I let the conversation drift off. Tim, however, should have been a therapist or a police officer because the silence he left in conversations always made you talk. “But I guess a small part of me is terrified I’m a lobster.”
Now he looked really confused.
“What if I think it is a spa, but it turns out to be a pot of boiling water, and it ends up way too hot before I know it? I know it’s always a risk, but God, I really don't want this to end up hurting.”
The next night, it was a short walk from Nick’s place through the Rocks area to Eric’s place at Dawes Point. We were waiting to cross the road when Nick reached out to hold my hand. He raised my hand to his mouth and kissed it.
“What was that for?” I asked with a smile.
“Because you make me happy. I didn’t know I wasn’t before, but now I am. That simple.”
“Nick.” I just stood staring at him.
When there was a small break in traffic, he pulled me by the hand, and we ran across, dodging a taxi and a bike courier.
I shook my head a little as we walked through to Eric’s townhouse. It was just as fancy as Nick’s, which wasn’t a surprise, but was over the water with its own boat jetty. I had never known anyone who actually lived like this. Although I had been friends with Eric’s brother Eddison, I had never been to his house.
As Nick and Eric said their hellos, I glanced around, marvelling at how beautiful the place was. It was elegant and clearly obscenely expensive but had a more casual feel than Nick’s place. Eric hugged me to say hi and then led me into the kitchen, where I pulled out the two bottles of wine from the cooler I was carrying.
“Beer first or wine?” Eric asked. I was happy to go with whatever they were having, so Eric put the wine in the fridge for dinner and grabbed a few beers. I remembered Eric being an entertaining kid, but really my only interaction with him that week in Noosa had been me trying to annoy him and the occasional story from Eddie, so we didn’t know each other well.
The three of us chatted about everything from the weather to movies to embarrassing moments. Nick and Eric were doubled over with laughter while I explained a job several years ago. I was talking to a woman who had been in a car accident, and she asked me to grab her handbag out of the back of her car before the paramedics took her to hospital. I fumbled around in the car in the dark, thinking the car engine was still making a funny noise or something, and then I located the source of the noise and held it up, just as the Fire and Rescue guys turned on the spotlight. So there I stood holding a vibrator with the spotlight on me and an audience of twenty other emergency workers.
I’d dropped it, yelling, “What the fuck is that?”
A middle-aged paramedic said, “Oh honey. That’s called a magic wand. Perhaps you should refer to it as a GPS because, unlike you boys, it actually knows how to find a clitoris. I didn’t know you could get a car charger, though. That is either genius or just plain dangerous. Maybe a little of both.”
I’d stomped away and ordered a freshly arrived probationary constable to go look in the car and find her bag.
By the end of the story, Eric and Nick were practically choking on their beer, and we all wiped away tears of laughter. We grabbed the dinner warming in the oven and opened the wine as I asked about work. Eric and Nick got excited talking about some of their staff and one of the ladies in housekeeping who had her baby last week. Seeing them together was sweet. Nick wasn’t usually overly demonstrative with his excitement, and seeing them bounce off each other, even in his understated way, was nice. This time, I didn’t even feel any jealousy, only gratitude Nick had someone like that in his life.
I started to pay more attention when Nick got a devious look on his face. “Of course, housekeeping is nowhere near as interesting as our bar staff, isn’t that right, Eric?”
Eric flushed a deep red and got up quickly, claiming he needed another wine though his was only half empty. Eric glared at Nick when he returned, but there really wasn’t much intimidating about him, so it had zero effect.
I enjoyed watching the youngest James sibling squirm, so I joined in, leaning my elbow on the table, propping my chin on my hand, and fluttering my eyelashes at him. “Oh, Eric, do tell us about the bartender?”
Nick answered for him in an overly dramatic feminine voice. “Well, Ky, my bartender is soooo good. Amazing. And oh my God, those eyes. Adorable, so pretty. And the skills, Oh. My. God. Certainly knows how to give good head… on the beer. That’s important, you know. And they know their way around cock…. tails. Oh my God, makes my mouth water.”
I was laughing so hard I was crying. “Oh, does little Eric have a wee bit of a crush?”
Eric had stopped glaring at Nick but was still watching him, eyes wide, with a huge smile. When we finished eating, I stood to clear the dishes, and Eric told me to sit back down since I was a guest. I shook my head, arguing he had supplied the food, Nick supplied the wine, and I hadn’t supplied anything.
Eric laughed. “Not true—you supplied the image of you standing in a spotlight holding a vibrator. That will keep me entertained for quite a while.”
But he didn’t raise the issue again, and I cleared the table and rinsed the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I was wiping the counter when I heard Nick’s phone ring. “Ugh. It’s Dad.” Nick headed outside, closing the glass door behind him, and I watched him, knowing any call with his parents ended with him wound up.
“You really are good for him,” Eric said from behind me. I put the cloth down and turned to him. He was watching Nick too, sitting at the table slowly sipping his wine.
“I hope so,” I answered.
“I have never seen him like this before.”
I glanced at him.
“This relaxed. Well, he’s talking to his dickhead father, so obviously he isn’t relaxed right now. But you know what I mean. He’s a good guy, but relaxed and smiling, he isn’t. Or I guess I should say wasn’t. Past tense. His face lights up when he talks to you on the phone. It’s actually quite adorable. And adorable isn’t a word I would have ever thought I would use to describe Nicholas. He hasn’t even mentioned London since he met you.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the longest he has ever stayed in one place, and the six months or so before he met you, he was looking at heading back to London. He hadn’t specifically said he was going, but I know he was talking to people and had the real estate agent give notice to the tenant in his place. That’s why I’m hesitating on the Byron property. Nicholas will still look after the financial side of the business, but it won’t be the same taking those leaps without him. I always knew him coming here was temporary. He made that clear when he agreed, and it’s why he’s an employee, not a full partner. He promised me two years, and he has stayed longer, so I can’t be too disappointed if he goes. But since he met you… I don’t know… he seems settled. Happy. I’m so glad he found you. And not just because I selfishly want him to stay. I’m excited for him.”
“I’m glad he did too,” I answered quietly.
Chapter Twelve