Mac slipped behind the bar and sorted out drinks for them both. Water for Kyrone and a neat scotch for himself.
“You said I could talk to you if I needed to?” Kyrone said.
Mac took a sip of his scotch. “Do you need to?”
Kyrone nodded. He’d thought about talking to one of his friends, but Dylan was generally too immature, and Hunter tended to avoid deep and meaningful conversations. Jag was too closed off about himself, which didn’t really make him all that approachable when it came to heavier topics. As his boss, Michael was out of the question. His mum would have loved to give him advice, but she was desperate for him to have kids, so even mentioning that it might not happen if he stayed with Jared would put her on the defensive. Which left Mac. He felt bad that the assistant manager hadn’t been his first choice—if anything, he was a last resort—but they weren’t friends.
“I need a sounding board,” Kyrone admitted. “Someone to help me sort through my thoughts.”
“I can do that.”
Kyrone glanced up. “Really? You barely know me.”
Mac shrugged. “If you ask my husband, he’ll tell you I’m a good listener.”
“I’m in love with him,” Kyrone breathed.
“By ‘him’ I’m assuming you meanyourboyfriend rather thanmyhusband?”
Kyrone chuckled. “Yeah, Jared.”
“Well, that’s a good start. Is he in love with you?”
Kyrone nodded.
“Even better.”
“We’ve only been together for a month, so it seems crazy to be thinking about the future.”
“Why?”
Kyrone blinked. “A month is no time at all.”
“I moved in with Russel after a couple of weeks.”
Kyrone’s jaw went slack. “Really?”
“We kind of had to. He got sacked, and I quit my job, so we pooled our resources. Maybe we wouldn’t have if circumstances had been different, but we’ve been happy together ever since.” Mac sipped his scotch and then ran his finger around the edge of the tumbler as he carried on talking. “Now, you’ve got to remember that I’m an old romantic these days, but I think you know when you’re meant to be with someone. That might happen after a couple of weeks or a couple of years. It’s different for everyone. Do you feel like you’re meant to be together?”
“Yes,” Kyrone whispered. Then he sighed and hunched his shoulders. “But it’s not that simple.”
“Oh?”
“I know I want kids, but Jared hasn’t even thought about it yet.”
“That doesn’t mean he won’t think about it or that he won’t want kids.”
Kyrone breathed in slowly. “I want to adopt one day, but even if Jared does want kids, he might not be allowed to. Which meanswewouldn’t be allowed to.”
Mac frowned. “Could you tell me why?”
“He was in an accident eighteen months ago. A really bad one.” Kyrone hung his head. “It’s left him with brain damage.”
“That’s rough. I’m guessing that’s what you were freaking out about on Thursday night?”
Kyrone nodded. “He’s doing really well at the moment, but there’s a chance of him getting worse as time goes on,” he whispered.
It was hard to say out loud because he didn’t want to imagine that scenario at all. When Jared had told him about whatmighthappen, he’d tried to brush the list off as a worst-case scenario, but he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it.
