His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Mark and his little, Amy, pushing a cart toward them. “Mark,” he said and put his hand out. Mark and Amy had moved to Chicago just before Ben had gotten sick. He hadn’t seen them in what, three, four years? Mark shook his hand and drew Amy close. She blushed prettily and took Mark’s hand. “Nice to see you, Amy,” Jacob said, confident she wasn’t in her little mindset. They’d been together since high school, but they were strictly part-timers at age play.
Mark’s eyebrows rose as he looked behind Jacob, and Jacob turned, hoping like hell Mark would be discreet. “Mark, Amy, this is a friend of mine, Lucas.” Lucas shook hands with them both, and Mark hesitated. He clearly didn’t know what to say in front of Lucas.
“I was so sorry to hear about Ben,” Amy said gently.
Jacob nodded. He didn’t want to talk about it, but his chest didn’t seem quite as tight as usual when he faced stark reminders like this.
“If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go finish up. It was nice meeting you both,” Lucas said politely and walked away.
Jacob met Mark’s eyes. “He’s just a friend I’m helping out. I’m actually moving to England soon. Just finalizing everything.”
“Well damn, I was hoping to meet up at the club. We just moved back to the area as we had some great news, so we’re going to stick a little closer to family.”
Jacob smiled politely and congratulated them both. “Patrick still goes. Do you have his number?”
Mark nodded. “And I haven’t changed mine in case you want to get together for a beer before you go?”
“Yeah, that’d be good. I’d better go.” They promised to get together maybe next week, and Jacob went in search of Lucas. He tried the couple of aisles they hadn’t been down and spotted Lucas right at the end. Jacob walked toward him, noticing they were on the baby aisle. Huge packs of diapers, milk, food. All the typical selection, but right at the end there was a basket display of small cuddly toys.
And Lucas had picked up a small purple elephant, and as Jacob watched, he glanced around him and then rubbed the soft plush against his cheek and closed his eyes as if relishing the feel. Jacob stilled, torn between wanting to stare and not wanting to be caught staring, but he couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from the scene in front of him. Lucas looked like he was in another world almost. Just as Jacob decided to move, Lucas opened his eyes and saw Jacob. He nearly threw the elephant in the basket he was so flustered and opened his mouth to speak, but Jacob got in first. “Did you find everything we needed?”
Lucas nodded, still looking like Jacob was going to what, shout at him? Deride him? Not in this lifetime.
“Did you need to look at anything else?” He tried to talk gently. He didn’t want Lucas to feel embarrassed or ashamed.
Lucas shook his head, still not speaking, and they went to the checkout. Jacob paid for everything and then paused. Damn. He needed some shaving butter. “I forgot something. Be right back.” He started the car, and leaving Lucas to warm up, he ran back inside making another decision. He must be mad, and he didn’t know if he would ever give Lucas the elephant he absolutely knew he was going to buy. It might send totally the wrong signals, but he wasn’t leaving the store without it.
Chapter Four
Jacob had seemed quiet since the store that morning, and Lucas now understood what had happened. Jacob had lost his husband. He didn’t know how, but the man must have died as the sorrow in Amy’s eyes hadn’t been faked, and it explained so much. The house, the job, the relocation. All of it. Lucas’s heart ached for Jacob. It was clear to see how much he must have loved his husband, which made his kindness to Lucas even more astounding. He still didn’t understand why he had been willing to take in a complete stranger, especially when he could pay someone to clear the house. Unless that was it. Maybe he didn’t want people he didn’t know touching his things, although Lucas was hardly a friend, and he hadn’t seen so much as a photograph about.
Lucas listened from the kitchen as Jacob backed his Ford Explorer out of the driveway. He had said he needed to run some errands, and he’d left Lucas making dinner. He hadn’t really noticed last night, but it was a really nice car. Obviously top-of-the-line, and he immediately thought about his Toyota RAV4 with sadness. His mom had insisted on a brand-new car when he had graduated high school as a gift, and he’d loved that car right up to the point Terry had taken it off him and totaled it. He wasn’t even sure why. A nine-year-old Toyota hardly compared with the new Chevrolet Suburban he swanned around in. He’d taken the Toyota because he hadn’t been able to find his keys, and he’d laughed when he’d arrived home in a cab saying Lucas’s car wasn’t even worth towing for repair and it was going for scrap.
How did I get here?
He didn’t even know. Sure, he’d come home when he’d gotten the call from Terry. Of course he had, but his mom didn’t seem much different than her normal scatty self at first. It had taken a week until he got up one morning and she had gone. Completely disappeared. In a panic, Lucas had gotten in his car and driven around the town until he’d found her still in her pajamas and freezing cold, wondering why her favorite restaurant wasn’t open at 7:00 a.m. on a Monday.
She didn’t understand why she couldn’t eat bella mushrooms in the sauce she loved right then. And the worse thing was she had cried because she thought Lucas was conspiring to keep it closed. That it was his fault.
It had sometimes been worse than her being confused. Her anger. That she had to blame everything on him because her frustration didn’t have another target. Her doctor had said it often happened, but it didn’t make the bruises he now got from his previously loving mom hurt any less.
Lucas looked around the kitchen. It looked better already, and he could soon have it looking a Realtor’s dream. There was one wall that needed filling and repainting as it looked like something had hit it and chipped a little paint, but he’d noticed some paint cans in the garage when he’d found the cleaning supplies, so he was sure he could manage. He’d become pretty self-sufficient over the last few years as Terry wouldn’t pay for repairs, so Lucas had just done them. He wasn’t normally clumsy like he had been at the club. He just had a hard time meeting so many new people when he’d been essentially stuck in a house for years, and his money worries were making him anxious.
And the hot Dom that had been kind to him in the bathroom had meant his head was full of Jacob, and not on the tray of glasses he was carrying. In his head he’d already seen himself tucked up on Jacob’s knee with his blanket and stuffie.
Lucas paused what he was doing as longing robbed him of breath. It wasn’t ever going to happen, and he knew daydreaming was ridiculous, but the man was a perfect package practically wrapped up in a shiny bow. What a Christmas gift. But then he started imagining Jacob unwrapping him and forced his thoughts away.
He deliberately hadn’t mentioned the half-full boxes the kitchen was littered with and just put them in an empty closet off the hallway to deal with later. It looked like Jacob had started to pack everything but hadn’t finished.
He hadn’t done much because his finger was making things a little awkward, but at least the kitchen was clean enough to cook in, and the gloves meant he could get his hands wet. He’d noticed Jacob hauling two empty suitcases out to the garage earlier, so he guessed it was likely he had been doing some unpacking upstairs. Lucas cupped his hands around his coffee. Jacob had even got him the half and half he liked after seeing him eyeing it. Then he flushed as he remembered what else he had seen. The elephant. Could he be any more pathetic? In his defense it had been so cute, and Lucas had always loved stuffed toys. He’d even had a bathroom sponge shaped like an elephant when he had been younger.