25. Sal
Twenty Five
Sal
“Cole, I don’t know what Sal’s told you,” my father gives no space for any sort of response and keeps going in one breath, “but I’ve made mistakes in the past and there isn’t much I can do to amend what I’ve done.”
I don’t believe him, I don’t believe anything he’s saying. He’s changed? Yeah right, it’s all a facade so he doesn’t seem like a bigot and loses money. No one changes overnight. All I can do is hope that Cole is not falling for this bullshit.
“Which is why I want to introduce you both to someone.” My father gestures to one of the staff who rushes to the patio door.
“I’d like you to meet, Jeff.”
I roll my eyes.
What? He’s got some PR guy who’s gonna set up some press conference on our reuniting? Unlikely as that’d reveal that my father was a terrible person to begin with. It wouldn’t be past my father to try that anyways though.
Except the PR guy doesn’t stop at the table to greet us and shake our hands.
No! He keeps going right up to my father and wraps his arm around him!
This well dressed, friendly looking man touches my father. His large red frames contrast his salt and pepper hair. The man is more tan than me, around the same height and at least two decades younger than Hammond.
“This is my partner , Jeff.”
No fucking way… did my father just say partner?
This has to be a publicity stunt!
Everyone is staring at me and I’m caught between yelling at my father, and fleeing.
“I know how I treated you was insane. I guess I didn’t realize I was fighting my own repression.”
My tongue spasms in my throat and I just keep swallowing trying to cold back a coughing fit.
“The smoothies are ready!” Jeff says as a platter of different colored smoothies travel toward us.
What the fuck?!
Jeff takes a seat beside my father and my blood boils as they gently rub thumbs over each other’s hands.
Unable to speak, I watch as Cole nervously gives me a smile then picks a purple smoothie.
“Sir?” Someone I don’t recognize offers me a drink.
“No thank you,” I manage to mutter.
“Sal’s not much of a talker,” my father says with laughter before sipping his mango drink.
He’s having a blast, enjoying his riches and fucking some dude. Or being fucked. Why does thinking about that bother me so much?
I shouldn’t care, right?
It shouldn’t bother me, right?
“For dinner I had simple caesar wraps, I hope that’s alright.” He’s so cheery as he begins, chattering away about something else. As if he hasn’t completely upended my entire life, and our entire relationship for no reason. As if he didn’t just tell me that he’s gay? Or at least bi?
“Sal?” The gentle touch to my arm, pulls me out of my thoughts, and I slightly jerk my arm away.
His imploring gaze calms me. Despite everything I’ve done, he’s here with me right now at my father’s house. A small part of me regrets telling my father that we’re not boyfriends.
Rolling my shoulders back, I offer a halfhearted smile and look to my father who is still going on about God knows what. Thankfully, it seems he missed the exchange between Cole and I.
There’s a fluttering in my chest that I hate. How do I wash these growing feelings for my employee? I can’t be feeling this way.
The sun begins to dip into the horizon after we’ve eaten our meal. Jeff asks questions and I give short responses.
Where I went to school. ‘Bayfront High School.’ When I realized I was gay.
The silence from my father speaks volumes, as he likely wonders the same questions, yet has no right to ask. Does it bother him?
What takes me by surprise, is the way that Cole comes alive when asked a lot of the same questions.
“I didn’t always know I was gay,” he starts, fiddling with the straw from the half finished smoothie. “Honestly, I thought I was straight for the longest time. I figured I just hadn’t met the right girl. It wasn’t until I left high school and went into college and I met this guy who changed everything.”
A flare goes off in my chest. Jealousy.
“He wasn’t out to anyone, but I didn’t care because I didn’t know I was gay at the time. We hooked up throughout the entire time of my freshman year. It was incredible. Until he decided to end things because he couldn’t handle the thought of people knowing the truth about him.”
Looking at him sitting there talking about his life with my childhood home as his backdrop is uncanny.
“I’m sorry,” Jeff says, one hand to his chest, the other wiping at his right eye.
“It’s okay. I learned so much about myself during that time.
“That’s beautiful,” my father says.
His sentiment is poison in the well.
Cole shrugs as something rubs against my foot. “That’s life, yeah?”
Glancing beneath the table, he’s playing footsy with me.
The touch sends an electric current through my body, specifically to my heart.
The skater shoes he’s wearing do not go well with his outfit. I want to be mad and dismiss the gentle tug this messy brown haired guy has on me, but it’s hard when he smiles at me.
“Thank you both for having us,” I say, standing abruptly.
My father doesn’t seem surprised at all.
Jeff is startled in how he scrambles to stand and offers to bring us to the door.
“Babe, why don’t you show Cole to the restroom?”
I can’t help but eye my father suspiciously but I don’t argue.
“Sure,” Jeff says without a second thought and readily takes Cole up the patio steps.
“You’re quiet.”
It’s not a question.
“Yeah.”
Questions creep in as I watch him sit up from his relaxed, slouched position. Is this relationship with Jeff simply a publicity stunt as I initially thought?
“I know work relationships can seem unethical, but there’s a right way to go about things.”
Oh. I didn’t expect this conversation to be about my current standing with Cole. Is there some kind of implication with the way he’s saying this? About how he and Jeff met?
The chair scratches the ground in a painful screech.
“I can tell he really cares for you. And it seems like he deserves someone who will love him right.”
Walking over to me, he grips my shoulder. “I know I owe you an apology, and I’m truly sorry. It’s not an overnight fix, but I’ll keep doing what I can to make it up to you, Sal.”