Page 60 of Two for Holding
He only remembered he had things to worry about when Phil asked, “You came here together?”
Things like being seen with Jax.Being close to Jax.People knowing he spent time alone with Jax.
Because Jax wanted to work with queer charities.Because Jax would come out at some point, and Tom wouldn’t.
Panic quickened his breath, and before he could come up with an excuse, Jax spoke up.
“Yeah, we both live near the rink, and I don’t have a car yet.Made sense.You should thank me for it.This guy wanted to buy a hockey team’s worth of supermarket stuffing.”
Phil wrinkled his nose.“Ew, Tom.”
“What?I don’t know how to make stuffing.”
“It’sThanksgiving.”
“Not in—”
“We’re notinCanada,” Jax interrupted.“How are you at onions?”
Tom blinked.“Fine?”
Jax eyed him.“So, the same as you are with bell peppers?”
“Yup.”
In the end, Phil and Tom sat at the kitchen table, drinking beer and watching Jax chop vegetables.Phil had ordered out for the turkey and assigned sides to everyone who RSVP’d, meaning he only needed to put out plates and silverware.
“Why didn’t I get a side?”Jax asked, midway through cracking an obscene number of eggs into a mixing bowl.
“I didn’t think you could cook,” Phil admitted.“You didn’t seem the type.”
“Oh, so you just assigned the most important side dish to Tom, who youknowcan’t cook.”
“Tom can cook,” Phil argued loyally.“I’ve seen him make at least one thing.”
Jax pulled open three different drawers until he found a wire whisk and then shot them both a look of extreme skepticism.
“Where did you learn to cook anyway?”Tom appreciated watching Jax move around the kitchen, very in charge.Feeling rebellious for even entertaining the thought, Tom acknowledged it was pretty hot.
“My dad’s a line cook at a diner.Or he used to be.I guess he’s the owner now.”
“Huh.”Tom’s dad was an investment banker.He couldn’t imagine either of his parents doing anything involving getting their hands dirty.
“I used to work shifts with him when I needed money for new hockey gear.And in the summers.”
Phil’s eyebrows shot up.Much like Tom, his family was upper-middle-class enough that hockey gear had never been an issue.Also, much like Tom, he didn’t talk to them when he could avoid it.
For lack of anything better to say, Tom threw in, “Cool.”
Phil asked, “So how’d the road trip go?Why’d you all fuck up Toronto so badly?”
Tom dropped his forehead to the table.
It took the better part of an hour to tell Phil about everything, from the line changes leading to Hayes’s outburst to Howie’s apology tour to the communication shutdown leading to their massive loss in Toronto, ending with Breezy and Jax’s master plan.
“Wow.”Phil said.“This will be a fun evening.Why did no one warn me?Heck, why didn’t— Where was Morris in all this?”
Jax shrugged.He finally finished assembling the stuffing, using every ovenproof dish Phil owned.After topping it all in a truly concerning amount of butter, he pushed it into the oven.Thankfully, Phil had one of those designer kitchens with the oven at waist height.
