“Hey! Over here, Gabe!”

Gabriel’s head jerked around as he heard his name called. The coffee shop, Grind, was small, so it wasn’t hard to find the guy waving him down.

“Cas, hey,” he greeted. “Want a coffee?”

“Oh, I can pay for—”

“No, no,” Gabriel waved off his money. “You’re fixing up my future. The least I can do,” he told Caspian with a smile. “What are you getting?”

“Plain old latte, please. Thanks,” Cas said, patting his arm.

Gabriel nodded and headed to the counter. One latte and one hazelnut-toffee latte with extra cinnamon later, he was back at the table.

Cas chuckled at his choice. “That looks artistic.”

“I think Doris was hoping for all the change. She got it, too.” Gabriel pointed at the two hearts she’d drawn in foam on top of the latte. “That stuff is cool. People with skills impress me. Not to, you know, immediately segue into our discussion…”

“Right,” Cas chuckled. “The big career discussion.”

“Scary shit.” Gabriel blew on his latte and slurped the foam from the top, laughing at the face Cas made. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Cas sighed dramatically. “You foam slurper. I’ll still help.”

Gabriel grinned. “That’s good of you. So, uh… I was looking up stuff online. About being a landscape designer.”

“Right. So there are a few career paths, I think. I’m not an expert,” Cas warned. “But I’ve known a couple of them before. I’ve been involved in landscaping-adjacent crafts for a while. And, you know… it’s a small world.” He winked.

Gabriel nodded, memorizing everything, which so far, boiled down to, Cas has been around. Why didn’t we end up dating?

“One works online, freelancing and sending designs to clients around the world—that’s kind of neat, but there’s a lot of research on different climates and native plants. Another woman I know consults with a landscaper somewhere in the Houston suburbs and comes up with designs to show the client, and the company is responsible for implementing it.”

It’s a good thing we didn’t date, though. We have way too much of a friend vibe. And then I wouldn’t have been free when Orion came back home… Gabriel shook off the thought and took out his phone to take basic notes, since his brain couldn’t be trusted right now. “So you’re saying there’s work nearby.”

“Maybe. But it’s not a guaranteed career path.”

“More guaranteed than working at a roadside stall until I’m old and gray,” Gabriel countered. “I mean, Cora… she just did it for fun, after building up a business and handing it over to her sons. I got the feeling she genuinely loved that part of the business the most.”

“She sure did,” Doris spoke up from behind the counter, making Gabriel jump. Of course she was listening in—but it was still a surprise. “Loved people more than me. I always said she shoulda been behind the counter, and I oughta have been pulling up turnips.”

Gabriel propped his chin on his fist, his elbow on the table. No chance of privacy, then. “If you were looking for a garden designer, where would you look?”

“Wrong question,” Doris informed him bluntly. She didn’t have a reputation for being sweet and gentle, so Gabriel didn’t take it to heart. “Your question should be, who am I?”

“What?”

“Who am I, your customer?” She snapped a tea towel in his direction as she gathered dishes to bring to the back for washing. “Don’t get the cart before the horse.”

“Oh. Huh.” Gabriel looked back at Cas. “Who is my customer… that’s a good point. Am I selling to a company, or directly to people… and if so, to whom…” He added the question to his phone notes.

The afternoon was wearing on. By now, Orion would be just about done helping out around the house for Cora. Her nap time was coming up soon, so he would be free for a few hours before heading back there to make supper for her.

It was hard not to be distracted, now that he knew Orion’s routine.

Oops. Shit. He’d missed something. “Sorry?” Gabriel shook his head, laughing sheepishly.

“You got something on your mind?” Cas was smiling over his cup of coffee like he already knew the answer.

Gabriel sighed. No point in hiding it. While Doris wasn’t here, he leaned in and murmured, “That guy who came to say hi… I don’t know if you remember…”

“A few weeks ago, when you went red as a tomato and lost your salesman mojo, while staring after him like a pining lover in an old ballad?”

Gabriel opened and shut his mouth, cringing as his cheeks burned. No doubt he was turning that exact color again. The grin from Cas confirmed it. “Yeah. Him,” he settled on instead.

“That’s… Ryan, isn’t it? Cora’s grandson—ohhh.” Cas stared, his eyes widening. “You and him…”

“He’s not… I mean, it’s really new for him,” Gabriel almost whispered. “I don’t want to out him.”

“Oh, shit. I had no idea. Yeah, of course I’ll keep my mouth shut,” Cas assured him. “Have you two been… you know, for long?”

“I don’t know what’s going on with us yet,” Gabriel admitted, sighing slightly. “We’re just hooking up. That’s all it is.”

“Then you either know or you don’t.” Doris had somehow snuck back out without attracting his attention, and Gabriel did nearly jump out of his chair this time. “You need to work on that startle reflex.”

You need to work on not sneaking up on customers, Gabriel wanted to say, but he just laughed and shook his head. She was right. He either knew—they were just fuck-buddies—or didn’t. There was no clue they should be looking for more. They’d been clear upfront. So why wasn’t he sure what was going on?

Because he wanted more. That much was obvious.

Gabriel sighed and drowned himself in the last of his latte, waiting for the foam to run down the cup into his mouth before he set it down.

When he did, both the others were looking at him. He licked his lips and held up his hands. “What?”

“You like him,” Cas said simply. “And you want it to be more than f—uh,” he glanced at Doris, changing what he was about to say to, “friends with benefits.”

“You didn’t invent bad words, you know,” Doris told Cas. She was leaning on the counter now, drumming her fingers on it. “So, why haven’t you asked him out?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“It always is—which means it never is.” She clicked her fingers. “Get on it. You like the boy, go for it.”

Wait. She knows about me being… yeah. Of course she does. If she hadn’t heard about me and Chad, well, everyone probably guessed the first time I asked him out. I guess I’m more surprised that she’s acknowledging it outright. And she’s supportive, in a Doris kind of way. He managed a smile back at her. “His life situation is a little…” How the hell could he describe the fact that this guy had just gotten home for a short time and was going away again without outing who it was?

“Life, schmife. Life is a long damn thing to live without a guy or gal or whatever you’re into by your side,” she waved a hand dismissively. Another customer had entered, so she headed to the till to serve them.

Gabriel glanced back at Cas, both of them smiling slightly at each other.

“Well, she said it.” Cas shrugged. “She saved me the whole spiel.”

“Thanks anyway,” Gabriel chuckled. “I guess I’ll talk things out for real. Now, let’s get back to my career so I can get out of this damn town.”

“Mmm. To where? Houston? Suddenly your eagerness to leave makes more sense.” Cas winked at him.

Gabriel was so flustered he picked up his empty cup and tapped it to wake it up instead of his phone.

Cas laughed his ass off while Gabriel shoved the cup back and picked up his phone this time. “So guilty as charged.”

Gabriel flipped him off and scowled.

“Another coffee for us each, please,” Cas called to Doris once she was free. He looked like he was desperately trying to straighten his expression again. “Okay, fine. I’ll leave your love life alone. Let’s get back to figuring out your ideal customer.”

Gabriel managed a dignified nod, but it was going to take a long time to get his mind back on track. Especially since his last thought about the matter kept bothering him.

I’ve never been this crazy about a guy before Orion. Or maybe since Orion. Before or since… that says something, all right. What the hell am I gonna do when he leaves again?

One thing at a time, Gabriel reminded himself. That was a problem for another day.