When he finished, he stood back. Damn, it looked great. Jimothy had such good taste.
Okay, move.
It took over an hour to finish the bathroom and bedroom, and then he traded his sweats for jeans and a T-shirt and headed to Benny’s to pick up his clothes.
When he stepped inside, Benny stood behind the counter. “Rick, welcome.” His eyes widened. “Your hair’s splendid. Jimothy’s an artist.” He looked around. “Where is Jimothy?”
“I, uh, I’m not sure.”
“Oh, well, I’ll get your clothes.”
After Benny walked into the back, Rick pawed his way through the racks and picked out another pair of those great jeans and two more shirts. When Benny returned, he held the suit jacket while Rick tried it on.
Wow, just wow. “This is fantastic.”
Benny grinned huge. “It looks amazing if I do say so myself. You can try on the trousers if you wish, but I know they’ll fit.”
“I believe you. This jacket’s perfect. I don’t want to take any more of your time, Benny. Thank you so much for doing this for me. Let me pay you, so you can go home and have a Sunday.”
“Let me hang the jacket for you.” He helped Rick take it off, hung it on a hanger, and covered the clothes with a cloth hanging bag. Fancy.
Benny handed the bag to Rick and began adding up on the cash register. “So, Jimothy sure turned you into a work of art. You’re going to look great at that wedding.”
“Thanks, Benny.”
“I don’t mean anything by this, but I actually thought you and Jimothy were a couple.” He smiled at Rick and then looked back at the register.
“Oh, uh, no. Just friends. I mean, we haven’t known each other very long.”
“Oh, well, no offense. You just got along well, and Jimothy seemed to like you so much.” He spread a credit card slip in front of Rick.
“He’s a great guy.” Rick scrawled his name but didn’t see a thing he was signing since his brain had exploded. Benny thought he and Jimothy were a couple! Holy shit, does that mean I read gay? His heart hammered, and he had to inhale deeply through his nose to look calm. “Thanks again, Benny. If I ever need clothes again in my life, I know where to get them. Ha. Ha.” He hurried out the door, trying not to look like he was hurrying.
Carefully, he hung the clothes on the back of the truck seat, jumped into the driver’s side, and took off toward the grocery store, staring fixedly through the windshield. He was breathing hard.
Some uncertain number of minutes later, Rick looked up and saw Trader Joe’s ahead of him. Shit! He couldn’t remember driving there. With some care, he pulled into the parking lot, found a space, and turned off the truck, otherwise known as his potential weapon of mass destruction. Take a breath.
He glanced in the rearview mirror, got a shock at his hair and beard again, and looked away. What did he just learn?
I can’t take it. A couple tiny assaults on his perceived macho, straight-male manhood and he’d freaked, caved, turned into a mass of cowardice. When Melanie had showed up, he’d dropped Jimothy like the proverbial hot potato, literally. And now, his whole ego was vibrating at the idea that he might be taken for gay. Shit. In response to my question, Could I come out for a guy like Jimothy, the obvious answer is, Fuck, no.
He reached for the door handle, and his phone rang. Not even looking, he swiped answer. “Yeah?”
“Rick?”
He sighed softly. Alice. “Hi, baby girl, sorry. I was distracted.”
“Are you okay?” She sounded very cautious.
“I’m fine.” He forced himself to smile. “Great actually. Looking forward to seeing you.”
“Uh, me too. But I got your text about coming to your place?”
The statement was definitely a question. “Yes, I thought we could have a glass of wine together and talk for a few minutes before we go to dinner.”
“Really?” Wow, did she sound uncertain.
He sucked in the urge to tell her what he’d done. Some piece of him wanted her to be okay with it no matter what his apartment looked like. Maybe that wasn’t fair.
“Okay, we’ll be there at five; then we can drive to the restaurant together.”
If his invitation had been a test, she’d just passed. “That will be great. Can’t wait.”
“See you tonight.” She sounded breathless but happy. That made him smile.
“Not if I see you first.” They both laughed and Rick slid out of the truck and headed for TJ’s, still grinning even if he was the world’s biggest coward. Maybe he could put off dealing with monumental life-changing decisions until after Alice’s wedding?
That sounded like a working plan.
Chapter Thirteen
Rick stared out the front door at the pansies he’s just finished shoving into the ground in front of his apartment. His neighbor, Mrs. Esperanza, gave him an approving smile as she collected her son from the neighbor who watched him while she went to work. Obviously, when it came to pride of ownership in the complex, he’d been more a part of the problem than the solution. By doing some gardening, painting his front door, and sprucing up his door mat, he’d classed up the place.
Inside, he straightened one of the coasters he’d put on the coffee table. Crap, you’d think the damned thing was black walnut instead of IKEA painted particle board. “I’ve turned into my maiden aunt.” He didn’t have one of those that he knew of, but the principal was the same.
He didn’t care. The cheese was on that cheese board thing he’d bought at IKEA, and he had to remember to pull it out of the fridge. The wine was chilling. He’d set the napkins out, and he had to unbox the crackers right before they got there. The bathroom was so pristine he didn’t want to use it, but Alice cared more about him than the apartment, so he hit the shower.
A half hour later, it was quarter of five. He was pulling on his new sport coat over a slim white sweater he’d layered on top of his ass-hugging jeans, and his hair and beard that still seemed weird to him, looked fine, as in mighty fine.
For one chest-aching moment, all he wanted was to call Jimothy and ask him to come over. Right, that would go over brilliantly—not.
After shining up the bathroom with one of his old towels, he hurried to the living room, lit a couple of candles that Jimothy had picked out, put out the crackers beside the cheese, and pulled the cork on the wine. Whew. Stupid to be nervous, but damned if he wasn’t.
For a few tense minutes, he perched on the edge of the sofa and didn’t even turn on the TV, because he didn’t want to make a thing out of turning it off. Fortunately, the knock on his door came right on time and shot him full of adrenaline and off the couch.
Take a breath.
Trying to look like this was the way he always lived, he ambled across the living room and opened the door on the second knock, putting him face-to-face with tall, willowy, dark-haired Alice.
“Rick, I—” Her mouth stuck on open. She stared, her eyes getting wider and wider until she gargled out, “Oh my freaking God! Rick!” She hurled her arms around his neck. “Who knew my brother was a freaking movie star?”
He could feel himself actually blushing, but he also grinned. He’d have done a lot to get that reaction. Fuck. He had done a lot. Holding Alice with one arm, he stuck out his hand to Hank, her fiancé, who Rick had only met face-to-face one other time.