Page 50 of Galen's Redemption
“What? I thought—”
“I know. I keep going out and wanting to do it, but… I don’t know. It all seems so hollow. And I’m getting older. It won’t be long before I’ll be lucky if I can give head in an alley. I want….” He sighed. “I want stable.I want a guy to come home to every night, who will ask me how my day was, rub my feet, and then snuggle with me in bed. It doesn’t even have to be about the sex, though that would be good too. I just want to not be alone anymore.”
“And you think Marco is the guy?”
“I don’t know! I want a chance to find out. Is that wrong?”
It wasn’t. Galen wanted to blurt out that he was hoping for the samething with Robert, but this one was all about Andy.
He took a seat on the couch, the box now far less important. “You deserve those things. You need to be with someone who will always love you, because you’re an amazing man, with a heart bigger than the outdoors. But, and don’t take this the wrong way, if you want to get to know this guy, you’ve got to step up and let him know.”
God, Galen neededto take his own advice. He liked Robert, and he wanted to know if it could go somewhere, but he was afraid. He wasn’t exactly sure of what, though. Maybe it was the fear that cheating was in his DNA. Or it could be that Robert would bail when he found out that Galen wasn’t a good bet for anything beyond a quick fuck.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Andy held out the box. “I should have given those to you already.”
Then, to his own surprise, Galen put the box on the table and turned his attention back to Andy. “They’ll be okay for a while.”
“Nah, go ahead and open it. I’m eager to see what you got today.”
“Are you sure? We can—”
Andy grabbed the box and thrust it into Galen’s hands. “Open it.”
His hands shook when he took the paper off the box. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous. Robert had been damnedsweet and far nicer than Galen deserved.
When the box was finally open, tears pricked Galen’s eyes.
He spun the smoky-gray vase in his hands, taking in every angle of the roses as their scent tickled his nose. He held them out, in awe as the light played over the petals. They were the most beautiful things Galen had ever received.
“Oh my God, have you ever seen such amazing flowers?”
Andysnorted. “You’ve been staring at them for almost an hour.” He winked, and the tease in his voice was obvious. “And the way you keep twirling that vase, they’re going to get motion sickness.”
“Fine.” Galen put the vase on the table, along with the others he’d gotten over the last several days. He had nowhere in his room to put any new ones, and all the ones he’d gotten were still fresh, and hedidn’t have the heart to get rid of them. In this shoebox, though, space was a premium.
“I’ll see if some of the neighbors want some.”
“You’ll do no such thing! I love the way the apartment looks and smells. Besides, he sent them to you, and you should keep them just because of that.” Andy held aloft the small white rectangle. “Did you evenreadthe card? ‘Next to you, a perfect dozen.’ I’mtelling you, I nearly came in my pants over the whole big, romantic gesture. This is what I’m talking about. It’s what I want, more than anything. And you’re just…. Ugh.”
Andy’s pouty lips had narrowed, and his gaze was uncharacteristically not Andy’s warm one.
“Why are you looking at me like that, then?”
He threw his hands in the air. “Seriously? This guy sent you five dozen roses, and I’mgoing to go out on a limb and say you haven’t called him to say thank you or stay away or anything. Am I right?”
Every time Galen looked at his phone, he was tempted to call Robert. More than once he’d picked it up and had his finger on the call button, but then he chided himself and put the phone away.
“No.”
“So you’re going to string him along, is that it? Let him keep buying you flowersuntil he goes broke?”
“What? No!” He’d never do anything so…. Five dozen roses weren’t cheap, and Galen knew it. Maybe hewasstringing Robert along. Who didn’t like being made to feel special? “You’re right. I’ll give him a call today.”
Andy’s expression softened. “Why haven’t you called him?”
Oh, there were many answers to that question, but the one that kept bobbing to the surface probablyconveyed it best. “I’ve been looking at my life for the last week, and I can’t understand why he bothers with me.”
“You’ve said things like this in the past. I don’t understand where this is coming from.”
