“Nice steak house,” I replied. “Jacket, but no tie.”
“Okay,” he agreed reluctantly. “Now we just need to convince Vic of your change of plans.”
A week later, I was seated across from the only guy I considered my friend while growing up in my father’s house and his husband. The wires in their home and bugs on their phone line hadn’t produced any new information, so I had to carry out my dinner date idea. Tobias hadn’t changed much from his youth. His hair was as blond as it had been and his blue eyes still held the sparkle they always had, especially when aimed at his husband. Either Tobias was the greatest actor in the world or there had to be another explanation for the photos of me in his safe.
The first part of the evening was spent getting caught up on the people we had in common. I avoided talk about my dad and Estelle during that part, choosing to save it for when I talked about the threats. Oddly, Tobias didn’t bring it up. My dad was his uncle by marriage, so I would’ve thought that he would’ve mentioned it at the beginning of the evening by asking how he was doing. Perhaps, he was hiding something.
“What ages are your kids now?” I asked Garrett, trying to get him to engage in conversation. He was uncharacteristically quiet that evening. It was the icebreaker I needed, because the next thing I knew he whipped out his phone and showed me pictures of them.
“Alexus is going to be seven next month,” he said, smiling as he showed me a little girl with dark hair dressed in a tutu. “She loves ballet more than anything in the whole world.”
“She shows quite a bit of promise too,” Tobias added, smiling at his husband.
“Jacob just turned three,” Garrett said, showing me a picture of a smiling blue-eyed boy.
“He looks a bit on the mischievous side,” I commented.
“Oh, you have no idea,” Garrett responded. “Terrible twos is nothing compared to three year olds. Potty training has been a real challenge with this one.” He and Tobias looked at each other, obviously sharing a moment, and then burst into laughter over their inside joke.
I couldn’t help but admire the close connection that they shared. I noticed it when they were looking over the menu. They each knew what the other liked or might be willing to try. They could finish each other’s sentences in a way that was cute and not annoying. It appeared that they lived and breathed for one another and their children. I wanted that same kind of connection with Mark someday. I put my hand on Mark’s thigh and he linked his fingers with mine beneath the table. I looked into his eyes and saw the same awareness in his green depths.
“So, what’s this about a charity event?” Tobias asked, bringing me back to the moment.
“Well, I thought I’d discuss it with you first. We’re already in the fourth quarter so I hope it’s not too late to plan a big event. I thought I could either do a large corporate donation or do a Christmas gift drive to make the holidays special for the hospitalized kids.” I threw out a large dollar figure for him to consider. My ideas were met with a blank stare and silence at first.
“That’s fabulous, Mitch,” Garrett said. “Extremely generous of you to think of the kids.”
“Yes,” Tobias said, agreeing with his husband. “Extremely generous of you. I mean, I’m not really the person you would want to talk to about setting something up. There’s an entire group of people who are in charge of fundraising and event planning.”
“Oh, I understand that,” I told him. “I just thought it was only fair that you get to present the idea to them because of our connection.”
“Uh, sure,” Tobias said, looking a bit confused. “I’m not sure I get brownie points or anything, but I’ll definitely make some calls.”
Our dinners arrived and both couples were pretty set on devouring the delicious food in front of them. Garrett and Tobias joked about it being better than the chicken patties and macaroni and cheese that their kids preferred.
“That used to be our favorite meal,” I said to Mark, remembering how much we loved it when Dorey made those frozen chicken patties to go along with her homemade macaroni.
“Howard used to let us have two patties since we were growing boys,” Mark replied. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he’d be reaching out to our foster parents soon. We were due for another visit, but not before it was safe. We brought danger way too close to them on our last visit.
“I forgot that you were in foster care before your father learned about your existence,” Tobias said, but there was no scorn in his tone. I could tell by Garrett’s expression he had no idea about my past.
“Mark and I were roommates back then,” I said with a smile. “He resented my existence for a while, but I grew on him.”
“Like a wart,” he responded with a playful shove of his shoulder.
“I wasn’t that bad,” I said with an eye roll.
“You weren’t,” he agreed. “You were just a scared kid who’d had his whole world turned upside down.”
“From such sadness came one of the happiest years of my life.” I could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew my words were genuine.
“I didn’t realize you guys went back that far,” Tobias commented.
“We fostered in the same house for a year and then my dad claimed me,” I said, focusing back on Tobias. “It was such a shocking transition from moderate living to the super rich; going from people who cared about me to people who didn’t care that I existed.” I found the opening I needed to transition to current events and I took it. “I guess some things haven’t changed.” I shrugged my shoulders casually as if it was no big deal.
“It’s behind us now,” Mark said, picking up the ball and running with it. “Thankfully no one was killed and the guy responsible for the attacks is behind bars. We can move on with our lives and put this all behind us.”
“Yes,” I replied in false relief. “I can’t wait to experience the Maldives with you. Sun, sand, surf…”
“Sex,” Mark offered.
“Yes, plenty of that too.” I leaned forward and kissed him square on the mouth. Then I looked back to Garrett and Tobias and found them watching us with different expressions on their faces. Garrett looked pleased for us, but Tobias looked uncertain or perhaps confused. It wasn’t like I expected a confession at dinner. My job was to plant the bug in his ear and see where it led us. I felt Mark’s assuring grip on my thigh beneath the table and it bolstered me to step up the act. “Dessert, anyone?” I asked like I didn’t have a care in the world.
