Page 31 of Serve (Men of Hidden Creek Season 1, #5)

Chip

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I actually like Sania now. She’s a regular human being after all.” Chip said. She was supposed to be here for a meeting, but couldn’t fly into town because of a sick child.

“She’s very good at her job, which makes you even better at yours. She only wants what’s best for her clients.” Tyler smiled. He’d always appreciated his agent.

“Now if we could only figure out what to do with Aunt Dixie.” Chip mumbled, looking at his aunt through the window.

She was drinking a beer by the pool, with a flock of young people who worked for the Hidden Creek LGBTQ center hanging on her every word.

Today was supposed to be a planning day for the new center, but they canceled it at the last minute.

That didn’t stop her from having them come over for a swim.

Tyler loved his new, open life. The more people around him, the merrier.

Chip was the one who occasionally had to put his foot down, so they could be by themselves.

It was crazy to believe that he once thought they’d be left alone after Tyler retired.

The opposite was true, with both of them in demand constantly.

He’d never grow used to the presence of cameras, but otherwise he loved the new life he lived, especially because of who he lived it with.

Of course, being home was a huge part of that.

He never realized how much his heart ached for it, until they got back to town after being away for months.

Aunt Dixie became a local celebrity, giving crazy interviews to the local press on everything from politics to her favorite lipstick shades.

Hidden Creek loved her now, and she relished the attention.

“I have a crazy idea. Wanna hear it?” Tyler asked. Chip stood behind him and Tyler rubbed Chip’s shoulders. Chip murmured yes and shook his head.

“Let’s elope.” Tyler whispered, a devilish smile on his face.

“What?” Chip turned to him, shocked at the suggestion.

“Seriously, I want to be married, but I hate all this planning. We live our lives so much in public, and at least for me, marrying you is the most personal thing I’ll ever do. I don’t want to share it.” He nuzzled Chip’s neck and wrapped his arms around him.

Chip let the suggestion sink in. Since the U.S.

Open, they’d been very much in demand. After Tyler’s win, they spent the next two weeks making the rounds of morning talk shows and interviews.

When Sania came to them with solid proposals for the foundation and the LGBTQ center, they did another round of interviews to encourage donations.

Now that the center was in development, he realized they hadn’t even bothered to plan the wedding yet.

Whenever he brought it up, Aunt Dixie declared she would plan it for them.

He loved his aunt, but the thought of her planning his wedding made him nervous.

“Like, let’s take off for Vegas, or Reno. Hell, let’s get married by Elvis in a wedding chapel.” Tyler said, then kissed Chip in that special spot under his ear that drove him nuts. Chip pulled his head back and looked Tyler in the eye.

“You’re serious, right?” He asked. Without the tensions of the pro-tour, Tyler’s sense of humor had emerged. That was usually a good thing, but sometimes Chip had to feel him out to make sure he was being sincere.

Tyler stepped a foot back, and replied, “Look, this is about us. If Dixie gets mad, we’ll have a formal ceremony just for her and anyone else who’s pissed off.

After Elvis marries us, we can fly away to a remote island somewhere.

Sania can arrange it for us, quickly.” Tyler kept an eye on the window, making sure Dixie was still out of earshot.

Getting married on the spur of the moment became more appealing the longer he thought about it. It would be just the two of them. No reporters or photographers, and no crazy aunts micromanaging his big day. His heart thumped in his chest, and he nodded his head.

“Let’s do it. Right now. Let’s sneak upstairs and pack our bags. I’ll tell Aunt Dixie we’re going to run some errands, to lock up before she leaves if we’re not back before dark. Actually, let’s leave and I’ll send her a text.” Chip said.

“This is perfect, but if we keep talking about it, we’re probably going to talk ourselves out of it.” Tyler kept his voice low, but his enthusiasm was evident. He leaned forward and kissed Chip on the nose. They raced to the bedroom.

“I know I’ve asked you this before, but are you absolutely one-hundred-percent sure you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” Chip asked.

“You know you asked me the same question yesterday and the day before. When’s it ever going to sink in that I love you, and want to spend the rest of my life with you?” Tyler said, leaning against the wall.

Chip threw their overnight bags on the bed, rolled his eyes, and replied, “It’ll sink in after a ring is on my finger and you say ‘I do’ in front of Elvis. Now come on, let’s get out of here before Aunt Dixie figures it out.”

I hope you enjoyed Chip and Tyler’s romance. Tennis is my favorite sport and I had a blast writing it.

Here is an excerpt from my novel Max, my most recent release. It is the story of Maximo Ortega, and how he achieves happiness and love with a shy biology teacher named Jude.

“I saw you crying, and I, um, didn’t want to see you like that. Upset, you know what I mean?” Max said, and he bit his lower lip.

“I cry a lot, or at least recently I have been.” I sighed. “I hope I don’t come across as crazy, or, you know, unbalanced. It’s just, all this is new to me. Every man downstairs looks like he walked off the pages of an expensive fashion magazine, and I know I’m not much to look at.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Max breathed. “I cry sometimes too. Life isn’t always fair, and you gotta let it all out. In fact, I think people who don’t cry are bizarre. Why hold all that pain inside?”

“All this is so new to me, this bursting into tears over stupid stuff all the time.” I murmured, then felt Max’s grip tightening around me.

“It’s a normal reaction, or at least I hope so.

My brothers, sisters, co-workers, they’re always saying what a great guy I am, that I have a good heart, but you don’t develop a good heart by accident.

If you get abused, or taken advantage of often enough you become a real expert on pain.

” Max whispered in my ear, then he pulled back and looked me dead in the eye.

“I know exactly how you are feeling. Those guys downstairs live on the surface, their only worries being who they can get into bed next, or if they are wearing or saying the trendiest stuff. Jude, I’m having an excellent time with you.

You are attractive, and I can feel deep inside that you have so much more to offer than any of those superficial queens. ”

No one had ever said these sorts of things to me before, and again, I felt pressure building behind my eyes. “I’m having a good time with you, too.”

“You’re not a dog, Jude, and neither am I.”

“Max, you seem like a wonderful man. Handsome, and real, like what a man is supposed to be like. I’m surprised you aren’t taken, to be honest.” A sudden fear gripped me, that this man was only saying these things, because he’d taken pity on me.

He had to have someone, because he was too good to be true, or so it seemed.

“You are single, aren’t you?” I whispered.

“Yes, I’m single. I don’t understand why.

I’m smart, I think, and I do everything possible to be kind to other people, but I’ve never had a boyfriend before.

I guess most guys aren’t into me, or something.

” Max tilted his head down for a moment, and when he lifted his face our eyes met, and I felt a smile spread across my cheeks.

At that moment the song changed, and a slower beat filled the air.

Max’s hands pulled me in closer, and for a moment I felt dizzy, unable to believe I was dancing with this stranger.

He smelled clean, like he’d just gotten out of a bath, and his broad shoulders looked like he could carry the weight of the world on them.

“When I first came out, marriage wasn’t even an option for gay guys.

I mean, yes, men would pair off, live together, but I always wanted something more.

Maybe that’s what frightened men away. Well, that and I’m not exactly the sexiest man alive.

” Max said, and I placed my chin on his shoulder and swayed to the music.

“You’re handsome to me.” I whispered, and felt a rumble of laughter bubbling up Max’s chest.

“The way I see it, if you get married, you’re possibly spending forty or fifty years together.

You can’t make a marriage work if you only fall in love with your eyes, and not your heart.

That’s the problem with most of those dudes downstairs.

They only see what’s on the surface, and not the beauty hidden deep inside.

I’m ugly, I’ll admit it. But, if only someone could see what I have on the inside I’d… ”

“You’re not ugly, Max.”

“My old man, he was really ugly. Overweight, loud, with a huge nose that’s twice as big as mine.

But, my mother saw something else.” Max sighed, and I felt his breath hot against my neck.

“My Dad died right before I graduated high school. After that, Mom told me that she would get depressed and miserable sometimes, and how Dad would always try to understand. He would listen to her, like really hear what was going on inside of her. I always tried to listen and be there for her, but I know it wasn’t the same. ”

“Your father sounds like he was a wonderful husband.” I breathed.

“He was, or at least he was to my mother. I used to see them sometimes in the dining room, sitting across the table from each other, just talking and talking. I adored my old man, because he was so kind, and he made everyone laugh. That is one of the most beautiful memories I have, the way my Mom and Dad treated each other. My mother always looked at him like he was the handsomest man she’d ever laid eyes on, and I hate to say this, but he really was an ugly man.

So it shouldn’t matter if you look like a gorilla.

You can find love anywhere, or in anybody.

” Max’s shoulders shook against me for a moment, then he pulled back and gazed into my eyes.

“I don’t think you are ugly, Max, and neither should you.”

For a few moments we said nothing, just stared at each other. Then I felt a drop of rain on my forehead. “I’m thirty-four. How old are you, Max?”

“Thirty-eight, like I said, an old man. You wanna go somewhere else? Out of the rain, and away from the guys downstairs?” I’d swear Max held his breath, waiting for my answer.

For years I’d wondered what it would be like to be held by another man the way we were holding each other now.

Though we’d just met, I felt a connection with him, and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else but by his side.

“Yes, please.”

As we descended the stairs, Max walked two steps ahead, and constantly kept turning around to say something else. His enthusiasm was infectious, and the closer we got to the hotel lobby the more excited I became too.

“You teach biology?” Max grinned, and I nodded. “Where do you teach?”

“Open High School. It’s in this funky neighborhood called…”

“Oregon Hill! The grocery store I manage is only two blocks from there. Wow, to think you’ve been that close for so long and we’ve never met. I went to Armstrong High School, over on the southside.” We were at the end of the stairs, and Max jumped down, skipping the last two steps.

“You manage Oregon Hill Fine Foods? Over on Pine Street?” I asked, and a grin spread in the middle of Max’s thick, dark beard.

“Yeah, it’s the only job I’ve ever had. I started as a stock clerk right after Dad died, and now I’m the manager.

In fact, the owner wants to sell it to me.

Hey, have you come into the store before?

” Max asked. We were in the lobby, and I realized we’d completely forgotten the party on the second floor.

Max opened the door for me, and we stepped out onto the sidewalk. A chilly mist covered us.

“Yes, a couple of times to pick up something for lunch.” I shivered, then Max held his hand out, and at first I didn’t know what for. He bit his lower lip, waiting for me to take it. My fingers slid into his, and I noticed his palms were hot, and slightly damp.

“Just think, we could’ve met before this stupid party.” Max muttered. “Hey, let’s go to Third Street Diner. It’s only a few blocks from here. Do you want to walk, or should I call an Uber?”

“I don’t melt. Let’s walk.” I decided, mostly because I didn’t want to let go of him. No man had ever held my hand like this, outside of mass, when priests were always holding hands and hugging parishioners.

“In Guadalajara, I have a cousin who teaches science. He used to be a priest, but he met a woman who…” Max stopped walking and turned toward me. “Did I say something to upset you?”

“No, why?”

“Because you just about squeezed my hand off.” Max resumed walking, pulling me along behind him.

“High School was fun, and I was a pretty decent student. I’d already been accepted to VCU, but Dad died right before graduation, so I had to go to work to support my brothers and sisters.

Jeez, it’s unreal to think that was twenty years ago. Damn, I’m getting old.”

Max kept up his end of the conversation as we walked past darkened and empty storefronts, then he made a right onto Foushee Street while I struggled to think of anything to say.

I wasn’t used to making conversation with someone I’d just met, but there was something about him that made me feel secure, like he actually wanted to be with me.

Then we walked past a packed bar with a rainbow flag in the window.

“...and my brother Juan said—”

“What’s that place?” I interrupted, and pointed toward the bar.

Max scowled. “That’s a gay bar called Barcode. If you want to go in, we can, but I’m warning you, most of the guys you’ll see would easily fit in at the party we just left.”

“Oh, no, um, let’s go to the diner.” I said, and Max stopped in his tracks and smiled, and for a moment I was blinded by the unabashed warmth radiating from him.

“I like you, Jude. And I’m not just saying that to—”

I squeezed his hand. “I know.”

Click here to read more of Max and Jude’s romance.