“You do,” Chris said. “I would invest.”
Jay shook his head. “I’m not looking for charity.”
Chris put down his fork. “I only do charity for tax reasons. I would like to invest in your business. In return, I expect to receive a modest interest on my investment.” He couldn’t care less about the interest, but Jay would have kept seeing this as charity otherwise.
“I would help set everything up,” Anthony said.
“And I would help with… product management things? I don’t know, but I’ll find something,” Ethan added.
“You guys are really jumping the gun here.” A bit of a blush appeared underneath Jay's beard. “It was just a thought.”
“Then we’ll talk about this when you’re ready,” Chris said, realizing he may have given a promise he wouldn’t be able to keep. For a sweet moment, he’d forgotten about the looming danger, but he couldn’t afford to think of anything else.
“Is it weird not having the twins around?” Anthony asked him.
Weird? It was downright painful. He never expected their short absence to create such a void. “It’s weird, but they’re having a blast with their grandparents.”
He noticed Ethan watching him closely, like he had sensed something hidden behind Chris’s words. They were too damn good at reading each other. Chris hurried to ask Anthony, “Have you hired more workers yet?”
“What? Oh, yes, finally! Two guys just started. They’re good, but I still need to check everything they do. They should be fine on their own in about a month, then I’ll hopefully have more free time.”
Ethan raised his glass. “Here’s to Anthony having more time for me.”
They clinked their glasses, and for one peaceful evening, the world was normal again.
*
“Let’s grab coffee,” Ethan said.
They had finished dinner with Jay and Anthony a few minutes earlier and decided to go for a walk. Jay was on his way to Chris’s house with the spare key.
They stepped into a small coffee shop—both of them disliking coffee from chains like Starbucks—and ordered two cups. When it was time to pay, Chris automatically moved his Apple Watch to the scanner, but Ethan blocked him. “On me.”
“It’s fine. I—”
“You don’t need to keep paying for me. It was sweet when I was struggling, but I’m not anymore.”
Chris could see in Ethan's eyes that this was about more than who would pay; it was about a man who was rebuilding his confidence and sense of worth.
Chris nodded and told the cashier, “I’ll take the bagel as well.”
“Jeez,” Ethan muttered. “I didn’t win the lottery, you know.”
Chris laughed, and the cashier rolled her eyes.
They went to sit in a small park nearby. Surprisingly, homeless people hadn’t laid claim to the benches. In front of them stood a beautiful fountain, but without running water. A few people sat around, reading under the streetlights. Chris loved these small locations that weren’t filled with tourists.
“I didn’t mean to snap at you earlier,” Ethan said and took a sip of coffee. “I don’t want to be sensitive about money, but it seems that I am.”
“It’s fine. I shouldn’t automatically try to pay. And for the record, this bagel sucks.”
Ethan leaned down to take a bite, barely managing to swallow. “It must have been sitting there since morning.”
“Of which day?”
Ethan laughed and leaned with his shoulder against Chris—how they usually tended to sit.
“Is everything okay with you and Melissa?” Ethan asked.
