Page 45 of Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

CHAPTER 9

DANNY

My phone rings, and I look at the clock. It’s not time yet for Mike to be calling so it’s probably for Jen. I let it ring. And ring. And ring. It finally stops, but then starts again, so I grab it. “Hello?”

“Danny, it’s Steve Brown. I’ll cut to the chase. I need you to work tomorrow.”

My stomach clenches, and I feel like I want to throw up. “What? No, I have tomorrow off. I’m going to a family birthday.”

“I need you to come in. Lee went into labor.” He says it like it’s completely unprofessional of her and not something wonderful and exciting. “She’ll be out for the next six weeks. I’m going to be asking everyone to work overtime for the duration.”

Before I can think, my mouth is moving. “Management doesn’t earn overtime. We’re salaried.”

“Exactly. You’re all expected to pick up the slack. We’re a family, Danny. Family pulls together in tough times.”

I snort because if he knew my family, he’d never use that analogy. “No. I’m going to my uncle’s party tomorrow. And I have plans for the rest of the weekend. Get someone else to cover.”

“Everyone else is busy. You’re it.”

I look at the pink envelope with the Tinkerbell Valentine’s Day card inside and feel my anger rising. “No. I’m not. Find someone else. I have plans.”

He tsk s, his voice dripping with fake disappointment. “I guess you really don’t want that senior position.”

I’ve had enough. “You don’t really plan to give me that position. In fact, I doubt there is a position for anyone to have. You just use it to get us to do what you want. Well, I don’t want it. I’m off this weekend. I have plans with my actual family, and I’m not missing it.”

I’m sorry to hear that, Danny. I really am. I’ll need you to be in my office first thing Monday morning. Enjoy your weekend.” He hangs up, and I stare at the receiver, reeling like I’ve been punched. What the hell just happened?

With shaking hands, I hang up the phone, pretty sure I’ve just lost my job. A soft knock at my door jolts me out of my haze. “Come in.”

The door opens a few inches, and Jen pokes her head in the room. “Hey. Everything okay?”

What the hell do I say to that? I shake my head, and she pushes the door open a bit more, slipping in before closing it behind her. She sits next to me on the bed and leans against my side. “I’m sorry. I overheard your half of that conversation. That was work?”

I nod. “Yeah. I think I just lost my job.”

“What? Because you wouldn’t go in on your day off?”

I shrug. “I’m sure that won’t be the only reason. And if I don’t lose my job, I’m certainly never getting a promotion as long as I report to Mr. Brown.”

“Then he’s an asshole!” I laugh, because she’s not wrong, but it’s also rare to hear Jen swear. That’s probably because she doesn’t want to get yelled at by our parents. “You work so hard, Danny. You put in so many hours and put up with the worst customers, and you go back day after day. You deserve better.”

I don’t know if I deserve it, but I certainly want better. I bark out a half laugh, half sob. “Guess that means I’m living with mom and dad forever. I’ll certainly never be able to afford to move out.” My eyes start to prickle, and my voice comes out in a whisper. “I’m not sure I can do this much longer, Jen. I held it together because I thought I was making progress toward getting out of here. But those plans have just been trashed.”

She leans her head on my shoulder, and it’s odd but nice. We were close as young kids, but once we hit our teen years, we got our own friends and our own interests and kind of drifted apart. That makes me sad. “Danny, you can’t give up. We both know you can’t stay here. Dad will never accept that you’re gay, and Mom will never go against him.” She grabs my hand. “You need to get out. We’ll find a way.”

My vision starts to wobble as my eyes fill. “You don’t need to borrow my trouble. Thank you, though.”

“Shut up. I might be only seventeen, but you’re my brother, and I’m sticking with you.” She catches sight of the card on my dresser. “That for Mike?”

“We’re going out tomorrow night after Uncle Joe’s party.” I give a little shrug. “And since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I got him a card. We’ve only gone out a few times, but it seemed rude to ignore the day completely. I figured a card wasn’t too much, too soon.”

She nudges me and smiles. “It’s perfect. Well, as long as it isn’t an ‘I love you’ card.” She leans around to look at me, brows drawn down and a smirk on her face. “It’s not an ‘I love you’ card, right?”

“No.” I nudge her back. “It’s not.” I let myself think about Mike instead of work, and some of the worry eases. “But he is pretty great. Like, really great.”

“Yeah?” She nudges me again.

“Yeah.” This time I bump her shoulder.

The phone rings, and we both look at it. I glance at the clock and reach for the receiver. “Hello?”

“Danny?”

“Yeah. Hey.” God, it’s good to hear his voice.

Jen throws her arm around my shoulders and gives me a squeeze before quietly leaving, carefully closing the door behind her. “What’s wrong, baby?”

A bitter laugh bursts out of me, and though I didn’t plan to dump everything on him, the words spill out. “Not much. Except I think I just lost my job, which means I can’t move out. At the very least, I’m not getting the promotion, so I’m still not moving out.” Frustration wars with disappointment, and I want to throw something or scream.

“Oh, babe, I’m sorry. Looks like we both had the same day.”

That stops my runaway thoughts. “What? Wait, you lost your job?”

He laughs. “Yeah. I got fired for not ripping off my customers and for having integrity.”

“Are you serious? That’s outrageous!”

He laughs again. “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said.”

“I’m sorry, Mike. That sucks. What are you going to do?” There’s a pause, and it goes on longer than I’d like. “Mike?”

“That depends.”

I get a tense feeling in my gut. “On?”

“On you.” Before I can say a word, he keeps talking. “Danny, hear me out, okay? I wasn’t sure what I was going to do until you said you probably lost your job too. And I promise, I want to hear the whole story, but let me say this first. Okay?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer, but I’m too confused to reply anyway. “Let’s go to Portland. You and me. Let’s really do it. I promise you, my sister is absolutely serious about having jobs for both of us out there.”

I’m speechless. He wants me to move to Portland? “Mike.”

“Think about it, Danny. It makes perfect sense. My brother-in-law’s farm needs a mechanic, and I’m a mechanic. It’s a more queer-friendly place. They have somewhere for me to live, so housing isn’t an issue. Bonnie says they have a job for you if you want it, and she wouldn’t joke about that. It would get you away from your parents. You could start your own life. Be your own person.”

Through my growing excitement, I try to keep the facts in mind. “It’s your family. Of course they’ll want to help you. But we’ve only really known each other a week, Mike. Why would they do this for me? And what if we don’t work out? Don’t get me wrong, I love being with you, and I’m incredibly attracted to you, but we’re not talking about deciding to be boyfriends. We’re talking about moving across the country, away from my family, on a whim.”

“But is it?”

I frown, because duh. “Yeah, it is. We’ve barely talked about her offer, and then it was only in a joking way.”

“But didn’t you tell me you regretted not moving to California with Chris? He’s still out there. He’s doing well, right? So if you move out there with me and things don’t work out… which isn’t going to happen, by the way… but if it does, he’s there too. Yeah, it’s several hundred miles south, but I’d totally help you move closer to him if we don’t work out. Or if it makes you more comfortable, we can drive out west, and you can visit with my family, check it all out, and then move closer to Chris and get a job in retail, and we could date and see how things go.”

The thought of not seeing Mike every day when the opportunity is being dropped in my lap feels like a really bad choice. And that’s when I know I’m going to say yes. “When would we go?”

He doesn’t answer immediately, like maybe my response took him by surprise. “Oh. Well, tomorrow? I mean, think about it. What are we waiting for? Do you have anything keeping you here? If you still have a job, it’s not one that you like. We can call and give them my sister’s address. They can send your check there. That’s what I did. And if this happens to help make things better with your parents, you could always invite them out to Portland to visit. Or you could come back here and see them.”

The more he talks, the more I fall in love with the idea. I look around my room with an eye for what I’d want to take with me. The furniture belongs to my parents, and although I have a ton of clothes, it still won’t take a long time to pack. My record albums would come with me, and my books, but there aren’t too many of either. “Okay.” Jesus, I’m really doing this. “Tomorrow.”

“Yeah? Really?”

I laugh. “Yes. But it’ll have to be around lunchtime. My family is going to my uncle’s for a party. I’ll tell them work called me in, and now I can’t go. They’ll think it’s very responsible of me. I can call you once they leave.”

“You aren’t going to tell them?”

I imagine how that conversation would go and know my answer. “Absolutely not. It’ll only cause an argument, and I’m going anyway. I’ll tell Jen and leave my parents a note. She can pretend like she had no idea either, so she won’t get in trouble.”

“Okay. If you’re sure. I’ll swing by, and we can throw your stuff in the back of my truck with mine and leave before they know you’re gone.”

God, I feel like I’m in a teen drama. Am I ready to do this? Without a doubt. And even if things between us don’t work out, I won’t regret a thing.