Page 32 of A Reindeer Wish for Love
Chapter 16
Clay
After paying the cabbie, and stepping into the hallway of the building where I was living, someone had decorated a large faux evergreen tree in the middle of the entrance backed against the mirrored walls.Seeing the tree and the empty boxes with holiday paper, the Christmas spirit had visited me once again.
I opened the door to the small apartment occupied by three men and a cat, and the saying came back to me, and I remembered what my mother or father had said when I notified them I would move out because friends my age offered me a chance to live in Manhattan.“Two’s company and three’s a crowd,” my parents had said.
There may have been a few tears only from my mother, but I think my father was glad to see me go on my own.Men were like that about their sons and especially their gay ones.I think he thought it would toughen me up, but life did that anyway whether you were gay or not I discovered.
He was probably right because my heart was broken and torn apart because Mason wasn’t around to step in and let Halifax know that I was his boy, and he couldn’t treat me horribly by sending me to the basement to get rid of me in hopes I would leave the firm.But where would I go?I had just gotten this job, and I needed a reference, and the only one I could depend on to give me a good reference was my lover.
I strode in the kitchen taking my time, thinking about two is company and three is a crowd.I knew then I had to leave.I didn’t need to be couch surfing and listening to Tyler and Marty go at it all night long.
After feeding the cat, I dropped down and placed my jacket on the sofa and toed off my loafers.I laid my head back and closed my eyes.When I glanced up Marty was standing over me and I didn’t know for how long.
The Christmas lights were blinking and finally I opened my eyes, and he said, “You know you’re a sound sleeper.You don’t grunt in your sleep or make funny noises.”I didn’t know that was a thing.Men who grunted and made funny noises.“That’s rare and Mason will be a lucky man to have you.”
I didn’t know if Marty was just trying to make me feel better, or start a conversation.He plopped down next to me and placed his arm across the back of the sofa.
“How did it go.I mean at work?”
I sighed and then said, “Not good.I got demoted.”
“No shit.But where was Mason?I know he had to be gone or he wouldn’t have let that go down.”
“I got the information out of his secretary that he would be away for a month.”I prayed it would just be a month, but that was still too long and I hadn’t heard from him.He could have said something or called me.I thought we were in love.Well, it was me who had fallen in love.I thought.
“Did he tell you he’d be gone for that long?”Marty raised an eyebrow before asking.
“He gave me the impression that he would be in California for a week and would be back by Christmas.”
“That’s precisely why I said to not sleep with him.You have put your job in jeopardy, and he won’t be there to stop them from firing you.And what happens if you’re madly in love with him and he comes back after a month and doesn’t want the baggage you can carry.A lot can happen in a month.People die in a day so imagine what—”
“Stop, Marty.I think you’ve scared Clay enough.It’s bad enough Clay has to go to work wondering if he’ll have a job without you telling him that he may have lost the man he loves,” Tyler said.“Come, let’s give Clay some space and time to think,” he said after extending his hand for Marty, who smiled and place his palm inside Tyler’s, and Tyler drew him up from the couch.
I didn’t need time to think.I needed space and I knew I’d have to leave.These guys were too kind and loving and protective for me to continue to invade their privacy.Before they disappeared into their room, I said, “I’m going to get an apartment.Now don’t try to talk me out of it.”
“But you can’t pay for this rent in this city alone, not now and maybe not ever,” Marty said.
“I have plans, and I’ll tell you about it later, and besides I met someone new tonight.”Marty broke free from Tyler and walked over to me and his cat followed and they were both eyeing me as if I was a man from another planet.Marty eyeing me for one reason, and the cat because I would usually feed him which I did or let him out for his night hunt.His night hunt had been my guess.
