Page 17 of Love in Mission City

I headed into the kitchen, assuming he would hang up his coat and follow.

Predictably, he did.

“Do you want to eat now, or would you like a tour?”

“Uh…tour?”

“Sure. This is the kitchen.”

He offered me a shy smile. Then proceeded to follow me from room to room, not uttering a single word as I gave him the tour of the farmhouse. Even the master bedroom didn’t elicit any comment.

You think he cares where you sleep?

Probably not.

We arrived back to the kitchen and silently went about heating up the food he’d brought, which included mini potatoes, cooked carrots—yum—and asparagus.

Will he notice if I slip it to Zeus?

Hard to tell.

I added a couple of beers, after he gave me a shy nod of agreement, and we settled at the informal kitchen table with our food.

A good portion of the meal was consumed in silence. A comfortable silence.

Being an excellent host, I didnotfeed my asparagus to my dog. The dog who’d inhaled his beef and now lay contentedly at Henry’s feet.

To my surprise, the asparagus covered in cheese sauce wasn’t bad. Mark used to harass me about my limited vegetable preferences, but he’d never encouraged me to try new things either. Instead, he’d just ridiculed me.

Okay, enough. I’d done my best to eliminate every trace of him in this house, and I’d done a pretty good job. Probably helped that he’d been gone longer than he’d been here. “Have you travelled much? My parents want me to go visit them in New Mexico in the new year…”

"Once Grandad drove Mom and me to the beach. I've never seen the ocean so blue like that. Grandad just looked out and said, 'I still look for Japanese planes coming at us from the horizon.' Then he went inside the hotel and didn't come out to the beach for the rest of the holiday."

Aw, crap.

“You said you miss your mom. I’m sorry you lost her.”

“I have a father. Well, I did.”

“Did?”This isn’t going to end well.

"I went to stay with my dad for the first time when I was twelve. Mom cried when I left. Dad had a new wife, Carol. They had two more kids. Both loud boys. I slept on the couch. Carol didn't like me. Dad took me to this video arcade place, but the lights made my eyes hurt. I threw up in a trashcan. Dad was upset with me."

Yep, that was pretty crappy.

“Dad brought me home, and I never saw him again. I…I don’t even know if he’s still alive. Although I guess someone would tell me if he wasn’t, right?”

I had no clue. Unsure of what to say, but wanting desperately to change the topic, I offered, “I don’t have anything special for dessert.” I eyed my empty plate. “But would vanilla ice cream be okay?”

“Vanilla’s my favorite flavor.”

He met my gaze with a shy smile.

I returned his smile, relieved we seemed to be past the worse of it. “Great, we can have some in the family room. Do you, uh, want to watch a movie or something?”

Henry shrugged. “I don’t really watch movies.”

“Well, there’s a great one I’ve seen.” I hesitated. “But it’s a gay romance.”