Page 24 of The Note
Chapter Five
~ Tyler~
Once upon a time,during the summer I’d volunteered in Costa Rica, I’d watched as this older guy got a pair of glasses for the very first time. He’d come to the clinic at his daughter’s insistence, grumbling all the while that his vision wasperfect. But the second the doctor had put the lenses on his face, the man’s jaw had dropped.“Hijo de puta!” he’d said. “Is this what things were supposed to look like?”
I’d laughed at the time, but as I stood by Gus’s side, in the tent where I’d been so miserable the other night, watching Marissa and Alex twirl around the dance floor for the first time as husband and wife, I was thinking that maybe a lot of us go through life blind because we see what we expect to see, when all it takes is one tiny change — a piece of curved glass, a handwritten note, a single conversation in a frozen field — to let us see things the way they really are.
“You’re grinning,” Gus said, bending down to speak low in my ear.
If I hadn’t been smiling already, that would have done it. The man was hot as hell in his Best Man tuxedo, with his gorgeous, wavy hair tucked behind his ears — so hot that I’d very studiously avoided looking at him so I didn’t maul him in front of the guests. I figured I’d given them enough free entertainment the other night.
“Am I? I must be learning to love weddings,” I said smugly.
“Ah. That must be it.” Laughter danced behind his words.
“Or I might just be relieved that we were able to get the flower thing sorted out, thanks to Con.”
“Right. That would make sense.”
“Or maybe I’m just happy for my sister and Alex.”
“Of course. Aren’t we all?”
“Or maybe I’m reflecting on the breakfast Ifinallygot this morning.” I patted my stomach. “Goode’s Diner produces some fine pancakes.”
Even better, they packaged those pancakes in handy takeout containers, so that pancake lovers could eat them in bed.
Gus leaned closer, like he was trying to speak over the swelling music, but when his nose brushed my ear, he inhaled deeply instead, making me shiver.
“Mmmm. They definitely do. And the pancake toppings are so… versatile.”
I felt my cheeks go hot.
“I don’t think they’reintendedto be versatile, Gus,” I murmured. “Most people just eat the butter and syrup on the pancakes.”
“Pretty shortsighted of most people, don’t you think?”
Reflecting on the outcome of Gus’s creativity, I kinda had to agree. Still…
“The stuff doesn’t come off,” I informed him. “I’mgonna still be smelling like breakfast on Tuesday, whileyou’reflying back to California.” And yeah,therewas something I really didn’t want to think about. “I scrubbed in the shower, but I think the syrup’s trapped in my pores.”
Gus laughed and I turned to give him shit for once again finding humor in the weirdest things, but I saw his mother making her way over to us, so I took a giant step away from him instead and gave him a wary look.
Among the many, many, many issues Gus and I faced as a potential couple, including three thousand miles between our apartments and the years we’d spentnottalking about the note, wasthis: I’d dated Gus’s brother, and I couldn’t imagine his family would take too kindly to me dating Gus, too. And I knew Gus wanted to be cautious, to take things slowly. There would be no public displays of affection from me today.
“Oh, boys, you two are heroes!” Mrs. Fletcher, decked out in a blush-colored, beaded dress gave each of us a hug. “I would never in a million years have guessed that these weren’t the flowers Marissa picked! They’re perfect!”
“We didn’t do much,” I said honestly. “My friend Constantine got it sorted.”
“Tyler’s too modest,” Gus said. He stepped closer and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me against his side in a hug that could have been brotherly or platonic…ifhe hadn’tkeptholding me there. Andifhe hadn’t leaned down to press a kiss to the top of my head. “He’s got amazing taste.”
Mrs. Fletcher’s mouth went slack, she stood up straight, and I took a deep breath expecting… I don’t know, skepticism or displeasure orsomething… but instead she smiled. Broadly. Contentedly.
“He really, really does,” she said. “But then, so do you, Gus.” And then she winked at me. “Awfully cold in New York this time of year, isn’t it, Tyler?”
I blinked, stunned. “I…Yes?”
“And you look like the kind of guy who could get used to alife without snow. Don’t you think?”
