Page 87 of Shades of Henry
“Hm… downtown. The courthouse, the headquarters for the Bar Association, and the mall.”
“The, uh, mall?”
“I personally use a tailor, but we need you to have something… anything to wear.”
Henry rolled his eyes, even as he was offering his arm to help Galen down the porch stairs. “I’m naked now?”
“No, but you aren’t particularly presentable.”
Henry grimaced. “Uhm, Galen, you know this thing I’m doing is… uh, temporary.” And now, remembering the past two weeks during which Galen and John had literally thrown the full force of John’s business into his defense, he felt bad about that. He’d thanked them, but there was no way to thank someone enough for saving your ass.
Galen laughed and patted Henry’s shoulder. “Oh, I know you’d like to think so, and you have been very honest about apprising us of your class schedule and your hopes for a PI’s license, and I think both goals are admirable. In fact, I am more than proud of you—if you could find a way to hide the razor burn on your neck, you’d be all that is a respectable picture of ambition.”
Henry tripped and barely avoided falling to his knees. He recovered, but then he had to wait for Galen to stop chortling before he could help the guy into his car.
“Oh my God,” Galen chuckled as Henry turned the ignition. “Your face! It was priceless. For God’s sake, did you think we didn’t know?”
“Goddamned Martin Sampson,” Henry muttered, making his way under that lying Sacramento shade. Galen was fully dressed in a linen suit, but the heat was oppressive already.
“Oh no, Henry. We knew you were gay long before Martin Sampson. Your brother told John a long time ago. He was worried about you even then, because he knew what a horrible secret that was to keep. I didn’t mean to mortify you—I promise. I’m just quite happy to see you this morning. And even happier to see you happy. Is that terrible?”
“No,” Henry said, humbled. “That’s kind. Thank you.”
“May I ask who was the young man with the scruffy chin?”
Henry laughed, mostly because Lance was usually so clean-cut. “Lance. Roommate. You know, the flophouse—”
“Oh!” Galen sounded truly surprised. “Well, don’t you have good taste. I take it you two will want to be moving out soon?”
Henry grunted. “Are you trying to marry us off?”
“Are you trying to throw a good thing away when it apparently likes you enough to rub itself all over your neck?”
And he couldn’t help it. Thegoofiestsmile crept out as he remembered Lance doing exactly that. “No,” he mumbled. “But I’m living on my brother’s charity right now and can’t afford to share rent.”
“Oh,” Galen said softly. “Well, I think I have a solution for you, but I do need to make these stops first. You were hoping to work for Mr. Rivers and Mr. Cramer, were you not?”
“When they can afford me.”
Galen’s chuckle was quite subversive. “Well, we shall see that they afford you at the soonest possibility. Do you have any idea where youwantto live?”
“Same complex, if possible,” Henry said. He remembered coming up the stairs and finding Randy, on one of the most agonizing days of his young life. “Right next door if we can get it. I mean, I know some of the guys might move out, but I get the feeling anyone who ends up in that place is going to need a little bit of… I don’t know… adult supervision. You get what I’m saying?”
“I do.” Henry glanced in the mirror and saw that Galen was working on his tablet—but that didn’t stop him from talking. “In fact, I think that’s a great idea. You do know John took out the lease on that apartment like five years ago, don’t you? So he didn’t have his boys on the streets. He hasn’t had to pay rent once—he won’t say so, but he’s pretty proud of that.”
“Oh wow.” And Henry’s opinion of John, an addict in recovery and pornographer, rose exponentially. “That was when….” Henry didn’t like to talk about this.
“That was when he was still using, yes. He was a drug abuser, but he tried not to be a scumbag. I think, if nothing else, you might have learned a little tolerance in the past couple of weeks.”
And Henry must have learned something, because he finally recognized that tone in Galen’s voice.
It was defense against hurt.
“I just think it was really great,” Henry said, his voice thick. “I think those kids there, they were lucky to have John and my brother, trying to do right by them. I mean, Davy—he was the family’s promise, right? Going away to school, getting his degree. We all thought porn was such a step down. But it’s not that simple. You should hear the kids in that apartment talk about Davy and John. There’s this… this reverence, you know? It’s like they need to believe in someone. I get that now.”
“Well,” Galen said, sounding stunned. “I guess youhavegrown. And I think—if your stiff-necked pride won’t get in the way—that I can get you and your young doctor a place not only in the same complex, but in the same building. And be patient. I have the feeling the perfect solution to the rest of the matter is coming your way.”
Henry let out a sigh. “Always so cryptic. Do you enjoy that?”
