Page 129 of Something Like Hail

“Calvin?”

Harold nodded. “I couldn’t figure out whathe was doing there. Calvin mostly ignored me to focus on my client,and he seemed to really care about him. The best theory I couldcome up with then is that the client was Calvin’s uncle. Or maybehis dad. I was confused, but I still couldn’t tear my eyesaway.”

“From his dad? I didn’tknow you were into older guys.”

“From Calvin,” Harold said,threatening to throw a plastic fork at him like a dart. He set itdown again and continued. “I figured it out eventually. The clientwanted two of us. Not so unusual, as you know, but normally thatonly happens in the bedroom. This guy wanted us both as dates too.Calvin kept ignoring me, except when our client was distracted.Then the weird faces started. At first I thought he was making funof me. Calvin would glance over and go cross-eyed or puff up hischeeks. One time, after really twisting up his face like he smelledsomething bad, I started laughing so hard I about died. You knowhow it is when you can’t stop and you’re practicallycrying?”

Noah nodded, mouth full of food.

“I later found out that mynervousness was showing, and that Calvin was trying to distract me.It worked. He got me into a silly mood, which the client seemed tolike. From then on, whenever the client was distracted, I stoleevery moment I could, like I was hungry—no,starvingto talk to Calvin. By theend of the night, I had to keep reminding myself that we weren’talone. Lucky for us, the client only wanted to watch us have sextogether. I didn’t have to get myself into the mood for that one!”Harold’s smile slowly faded as events caught up with him. “I don’tregret any of that. We should have stopped there though. Weshouldn’t have dated, or maybe he should have quit and—” Haroldsighed. “Hindsight, am I right?”

“Depends how far back youlook,” Noah replied. “When I was younger, I would have givenanything just to kiss another boy. Love seemed impossible. Turnsout it’s not, which still feels like a miracle. I’ve dated a fewheartbreakers, but I don’t regret any of them.”

“Even me?”

“We neverdated.”

Harold looked him straight in the eye. “Weshould have.”

Noah held his gaze for as long as he could.Then he focused on his food. “You were in the middle of a story.Keep going.”

“Oh. Okay. Calvin and Iwere together for a couple of years. I loved every minute of it.The job was an adventure and gave me everything I needed physicallyand financially. He took care of the rest. My happiness and myrelationship with him were the same thing. Inseparable. Things weregood. Great! I couldn’t imagine better. All that was left was tomake it official.”

Noah nearly choked on his food. He managedto swallow and asked, “Marriage?”

Harold nodded. “I thought I was ready.”

“What happened?”

Harold shrugged. “He wasn’t. I tried not toblame him at first. He was under a lot of pressure from his mom.Politicians aren’t the only ones in the public eye. Their familiesare too. It’s crazy that he even worked as an escort. He used afake name with clients, but still.”

Noah shook his head. “So wait, you wanted tomarry him and he wasn’t into that, so then what happened?”

Harold swallowed and looked skyward. “Thatwas it. He broke it off.”

“Because youproposed?”

“Because of a lot ofreasons. His family, this line of work, and maybe because of me. Hecouldn’t have really loved me. If he did, it wouldn’t have endedlike that. Or at all.”

“Then he’s an idiot,” Noahsaid before he could help himself. He didn’t take it back either.Instead he steeled himself and pressed on. “Seriously. I know youloved him, but something was broken in his brain. The next time youpropose, I promise you the answer will be yes.” When he saw howHarold’s face lit up at this statement, he quickly backpedaled. “Idon’t mean me! Or that you would even want that. Or that I’m hopingyou’ll propose. All I’m saying is that—”

Harold interrupted him with laughter. “I’vemissed you. For real.”

Noah smiled. “We always had funtogether.”

“I hate that I screwed itup. All that stuff with Calvin, it wasn’t ancient history. When youand I met, it had only been a year since he and I split. Longenough that I felt like my old self again, but I guess I wasn’tdone healing, because when we started getting close…” Haroldglared, clearly angry with himself. “I’m sorry. It’s lame, butthat’s all I can say. It had nothing to do with you. You’reperfect. I hate that I missed my chance.”

Noah wasn’t sure what to think. He stillneeded to digest it all, but he was already confident enough todraw one conclusion. “I forgive you. And I meant what I said aboutneeding friends.”

“I’ll take what I can get,”Harold said, flashing a smile that seemed genuine. “Enough aboutme. How are things with you? You’ve got a home now. I was sofreaking happy when Marcello told me.”

“You and me both,” Noahsaid. “You should come over sometime and check out theplace.”

“Yeah! So you’ve got thewhite picket fence and you’re working on a wife and kids. Who’s thelucky guy?”

“Felix.”

“Nice. Things seriousbetween you two?”