"It's not that—" Alec began.
"No. I get it, Alec. I'm yourcountry-catch… your getaway fling. Good enough for vacation, but easy enough to forget about once you get back home."
"No. Not at all. Anything but. Where is this coming from, Ty?"
"I think you should leave."
"This is not a great side of you."
"Maybe not. But it's me. I can't help it."
"Come on, Ty. Be reasonable."
"Stop calling me that."
"What? Ty?"
"It's what Brett called me."
"Oh."
Tyler stared at him, his expression was hard and unwavering. Alec wasn't certain what to say
and suspected that whatever came out would be misconstrued. Everything he'd said so far had been
volleyed back at him like a missile. Were they breaking up? Had they ever really been together? He hardly recognized the man standing before him… big and brooding. Maybe that first night… in the
snow.
"Do you still want me to go?"
"I need to think."
"I can't just stay here, Tyler. I have to go back sometime. I have a townhouse. Belongings. A life."
"I know." It was all he said, his face as still as stone—a facade of flesh, concealing… holding something back. But he wouldn't let it out. Not tonight. Maybe not ever.
"Alright, I'll go."
Alec put on his shoes, grabbed his coat from the hall tree, and made for the door. Before exiting, he turned, his hand on the knob. "Will you be at the Bear tomorrow?" he asked, in a last-ditch attempt for resolve. "It's Tuesday."
"Maybe."
"Well, I'll be there. I hope you will."
Tyler said nothing. Alec thought for a split-second that he caught a glimmer in his eye, a sign of the rigidity cracking. But whatever he saw was brief, and could have easily just been hope on his
part.
"I don't know what I did, Ty. But I'm sorry."
He opened the door and stepped out into the cold.
24
Alec finished typing the last sentence of the current chapter of his romance novel. He was
feeling melancholy and a bit nauseous… having just relived his and Tyler's fight from the previous night.
