddy. Just because someone is mad at you doesn’t mean they don’t love you.” Henry swiped at the last of his tears with sleeve of his tee shirt. “Gregor, is that bad man gone?”

“I don’t know. Nick said he was going to take care of him.”

Henry nodded and kissed his father before hopping off the bed. “I’m hungry. I’m gonna go start the pancakes. Someone has to feed the hotel guests.”

Gregor started to laugh. “Ask Leo to help, okay?”

“Gregor?” Henry stopped in front of him.

“Yeah, buddy.” Gregor knelt down in front of the little boy. He longed to reach out and give Henry a hug, but didn’t want to upset him further.

“I’m sorry I was mean to you this morning when I came to see you.” He ducked his head to stare at his toes.

“You weren’t mean. You said what you needed to say. That’s what a real man does, Henry. He stands up for the people he loves and does the right thing.”

“Are you gonna do the right thing too?”

Gregor nodded. “I’m so sorry I yelled and scared you last night. I promise if you give me a second chance I’ll never do anything like that again.”

“Okay, I forgive you.” Henry hugged Gregor. “But I can’t speak for Daddy. He has to forgive you too. I don’t want to see him cry again, got it?”

Gregor bit his bottom lip. “Got it.”

Henry nodded as if that were good enough for him. “I’m going to work, Daddy. Breakfast isn’t gonna make itself.”

Julian nodded and watched Henry leave the room. He got off the bed and walked past Gregor heading toward the living room.

Gregor sighed and followed along behind him. He knew earning Julian’s forgiveness wasn’t going to be as easy. “Julian, I’m so sorry for thinking that you were the one writing the bad reviews of my food. I flew off the handle and said the worst things I could have possibly said to you. I’m so sorry.” Gregor sucked in a deep breath. He could feel tears starting again, but like Henry said, he had to do the right thing and finish saying what he needed to say. “I was a complete and total dick firing you like I did. It wasn’t my place to do that and none of the others want you to go. In fact I was pretty sure at one point they were all ready to fire me.”

Julian looked up at Gregor as if this were the first good look he’d gotten of him. “I don’t know what to say. I know I’ve made mistakes in my past, but how much longer do I have to pay for them? I never cheated on you. Once I met you, I never even thought about looking at other men. That didn’t matter though, you found another reason to mistrust me. I know why you’re here. You want me to stay and give us another chance, right?”

Gregor nodded. It was exactly what he wanted, but if he were a betting man, he’d bet the house that wasn’t what Julian wanted.

“I’m not sure I can give you another chance.”

Gregor sat down hard on the opposite end of the sofa. He knew Julian was angry at him, but he’d had no idea he wouldn’t be able to forgive and move on. “I deserve that.”

“No you don’t!” Julian stood up and started pacing around the living room. “You deserve to be happy and to be honest, the person keeping you from being happy is you! Twelve hours ago, you had it all, Gregor. You had a man who loved you with all of his heart agreeing to marry you and a little boy who couldn’t wait to be your son and you just threw it all away. How are Henry and I supposed to live with a man who looks for reasons to mistrust the people who love him the most?”

That was crux of it. “I don’t know why I acted like that. I just saw the words in your notebook and lost my mind. I don’t even have a half-assed excuse for why I blew up. I was sad and angry thinking that you were hurting me behind my back. I’d come so far in this relationship with you and all I could think was that instead of being in love, I’d have to go back to watching all of my friends be happy in love while I was alone again.”

Julian folded his arms over his chest and didn’t say a word.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me instantly like Henry did, but we’d all like you to stay. Even if we’re not together as a couple, I still want Sand Dollar Shoal to be your home. Will you think about staying?”

Julian let out a shuddering breath. “I’ll think about it. No promises.”

“I have to get back to the kitchen. If you like, I can send breakfast over with Leo or Griff. It doesn’t look like you got a lot of sleep last night so maybe we can keep Henry all day so that you can catch a nap?”

Julian shrugged and headed back toward the bedroom. Gregor heard the door click behind him.

It wasn’t the best possible outcome he could have gotten, but on the plus side, it wasn’t the worst either. All he could do now was pray that Julian found it in his heart to forgive him for being such an asshole.

XX

Gregor had been true to his word. Half an hour after he’d left, Leo had showed up with a loaded breakfast tray. Not only was there breakfast on it, but lunch too, so that no one would wake him up delivering it later.

He’d eaten most of the pancakes and bacon he knew Henry had made for him and stuck the rest of the food in the refrigerator and headed back to his bedroom. Staring at the messy bed reminded him of the nights he and Gregor had stayed up late making love.

Knowing he wasn’t going to be able to sleep or think in a bed that smelled like his lover, he headed for the couch. Flipping on the television, he saw that Gregor and Henry must have been the last ones to watch a show since it was on the Food Network.

Before he’d met Gregor, he’d never really watched the Food Network. He’d seen a few episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives when local New England places were featured, but other than that, didn’t really pay much attention to it.

The show that was on now was a kids baking competition. Without giving it a second though, he hit the record button on the DVR. Henry would love this show no matter what happened next between him and Gregor.

Julian was smart enough to know his feelings for Gregor hadn’t gone away over night. He was just as in love now with the stubborn asshole as he had been last night before the shit had hit the fan. He’d loved Gregor enough last night to agree to be his husband, but did he love him enough now to give him a second chance?

No matter if he was writing reviews for Shadow Eats or his college newspaper, Julian’s pride in his work had been what kept him going. He loved to see restaurants that brought in more business after the Shadow had eaten there. He imagined it was the same thing for Gregor with his pride in himself growing with every person who loved his cooking.

Food was such an important part of the American culture. So many celebrations revolve around food and Julian could see what had attracted Gregor to cooking after he’d gotten out of the Navy.

Julian knew Gregor was trying to make up for the things he’d seen and done overseas, by using his hands for good. Julian could see how reviews like the ones Rob was writing would be devastating to Gregor, not to mention that the hotel was new and trying to make a name for itself.

What was making it especially hard to forgive Gregor was the fact that he’d only agreed to forgive Julian after Rob had confessed his part in this whole mess. He couldn’t help but wonder what Gregor would have done if Rob hadn’t hurled his vitriol in public.

The only way he was going to get any answers was to ask the stubborn asshole himself. Julian didn’t like the way things were up in the air with his and Henry’s future, not to mention his curiosity over what the others had done with Rob.

Digging deep for some courage, Julian got off the couch and headed up to the hotel. As he walked he could hear kids yelling on the beach and could see seagulls floating high over the water. He wished he could just plop his ass down in the sand and get lost in the rhythm of the ocean.

Landon was manning the front desk when Julian walked into the hotel.

“Oh, thank fuck it’s you!” Landon ran around the counter and hugged Julian. “I was afraid you were a guest wanting to check in.”

“You realize this is a hotel, right? People checking in is what pays the bills.” Julian found his first smile in what felt like days.

“Yes, I know.” Landon rolled his eyes. “I accidentally gave someone a room that was already occupied. I couldn’t read Presley’s chicken scrawl and didn’t know the password for the online system, so I just gave the guy the key to the Blackbeard room. It turned out there was a couple in there getting it on…”

Julian burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, the guy came down stairs demanding to know what kind of hotel we were running here.”

“Which room should he have been in?”

“Bluebeard! He actually made me open the door to make sure there wasn’t anyone in the room. I signed him up for some of Gregor’s whoopee pies, on the house.”

Julian sobered at the mention of Gregor’s name. “Is he in the kitchen?”

Landon nodded. “Leo’s been in there working with him and Henry all day. Luckily it’s a Wednesday which is our lightest guest day of the week, so there isn’t as much to cook. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.” Julian shrugged. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep, so when Gregor came over to apologize, I told him I needed time to think about things. Between being so upset and not sleeping I didn’t want to make a snap decision.”

“That was smart thinking. Whatever you decide, just know that I’ll always be your friend, Julian. I never doubted your innocence for a second.” Landon hugged him again. “Let me and Noble know if there’s anything we can do for you and Henry.”

“Thanks.” The last thing Julian wanted to do was leave his friends and his job here at the hotel, but if he decided he didn’t want to give Gregor a second chance, he didn’t know how he’d be able to work and live near his ex-lover.

Walking through the dining room, he looked at all the guests eating lunch and thankfully didn’t see Rob among them. He hoped that Nick punched that dirty fucker’s throat out.

Julian took a deep breath and pushed into the kitchen. Henry was sitting on his usual stool dumping cups of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl that he assumed was the filling for the whoopee pies. Leo was making sandwiches, while Gregor manned the hot top. “Hi, guys!”

“Daddy!” Henry shouted. “I’m making frosting. Come see.”

Julian smiled at his son. Henry looked like he was back to his old self, laughing and smiling like he always did around Gregor. “That looks delicious. Will you save a pie for me?”

“Yup! Gregor’s trying a Fourth of July whoopee pie with red velvet cake, blue filling and white icing on the top. I’m gonna get to add the food coloring to make the white frosting blue!”

“In that case, save me two! We can have those during the fireworks tonight.”

“My stars! Why does Hyannis have their fireworks on July fifth?” Leo shot Julian a confused look.

“They have a bigger fireworks display over in Sandwich and Hyannis doesn’t want to compete, so they do their fireworks on the next night.”

“I think that’s a great idea! Daddy are we gonna be here for the fireworks tonight?” That sad look was back in Henry’s green eyes.

Julian nodded. He had no idea what he was going to decide about Gregor, but they were definitely staying at the hotel until he figured it out.

“We’re gonna have the best time. All of our friends are gonna be there to celebrate with us.” Henry’s smile was back in full force.

“You’re right, we are gonna have a great time.” Julian dropped a kiss on Henry’s head before he turned to Gregor. “Can you duck out for a few minutes to talk?”

Gregor nodded. “Leo, you’re all set with finishing off this steak sandwich, right?”

“Of course I am.” Leo rolled his eyes dramatically. “You were the one who taught me how cook it.”

Gregor wiped his hands on a nearby dish cloth and headed out the door with Julian.

Julian had been thinking about just wanting to sit in the sand, so he decided that’s what he and Gregor were going to do. He walked toward an empty stretch of the beach and sat down. Gregor plopped down next to him. “What happened with Rob?”

Griff called one of his Harvard classmates who specializes in suing stalkers. He put the call on speakerphone and laid out the entire situation. The friend gleefully agreed that the hotel had a case against Rob and that he’d be more than happy to file the paperwork today.”

Julian snorted. “Good, that’s just what that bastard deserves.” Actually, he deserved to be tarred and feathered, but Julian would be happy if he never heard from Rob again.

“Griff’s not really gonna sue him. He just wanted to scare the shit out of him. Rob agreed to take the reviews down and not to bother you again. If you hear from him, let Griff know and he’ll get back in touch with his lawyer friend.”

Staring out at the ocean, Julian took a couple of deep breaths. “I have one question for you.”

“Okay.” Gregor turned toward his ex-lover and reached out for his hand before appearing to think better of it and pulled his hand back.

“If Rob hadn’t confessed to writing the reviews, what would have happened with you? Would you have apologized to me like you did this morning, or would you have been standing guard at the door of my cabin making sure Henry and I were packed up and gone?”

“All of the guys read me the riot act after Nick dragged me out of your house last night. They had a lot of loud opinions that they weren’t afraid to share. After they left and Nick went to bed, I was lying on the couch thinking about what I had done to you and Henry and I just lost it.” Gregor took a shaky breath. “I knew what a mistake I made and all I wanted to do was make it right. I love you, Julian, and you don’t deserve to be treated the way I’ve treated you. I didn’t need to hear Rob’s disgusting ploy or Henry’s explanation to know you weren’t the one behind the reviews.”

“What do you mean Henry’s explanation?” Gregor had mentioned something earlier about Henry paying him a visit, but he’d been too upset at the time to ask about it.

“Henry banged on my door at 5am, and let me tell you, he was pissed off. He started telling me that your writing on the Shadow Eats website wasn’t a match to the bad reviews. I apologized to him for being such a jerk last night and he told me to apologize to you, not him.”

Julian started to laugh. After all the discussions Carolyn had with him about fighting back against bullies, it made sense that’s exactly what Henry would have said.

“I’m not a perfect man, Jules, but I love you and I promise nothing like this will ever happen again. I’m so sorry I hurt you.”

“I accept your apology and I forgive you.”

Gregor pulled Julian into his arms and held him tight.

“Not so fast cowboy. I didn’t say we were getting back together.”

“Oh.” Gregor let him go and moved a few inches away from Julian.

“I know you’re used to being a big, tough SEAL, but if we’re going to be together, you need to use your words, Gregor. I can’t read your mind. You need to tell me what’s on it. Can you do that?”

Gregor nodded.

“You also need to trust me. This relationship is dead in the water if you don’t.”

“I do trust you. I guess it’s me I didn’t trust. My judgment was off.”

Julian nodded. He’d agree with that. “Okay, now we can get back together.”

“Seriously?” Gregor jumped up, pulling Julian to his feet at the same time.

Julian laughed. “Yes, seriously.”

“Does this mean we’re getting married?”

Julian frowned and looked down at his bare left hand. “I don’t know. This hand looks pretty bare.”

Gregor dashed off toward the shoreline and grabbed something before running back to Julian. He wrapped a piece of green seaweed around the third finger of Julian’s left hand and got down on one knee. “Julian Parsons, will you marry me even though I’m a stubborn asshole?”

Julian nodded through his tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you because you’re a stubborn asshole.” Julian wrapped his arms around his husband-to-be, hugging him tightly. He knew things weren’t going to always be unicorns and rainbows for them, but they’d face those hard times together.

 

 

EPILOGUE

August…

Julian couldn’t stop crying. Carolyn was due to arrive at Sand Dollar Shoal any minute now and when she left on Sunday night, she’d be taking Henry with her.  He was due to start school in two weeks and his mother wanted him settled in at home before the first day of school.

“Hey, babe?” Gregor tugged Julian into his arms. “You’ve got to pull yourself together. She’s driving down the access road to the hotel.”

Julian nodded and swiped at his tears with the sleeve of his shirt. The last seven weeks of the summer had gone by in a flash. He’d spent every hour he wasn’t sleeping or working with Henry and giving him back to his mother was going to break his heart. “I’ll be okay. What we need to show her is how good we are together and with Henry if we have any hope of getting her to renegotiate his custody arrangement.”

He ran into the bathroom to splash some cold water on his face. He had spoken to Carolyn almost every day when Henry called her to say goodnight, but he hadn’t seen her since the day he’d moved his things out of their house back in early May.

Not that he was trying to impress her in any way, he just wanted to show his ex-wife that he finally had his shit together. He wiped his face on a fluffy white towel and headed outside. He could see Gregor standing at the split rail fence and could see Carolyn and her new boyfriend lugging their suitcases toward the cottage.

“Shit, what’s his name again? Brandy? Brady? Brokaw?” Gregor snorted.

“Brandon.” Julian rolled his eyes. “I think she calls him Bran, but I wouldn’t lead with that name.”

“Hi there!” Carolyn called when she reached the cottage. “This is quite an amazing place. I’d seen pictures of the hotel online, but they don’t do it justice.” She held out her hand to Gregor. “Carolyn Parsons, soon-to-be Jeffers.” She shook his hand and flashed a giant diamond on her left hand.

“Gregor Allen, soon-to-be Parsons.” He nudged Julian’s arm with his free hand.

Julian obliged by showing off his hammered gold engagement ring. He loved that Gregor wanted to take his and Henry’s last name as his own. Gregor had said he didn’t want them to be a hyphenated last name kind of a family.

“Congrats, guys. I know Henry’s all excited about getting to be in two weddings.”

“Actually, he’s going to be in three weddings. Our friends, Noble and Landon are getting married in October and they’re hoping Henry will be able to be in their wedding too.”

“It’s a good thing Griff bought him his own tuxedo.” Gregor grinned brightly at the couple.

Carolyn’s intended held out his hand to Julian. “Brandon Jeffers. Henry owns a tux?”

“Henry has been learning how to cook and he was bummed that he didn’t have a nice suit to wear when the hotel hosted its first food tasting event back in May. Griff and the other guys took him out to get fitted for a tux for our friends’ wedding, but he’s gotten a lot of use out of it in the meantime.”

“That’s pretty amazing that a five-year-old is learning to cook.” Brandon sounded impressed. “Where is Henry? I’m looking forward to meeting him.”

Julian took a deep breath hoping to keep his feelings at bay. Carolyn had accepted Gregor in Henry’s life without batting an eye. He needed to do the same thing with Brandon. After all, this man was going to be helping to raise his son.

“He’s up at the kitchen with the new chefs Gregor hired to help out on weekends.” Julian turned to Gregor who was all smiles.

“I’m glad he’s not here at the moment, there are a few things we want to talk to you and Gregor about. Can we go inside?” Carolyn grabbed the handle of her suitcase.

“Sure. Shit, where are my manners? Come on in.” Julian opened the front door and ushered his weekend guests inside the cottage. “This is the living room and the kitchen is in through there.” Julian pointed to his right and continued on toward the small hallway. “This is the only bathroom. Henry’s room is to the right and your room is to the left. All of my stuff is moved out of there so you don’t have to worry about my things being in your way.”

Carolyn nodded. “Just give us a few minutes and we’ll be right back.”

“Can I get you anything to drink?” Gregor asked.

“I’d kill for a Corona.” Carolyn smiled.

“Me too,” Brandon said.

Thank God he’d had Gregor go out for a case of Corona earlier in the day. He might not have been the best husband, but at least he remembered Carolyn’s favorite beer. He went off to the kitchen while his ex-wife got settled in what used to be his bedroom.

After he and Gregor had settled their differences, he and Henry had moved into Gregor’s cottage. They’d left Henry’s room mostly intact so he’d be comfortable staying here while his mother and Brandon stayed for the weekend.

“Well, that wasn’t nearly as awkward as I thought it would be.” Gregor brushed a kiss against Julian’s lips.

Julian shook his head, noticing that Gregor had set out his famous buffalo chicken skewers alongside some of Henry’s fruit skewers. He’d also set out the beers and put lime wedges in the bottle. “What do you think they want to talk to us about?”

Gregor shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope they don’t want to leave earlier than Sunday. I’m gonna miss Henry so much and I don’t want to lose our last few days with him.” He sniffled and pulled Julian into his arms.

“You’re not losing Henry, either one of you.” Carolyn grabbed a bottle of beer and took a seat at the table. Before she reached for an appetizer plate, she set an iPad on the table next to her. Brandon took the seat next to his fiancé. “Show them, Bran and I’ll make you a plate.”

“Henry made the snacks for you.”

Carolyn took a bite of the chicken. “Henry made this? Oh my God, it’s delicious.”

Brandon held the iPad up to show Gregor and Julian.

Both men took seats at the table and looked at the image of a house on the tablet. It was a Cape Cod style house with grey shingles and white trim.  “It’s nice.” Julian turned to Gregor.

“And familiar. I think I’ve seen that house before.” Gregor rubbed his chin.

“Do you shop at the Whole Foods here in Hyannis?” Carolyn asked.

“All the time.”

“Then you’ve driven by this house before. It’s on one of the little side streets near the shopping plaza.”

“It’s a nice house, Carolyn, but why are you showing it to us?”

“I’ve seen such a big change in Henry since he’s been down on the Cape with you and Gregor. I wasn’t sure what to think of the change in him at first but then I remembered something you said to me about not liking his Kindergarten teacher or the kids in his class.”

Julian took a sip of his beer. He couldn’t believe what his ex-wife was saying to him. He’d harped on how much he hated that school and Henry’s teacher for months and now, two weeks before the start of school, she was telling him he’d been right all along. Instead of gloating, Julian nodded.

“It crossed my mind that Henry is as happy as he is because he’s away from that school and his teacher. We also thought that your relationship with Henry was a big factor as well, Gregor.”

“I’m honored that you feel that way. I’ve seen big changes in him myself between when he and Jules got here and now. He’s much more confident in himself and he’s made a lot of friends not just with adults, but with kids of the families who’ve stayed here over the summer.”

Carolyn nodded. “I don’t want to send Henry back to that school, Julian.”

“Thank Jesus. Where are you going to send him?”

“We,” Carolyn pointed around the table at all four of them, “are going to send Henry to Hyannis Elementary School. Bran and I passed papers on that house this morning. We’re moving to the Cape.”

Julian couldn’t believe his ears. Carolyn was moving here? “I’m having a stroke, aren’t I?” He turned to Gregor whose eyes were blow wide in shock.

“Well if you are, than I am too.” Gregor shook his head. “You’re both moving to Hyannis?”

Carolyn laughed and nodded her head. “When we were finalizing our divorce, I was so angry at you that I could have ripped your heart out and danced on it.”

Gregor burst out laughing. “I’m so glad you didn’t, Carolyn, because then I never would have met him.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking about Brandon. If Julian and I didn’t get divorced, I never would have fallen in love with him. Only letting you see Henry for every other weekend wouldn’t be fair to him or to the two of you.” Carolyn reached down into her purse and pulled out a set of papers, which she handed to Julian. “That’s an amended custody agreement. It gives us joint custody of Henry. He’d stay with us for three days one week and four days the next, or however we decide to work it.”

Tears streaked down Julian’s cheeks. “Spending this summer with our son has been such an amazing gift. It was ripping me apart inside to think of going from seeing him every day to only seeing him four days a month. I don’t know how to thank you for doing this, Carolyn.”

“It’s our pleasure. Now, how about you show us around the hotel and then to the kitchen so we can surprise Henry?”

“You got it. Follow me.” Gregor clapped a hand on Julian’s shoulder as he led the way out the door.

Julian needed a second or two to compose himself. He never dreamed things with his ex-wife could have turned out like this. Hell, he never dreamed his life could have turned out like this.

He and Gregor were getting married in a few months and they’d already started looking for possible surrogate mothers to carry Gregor’s biological child and now they were going to get to spend half of every week with Henry.

Julian felt so incredibly blessed. He wiped his wet eyes and ran out of the house to catch up with Gregor. He wanted to be there to see the look on Henry’s face when his mother told him they were staying on the Cape. Henry was going to get to stay home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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