Page 20 of Will & Patrick's Endless Honeymoon
Chapter Five
Will drops hiskeys into the basket on the shelf by the door to the garage and takes a long, slow breath. The soft light-green walls and cream trim of the kitchen opens up to the warm earth tones of the hallway.
Summer’s evening light filters in from the wide windows by the kitchen table, illuminating the sparkling marble counter tops and stainless steel appliances. His shoulders relax.
Home. It’s his favorite place to be.
Crossing to the broad, dark wood table, he unloads the bags he’s picked up from Jimmy’s, their local diner, onto the counter. He’s brought mac ‘n’ joe, Patrick’s favorite, and a hamburger and fries for himself. He worked out earlier in the day at the new gym he installed in the Good Works offices, so he feels justified in flooding his body with high calorie, fatty, delicious diner food.
The sound of their piano drifts to the kitchen from the living room as he unpacks the bags. Will pauses with his hip against the counter to listen. As the music slips over him, his muscles relax and even his hair seems to settle more gently against his scalp. The knot of sadness he’s felt since his conversation with Caitlin about Ryan loosens and he can breathe smoothly again. Then the music shifts.
He cocks his head, a smile floating on his lips.
Patrick plays a pop song that’s been ear-worming everyone and their brother the last few weeks. The chorus is passionate and plaintive, a lover calling desperately to the one she’s lost. Patrick pounds the keys on those parts, and Will shivers, the emotion radiating from the song.
Still, he’s surprised Patrick’s willingly playing it. He knows how much Patrick loathes this particular singer, calling her sultry voice “ridiculous,” and her fashion sense “demented.”
Regardless, Will loves how Patrick can instinctively pick up nearly anything he hears, especially now that he’s finally back in practice after years of abandoning the piano due to his father’s abuse.
Will listens a bit longer and then goes back to unpacking their dinner. The scents make his mouth water.
“Puddin’-pop,” Patrick calls. “Get in here and do something to get this hideous song out of my head.”
“You get in here and eat dinner with me,” he calls back.
A few seconds later, a tired and disgruntled Patrick strolls into the room. His always neat, curly auburn hair looks as though he’s been dragging his hands through it, and he’s got a reddish five o’clock shadow going on. He’s barefoot and wearing the black jeans he prefers with the same rust-colored button-down shirt he owns four of.
“Mac ‘n’joe?” he asks, sharp blue eyes scanning the take-out containers as he sniffs the air.
“Of course.”
“Thank Christ.”
“It’s been that kind of day, huh?” Will wads up the paper bags the food came in and throws them in the recycle container.
“For you too?”
Will nods. He doesn’t want to bring up what his sister told him about Ryan, though. That’s still a sore spot with Patrick, if only because Will can’t seem to stop caring about Ryan, deep down. He’s not in love with the guy anymore. Not in a very long time. But he does retain basic human caring for his first love.
Will knows Patrick’s not jealous. He just doesn’t think what Will does to himself when the subject of Ryan comes up is healthy. And given how guilty and nauseous he’s felt off and on all day since Caitlin told him about Ryan being in the hospital, dying, Patrick’s probably right.
They gather the dishes and silverware as a team and sit down to dig into their dinner.
“How’d it go with Caitlin?” Patrick asks, eventually. “She seemed excited when she called me yesterday to say goodbye.”
Will sighs. “She’s never coming back.”
“Nope.”
“You’re supposed to reassure me.”
“Why would I do that? She’s not coming back.” Patrick jabs the air with his fork. “I wouldn’t come back if I were her.” He chews another giant bite of mac‘n’joe and moans softly. “This is good.”
“You say that every time.”
“Because it’s good every time. And, you’re right. I should reassure you. But I can’t. Your sister isn’t the brightest bulb in the Patterson family chandelier, but she’s smart enough to leave and never return.” He wipes his mouth with a napkin. “It’s a no-brainer to get far away from Healing and, more to the point, Kimberly.”
Will takes a bite of his burger and swallows before saying, “Mom’s not that bad.”
