Page 24 of Hold Me Down

"And what did you tell him?"

"That I didn't. I'm honestly content with my life, and I see no point in changing anything. I thought he was, too."

"So Dave telling you he was considering a change made you think that he wasn't content with how his life was going?"

"I guess."

"That sounds like a startling thing to hear."

He looked at her then. "Does it?"

"Of course. You two are very close in various ways, and you thought you had similar outlooks on life. When a person changes, or at least considers a change, that can throw off people close to them. They may start thinking, what now, what does it mean for me, or for us… And since they face changes simply because someone else has changed, now they're forced to figure things out for themselves, too. It can bring up a lot of different emotions—as well as stress."

"It wasn't that stressful, it was just… different." Travis frowned at the window again, thinking back to that time. "With him going on dates, we spent more time separately than we usually do, which was weird. But I wasn't begrudging him that, or anything. He clearly needed to get something out of his system. While I don't quite get it, I don't have to understand every last bit of him."

He wanted to—he wanted to know everything there was to know about Dave—but somehow, it had been hard to talk about anything back then.

"Did you stop sleeping together during that time?"

"No. He didn't get far enough with anyone to even consider going exclusive, so we never stopped. We definitely had less sex than usual, though, simply by the fact that we were spending less time together in general."

"And did you mind him sleeping with other people?"

"He actually never got to that point with anyone, either." Travis scratched his jaw. "There was a bunch of first dates, but only a handful of second ones, from what I gathered."

"And then?"

"And then, a few weeks after he started the whole thing, he told me it was a mistake. He wasn't getting what he thought he would out of it, so he figured there was no point in trying any longer."

"Mmm," she offered, writing something down.

Travis had no idea what it meant, but before he could ask, she glanced at the clock and nodded.

"I would say we've done some great work today. I think we're getting somewhere, even if it may not feel like it for you just yet. How about we set up our next appointment for Thursday at the same time?"

He found himself nodding, equally confused and intrigued. Exhausted, too.

He didn't feel like they'd uncovered anything important, but who was he to judge?

He only cared for the end result, after all. He needed to fix it, whatever it was, and get back to work.

CHAPTER TEN

Dave looked on in astonishment as Ian unloaded a full bag of food containers out onto the counter.

"You really didn't have to do that."

"You say that, but my grandmother would rose from her grave to kick my ass if I hadn't." Ian folded a cotton bag and put it inside the second one he came with. "There's nothing better for the recovery process than a load of comfort food, ready for you to eat. And don't worry, I toned it down on the spice front for your white man sensibilities."

Dave nodded, not offended in the slightest. He'd once taken a spoonful of a chili Ian had prepared for himself and he had to drink a full glass of milk before he could even think of eating anything else.

"Honestly, man, thank you."

"No problem, it really doesn't take that much longer to prepare twice the amount. I usually meal prep on Sundays, but we were working yesterday, so I did it today after the company meeting. I should get these enchiladas into the freezer, though." He picked up the top two of the three containers. "There are written instructions on the lid."

Once Ian put away the rest of the food, the fridge was full to the brim. It was looking kind of sad before that, since Dave and Travis hadn't gone on their usual weekend shopping trip, but even if they had, it would never come close to what Ian's must be like on a regular basis.

"I'm envious of your kitchen skills," Dave admitted as he leaned against the counter a bit more, keeping the weight off his left leg. "We do okay, but we still end up ordering dinner more often than not."

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