That left Diego with Aaron and Brody, both men still looking at each other in shock. “I’m glad that it worked out for you both,” he told them as he finished his drink.
“We wouldn’t have been able to pull this off without your help.” Aaron’s grateful smile lit up his face as he shook Diego’s hand. “We want to take you out for dinner tonight at our hotel. It’s the very least we could do to show our appreciation.” He looked over at Brody. “You two could also spend some time together. I’m sure you have some catching up to do.”
Diego froze, and judging from the look on Brody’s face, he hadn’t expected this either. But Brody nodded his head. “It would be nice to talk.”
Would it? Diego wasn’t sure he wanted to know any more about Brody and Aaron’s life, their boys, and the happy life together rescuing dogs.
But when Diego opened his mouth, he heard himself agreeing with this plan. “Sounds good. What time?”
Chapter Nine
“Youcan’tdothisto me.” Brody stood in the adjoining doorway that connected his hotel room with the room that Aaron and Audra shared. He glanced over at his nephews, both of them playing a game on their Nintendo Switch, and his voice dropped. “You were the one that invited him to dinner,” he said in a whisper.
“I know—but trust me. You two need to talk.” Aaron leaned against the door frame. “I don’t know if you noticed how he was looking at you, but there’s a lot of unresolved emotions on his side. Anyway, man… I’ve never seen you light up like that when he talked to you or made you laugh. There are still feelings there.”
For fuck’s sake. “So what? Maybe there’s something left there. That wouldn’t be the strangest thing, seeing how things ended between us. But that doesn’t mean that we should hash out all that heartache and pain we went through over a sirloin.”
“I disagree. Go talk to him, one last time. Find out who he is now and wish him well in all his future endeavors. Put that part of your life behind you so we can focus on the future.” Aaron tilted his head and caught Brody’s eye. “You still got a lot of that anger against your family inside you. This might be one way of bringing all that pain out into the light, maybe start to heal in here.” Aaron touched Brody’s chest lightly. “I promise you’ll feel better after talking it out with Diego.”
Audra walked over to where they stood in the doorway and slipped her arm around Aaron. “We’ll watch the boys. Go talk to your friend.” Her warm smile calmed some of the wariness inside Brody, who knew he’d lost this battle.
“Okay. But I won’t stay too long. We’ve got to get up early in the morning and head home.”
An hour later, Brody sat at the bar at the hotel restaurant where they’d agreed to meet. The restaurant hostess had glanced warily at Peach at his side but didn’t say anything and now she lay down comfortably at his feet. He tugged at the collar of his dark gray Henley and wished he’d have brought clothes more suitable for a fancy steakhouse.
His phone pinged.
Audra: [image of boys laying in their bed, asleep] They had a good time today.
Brody: lol, I can tell. Thanks for taking them Christmas shopping with you this afternoon.
“Hey.”
Brody looked up, startled. Diego stood in front of him, his long hair pulled back out of his face into a bun. “Oh, sorry. Hi.” He set the phone down and stood. “Thanks for coming tonight.”
Diego glanced around the bar, then down at Peach, and smiled at the dog. “Where’s Aaron?”
Brody took a deep breath. He’d come up with an excuse for Aaron’s absence to make things less awkward, but now seeing Diego in front of him, just as nervous as he was—Brody didn’t have the heart to lie. “He stayed upstairs. He thought that, um, we should talk. Just the two of us.”
Diego’s expression didn’t change, but his brown eyes, always so expressive and warm—flashed dark and sad. “It’s not the worst idea. I’ve got some questions too, and the idea of not knowing the answers to them and wondering about you for the rest of my life isn’t appealing.”
Brody swallowed hard. Then, at that moment, the restaurant hostess waved at him. “Your table is ready.”
He and Peach followed Diego, noting how Diego’s dark maroon sweater covered nearly all his arm tattoos. His dark jeans and combat boots hid any other ink that he might have on his body.
That might be a good place to begin. “So, you’re a tattoo artist?” Brody asked as they sat down at a table for two near the back of the restaurant.
Diego grinned. “Yeah, though I just apply the ink. Other people draw the designs. I’m no artist.”
Brody spotted that crooked right canine tooth of Diego’s, and memories flooded back. He remembered what it was like to kiss Diego and the feel of that tooth with his tongue. “You did okay back then drawin’ all those little atom bonds and molecules and shit.” Their server brought them a basket filled with warm bread and took their drink orders—Shiner Bock for Brody and a Diet Coke for Diego. After she left, Brody added, “I’d have never passed Chem 2 without your help.”
“We helped each other.” Diego reached for a piece of bread. He tore it into small pieces with his fingers. “Until—”
Until. Brody took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m dying to ask. Did you ever end up going to college? I remember you talking ‘bout studying Chemistry.”
“Biochemistry.” Diego took a bite from his bread and stared down at his plate. “It didn’t work out.” He was about to say more when their server returned with their drinks and took their food orders.
“That happens sometimes.” Brody sensed waves of tension rolling off Diego.This was a mistake,he thought. “If you don’t want to talk about this, I get it. There’s a lot that’s happened since the last time we saw each other. I just—I guess I had hoped that things worked out for you.”
