Chapter Fifteen

 

 

“HEY, YOURSELF,” Forrester managed, walking over to give Tony a one-armed hug. “Hi, Missy.” He showed the same affection to his sister-in-law. “What brings you guys to Gilead?”

“What? Can’t I come visit my brother’s store?”

Missy slapped his arm. “He didn’t mean it like that, and you know it.” She smiled up at Forrester. Her curly blonde hair was styled up in a clip and she had makeup on, looking far less frazzled than the last time he’d seen her. “Happy birthday, Frankie.”

“Thanks.”

Tony’s face softened, and he put his arm around his cute little wife the way Forrester had done to Kyle moments ago. “I thought I’d take my wife antiquing and shit-shopping. Even booked a room at the Carriage House.”

“I was so surprised.” Missy smiled up at Tony. The Carriage House was the old mayor’s mansion, which had recently been updated from a failed “serenity retreat” to a modern B and B.

Forrester looked for a stroller. “Where’s the baby?”

“With Missy’s sister.”

Ahh, that’s why Missy looks so well-rested.

Jasper snorted, flailing and drawing their attention.

“This is my friend Kyle,” Forrester said. “The spaz is Jasper. My brother Tony and his wife, Missy.”

Kyle held on to his wriggling pooch. “Nice to meet you, but I think I know you. Don’t you work for Shiloh PD?”

Tony studied Kyle, and then his face lit up in recognition. “You’re in the prosecutor’s office. Benson, right?”

“That’d be me.” Kyle adjusted Jasper in his grip so he didn’t leap down. “Well, I’ll just get this one home, then. Thanks for lunch, Forrester. It was nice meeting you guys.”

“Bye.” Missy smiled brightly.

Forrester turned in surprise and watched his boyfriend walk away. His heart jumped to his throat and a sick sense of dread settled in its place. He couldn’t just let Kyle leave. Forrester almost told him to wait, but Tony watching him made him nervous. It wasn’t like Karen at the farmer’s stand, or his employees, or strangers on the towpath seeing them together and knowing they were a couple.

This was la famiglia.

His mouth opened and the words that came out were not the ones he wanted to say. “Bye, Kyle. I’ll text you later.”

Kyle paused at the door and nodded. “Okay, later.”

Then he was gone.

Fighting the urge to chase after Kyle, Forrester thought he might be sick. He clutched at his stomach. What’s wrong with me?

“You okay?” Missy asked. “You look a little green around the gills.”

Drawing on all his years of diversion tactics, he somehow managed to smile. “I’m fine. Don’t think lunch sat well with me. Too much grease.”

“You gotta start eating like a grown-up, Frankie,” his brother told him. “You know we got heart disease in the family. You can’t just live off cheeseburgers, fries, pasta, and desserts. Missy’s got me eating quinoa and kale. It’s not bad.”

“I’ve been vegetarian since college, and I know that it’s not for everyone. But people would be much healthier if they ate a pescatarian diet,” she added.

“Yeah, okay. You’re probably right.” Then he stared at his sister-in-law. “You’re vegetarian?”

“Where the hell have you been?” Tony asked.

“I don’t know.” Forrester remembered they had a vegetarian meal at their wedding—only because he’d RSVPed the vegetarian option for Joey as a prank—but he’d never really paid attention to what Missy ate, and she hadn’t talked about it. Not like that guy he used to date. Then again, Missy was rather reserved. He wondered if Ma knew Missy was vegetarian.

Dismissing the thought, he glanced around the store, trying to act casual. After everything Kyle told you, you just let him leave? You’re such an asshole!

Kyle could’ve stayed. Did he think Forrester wanted him to leave? Because he hadn’t wanted that. At all.

That weird little panic attack was proof.

But he had to act normal, so he smiled at his family. “You guys order anything yet?” He looked at Belinda, his newest barista. “Get ’em anything they want, on the house.”

“Yes, Mr. Giordano.”

“Thanks, Frankie.”

To Tony, he said, “Check this out, Dino set up that freezer for me. I’ve got gelato now.”

“What flavors?”

“Chocolate, vanilla, and pistachio.” He walked Tony behind the counter to show him the new freezer, trying not to worry about Kyle. His confident lawyer had an insecure side he’d not seen before, and Forrester didn’t want to give him any reason to doubt Forrester’s commitment.

He’d have to text Kyle as soon as he got Missy and Tony settled.

“I love pistachio.” Tony rubbed his hands together.

He forced a grin. “I know. Belinda, fill up the large cup with a big serving. This guy can eat.”

Tony play-punched his arm. “You could stand to eat some more, Frankie. Especially healthy stuff. Just ’cause you’re skinny doesn’t mean you’re heathy.”

“Whatever. You’re just jealous I have a fast metabolism,” he countered, not in the mood for a lecture. “You want chocolate syrup and whipped cream?”

“Nope, I like it just the way it is.”

After Belinda served up Tony’s gelato and a chai latte for Missy, his sister-in-law gave him a teasing grin. “Now I know why you’re always working, Frankie.”

“Why’s that?”

She gestured around. “All the eye candy. Are you trying to make a Hooters bookstore?”

Forrester looked around at his customers, but didn’t see any eye candy except for the cute guy standing in line to order a coffee from Holly—Oh, she means my employees!

Yes, Holly was beautiful, but now that Missy pointed it out, Belinda, Rebecca, and Taylee were all very pretty girls too, with long hair, bright smiles, and great figures.

“That’s gross,” Forrester declared. “They’re in high school.”

She gave him a disbelieving “Unh-huh.”

“The patio looks good,” Tony remarked. “Customers liking it?”

“Yeah, it’s real popular now that it’s warm out.”

“You gonna plant tomatoes out there? Ma was telling me about it.”

Forrester nodded. Ma had been so excited when he told her his idea. “Well, I need some plants out there, so figured I might as well grow useful stuff. That way Ma doesn’t have to pay for tomatoes when she cans them.”

“That’s nice of you,” Missy said.

“Yeah, I’ll get some herbs going too. Helps keep bugs away.”

“Great idea,” Tony said.

It was my boyfriend’s idea, not mine.

Holly joined them and said to Forrester, “Where’s Kyle? I hoped you two could move that bookshelf.”

“Kyle went home,” he said, throat tight.

Holly glanced at the door, then to Tony, her lips forming a knowing O. “Okay, I see.” She gestured between Tony and Forrester. “I guess I’ll use your muscles, then.”

“Sure,” Tony said around a mouthful of gelato.

“What shelf are you moving?” Forrester wanted to know.

“Remember, Millie’s snack fridge is being delivered today, and we need to move the M/M shelf. You shouldn’t even have to take the books off.”

Oh dear God….

“What’s M/M?” Missy asked.

“Malaysian mystery,” Holly answered without skipping a beat. “You know where we decided to move the shelf, right, Forrester?”

He fought down his irritation. “Yeah, I know.”

While Missy browsed the store, Tony and Forrester went to move the shelf, a small three-tiered case. His heart rate hadn’t settled since Kyle left, and this current predicament wasn’t helping. He squirmed when his brother flipped a thumb and raised his brows at the S.D. Howe poster from Visitor in the Wood. “You just hang that up like that?”

Fidgeting, Forrester pointed at Scott’s display of books on top. “See the sign? He’s a local author.”

Tony shook his head and chuckled.

Forrester wanted to punch him right in the face, but instead, he began removing Scott’s book display and setting it aside. The second night he and Kyle spent together, they’d taken turns reading the erotic book until both of them were panting and so ready to burst that when they’d finally kissed and humped against each other, they came in mere seconds.

Now that same book was in his brother’s hands.

When Tony paused to read the blurb on the back, Forrester snatched it from him.

“What’s the big idea?” Tony demanded.

“Laugh all you want, the guy who writes these books is nice. He brings lots of business to the store. And his husband is giving me the tomato plants for Ma.”

Tony sniffed and shook his head again. He indicated the poster. “This getting moved too?”

Forrester added the books in his hand to the pile and forced himself to answer calmly. “Yes, it’s part of the display. I’ll have to rehang it.”

He wanted to die when Tony took the poster from the wall, then stood there holding it—a big green muscled alien kissing an equally muscled bald man.

Tony looked around. “Where do you want it?”

He gestured vaguely to the side. Damn Holly for this!

They moved the shelf over and Tony helped him put the display back together. Forrester knew his face was a million shades of red, but he refused to say anything.

“So, um,” Tony began, “I gotta ask you something, Frankie.”

His entire body flushed, and he worried he might actually get sick.

Oh my God, he’s gonna ask me.

“What’s that?” he managed. Just say yes!

“You seen anything funny around here?”

“Funny like what?” Tell the truth, it’ll be so much easier afterward. Kyle deserves it. You deserve it.

“Alfie, have you seen him around lately?”

Forrester blinked several times, unable to process what he thought his brother would ask with what he’d actually said. “Alfie?”

“Yeah, has he been around here? This is his grandpa’s building, and there’s empty space next door. The department’s looking at Uncle Otto’s properties, but they gotta have probable cause. If I can check it out on the down-low with you, might get me some points with my sarge.”

“Why are they looking at Uncle Otto’s properties?”

“Didn’t Ma tell you last night?”

“I wasn’t at home.”

“Naturally,” he scoffed. “Alfie got arrested on constructive possession. We found heroin in his office at the club. It’s his first possession charge, and he lawyered up already. We’re hoping he gives up his supplier.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Nope, that’s why I surprised”—he did air quotes—“Missy with this weekend in Gilead. I wanted to check out the building. You got a key, right?”

“Jeez, Tony,” he grumbled. “Yeah, I got a key, but are you supposed to do that?”

“What? My brother can’t show me around his business and tell me about the expansion he’s planning next door?”

“Oh, I’m planning to expand, eh?”

Tony grinned. “That’s wonderful. I’m happy for you, Frankie. Why don’t you show me what you planned?”

“Manipulative bastard,” he mumbled.

Tony only laughed.

He left Tony by the back door and went to get his keys. He told Holly he was going next door, adding just for her to hear, “The M/M shelf? Really?”

She shrugged, then pointed outside, where the bakery guys were unloading the case from a truck. “The case was coming now. I didn’t have a choice. Sorry.”

“Whatever,” he said, walking off.

As he led Tony next door, he paused. “I gotta tell you something.”

His brother laughed. “You sound all serious. You gonna tell me you read those books with the gay aliens on the cover?”

“Screw you,” he said for lack of anything better to say. “I was gonna tell you how I saw Alfie unloading boxes in here. It was late at night in the pouring rain.”

Tony’s humor died. “What?”

“Yeah, it was the night before Mother’s Day,” he told him, putting the key in the lock.

“Wait.” Tony grabbed Forrester’s arm. “This could be a crime scene. We can’t tamper with evidence. Let’s go back in your shop and call Sheriff Bentley.”

 

 

“IT WAS all very anticlimactic,” Forrester told Kyle later.

Sheriff Bentley and his cute deputy searched the unit after Tony explained everything to them. The space was empty, swept clean. Tony called for a K9 drug-sniffing unit but found no evidence. Forrester made a statement while Missy cried and pouted when she found out Tony wanted to follow a lead, not spend a romantic weekend with her.

Having no desire to get involved in their marital drama, Forrester had busied himself with the store and his customers, assuring them everything was fine and safe. He felt like he’d been on his feet for a week when he’d driven over to Kyle’s after everyone left.

“You say your cousin was arrested last night?” Kyle asked. “Is Alfie short for Alfonso Parisi?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

After fishing in his briefcase, Kyle withdrew a file and scanned it. “I’m supposed to be his prosecutor.”

“What?”

He shook his head. “That was the case I was telling you about. I’ll have to recuse myself for conflict of interests.”

“Are you sure? It’s not like you know Alfie, or I give two flying fucks about the guy.”

Kyle gave him an appeasing smile. “I’ll call my boss. See what he wants to do. I’ll be right back.”

Squirming, Forrester watched him leave. Should he tell Kyle about Joey being there? Would he be obligated to report it? Would Joey get into trouble?

He pulled out his phone and texted his brother. Alfie got arrested 4 heroin and Tony just spent the last few hours w/ drug sniffing dogs searching the space nxt to bookstore! WTF did you guys put in there?!

It didn’t take long for Joey to respond with a string of panicked texts.

It wasn’t heroin! I swear!

Why was Tony there? Did you tell him?

It was just some bootleg booze, I swear!

Then his phone rang. “Are you kidding me, Giuseppe?”

“Frankie, I swear on Dad’s grave that it wasn’t heroin,” he whispered the last word. “It was just booze we got from some Mexicans.”

“Booze from some Mexicans?”

“Yeah, they go to Indiana because it’s way cheaper, then they sell it to Alfie so we can refill the bottles at the club.”

“You call that on the up-and-up?” Forrester whispered harshly. “It’s illegal to sell booze that way. You know that, right?”

“Well, um, no, I didn’t….”

“Jesus Mary and fucking Joseph. Are you still working at the Stein?”

“Actually I just quit this morning. Called up his manager.”

“You better not be lying to me.”

“I’m not! When Ma told me he got arrested, I quit. I’m sick of Alfie getting me into trouble. It’s his fault I got that DUI, ya know? Did you tell Tony?”

“Of course not, but I’m rethinking it.” He didn’t want to tell Tony, but should he tell Kyle? But if Kyle’s boss took him off the case, then he had no reason to get Joey involved, right?

“You can’t! I don’t wanna get in trouble!”

Forrester didn’t want him to get into more trouble either.

“I won’t say anything,” he promised, feeling torn but protective of his dingbat brother.

“Thanks, Frankie. I owe you one.”

“You owe me big-time, Giuseppe.”

When Forrester hung up, Kyle had returned.

“Well?”

“I was right. I’m off the case.” Kyle plopped on the couch beside him. Jasper jumped into his lap.

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.”

“Why does my family always have to complicate my life?” Then he instantly regretted his words. Kyle had no family. When Forrester was a kid, he used to wish he had no family, but he never really meant it. As nutty and as nosy as they were, he did love them.

Kyle scooted closer. Jasper decided he didn’t like being squished between them, so he bounded off the couch in search of a squeaky toy to disembowel. Kyle propped his elbow on the back of the couch and brushed a curl from Forrester’s brow. “Some start to your birthday weekend, huh?”

He groaned and dropped his head onto Kyle’s shoulder. “The police wasn’t even the worst of it.”

When he told Kyle about Tony, and Scott’s poster and books, Kyle didn’t laugh like he expected. “Gosh, that had to be so awkward. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to make it weird for you.”

“Thanks, but it happened anyways. And you didn’t have to leave. You could’ve stayed, hung out. I wanted you to stay. You know that, right?”

“No, I didn’t know, but I’m glad you told me.”

“I’m so sick of this.”

“What?”

“All the hiding and the subterfuge. It really is wearing on me. I hated that you felt like you had to leave today when Tony showed up. It’s not fair. Why can’t I just introduce you for who you are? We deserve that, don’t we?”

“I’d like to think so.” Kyle gave him a sympathetic smile. “And if you feel that way, it probably means it’s gonna happen soon.”

He gazed into Kyle’s eyes, seeing so much love and support there. “How the hell should I even do it? I mean I’ve thought about it a million times, but I just don’t know which one to tell first. It’s gotta be a one-on-one thing or the drama.” He shuddered thinking about it.

When he’d thought Tony might ask, he’d been sure he would’ve told him.

And that scared him.

How would his brother have reacted? Shock? Laughter? Rejection?

He rubbed both hands over his face and let out an exasperated sigh. Alfie, Joey, Tony, the store, all of it was too much to think about. He just wanted to spend the rest of his birthday weekend with Kyle. And he wanted to help Kyle forget his worries when they made love—if Kyle was ready to try.

“You know what,” Forrester began, “I don’t wanna deal with all that right now. It’s my birthday, and I wanna do something to relax.”

Kyle’s eyes darkened. “Like birthday sex?”

He grinned. “You know it.”