“Thanks,” Blake said, backing away from the counter. He didn’t expect Marcus to take long, but he wasn’t used to walking so far anymore. He took the bus to work, and it took him from his front door to the front door of his office building, so he was out of shape.
“Don’t think I haven’t seen that wedding band,” Jude said as Blake pulled his chair out.
Blake sighed as he sat down, touching the band automatically. Rusty had shown up with it, pointing out that people would expect them to wear one. It had been surprisingly thoughtful.
He couldn’t lie to Jude. His parents were one thing, but this was his friend.
“It’s… complicated,” he said. “It’s a long story, but the short version is that I got married in Vegas, except I didn’t think I was really married, because it was Valentine’s Day and I figured it was kind of meant to be a fun thing to do, and there was this guy, and he dragged me over and we signed some papers I guess. I didn’t really know him, I’d just met him while he was there, and he was fun.”
Blake paused as Marcus brought over their coffee and Kayla’s cupcake. It was one thing for Jude to know the truth, but the whole town didn’t need to.
“Anyway, fast forward to Saturday and he just… appears in my office, tells me it’s a fully legal marriage for both of us now, and that he wants a divorce. So I made him come with me to this because I wanted my parents to think I wasn’t acompletefailure and I’d managed to find someone to love me. Which actually sounds even more pathetic than it is.”
“It’s not pathetic,” Jude said. “And you’re not a failure, and you are worthy of love.”
Blake sighed. “Yeah, well. I’m signing the divorce papers after the wedding. And then Rusty can go home, and I can go home, and everyone will think I live a nice life with a beautiful man who cares about me.”
“That’s still not pathetic, but it is kinda sad,” Jude said. “I just want to hug you.”
Blake snorted. “I’ll take you up on that before I head back. I could use all the hugs I can get right now.”
“You can have unlimited hugs from me. And if you need to escape, my door is always open. You can come over anytime, day or night.”
“Thanks,” Blake said. “You were always too good to me.”
Jude shrugged. “That’s what friends are for,” he said.
Blake nodded, remembering a time when he’dhadfriends, when he’d had a home, when he hadn’t felt like he’d be miserable forever.
He’d missed this place. He’d missed the warmth, and the familiarity, and the only sense of home he’d ever known. Part of him wanted to call into work and tell them to send his last paycheck, he wasn’t coming back.
That he was staying here, where people smiled at him, and where he didn’t feel like he was in the wrong place.
But he wasn’t sure he could ever really have this place back, either.
He wasn’t sure he was even brave enough to try.
“So… catch me up on your life? Aside from the suddenly having a husband thing,” Jude asked, sipping his own coffee.
“There’s not much to tell.” Blake shrugged. “I just… fell into a job with a construction company who initially needed someone to organize their files. Eventually they made me a project manager when one of them retired. He told me that if I kept my head down and worked hard, there was no reason I couldn’t have forty years in the job.”
At the time, that had sounded like security to Blake.
He was beginning to think now that security was overrated.
“That… sounds like hell,” Jude said. “I’ve had some rough times, but…”
Blake smiled wryly. “Thanks.”
“I’m not… pitying you, or anything,” Jude rushed to say, wiping frosting off the table where Kayla had managed to fling it in the process of demolishing her cupcake. “I almost died while you were away, and I still probably wouldn’t do an office job in exchange. I need my soul.”
Blake blinked at Jude saying healmost died, but judging by the casual way he said it, that was a story for another time.
“I… need my soul, too,” Blake said, sighing. “I just… don’t know. My life is kind of a mess right now, and I’m not sure I can fix it.”
“Well, if you needanything, just let me know. We got each other through some pretty tough times before.”
“I’ll be okay,” Blake said. “But I appreciate that. And if there’s anything I can do for you…”
“Noted,” Jude said, deftly taking Kayla’s cupcake wrapper away from her as she finished tearing it up, barely even needing to look.
He was a good dad, and he seemed to have gotten everything he could have wanted.
Maybe good things did happen, and Blake just needed to be patient while he waited for his.
