The waitress delivered the beers at the same time Gage sat down. Neither of them needed to peruse the menu, so they ordered up the Friday special—chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and fried okra—times two.
“So, what’s up?” Gage leaned back and put his arm across the back of the booth. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“I’ve been out at Magnus’s place, workin’ for him while Ava healed up.”
“At the dog camp, right?”
Trey nodded.
“How’s she doin’, anyway? I haven’t heard much since y’all found her.”
“You helped make that happen,” Trey countered.
Gage had been part of the search team they’d brought in to scour the field where Brantley had found Harrison Rivers. Turned out it was where the bastard had dumped Ava, and he’d been returning to the scene of the crime in order to cover his own ass. Trey remembered the moment he’d seen the bloody rug. He’d been with Magnus, had heard the otherworldly pain that had escaped the man. They’d feared the worst, but thankfully, the rug was the only thing they’d recovered. He hated to think what would’ve happened if Ava had been…
He shook off the thought. Trey couldn’t even think it. It was too horrific.
“She doin’ all right?”
Trey took a sip of his beer. “Physically, she’s tip-top. She’s seein’ Piper for the other stuff.”
“Piper’s a good doctor. I’ve been seein’ her for a while now.”
Trey nodded his understanding even as a familiar lump formed in his throat. After Travis and Gage’s wife, Kylie, was murdered, the entire Walker family—hell, the whole town of Coyote Ridge—had gone into mourning. Although it was a significant loss to everyone who knew her, Travis, Gage, and their five kids had been devastated. Sometimes it felt like only yesterday, but it had been close to a year and a half now. He knew the pain would never go away completely, and they would never get over it, but they were making their way through. The healing process had begun.
“Did it help? Seein’ a shrink?” Trey prompted.
“It takes time, but she helped me work through a few things. Both in coping with the loss and my relationship with Travis.”
“Speakin’ of…” Trey took a sip of his beer. “I wanna ask you a personal question.”
“Shoot.”
Trey had to conjure up all the courage he could to get the question out, but he managed. “When you and Travis … got together, how’d you come to terms with it?”
“You talkin’ about the fact I was straight, Travis and Kylie were married, or that Travis wanted to be with a man and a woman?”
Trey grinned. “First and last, I guess.”
Gage’s eyebrows lifted slowly. “It might be easier if you give me some context.”
Trey wasn’t keen on spilling his personal life to just anyone, but he figured it was only fair considering what he was asking. “Magnus and I have been … seein’ each other for a while.”
“Okay. Is it serious?”
Trey nodded, refusing to deny it.
“But…?”
“He’s bisexual,” Trey stated. “But it’s more than that. He’s like Travis.”
“Ah. Meanin’ he’s not complete without a man and a woman?”
“Yeah. That’s what he claims.” Trey peered down at his beer bottle.
“I know firsthand that it’s not somethin’ Travis claims, Trey. What he gets from me and what he … got from Kylie … two very different things.”
Trey nodded. “Magnus actually laid it out to me in a way I understood today, so I’m not askin’ you to divulge Travis’s psyche.”
