Page 10 of Waiting on Life
While that was cooking, I found Waldo’s food and tugged the lid off the can, then poured it into the dish near the refrigerator. When I turned, he was staring up at me.
“Hope you don’t mind that I’m not Toby.” I stood up as he dove into it. “Guess not.”
The eggs were done, so I placed a few slices of sharp cheddar over them and let it melt a bit, then put the bread in another pan before I set the flame to medium to grill it. Meanwhile, I heated the ham in the egg pan, then slid it onto the bread and grilled it for a few moments. As soon as one side was done, I flipped it, added the eggs, and let it finish cooking.
The door down the hall opened, and Toby came stumbling out. He saw me and groaned.
When I looked up, I found him standing there, a big blue robe wrapped around his beefy goodness. His skin glowed in the light above the table. There was no doubt about it at all. Toby was a beautiful man.
“Why are you still here?”
And maybe a bit of a hard nut to crack. Instead of answering, I plated up his sandwich and put it on the table, then snagged a beer from the refrigerator and popped the top. I set that on the table beside his food.
He eyed the plate curiously. “Unless you laid those yourself….”
“I went to my place and grabbed them.” I took a deep breath. “Look, I know that Pete said something stupid, but—”
He waved a hand, cutting me off. “Nah, he just told me he could see what you meant about me. Don’t worry. I’m used to it.”
His words were said with conviction, but I knew he didn’t mean it. Even I could see Toby had been hurt in the past and had tried to toughen his skin so the remarks wouldn’t ding him anymore. Despite his bravado, the words still hit the mark.
“I told him you were a big guy and had tattoos. That was pretty much it.”
There was the faintest bit of hope in Toby’s eyes, which I noticed then. They were a beautiful shade of blue, like you see right before the storm clouds roll in. They were dark, almost opaque. The things I learned about the man continued to make him more desirable in my mind.
“You didn’t….”
“No, I most certainly didn’t. If you want, I’ll go drag Pete’s sorry ass out of bed and he can tell you exactly what I told him.”
The relief was obvious, but he still maintained that air. “Nah, it’s okay. Like I said, it doesn’t matter.”
“Sit down. Eat. Then you get some sleep.”
He yawned then, and I heard his jaw crack. The poor guy was wiped.
“Why so tired?”
“I had to fire a server and was doing both jobs. It wasn’t quite as bad today, because—” Toby scowled. “Why are you asking?”
I took a seat across from him and gestured between us. “See, this is what grownups call conversation. Can you tell me what the word means?”
If I thought the look he was giving me before was bad, this new one would scare pretty much anyone. Good thing I wasn’t just anyone. I’d stood my ground against a mugger, a raging homophobe, and my mother. If Toby thought I was going to be intimidated, he had a lot to learn about Angela Roga’s baby boy.
“It means I tell you things, and you tell me things. We get to know each other a bit better. Now, since you’re not answering my question, let me tell you a bit about myself. I’m twenty-four. I was born in a small town in the UP called Iron River. My formative years were spent going to school and volunteering at the animal shelter there with two amazing women, Vicky and Clare. When I turned eighteen, I had a choice to make. I could either start working with Clare at Kermit’s, which was the place to be, or I could take a chance and go to school. As much as we became friends, and I loved working with Vicky and Clare, I chose UW-Milwaukee because it got me away from home and let me finally open up about who I am.”
Toby glowered but said nothing as he took a huge bite of the sandwich. “Oh, this is good,” he groaned, a small smile curling his lip.
Mama was right. The way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. And if that didn’t work, a blade between the fifth and sixth ribs would do the job. Mama was a big D&D player back in the day.
“No big. And I know what you were going to say. I’m far too fabulous to think that I was fooling anyone when I was in high school. You, sir, would be correct. I was teased, bullied by a few, but I also had a few tight friends who did their best to keep it all to a minimum. When I got to Milwaukee, I took a job as a server-slash-bartender at a place near the campus. I gave my notice when I graduated, because I fully expected to find a job in my chosen field.”
“Which is?” he mumbled around the last of his sandwich.
The embarrassment had my cheeks heating. “I chose fashion merchandising. I figured my fabulosity plus some beautiful jewelry? Match made in heaven, right? Yeah, not so much. Job pickings are pretty slim to none, and those I can find wouldn’t pay enough to get me a decent place to live—no offense to this place, of course.”
“No, of course.”
He grabbed the bottle, and I stared in awe as his throat muscles worked, taking the beer to his stomach. Toby was, without a doubt, stunning in my eyes. Others might not see him that way, which was to my benefit, because they didn’t know what they were missing out on.
