“No worries,” the man called back. “Just doin’ my civic duty.”
There was some laughter to follow.
“Is that what you’re referrin’ to?” Jeff asked. “The fact that I’m gay?”
Daniel’s eyes widened. Clearly he hadn’t expected Jeff to admit it.
“Don’t worry, the cat’s been outta that closet for a long time,” he assured Daniel. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I’m gonna check on Mack.”
As chatter sounded behind him, Jeff continued toward the door leading to the stockroom. To ensure their privacy, he closed and locked it behind him before making his way through the rows of shelves that housed bottles and glasses. He stepped around a few empty crates littering the floor.
“Mack?”
A heavy sigh alerted him to Mack’s presence. Jeff followed the sound, finding Mack sitting on an old wine barrel, elbows propped on his thighs, staring down at his hands.
“You all right?”
“That’s a damn good question,” Mack said, though he didn’t bother to look up. “I assume you came to see what the ruckus was all about.”
“Me and everyone else in town,” Jeff answered. “So, is it true? Are you sellin’?”
Tortured blue eyes finally lifted, and Jeff felt a tug somewhere in the center of his chest.
“You can talk to me, Mack,” he said softly. “Regardless of what’s goin’ on between us, I’m still your friend.”
Mack seemed to consider that for a minute before he sighed again. “Friends, huh?”
Oh, he wanted more than that, but now wasn’t the time and this certainly wasn’t the place for that conversation, so Jeff simply nodded.
They remained like that for what felt like an eternity, eyes locked, emotions being held back.
“I’ve actually been thinkin’ it over,” Mack told him. “And Daniel’s right.”
“About?”
“Everything.”
So they were back to that. The last conversation they’d had the night Mack had turned Jeff’s world upside down had revolved around Daniel being right. Mack had declared that night that he owed his son and he would do anything the boy wanted because Mack’s one and only objective in life was to make his son happy. Even at his own expense.
“And yes, I’ve decided to sell. The house, the bar. All of it.”
While that was what Jeff had expected him to say, it wasn’t what he’d hoped to hear.
Mack got to his feet. “I know why Travis did this.”
“To show you he supports you?” Jeff quipped, trying to wrangle the anger and pain.
“He’s hopin’ to intimidate me,” Mack answered.
“I don’t think that’s his reason.”
“He shows up here, brings half the damn town because he knew my son was gonna be here,” Mack argued. “I don’t need Travis’s help. Hell, I don’t need anyone’s help.”
“They’re here to support you,” Jeff said firmly. “Not to intimidate you. Or Daniel, for that matter.”
Not that they could intimidate Mack’s son. Daniel was too oblivious for that.
“So why areyouhere?” Mack asked.
