“Hell to the yeah. I’d have to be crazy to turn you down.”
“Great. We haven’t had a chance to talk much lately. Come by anytime you want. Win left for his tour already, and I wouldn’t mind catching up before we head out.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I shower and check my emails.”
“I’ll be here.”
It had been a long time since he and Elliot had hung out, and he couldn’t wait to hear how happy his friend was in his relationship—plus try all the dumplings. Win was everything he could’ve hoped Elliot would find in a partner. The conversation with André, knowing he was coming home in a couple of days, had energized him. Even though he’d had his plate full with friends, classes, and grading exams, nighttimes left him a little lost without the man he loved by his side. He hopped in the shower, then dressed and headed to the kitchen to make toast and coffee. No use in filling up before the dumpling extravaganza.
“Good morning, Martine,” he greeted their housekeeper, who was already busy at the stove.
Martine smiled at him. “Good morning, Chess.”
A few emails from his teaching assistants needed answering, and he ate his breakfast while handling them.
When the toast was gone, Martine reached for his plate. “More toast?”
“No, thank you, and you know you don’t have to make me breakfast or clean up after me.”
The one thing he’d never become used to was having a housekeeper to do his laundry, wash his dishes, and clean up after him. Growing up with as little as he had, it made him uncomfortable to have someone do the things he’d been taught were his jobs around the house.
“Taking the plate away and putting it in the dishwasher is hardly work, see?” To prove her point, she lifted the plate from in front of him. “When is André coming home?”
“I spoke to him earlier, and he said day after tomorrow.”
“I bet you can’t wait. Maybe you can persuade him to go away on a little vacation, just the two of you. That man has been working way too hard.”
Chess appreciated Martine, and they’d grown to be friends during the years he’d been living with André. She’d been with the Websters since before André’s parents had met and married, and Chess thought she knew André better than anyone else, including his family. “I’d love to, but we’ll have to wait until he comes home to see what he’s got on his calendar. You know he’s not the kind I can make plans for on my own.”
Frowning, she took a seat across from him at the wide marble island. “I do know, but you have to assert yourself. I think he’s been running on that treadmill so long, he doesn’t realize he needs someone else to take the reins every once in a while.”
“You think so?” Excitement built up inside him. Maybe Martine was right. A weekend away, just the two of them, someplace where they could hide from the world, would recharge their closeness. “We could go upstate to a cabin, or maybe to a bed-and-breakfast by the Cape.”
“The Hamptons house would be perfect, although I’m sure André wouldn’t care where you went, as long as you’re together. I knew when he brought you home that you were the man for him.”
Chess smiled. “I remember wondering if it was too fast. He said he fell in love right away, but I had my doubts.”
“It runs in the family. His father was like that with his mother. Love at first sight. No one had a chance from the time they met. I’ll say it over and over again until you believe it: André knew who he wanted, and it was you. I know André, perhaps better than he does himself, because that man never slows down to take a breath of self-reflection. He might’ve been a little wild when he was younger, but all that changed when he met you.”
“He never talks about those days.”
Darkness clouded Martine’s eyes. “Probably because he doesn’t remember most of them. He used to come home a little too late and a lot too drunk. I worried for him, and so did Dottie and Freddie. They were devastated when André stopped going to the Hamptons for the summers. I know they miss him and the twins. We’ve all worked for the Websters for so many years, they’re like family to us.”
That much he knew. André had told him his early twenties had been spent in the party-all-the-time haze of someone too young and with too much money. It wasn’t until his best friend died in a car crash near their home in the Hamptons while driving drunk that reality slapped him in the face, and he decided to straighten up and get serious about life. He went to work for the family business—boutique luxury hotels—and spent his time flying around the world, making deals, checking on ongoing construction projects, and ensuring the standards were kept as high as possible. It was exhausting and grueling work, but André loved it.
“Maybe you’re right. When I come home from lunch with Elliot, I’ll look into it.” Gulping the rest of his coffee, he rose from his seat and put the mug in the sink. “I gotta run. We’re going to experience the best dumplings in the city, and I don’t want to be late for that.”
“You better not be. You’re going to bring me your leftovers.”
Chess leaned in to kiss her cheek. “You got it. See you later.”
“Say hello to Elliot for me. I’m so happy he found someone. He’s such a nice person.”
“He is, and I will.”
He grabbed his phone and keys and left. Once outside, he realized he’d never make it to Elliot’s in Brooklyn by noon if he took the train, so he called for a car. In less than five minutes he was on his way to the West Side Highway.
Not too many minutes past twelve, he walked up the front porch of Win’s house, which Win and Elliot now shared. They’d planted multicolored flowers along the edge of the lawn and put in a porch swing. He rang the bell and heard Elliot’s footsteps.
