Page 12 of The Lawyer's Quandary
“Sometimes, an office is just an office. I mean, he may use it to change in, but it is his office and it’s where he’s supposed to be doing his work. So I’d say it’s an office. I don’t change clothes in mine. I use a changing room. I work with men and women, so I want my office to be welcoming to both. So mine is not inside the locker areas.” He was already thinking. “I guess as part of our thought experiment, where would you get these sorts of recording devices?”
“Well…,” Greg started. “Not that I have firsthand knowledge, but there are websites where you can purchase small internet cameras. I understand that they have batteries in them that need to be changed periodically. You could find it pretty easily, I expect. And if you knew when someone was returning to work, you could hypothetically place the camera in there before they get back. You would need to verify the appropriate location beforehand.”
Mark was developing a pretty good picture of what he wanted to do. He ate the last slice of his amazing pizza andfinished his beer. He then took care of the check, and the two of them headed for the door.
The walk back to Greg’s was nice, though as the sun began to set, the evening air chilled slightly, but it was still pleasant enough. Greg took his hand as they walked down the sidewalk of the quiet street, past homes that had been there a century or more.
“It’s been a long time since I held someone’s hand like this,” Mark said. It made him feel like a teenager again.
“I know. There something strangely intimate about it, and yet….” Greg’s words drifted off, and that was fine. There was no need to talk over everything. Sometimes, it was best to just let things go. “I guess you should figure out where you’re going to be staying.”
“Yeah. I’ll make some calls when we get back to the house. It’s not a problem.” They continued walking.
“I don’t want you to think that I don’t want you to stay, because I do. It’s just that I always made the mistake of rushing into things in the past. And I don’t want to do that again. If you keep doing the same things over and over and expect different results… and all that.”
Mark stopped walking. “I get it, and don’t worry about it. I wasn’t angling for an invitation, though I wouldn’t turn one down. And you’re right. Rushing into things isn’t going to be a good thing. There’s a lot that’s happening right now, and it could get sticky in a legal and ethical sort of way.”
“I just don’t know what’s going to happen. But maybe if you want, we can have lunch or something tomorrow before you go home.” There was that lip-biting again.
“Hey, I’d like that.” They walked on as the air continued to cool. Mark was pleased when they reached Greg’s, and he could get inside. The first thing he did was pull a sweatshirt out of his bag and put it on. Then he called his friend Ashley to see if he’dcome get him. Ashley said that he’d be here in ten and that he had some things to tell him. “I’ll call you about lunch.”
“Okay,” Greg agreed. “I have the day off tomorrow too. I don’t think I can remember having a day off like this. It’s been a really long time since I had an entire weekend to myself. I think Angie is starting to actually manage my life, and she’s better at it than I am.”
“Then let her do it.” Mark slipped his arms around Greg’s waist and tugged him closer. “Sometimes, it’s too damned easy to forget about what’s really important. You need to make time for yourself so that you can have a life. Angie is a smart woman, and I think I love her already.” He kissed him, and they shared a quiet moment before a horn from out front shattered the bubble. “Okay, I have to go, but I’ll call you.” He grabbed his bag and left the house, wishing he could stay, but knowing this was the right thing to do.
“So why are you calling me instead of spending the rest of the night with the hottie who closed the door?” Ashley asked as soon as Mark got in the car and closed the door.
“Because it’s too new and because I think I like him and… Jesus, why am I talking about my love life to the guy who has a revolving door on his bedroom?” He grinned at his childhood friend.
“Yeah, yeah… I know you think you’re funny. Har, har. So if you aren’t jumping into bed with him, does that mean that you really like him? Or do you think he’s going to be a dud, and you’re just being nice?”
Mark smacked Ashley on the shoulder. He was one of those guys with a great smile, eyes like Bambi, and a body to die for that he did nothing to earn other than not eat carbs for the last five years. Men and women followed him around like puppies when he went out. It really sucked sometimes. “Is that how you operate? You meet some guy and string him along if you don’tthink he’s good in the sack? What if you find out later that he’s a dynamo?”
“What do you think? I work my charms and find out.” Ashley gestured as he drove. “I mean, I’m not going to spend my time with a guy who doesn’t know how to get it on properly. The last boyfriend I had, what, three years ago?”
“What boyfriend?” Mark asked.
“Rodney!”
“Good God. He was not your boyfriend. He was one-night stand that lasted three weeks. Hardly a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, okay. But in those three weeks, he went from dud to stud thanks to me, and then he took his act on the road… to every guy in town.”
Mark snickered. “So he beat you at your own game.”
Ashley scowled. “The thing was, I really liked him. We had fun together. Hell, the guy took me ice skating once, and we sat afterward and drank hot chocolate… before we went home and frightened the neighbors. He was hot and fun.”
Mark kept his mouth shut this time because he could see that Ashley might have thought Rodney was fun, but he still treated him the way he treated his one-night stands, and that wasn’t going to work if you wanted a guy as a boyfriend. But he wasn’t going to tell Ashley that. “Then find someone that you can have some fun with… outside the bedroom.”
“Is that what hotness is?”
“Greg is a lawyer that a friend is working with. I went along, and I really like him. So we’re taking it slow. There are things I can’t talk about, so he and I decided to have fun and keep the bedroom stuff for later.”
Ashley sighed. “So he is a flop.”
Mark rolled his eyes, more and more grateful that he and Ashley had never gotten together. They were close friends and had a lot of fun together, but they had never been tempted to seeif things would work out between them. Which was good. If they had, they probably would not have been able to remain friends, and while Ashley was a bit of a man slut, he was a good person, and Mark loved the guy. He just didn’t want to end up as a notch on his bedpost.
“Stop. Greg is a nice guy, and I’m trying not to think about him that way… at least for now. There’s no need to think of every guy as a quick lay and then show him the door.” That was fine when he was in college and just figuring things out, but right now, he was looking for something more. “How are things at work?”
