“Yeah. Of course. That was just weird,” Chase explains as my eyes trace a small crack in the plaster above us. “I’m just a little dumbfounded by how simple and nice that was. And also jealous.”
“She threatened to end you.”
He lets out a breathy chuckle. “Yeah. I’d prefer that to what my parents will say.”
We lie there in silence for a few minutes and just when I think he might be asleep he rolls onto his side and shifts lower in the bed, his head coming to rest on my chest. I pull my arm from behind my head and wrap it around his back. “How exactly did your parents react? You said it was great.”
“They were champs,” I tell him and fight the sadness creeping into my chest. “My dad nodded and hugged me and told me he didn’t care and my mom kissed my forehead and told me she was sorry that society made gay teens feel like they owed anyone, even their parents, an announcement and explanation of their sexuality.”
He tips his head up and I’m not surprised to see the shock on his face. “My mom was a rampant supporter of gay rights well before she had a gay son.”
“I wish I could have met them,” he finally says.
“I wish they could have met you,” I tell him, moving my head to gently kiss the top of his. “They’d be so happy I’ve fallen in love.”
“You have?”
“Yes. I have.” I feel his arm tighten across my chest, holding me closer. “I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner.”
“We were busy,” Chase quips and we’re both smiling. I don’t have to look at him to know. “I’m glad you feel the same but even if you didn’t, I would have been glad I told you anyway.”
A heartbeat passes.
“That’s a lie. It would have sucked,” Chase admits.
I laugh and he pulls himself up so he’s resting his head next to mine on the pillow. “I know it would’ve sucked. I’ve been there before.”
“You won’t be there again.”
Chase gently presses his palm into the side of my face and kisses me and I know he’s right. Between his family and that asshole Bennie and the election, I have no idea what happens next for us. But I do know, without a doubt, it isn’t heartbreak. And that’s enough.
25
CHASE
“Hey Chase!” Murphy calls out over the din of the crowd. “Can you tell your boyfriend if he wears a hole in the floor, Tanner is going to be just as pissed as he is when he breaks a glass.”
I smile at the joke and then walk over and block Bowen’s path so he has to stop pacing. I put my hands on his shoulders, which are covered in a very neatly pressed charcoal gray dress shirt. His hair is brushed and Autumn put some kind of product in it that keeps it flat. My fingers have been twitching all night with the need to muss it up. Our eyes meet and I can see the worry and fear in them. I’d do anything to take it away, but it’s not up to me. It’s up to the citizens of Burlington.
“Whatever happens, it’ll be okay.” He nods. I’m not buying it. “Say it. Repeat it.”
“Whatever happens it will be okay.” His shoulders seem to loosen a little. I pull him close for a minute and kiss his cheek. When I let go, he smiles. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
When Harrison agreed to host Woody’s supporters tonight, as a possible victory party, I took care of the audio visual, bringing the sixty-inch tv from my office’s conference room to the bar this afternoon and paying our tech guy overtime to set everything up. I even offered to pay for private caterers but the chef here wouldn’t hear of it. Joss Matheson is very protective about his kitchen, apparently. But he offered to make a special menu. There’re plates of incredible finger food everywhere. Tiny crispy flaky sausage rolls, individual prawn cocktails, and these things he calls Devils on Horseback which are dates wrapped in bacon and man, who knew that combination would be delicious? Apparently the Brits. It’s heaven.
The bar is pretty packed too. Woody has a lot of supporters, which makes me think he’s got a real shot at this despite the debacle with the paper. The front-page story last week was a retraction, clearing the Whitlock name and admitting the source gave false information. The lawyer, a friend of Peter’s, made sure that the paper knew that was the only way to avoid a legal battle. One she made it clear they would lose.
Grant, Joe, and his wife Sarah are here. So are all the bar staff and their partners. Bowen introduced me to most of them like Tanner and his husband Jax, Auden and his husband Carter, Chef Joss and his boyfriend Kai who grinned when he met me announcing, “Good to know the hot farmer is taken.”
Not really sure what that’s about, but I like that he — and everyone else — knows Bowen is mine.
The polls have been closed for over two hours, which was right around the time the love of my life started pacing. I take his hand in mine. “Want a drink?”
“Yes. But no. I shouldn’t,” he replies.
“Waiting for the champagne. Good call,” I say and he cocks his head, blinking at me.
