I grunted. “Those fucking parents of his.”
“Yeah. I guess that’s why we are so close. I met him through the escort service and we became friends. My parents weren’t thrilled I was gay, either, but at least as long as I didn’tflaunt it, I was allowed to stay.” He made a disgusted face after making the air quotes with his fingers. “I left to go to nursing school in New Jersey and then avoided going back home to Pennsylvania altogether.”
“I don’t get it.” I sighed. “If someone has kids and then just…doesn’t accept them because of something they…are. In this day and age, I mean.”
“Being a nurse is…you see shit.” A haunted expression came over his face. “At the ER in a city like New York. It’s…”
I could only imagine. I had a feeling he was talking about queerphobia especially.
“Are you going to get your license for Illinois?”
He smiled. “Yeah. I would love to work as a pediatric nurse or at a family doctor’s practice maybe.”
“No more ERs?”
“No more ERs.”
“Sounds like a good deal.”
“What sounds like a good deal?” Lake peered in.
“That I don’t want to go back to work at an ER,” River said, managing to keep his expression even.
“Definitely. I will kick your ass if you try to do that again.” Lake looked determined. “You hated it.”
“Yes, but now I have a Sugar BFF who will let me freeload until I find a new job,” River cooed, batting his lashes at Lake, who rolled his eyes fondly.
Sugar BFF.I shook my head and chuckled. These guys were something else.
“I have something to talk to Theo about.” Lake’s tone was pointed.
River got up and glanced at me, giving me a little smile. “See you later.”
“Do you want to sit or talk and work?” I asked, standing up. “I need to stretch my back. That chair is horrible.”
Lake backed out of my office. “We can work.”
“I was cleaning the stalls. Wanna grab a fork and help me?”
“Sure!” Lake went to where we kept the tools and took one of the stable forks, then walked to the wheelbarrow in front of Ursula’s stall.
I went to the stall and picked up the fork I’d set against the wall. “So, what’s up?”
For a moment, we sorted through the bedding with the fork, removing anything that needed to be cleaned.
“I got an email from Maria, Ruth’s agent,” he said quietly.
“Okay?” I glanced at him and noticed he seemed troubled.
“How much do you know about the book stuff?”
“Not much. I know she had a deal for the previous ones but not the one she was writing. I know her old editor left the publisher some years back and she was bummed about it. She thought the new guy was good. That’s about it. Hudson is the one she talked more about that stuff with, since he handled the legal side for her.” I scooped some more wet bedding into the wheelbarrow and deemed the stall done. “Why?”
“I had a call with Maria last night. She…” Lake stopped moving and then went, “Fuck!” under his breath.
I felt oddly surprised. Lake had seemed so even tempered so far.
“What is it?”
