“Who put the chili powder in your boxer-briefs?” Patrick asked.
“Aren’t you meant to be working the bar?”
“It’s quiet at the moment. Gloria will ring if she needs help. Will you be back tonight?”
Dallas spat out a curse but it was only a momentary release of his frustration and angst. “No, I’m having a sleepover. See you later.” He grabbed his wallet, thrust his arms into his leather jacket and left before he committed the cardinal sin of asking his brother’s opinion of his attire.
Laura was waiting with the doorman when he pulled up. She smiled at the elderly man and ran out to climb into the passenger side of his truck.
“Laura, next time wait for me to open your door. It’s part of my job description.”
“Oh. Okay. Do you need directions to James’s house?”
“What’s the street? I’ll plug it into the GPS.”
Twenty minutes later, he drove down the Cape Hill Street and pulled up outside number one hundred and one.
James answered the door, doing a double take when he recognized Dallas. To his credit, he didn’t refuse him entry.
“James, I believe you know Dallas O’Grady,” Laura said.
“I do,” James said, extending his hand.
Dallas let out his breath in a slow stream and accepted the offer of friendship. “James is the same age as Quinn,” he said to Laura. “They were in the same class.”
Aware of another man standing in the doorway, Dallas glanced in that direction.
“This is my boyfriend, Steven,” James said, nodding at both Dallas and Laura.
“Hi Steven,” Laura said, and she gave him a swift, friendly hug.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Dallas said, “but I’m not hugging either of you.”
There was a moment of stunned silence before Steven laughed, a low, hearty chuckle that soon had them laughing together in a release of tension.
“Are you frightened you’ll catch gay cooties?” Laugh crinkles at the corners of James’s eyes told Dallas he wasn’t upset.
“I don’t hug people I don’t know,” Dallas said. “Give it a week or two and you might surprise one out of me.”
“Come into the lounge,” Steven said. “It’s much warmer in there.”
James dispensed beers for Dallas and Steven while James and Laura went for a glass of wine. Dallas was also pleased to see that if he’d gone with his second instinct to wear his good trousers, he would’ve been out of place. Even Laura wore a pair of faded jeans along with a cream polo neck jumper.
Laura took a place on a leather two-seater, and Dallas sat beside her. James dropped into a chair while Steven stood in front of the fire, his broad shoulders tense even though his face wore a smile.
“I take it your families don’t know about your friendship,” James said. “I would have heard the fallout by now.”
“No, we’re taking things slowly,” Laura said.
“Secrets have a way of sneaking back to bite in the bum,” James said.
“We know that.” Dallas reached for Laura’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “Sometimes the heart doesn’t choose wisely, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
“Hear hear,” Steven said. “How come your families wouldn’t approve?”
“It’s a long story,” Laura said. “But basically—correct me if I’m wrong—Dallas, two of our ancestors came over to the Otago goldfields and staked a claim. So the story goes, one of them found a big nugget of gold and cut the other one out.” She glanced at Dallas. “Is that right?”
He nodded. “My family would say your family stole it since you have a flash house and they don’t.”
