Ethan was pissed. He knew that little shit was doing it on purpose.
If this was the Bronx he would have opened his window and told him to knock it the fuck off before he breaks his foot off in his ass. But nooooo, he just had to move to West Bubblefuck Small Town USA, where those kinds of things are taboo. Ethan Jr, EJ, stirred in his sleep next to him. Any minute now he was going to wake up and then Ethan was really going to go off.
Fuck it, he thought, I’m going up there.
He left the room and closed the door slightly, and then went to the door of his basement apartment under the Inn. He went up the stairs and passed through the door that connected to his office and entered the vestibule where the front desk was. Stacy, his front desk clerk, really his everything right now, glanced up when he passed by.
“Good morning, Ethan,” she said cheerily. But he did not hear her. She took one look at his face and looked away. He is going to blow his top, she thought.
Ethan swung upon the door to the Inn, the icy cold January morning wind hit him hard. He realized he was in pajama bottoms, slippers and a sweatshirt. But he was too hot with anger to care. “Oy! You!” He yelled at the garbage kid.
Jack had headphones on and was operating the incinerator part of the garbage truck right in front. He had not heard a word of what Ethan said, as he had his ear buds in his ear playing Justin Timberlake loudly.
Ethan walked closer and yelled, “Yooooooo!” He clapped his hands a few times then waved it in Jack’s face.
Jack took one ear bud out and said calmly, “The fuck are you doing, man?”
Ethan yelled, “Do you have to incinerate here? Right here!? The truck is already loud enough, but now it’s just a persistent grinding sound and nobody wants to hear that shit first thing in the morning.”
Jack was perplexed. Again. He said, “It’s 8:30am. On a Friday. Most people are either at work or on their way to work. I promise you, nobody gives a shit about the garbage truck.”
Ethan growled, “I give a shit. My son is still sleeping.”
Jack’s face softened a bit. “Oh. You have a son? That’s all you had to say then.” He cut off the incinerator, hit the side of the truck twice for it to move on. Sharon, his teammate who had been watching this exchange was amused. She dumped more garbage from the other side of the street in the truck as it slow crawled along.
Ethan said curtly, “Thank you.” He started walking away.
Jack did as well, but waited until Ethan was in front of the door of the Inn and said, “You know, you should try to be less of an asshole, for the sake of your son and all.”
Ethan turned around. Jack tapped his camouflage hat and smiled, then hopped of the back of the truck. As it moved on Ethan had only one thought: I hate that fucker.
~~~~~
The following Friday as the truck turned on Montour Street, Jack already rolled his eyes anticipating the drama.
“You think your boyfriend is going to have something to say again today?” Sharon said and laughed. Jack shook his head. “He needs to get fucking laid.”
He had never seen him before until about two weeks ago, right after the new year. He comes storming out of McKinley’s Inn and starts yelling at Jack about how he was throwing around the garbage cans. Truthfully Jack wasn’t doing anything differently to his cans than he did everyone else. He did his job by picking up the buckets, dumping them in the back and dropped it where it was. So it fell over from time to time. This dickhead acted like Jack raised it over his head and hurled it at the window. He jumped in Jack’s face like he was spoiling for a fight. Jack is typically calm in the face of drama but there was something about him that made Jack’s blood boil. He really thought this guy was going to hit him.
So Jack had to use humor to calm the situation down. He put on his strongest Irish accent and said, “Apologies sir, my arthritis is acting up. I’ll be careful not ta drop rubbish again sir.” He followed up with a deep bow. The guy looked at Jack like he was crazy.
Jack picked up the three trash bins and aligned them up perfectly, then did another deep bow. He got on the back on the truck. Once it was a good three feet away, he called out, “Fucking dickhead!” and stuck his middle finger up. That felt good.
The next week he comes over screaming at him while he was doing his job, incinerating the trash. Apparently it’s too loud for him, and Jack was thinking, where the fuck is dude from? He was about to get cursed out again, but then he mentioned his son so Jack decided to be nice — sort of. He still called him an asshole. Because he is. Whoever McKinley got managing his Inn now is the fucking worse and he’ll be sure to tell him that the next time he sees him.
As Jack picked up trash and walked closer to the Inn, he saw Mr. Dickhead sitting out front. It was lightly snowing and he was all bundled up on the bench outside the Inn with a boy no older than two on his lap, also bundled up. The boy was in awe of the falling flakes, but his eyes went wide when he saw the truck.
“TRUCK!” The boy squealed and clapped excitedly.
Jack walked right over, he loves kids. He used to work at the daycare around the corner, named Just In Time, in high school and the additional year after he graduated before he got this job.
“Well hey little man,” he said. “I hope we didn’t wake you today.”
The boy pointed and smiled a wide smile, then yelled, “TRUCK!”
“Yes,” Jack said. “It’s a garbage truck. And I’m a garbage man.” Ethan snorted a laugh. Jack finally addressed him. “What? Nothing to yell about today?” Jack turned around and started emptying out the trash containers.
“No, he was already awake,” Ethan said. “And if you did your job correctly you wouldn’t need to get yelled at.”
Jack put the three containers down gently, stood there and smiled at Ethan. “Tell Mr. McKinley he has a grade A asshole looking over his place for me, will you?”
“Mr. McKinley retired in December when I bought this place from him. I own it now.
Jack’s smile faded quickly as Ethan’s rose triumphantly. “That’s right,” he said. “I’m the new Mr. McKinley.”
Jack scoffed and walked on following the truck. “You are not Mr. McKinley,” he said. “You will never be Mr. McKinley.”
EJ yelled after him, “Truck!”
The next Friday they saw each other was the first week in February. Ethan was again outside with the toddler, bundled up in a baby carrier on his chest. He was decorating the outside bay windows for Valentines Day. Jack read the sign: Have a romantic weekend at the Starling Bed and Breakfast. He laughed out loud and caught Ethan and EJ’s attention.
Ethan rolled his eyes as EJ started yelling, “Truck truck truuuuuuck!” He said, “Don’t you have a mundane job to do?”
Jack could not help but dig back. “Hey, Not Mr. McKinley, Do you breastfeed him too?” he asked pointing at EJ. “Maybe that’s why you’ve been hormonal lately.”
Ethan puffed out air, annoyed as Jack walked on. “No, but somebody should have breastfed your imbecilic ass. You could have used the extra brain cells.”
Jack called out, “Hey Not McKinley, guess who has two digits and not getting any ass on Valentine’s Day?” He raised up two middle fingers and pointed it at Ethan and smiled.
Ethan gave him a death stare and Jack laughed and walked on, leaving Ethan to mutter, “I really hate that motherfucker.”
~~~~~
EJ went to the window every Friday since the last encounter. As much as Ethan wanted to slap the shit out of the garbage kid, EJ wanted to see it up close and he wouldn’t deny EJ those simple pleasures. Ethan Junior was his whole world. So he gritted his teeth and got dressed to sit outside and let EJ see the truck. He tried not to trade insults but he couldn’t help it. What an arrogant prick. A small town big man. He wouldn’t survive in the city, no way.
Jack on the other hand looked forward to trading insults. The only way to beat an asshole is to be an even bigger asshole. Go big or go home, as his cousin Wilhelmina would say. Also, EJ was a cute kid. Light brown hair, chubby cheeks, stubby fingers and an infectious laugh. He found out is name was EJ by what Mr. Dickhead called him, and figured the J was for junior, but didn’t know what the E stood for. Enzo? Elijah? Elliot? He looks like an Elliot. Maybe Edwin. But Jack would not give him the satisfaction of asking. It really bothered him that he called him Not Mr. McKinley, Jack could tell.
The last Friday in February, Jack found himself sad to see the bench empty. He glanced at the window and saw Not Mr. McKinley staring at him with a cup of coffee in his hand. Jack touched his hat as acknowledgment. Ethan nodded acknowledging him back. Jack emptied out the trash, lined up the containers and kept moving without a glance back. But the following week, the start of March, they were back on the bench.
Like clockwork EJ cheered and said, “Truck!”
Jack said, “Hey little guy, missed you. Got something for you. But I need your dad to dig into my side pocket.” Jack came closer and Ethan was suspicious. He hesitated, but then reached in, pulling out a miniature toy garbage truck. EJ was over the moon.
“TRUUUUUUUCK!” He squealed.
“I hope you didn’t get this out of someone’s trash to give to my son.”
Jack’s mouth dropped. “No, you asshole, why would I do that?”
EJ was talking loudly over them, “truck truck trrrruuuuuck!” trying to reach the toy that was still in Ethan’s hands. Ethan slowly gave it to EJ as Jack started walking on, shaking his head.
Ethan sighed. He said to his son, “EJ, what do you say to….the man?”
“Truck!”
“No…say thank you. Thaaank yoooou.”
“Kaaaankoo!” EJ tried.
Jack laughed. “It’s Jack. In case you wanted to know.”
Ethan said curtly, “I didn’t.”
Jack nodded. “OK, Not McKinley.” He finished emptying the trash containers and started moving on.
Ethan sighed again. He called out, “Thank you. Jack. For thinking of him.”
Jack turned around and smiled wide. This was the first time Ethan noticed his dimples. Cute. Then Jack said, “See? Isn’t it nice to not be an asshole sometimes? That obedience school your owners put you in must be working.”
Ethan glared at Jack, making him laugh more. Little shit, he thought to himself.
~~~~~
A couple of weeks and warmer weather later, Ethan was again without EJ. He was outside power washing the front of the Inn when the truck came around. Jack, as he was taking out the trash said, “Did the kid finally get tired of looking at your ugly mug and run away?”
“No,” Ethan said without looking at Jack. “He spends a week with his mother and grandparents every month.”
“Well that’s good for you right? You get a little break from parenting.”
“I don’t need a break from my son,” Ethan said curtly.
“Parenting is a full time job,” Jack said. “Just because you love doing something and center your life around it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exhaust you from time to time. It’s OK to want to recoup a bit. Breathe.”
Ethan finally looked at Jack. “I don’t recoup when he is away from me. I worry. Ruminate. For six days until I’m back in the car to get him and bring him home.”
Jack finished emptying out the trash. “Okay. I hear you. Not Mr. McKinley.” He smiled a little. Ethan again noticed the dimples, closer up. Very cute. Jack walked on.
He’s being nice, be nice too, Ethan thought to himself. “It’s Ethan. Not…Not Mr. McKinley. Just Ethan.”
Jack did a sideways smile that was even cuter than his full smile. He said, “I think I like Not Mr. McKinley better,” he said and winked before running to catch up with the truck. Ethan’s stomach did a butterfly flip. Stop it, he told himself.
Jack started bringing EJ something every week: Three magnet blocks, lollipops, squishy dollar store toys. But EJ loved his garbage truck toy beyond everything else. He would fall asleep with it in his hand or near his pillow. Ethan who ended up co-sleeping with his son more than he would like, spent many nights rolling over and coming face to face with the toy truck. He would then remember Jack, his attitude, his arrogance…his pretty smile with dimples on each cheek, the way his black hair turns up in the back of his head under his hat…
And then Ethan would groan at himself for even allowing himself to even think it for a second. He’s not even his type, he looks too young and he’s a bit on the thin side. Ethan has never been into twinks. He falls for older, sophisticated men, men with money and authority have always been a weakness of his. Someone that could teach him something inside and outside the bedroom. Not cute dimples and a cocky grin. It’s just been a while since he got laid, he told himself. He was not interested in the garbage kid.
~~~~~
One late April afternoon, Ethan was in the Wine and Spirits store stocking up reds and whites when he heard a voice behind him. “Hey, Not Mr. McKinley!”
Jack was standing there in street clothes. Ethan had never seen him in anything outside of a full work jumper and without that stupid camouflage hat. He had jet black hair that went in different directions giving him the eternal look of bedhead, but it worked on him. Really worked. He also had dark green eyes the drew you in, especially when he smiled, which he was at the moment. And those damn dimples. Dimples that made Ethan’s stomach do a butterfly flip again.
He was wearing a yellow t-shirt and blue jeans and a pair of black, yellow and red Nikes. Really cute. And Ethan was able to see the definition in his arms, he worked out a bit. Not as skinny as Ethan originally thought. Ethan’s stomach jolted again, but he ignored it.
“Ethan.” He corrected his name.
“No, I’m Jack, remember?” Jack said.
Ethan said, “No, I’m…” but then he saw the sideways grin and the sparkle in Jack’s eyes. Ethan shook his head, turned back to what he was doing.
“Finally doing something fun on your off week?” Jack asked.
“Nope. Just pricing wine for the B&B.”
Jack was thoughtful. “Come out tonight. I’m meeting some friends around 8pm at the Red Rock Bar and Grill on Dunks Ferry Road, just a few blocks over from you.”
Ethan did not look up. “It’s Thursday, Jack.”
“So? People didn’t get drunk on Thursday nights where you’re from?”
“Not people who have jobs,” Ethan said.
Jack scoffed. “I have a job. I gotta be there at 5:30am every day. What’s your point?”
Ethan still did not look up. “My point is that your job doesn’t require a lot of brain activity, whereas my job requires me to be alert, of sound mind, think and function clearly. You can roll out of bed or roll directly from the bar and still dump trash. I can’t.”
Jack took a moment, then said, “Actually, studies have shown that drinking at moderate levels, approximately a glass of wine a day, lowers the risk of dementia by 77%. Red wine in particular has been known to help prevent coronary artery disease, especially in women. And, people who socially drink have richer social lives thus living happier and longer. So in 60 years I’ll be skinny dipping in Aspen with my inebriated friends, and you’ll probably have died 40 years earlier from dementia, alone and with a bad heart.”
Ethan had turned his head to look at Jack during his speech, surprised. Jack turned to walk away, but then turned back again. “Also, fuck you. I’m a lot smarter than you’ll ever know.”
He went into the next aisle leaving a stunned Ethan to stare after him. Jack grabbed two bottles of Jack Daniels humorously, and walked to the front, paid and left, never glancing back Ethan’s way.
Ethan though about Jack for the rest of the day. It was a nice gesture to invite him out, and he had no idea why he reacted that way. At 8pm he decided to get dressed and go to the Red Rock, at the very least to apologize for being condescending. And really, it’s not like he had anything to do tonight, his plan was to continue watching a show on Netflix he started earlier in the week. He dressed casual, jeans, button down solid color red shirt, brown loafers.
He walked the two blocks down, two blocks over to the Red Rock. It was relatively empty, but the back room had a few people in it. He walked over and saw Jack in the middle of the room telling a story that had everyone in stitches. There were about 10 people in the room. He stood at the door awkwardly.
Jack noticed and looked surprised. “Hey, Not Mr. McKinley decided to slum it with the townees!” He called out.
Ethan rolled his eyes and almost turned around to leave but Jack ran up to and grabbed his arm, smiled and handed him the beer he was drinking. “I’m glad you came,” he said sincerely.
He led him in and said, “Hey everyone. This is Ethan Starling. He bought McKinley’s place, turning it into a B&B.” Ethan was surprised he knew his full name.
Jack introduced Ethan to his family and friends. “This is June, my kid sister, Henrietta who we can’t call Etta anymore because she’s getting a fancy degree and Wilhelmina who we call Mina, they are my cousins. This is Brayden, Etta’s other half, Connor, Afia, Winter, Rick, Liam – that’s Stacy’s twin in case you didn’t know she had one. That’s Ben, we call him BJ, he runs Red Rock with his brother, Sam. Their dad Ben Jennings Sr. owns it, along with a couple of other businesses in Rhode Island. They are my closest neighbors.” Ethan shook hands with everyone.
Liam approached him first. “You’re my sister’s boss. She says the place is really coming along.”
They talked for a bit, then Ethan looked around. There was a cake on the table near the back that said Happy Birthday Jack on it. He looked at Jack who was on the other side of the room starting a pool game. He walked over to him. “It’s your birthday.”
“Yes. The big 23,” Jack said. “Contrary to what you think, I don’t get randomly drunk midweek unless it’s a special occasion. I’m Irish, but I’m not that Irish.” He winked and smiled again.
Those damn dimples. Those enticing green eyes. Ethan smiled back before he knew he was doing it. But then was serious. “I’m sorry about earlier. It was….elitist of me to talk to you like that.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Only elitist people use the term elitist. Just say you were being a dickhead. And you’re forgiven. Now come lose some money in this pool game, we need a fourth.”
They played teams, Jack and Henrietta, Ethan and Connor. Jack and Henrietta won the first round, Ethan and Connor won the second, then Ethan and Connor let them win the 3rd round. They moved back over to the others and hung out.
Jack found out a lot of about Ethan through his friends asking him the questions. He is originally from the Bronx, New York, and moved to Greenwich, Connecticut as a teen when his father got a big promotion. He graduated from UConn with an BS in Financial Management and got his MBA at Yale. He was a senior financial analyst for a medical device company until he quit his job last fall and moved to Rockville. “I just needed a slower pace for my son,” he told Henrietta and Brayden.
June and Ethan talked for a while. She was finishing up her second year at NYU, as an accounting major trying to figure out what to do with her degree. Since Ethan’s bachelors and masters is in financial management, they talked about different career options, especially in New York.
Ethan also found out things about Jack. He and his sister were raised by their uncle Henry, who owns an apple tree farm and business distribution where sell their apples up and down the east coast everywhere from farmer’s markets to supermarkets. When inquiring about their parents, June simply said, “They died when we were young. I don’t remember much and Jack doesn’t like talking about it.”
He also spent a considerable amount of time with BJ and Brayden, both the same age as him at 26, talking business ideas. Brayden’s father Brian and Jack’s uncle Henry are business partners and Brayden works for the company as the Senior Marketing and Sales Operations Manager. Ethan, Brayden and BJ discussed marketing and budgeting for the Red Rock, and how to enhance his profit margin until Jack came over with shots for the three of them and told them to stop being nerds.
Winter got him up and dancing, and flirted with him heavily. He didn’t have the heart to tell her the only woman he has ever been with was his wife. Ex-wife, he had to keep reminding himself. Ethan was pretty much gay. And before the night was out Liam was offered a second shift desk clerk position that Ethan didn’t even know he needed. “So on nights like tonight, you don’t have to carry around a work phone for emergencies or pay Stacy overtime, because I’ll be there!”
They ate wings of every flavor, sang happy birthday badly, ate cake, and drank Jack Daniel’s whiskey, all in honor of Jack. Oddly enough, Ethan and Jack barely spoke to each other, but instead stole glances at each other when the other wasn’t looking. Jack was pleased to see Ethan was loosening up. He decided he had a boy next door look about him but a slightly more ruggish facial features, with a head full of brown hair, square jaw, thin top lip, fuller bottom lip, light brown eyes. Very easy on the eyes. Not that Jack was looking, of course. Just that he is actually a pretty nice guy when he wasn’t being an asshole, Jack thought to himself.
He watched Winter push herself on him unapologetically and he was polite about it, but there was something in the way he averted her advances, like he didn’t find her attractive at all. And Winter was definitely attractive, half Brazilian, bronzed skin, wavy hair, hazel eyes, curves in all the right places and a lot of sex appeal. His gaydar was going off a bit as he watched him. Ethan just got 100 times more interesting to him.
At 11:30pm, people started filtering out one by one. Ethan rose as well to leave and Winter approached him. “If you aren’t busy this weekend, we could go out. I actually live in Providence and I know some great places.”
“I’m sorry, I have to pick up my son this weekend. Maybe another time.” He smiled politely.
Winter feigned disappointment. “Well,” she said, “In case you make time…”
She slid a piece of paper with her number on it to him and kissed him on the cheek, then she left with Afia and Connor. Jack watched Ethan put the paper in his pocket but not before he crumpled it up. He is never going to call her, Jack thought.
Ethan caught Jack watching him and walked over. “Thanks for inviting me, this was fun.”
Jack said, “Thanks for celebrating my 23rd with me.” He reached out to shake his hand which Ethan took and held. “Now walk safe out there, it may be a little dark for someone like you.”
Jack smiled that dimpled smile. He’s so fucking cute, Ethan thought. Feeling tipsy and with a loose tongue, and still holding Jack’s hand, Ethan said, “I don’t mind things going bump in the night.”
He winked and squeezed his hand. Then walked out leaving a stunned Jack standing there. Jack’s insides were screaming two things: One, Ethan was definitely gay; and two, he just flirted with him.
~~~~~
The next day was Friday. Ethan stood at the window and waited for Jack’s truck. He didn’t know why, he just wanted to see him. It might have something to do with the unwarranted dream he had about him last night.
As he heard the truck turn the corner, he pretended to be busy cleaning the huge bay window. Jack came by and waved at Ethan through the window. Ethan waved back. He emptied the trash, placed the containers back neatly in a row, and hopped on the back of the truck and rode off, without a glance back at the window.
Well that was…anticlimactic. He didn’t know what he expected, but he was disappointed with how typical it all was.
The next couple of Fridays were more of the same. Jack went back to calling him Not Mr. McKinley but with less insults, and giving EJ presents. Ethan found himself thinking about Jack on the other days of the week. But he was also busy training Stacy’s brother Liam whom he almost forgotten that he had given him a job, which Stacy made clear she was not happy about.
“Get your own fucking job,” she told Liam the first day he showed up. “Stop trying to steal mine.”
To appease her, he changed her title to Front Desk Manager and offered her her own daytime schedule. She choose 6am to 2:30pm, and to be off Mondays and Tuesdays. Ethan gave Liam a 1:30pm to 10pm schedule, him being off Wednesdays and Thursdays, so they only saw each other for about an hour a day, outside of living in the same house, and that suited them just fine.
~~~~~
The Wednesday before Ethan had to take EJ to Connecticut in that last week in May, he came upstairs with EJ on his heels, and Jack was in the vestibule talking with Liam. He wore a pair of light colored jeans that hung right at his hips and showed the curve of his ass, a white long sleeved Nike t-shirt and blue and white Nike sneakers. Again Ethan’s stomach jolted, he looked good in regular clothes. Stop it, he told himself.
“Jack,” he greeted.
“Not Mr. McKinley,” Jack replied coolly. Ethan despite himself smiled and Jack found himself smiling back.
“Ethan have you heard of the Pawtucket Red Sox?” Liam asked.
Ethan looked at Liam willing himself not to look back at Jack. “Can’t say that I have.”
“They aren’t half bad, won a couple of league titles recently. You should check them out. Opening Day is this weekend,” Liam said.
“Yeah? I think I will.”
EJ who was between Ethan’s legs said “Truck!”
Jack knelt down and held up his hand. EJ walked over and gave him a high five, which Jack encouraged three more times. “EJ, you’re the best,” he said.
EJ gave him a hug, which was sweet and surprising. Jack hugged him back and then looked at Ethan who was watching the exchange. He stood up quickly, “Sorry. He just-”
Ethan cut him off. “No, it’s fine, he sees you once a week and it’s like he knows you. So it’s OK.”
“You have a great kid there.”
“Thanks.”
A moment passed and Jack realized he was staring at Ethan a little too long. His tight black t-shirt showed off the muscles in his arms and he had a fleeting thought of being held by him. He quickly turned back to Liam. “I’ll pick you up on Sunday. I’ll drive.” He nodded back at Ethan and headed out.
Liam watched Ethan watch Jack walk out. Well this is interesting, he thought. He said, “You’re welcomed to join us if you want.”
Ethan tore his eyes away from the closed door and looked at Liam. “Sorry, I have to bring my son down to his grandparents for the week.”
~~~~~
The following Friday afternoon, Jack walked into the Inn, said hi to Liam and asked, “Where’s Ethan?”
He had caught Ethan staring at him earlier in the day as he was taking out the trash. Jack likewise thought too much about Ethan in the last few weeks and needed the awkwardness to end when they were around each other.
Liam answered him,”In the backyard installing a new fence. Why?”
Jack didn’t respond, just went through the dinning room out the double french doors to find Ethan in a tank top and jeans in the late may sun. Jack liked what he saw but pushed those feelings down. Ethan who was nailing fence plants to posts looked up surprised to see Jack coming toward him.
“Hey,” he said first.
“Hey, what are you doing tonight?”
“Um…this.” Ethan pointed to the unfinished fence.
“Dude, you cant put up a fence in the dark,” Jack said.
Ethan shrugged. “What’s up?”
“Come out with me tonight. At Red Rock.”
“Why?” Ethan asked, before he could stop himself.
“Because it’s Friday. You’re kid-less. And you look like you could use some friends.”
“Is that what we are now? Friends?”
“We don’t have to be friends if you don’t want to be. I just figured you would want to make a friend in this town. Someone who doesn’t have to follow your orders, work for you or live in your B&B.” Ethan stared at him in silence, expression unreadable. Jack let a moment pass, then said, “Okay.” He nodded and turned around to walk away.
Ethan blurted out, “What time?” a little louder than what he intended.
Jack smiled, then turned around with a straight face. “8 o’clock. I’ll meet you here.” He left before Ethan could change his mind. Ethan was stunned and confused. It felt like he was being asked out on a date, but Jack specifically said “friends.”
He walked back inside and said to Liam, “Hey, do you mind working an extra hour tonight? I’m going to head to the bar tonight.”
“Hell yeah I’ll work overtime. Stay until midnight!” Liam said. Ethan went downstairs to pick out what he was going to wear to this…friendship outing.
Jack came into the Inn promptly at 8pm. He wore dark blue jeans, a light green polo shirt that bought out his eyes, and gray and light green Air Max sneakers. Ethan came upstairs in blue jeans, a black button down short sleeved shirt, black boots. Jack noticed he shaved, no light brown scuff on his face and he combed his hair. He actually looked handsome. And smelled even better when he got close, a light musk.
Jack as usual pushed down his thoughts of Ethan in a sexy way and asked, “You ready?”
“Yeah.” Ethan followed Jack out and they walked in silence the two blocks down and two blocks over to the Red Rock. It was more crowded today, so crowded that their were no tables available and they had to sit at the bar. They ordered beers and watched the baseball game on TV.
Jack started, “So you’re from the Bronx.”
“Born and raised.”
“Yankees fan?”
“You can’t be from the Bronx and not be a Yankee fan, Even if you don’t follow the sport, it’s like a blood rite.”
Jack laughed. “Well I guess that makes us mortal enemies.”
Ethan looked at him sadly. “No. Tell me you aren’t a Red Sox fan?”
“My uncle originally settled in Boston when he came over, and he kind of raised us to love them.” Jack said. They talked about the Yankees win over the Red Sox in 2003 while the Red Sox won in 2004. “When did you move to Connecticut?”
Ethan told him, “At 16. My dad got a promotion that relocated him to the Hartford office. God, I hated being there. As soon as I turned 17 and got my license, I would drive down to Riverdale as much as I could.”
“Why did you hate it so much?”
“It’s so….white up there.”
Jack laughed. “You know you’re white, right? Like Irish cream pastry white.”
“Yea, I’m white but I’m New York City white, not old money, yacht club, look at these good liberals helping poor brown folks by donating to charities, kind of white. Those people are sickening.” Jack laughed heartily. “Plus, I missed my friends, my black and brown friends. I had just started a relationship too…” He trailed off.
“Was it Ethan’s mother?”
“God no. I met Patricia, Trish, in college. We were friends who ran in the same circles and partied together. One night we partied a little too hard, ended up in bed together.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “And when you say partied…”
“Way too much Tequila, weed and molly.”
“Wow. I can’t picture it, you on molly.”
Ethan laughed. “And you’ll never get a chance to. I’ll never touch that stuff again.”
Jack laughed with him. “So what happened? You just kept sleeping together?”
Ethan scoffed. “No. It was a one night stand. Then she disappeared. Three months later she shows at my place, tells me she is 12 weeks pregnant, it’s a boy and she’s keeping it. I was 23, just starting out and scared shitless. But what’s a good Irish Catholic boy to to when you knock a girl up?”
Jack chided, “You marry her.”
“And so I did,” Ethan said bitterly. He took a sip of his beer as if he was trying to wash the taste out of his mouth.
Jack let a moment pass, then asked, “Did you ever love her?”
“Yes. But not in romantic way. I loved her as a person. And I love that she gave me EJ. She could have aborted him and I would have never known. But she didn’t. I will always love her for that.”
“So what happened to your marriage?” Jack kept asking questions because it was interesting getting to know Ethan personally. And Ethan kept talking.
“We were good for a moment, until she actually had EJ. It was like a light switch went off and she spiraled into a major depression. I was working long hours, making a shit load of money to provide for us, bought us a condo in Co-Op City. All she had to do was stay home and raise the baby and she just couldn’t do it. By 6 months she was using again, weed, pills. She would be strung out and my kid is crying in the fucking crib. I blame myself really, for not being there. I should have seen the signs. But I didn’t want to be there, and that’s the worse feeling ever, being in a marriage that you didn’t want in the first place.
“We fought all the time and when we weren’t fighting we weren’t speaking. I was miserable, and I started seeing…someone at work to feel better by the time EJ was 1. I told her I wanted a divorce, she told me no. I filed papers and everything and she refused to sign. So we were legally separated living in the same house for another six months until she caught me in the act with…with my….with someone else.” Jack raised his eyebrows again but didn’t say anything, let Ethan continue.
“She called me all kinds of names, then left, but she left EJ there. I had to take a few days off from work to figure out childcare which was basically my parents in Greenwich and working from home. Apparently she moved back to Greenwich as well with her parents so we tried to co-parent, a week with them, a week with us, until one day I come to pick him up and she is in her parent’s bed getting fucked while some methhead is literally trying to breastfeed my son, and EJ is screaming bloody murder. I could have killed her and everyone in that house.
“Instead I took my son, told her that if she ever wanted to see EJ again she needed to take me to court. So she did, although I’m pretty sure her parents put her up to that, she had zero interest in being a mom. We fought for another three months nastily, but by Thanksgiving it was done, my divorce was final and we had a visitation schedule. I had already decided I was moving away from all of it. After what he had been through in his short life I needed some place safe, calm and loving to raise him.
“I was driving back from Maine after visiting a few places and stopped here on December 6 because the ice storm and snow blocked the roads. I ended up at the Inn, talked a while with McKinley, found out he was looking for someone to buy him out so he could move in with his daughter and son in law in Tampa. I spent one night here, then gave him a cash offer and he took it. We closed on January 2nd, EJ’s birthday.”
“Wow. Just…wow.” Jack was stunned hearing Ethan’s story.
“I know.”
“So does EJ actually see his mom or does he spend the whole time with his grandparents?”
“I honestly do not know. And I don’t really care. I’m fulfilling my agreement by bringing him down once a month. I know he is safe with them. But for EJ’s sake, I just wish she would commit, just a little bit more, to being a presence in his life. At some point that kid is going to have a lot of questions, and I don’t know how I’m going to answer them.”
Jack didn’t know what to say at first, but then said sincerely, “EJ is lucky to have you as a father. You’re a really good dad.”
Ethan smiled. “Thanks.” He decided he liked talking to Jack. Then said, “You’re turn. I heard you were born in Ireland. You dip in and out of that accent pretty well.”
Jack smiled and said in his Irish accent, “How’s da craic?”
Ethan laughed. “That’s amazing.” They laughed together. “So what happened? Why did you come over?”
Jack took a sip of beer and a couple of seconds to answer. “My parents died leaving us orphans.” He still spoke in an Irish accent. “My uncle Henry, my mum’s older brother, took us in, raised us as his own. I was six, Junie was two. She doesn’t remember a thing about Dublin obviously, but I do. I remember it all.”
Ethan had never seen Jack so gloomy and serious, almost ominous. His dark green eyes were almost black. He touched Jack’s arm. “We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
Jack turned to him. “Thanks. Because I don’t want to talk about it. Ireland that is.” Ethan noticed his accent stopped.
Ethan switched gears.”OK, tell me what it was like growing up here?”
“You mean in my lily-white town of good liberals?” They laughed. He continued, “It’s like…having extended family everywhere you go. There is a lot of love and community. But everyone is in everyone’s business. If I threw a rock at Mr. Pearson’s car, my uncle would hear about it by the time I got home.”
“Did you throw a rock at Mr. Pearson’s car?”
Jack laughed. “I was aiming for the bird!” They laughed again.
“So anyway I went from being an angry kid to a quiet and angry one by middle school. Practiced my American accent in the mirror every day but was afraid to talk to others and be made fun of, but if I ever was I would be ready to throw a punch, so the other kids pretty much left me alone. I barely had friends that weren’t tied to Etta and I was fine with that, which is why all my friends are older than me except Liam and Stacy. I focused on school and reading for fun, and stayed in my apple tree.
“Then one summer, BJ and Sam’s cousin came over to visit from Albania for the summer, Chris. He was biracial, Irish dad, Mr Jennings’s younger brother, and African mom. He spoke three languages fluently, worldly, smart, just an amazing guy. He loved life and having fun and naturally everyone wanted to be around him, including me. Even though I was about two years younger, he took a liking to me and…. it changed my life. He was actually the one that introduced me to the twins Stacy and Liam — by the way they hate being called that.”
Ethan laughed. “I know, trust me.”
Jack continued, “He just walked right up them in the park, me trailing behind him and offered a game of soccer that he called football. And that was that. He also pulled me along to whatever he and his cousins were doing. By the end of the summer Connor and Sam became my closest friends and Liam became my best friend.
“And then he left. I wish we had remained friends but we didn’t, I haven’t seen or heard from him since I was 15 years old. Hanging with him gave me the confidence I needed to know that I am…ok. That I’m an interesting person that people would actually like to get to know. And if they didn’t like me, fuck ’em. Someone else would. Honestly I think he started hanging out with me to get into Henrietta’s pants but still all worth it in the end.” He laughed and Ethan joined him.
Then Ethan asked, “You never thought of leaving?”
Jack, shrugged. “One time or another. I always wanted to go to college. I got into UPenn, NYU and Stanford. I thought I would become a child psychologist, focused on children with trauma. But I couldn’t decide if that’s what I really wanted to do, plus I didn’t want to leave Junie just yet, so I decided to take a gap year, work and stuff, then revisit it. That was four years ago. No, five years ago now. Huh.”
Ethan was astonished he had gotten into such great schools. “Wow. That’s impressive. What was your GPA?”
“4.0. 1450 on my SAT’s. But again, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t want to waste my time or my uncle’s money. He had already done more than enough.”
Ethan nodded. “You are a lot smarter than I though. I’m really sorry about that.” Jack smiled at him. He liked Ethan. Liked that he is honest and sincere, an easy to talk to. This friendship thing could work.
They talked about other random stuff, ate wings, tacos and mozzarella sticks. They drank more beer but nothing harder than that. Ethan learned that Jack is an early riser, runs a 5k every morning before his shift. He likes to eat healthy most of the time, and stay fit, but doesn’t like to cook. He is also a skilled marksman with any firearm you put in his hand. He works in the warehouse where apples are stored, packaged and distributed.
“Technically my uncle made me a manager, but unless I have to step into that role, usually just do the same work as everyone else.”
Ethan asked, “Why do I get the sense that you shy away from decision making and commitment? Like you are waiting for something or someone else to come along for you to choose a path.”
Jack pursed his lips like he wanted to stop himself from saying something and smiled. Then said, “You are very observant.”
“You won’t grow like that you know,” Ethan said. “You have way too much potential to be stagnated. Even if you stay here, you should want to commit to something, anything that will help you grow. And whatever you decide, you will be amazing at it.”
Jack didn’t respond at first. Then said softly, “Thanks.”
Jack learned that Ethan has a love for art, and even used to paint and make clay structures in college. “For fun,” he said. “I probably would have been an art major if my parents would have allowed it. But they would have disowned me. I could get a girl pregnant but I God forbid I didn’t have a lucrative career.”
Jack heard what he didn’t say. And since Ethan exposed his inner most thoughts regarding committing to things, he decided to do the same. “So art doesn’t sound like just a hobby for you then. It sounds like a passion. Do you still paint at all?”
Ethan said casually, “No, no time really.”
“That’s a cop out if I ever heard one. Why are you running from the one thing that makes you happy?”
Ethan did not respond at first. Then laughed. “You’re good at reading people, you know that?”
Jack smiled. “You didn’t answer the question. What are you afraid of?”
Ethan sighed. “Art is my passion, you’re right. It has been my outlet for every emotion that I’ve had, good and bad. But it led me down a path that also led to pain and heartbreak. If I pick up a paint brush or chalk right now, I don’t know what I would draw. Maybe I’m afraid of that. What I will draw.” He sighed again.
“There is only one way to find out,” Jack said. “Maybe it won’t be as scary as you think it will be. In fact, it might be more liberating than you think.”
Ethan was quiet, then said, “Maybe.”
They talked about the Inn and all the plans Ethan had for it. Jack told him, “Everyone is still going to call it The Inn, just so you know.”
Right now Ethan is the one making the beds and breakfast at his B&B with Stacy’s help, but he plans on hiring a daytime chef. He also needs someone to help with the maintenance of the place. ”
It’s small, only eight rooms in total, but things just keep coming apart when I least expect it to. Now that it’s almost the summer, traffic and reservations have picked up some, which is great. Honestly the only reason my parents didn’t freak out about me buying the Inn with a huge chunk of my savings is because they saw it as a business venture, and they know all that I had been through since I left home.”
By the time Ethan looked at the time it was well after 11pm. “Shit, now I have to pay Liam for two hours.”
Jack said casually, “Well let me pay for this since you have to pay your employee tonight.” He called Sam over for the check.
Ethan again began to have a date feel to the evening. He cleared his throat and said, “OK, I got next time.”
Jack smiled that smile of his that makes Ethan’s stomach butterfly flip. “Deal,” he said.
They walked out together. It was a warm night and they made small talk as they walked slowly back to the Inn. No one was in the streets. When they got there, Jack raised his hand to give Ethan a dap when Ethan said, “I want to tell you something.”
Jack lowered his hand. “Okay.”
Ethan took a breath and said, “When I said I had started seeing someone during my marriage….it was a man. I’m…I’ve…always dated men. Except my wife obviously. Ex-wife.” He had no idea why he was so nervous.
Jack kept his face neutral. “Okay.”
Ethan took another breath. “I hope that doesn’t change anything between us. That we can still be friends. That you won’t look at me any differently….” He trailed off.
Jack decided to put him out of his misery. “Well I’m gay, so no, it doesn’t change anything for me.”
Ethan’s mouth formed a slight o in surprise. “Oh. I don’t think I realized….” He trailed off again.
“Well then your gaydar is way off or your haven’t been paying attention.” Jack laughed.
Ethan blurted out, “Was this a date?”
Jack’s turn to look surprised. “Um…no. At least that wasn’t my intention.”
“Oh.”
“Did you want-”
“No! I mean…there’s nothing wrong with you, or anything.” Ethan could feel himself grow red, thankful for the night sky. “I just don’t have time to date, between EJ and the B&B and I just got divorced, I just-”
Jack held up his hand. “Hey! I wasn’t asking. I just wanted to know what you were thinking. I’m good, trust me. You’re too old for me anyway.” He smiled.
“I’m 26, asshole.” He squinted his eyes at Jack.
Jack laughed. “Yea? Well you act like you’re 46 so… maybe you are Mr. McKinley.”
Ethan laughed as well. “Well I’ll try to act more of my age then.”
Jack liked Ethan’s throaty laugh. Jack liked Ethan. He pushed the thoughts down again. “I’ll see you around E,” he said and walked home.