Jeremy slammed the door shut behind him, anxious to see Blake’s response to his text.
My father died. Guess I don’t have to make that decision after all.
Jeremy’s heart sank.Come home and let me take care of you.
I am. See you later.
I’m coming home too.
Without a thought to anything else but Blake, Jeremy grabbed his jacket and keys and ran out to the front.
“Guys, I gotta go. Tell people I’m not gonna be here.”
“What happened?” One of the night shift guys, Warren, called out after him, while Jody, the other college kid he’d hired, stared at him in surprise.
But he was already out the door.
Chapter Eight
Numb. That wasthe best way to describe his emotions. For the past week, Blake had smiled and nodded when his father’s cronies and the staff at the assisted living facility expressed their condolences. The funeral had proceeded quickly, and since there was no property, his father’s estate would be settled without any issues. Michelle had taken care of everything, and that was what bothered him the most; he was basically useless. He couldn’t stop apologizing to her.
“Blake. I said it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t expect you to handle it.” They were all at her house, cleaning up after the final visitor had left. “Really. You need to stop.”
“At my age, I should’ve been able to put it aside.”
Jeremy, who’d remained a steady, silent force throughout the funeral and aftermath, slipped his arms around him. “From what you told me, I think you’ve handled it remarkably well.”
At Michelle’s raised eyebrows, Blake nodded. “I’ve told Jeremy everything.”
“Oh? I didn’t know you’d told him about Dad.”
At her gesture, they all sat at the round, wooden table, Blake inexplicably nervous, a child once again trying out for the baseball team—knowing before he even stepped up to the plate that he would fail. As if sensing his unease, Jeremy laced their fingers together and placed their entwined hands on top of the table for Michelle to see. Her eagle eyes zeroed in on their body language.
“So you have things to tell me, maybe? Has this gone beyond dating?”
Jeremy withdrew his hand. “You haven’t told Michelle anything? Why not? Are you ashamed of us? Of me?” The unmistakable hurt in Jeremy’s voice pierced through Blake, and suddenly he saw how wrong he’d been to keep his personal life so private. If he’d learned anything these past months from being with Jeremy, it was that the man wasn’t as tough as he looked. Now he’d fucked up. Badly.
“I didn’t, but not because I’m ashamed of you. That’s ridiculous.”
A muscle ticked in Jeremy’s jaw. “Yeah? I don’t know. What’s ridiculous, I think, is not telling your family how serious we really are.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right. I guess my only excuse is I’ve never done it before. I never had to. But it’s not because I’m hiding us. Why would I? Look at you. You’re perfect. If anything, you’d be the one to hide me.”
Michelle slid coffee in front of him and Jeremy. “I didn’t mean to start anything. I know you’ve been dating for a while now and that you care about each other.”
“Yeah.” Jeremy laughed bitterly. “I thought so, but now I’m not so sure.”
Panicked, Blake grabbed Jeremy’s arm. “Stop it. You know I do.”
Jeremy shook him off and thrust out his jaw. “Yeah? I know that? How? You have a habit of hiding things until they get found out and then you have no choice. You didn’t want to tell me about your father, and now you didn’t want to tell Michelle about us until you were forced to. What else is there?”
All the doubt and insecurities flooded him until he found himself standing up, shaking, and yelling at a stunned Jeremy.
“Nothing. I can’t help it. I kept myself hidden until I was an adult and no longer cared what my father thought. It isn’t easy exposing who you are and what you want, your hopes and dreams, when all your life you’ve been told your real self isn’t good enough. That because you didn’t measure up, you were worthless.”
He stopped and saw Jeremy, Michelle, and Evan staring back at him with varying degrees of sorrow, pain, and pride in their eyes.
Michelle circled the table to stand by him and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m guessing you’ve been waiting to let that out for a while now? I hate that you feel like this.” Her loving expression brought back less painful memories.
