Chapter 7 Austin
SEVEN
AUSTIN
Liam was avoiding him.
Austin hadn’t seen his cute baker in a week. Not that Liam was his, but he couldn’t help but be worried about him. He had so much pressure on his shoulders, and when Liam flashed one of his genuine smiles, Austin would feel more at ease and know he was doing okay.
Maisie had been disappointed Liam wasn’t at the festival, although not as much as Austin.
Of course, he’d left unicorn cupcakes for her, and chocolate orange with plaid icing for Austin.
Chloe had refused to take any money, saying she didn’t want to get fired.
Liam needed to stop giving him cakes for free, although his daughter was happy and thought Liam was the best thing in the world.
Austin had been to Sylvie’s Slice every morning before eight o’clock when Liam usually left to do his corporate job from home, but he’d always already left.
He’d varied his times, trying a bit earlier, but he didn’t want to look like some crazy stalker by asking for him every time.
Austin knew he was being avoided when he’d seen Liam through the window and he rushed into the kitchen.
Austin had waited, and then been told Liam had left to go to work, so he must have taken the back exit.
He wasn’t sure what he’d done, and nothing from all their recent encounters had given him a clue.
“What’s up with your face?” asked Gerard.
Austin was sitting at the bar, nursing a beer, feeling sorry for himself.
Maisie was upstairs in the flat watching TV.
He’d needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours, and she was more than happy to keep herself entertained.
He felt like he was being a shit dad, as he couldn’t get Liam off his mind.
“Nothing. Just thinking.”
“About?”
“Nothing in particular.”
He wasn’t getting into this with Gerard. Austin thought he was acting like a teenage girl with a broken heart, not a man in his forties. And besides, wasn’t he supposed to be pursuing just friendship with Liam? Maybe that’s why it stung more. Did Liam not even want to be friends with him?
“Is this about a certain baker?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Not even if I know why he’s avoiding you?”
Austin looked up and glared at his grinning friend. “Well?”
“He found out you were bi.”
“What? What does that have to do with anything?”
“He thought you were the unobtainable straight guy, so he didn’t get his hopes up. Now, knowing Liam, he probably feels like he might have made you uncomfortable.”
“First, that’s bollocks. Liam couldn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable, and how could he not know I was interested?”
“You do give off straight vibes, with your manual job and appalling dress sense.”
“Get fucked,” he laughed.
“You were married to a woman and have a kid. It’s not an unreasonable assumption for him to make.”
“So, how did he find out?”
“Giselle, of course. That woman doesn’t know how to keep her nose out of other people’s business.”
Austin looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s different. I am at the epicentre of this community. There’s an expectation from people that I know what’s going on in the village.”
Austin laughed. “Okay, so, if he found out I was bi, why would he then avoid me?”
“Has anything happened between you that might embarrass him now he knows you’re on the same bus?”
“I can’t think of anything.”
“What about the night of Sylvie’s funeral? Didn’t something happen then?”
“He got upset, and I comforted him.”
“How?”
“Well, I didn’t fuck him in the kitchen if that’s what you’re asking.”
“It wasn’t, but good to know where your head’s at.”
Austin groaned and took another swig of his beer before he ended up telling his friend to get fucked again.
“What happened between you two that night?” asked Gerard.
“He got upset, which was understandable given the day it was, so I gave him a hug.”
“Hmmm.”
“What does that mean?”
“I think he’s probably got a crush on you, and now he’s embarrassed you’ve guessed.”
“Why should he be embarrassed when I have a crush on him as well?”
Crush sounded too simple for what he felt for Liam, but he didn’t want to get into that with Gerard. There were other people in the bar, and the last thing he wanted was his feelings for Liam to work their way through the grapevine before he’d spoken to the guy himself.
“He probably thinks you’re out of his league.”
Austin scoffed. “More like the other way around.”
“You don’t see it, do you?”
“See what?”
“You’re annoyingly good looking, a really nice guy, a big romantic, and unless things have shrunk since high school, packing some hefty merchandise.”
Austin felt his face flush.
“And you get bashful and blush like that. Most people would think you were out of their league. Not me, because I know what an arsehole you can be.”
Austin chuckled at Gerard, who was clearly trying to lighten the mood. What was Austin going to do?
“Maybe I should just ask him to dinner?”
“Like a date?”
“Of course a date? What did you think I was going to do? Invite him round to mine for dinner with me and Maisie?”
“Well, your daughter is a big fan of Liam’s.”
“I’m well aware. She never stops talking about him.”
Gerard snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that one when she finds out her dad is screwing her first crush.”
“She’s had crushes before, and I will not screw him. I want to date him properly.”
“And you think now is a good time? I thought you were going to wait until his life was a bit more stable.”
“That won’t be until the end of March. I know that’s only just over a month away, but it seems too long.”
“He’s staying with the London job until June now.
They offered him a lot of money or something.
So things won’t be settled for him for a while, and I don’t think he’s really processed his mum’s death yet either.
And with his dad never leaving the house, running the bakery on his own, and doing whatever he does for his city job, I’m surprised he has time to work out as well. ”
“Work out? Where?”
“Rodrigo’s. Where else would he go?”
“I joined there this week. And Liam goes there as well?”
“Rodrigo has a strict no-semen policy in his gym.”
“You have a one-track mind.”
“Well, I’ve been with the same man for years, so I need to live vicariously through my friends, and you’re the Mr Romance of the group.”
Austin felt embarrassed again, so he took another drink to cool himself down.
It wasn’t the first time he’d been called that, but Michael and Nathan didn’t date, and Tony didn’t commit for longer than a night.
With Gerard and Kevin, it was the latter who was the more romantic of the two.
Austin would love to romance Liam and take time to woo him.
He wasn’t a guy who just jumped straight into bed with someone.
Those days were long behind him. He’d rather go without than have a one-night stand.
“Wait . . . what did you say about him working until the end of June?”
“I only got the news secondhand from Giselle, but she said he’d agreed to stay on longer because they’d offered him a load of money.”
Austin frowned. He could understand Liam wanting to earn some extra money if he was quitting the city, especially if he was earning six figures, but another three months of trying to juggle everything? Austin was worried about him.
“How do you think I should talk to him?”
“Just go into the bakery tomorrow with Maisie. He won’t run off if she’s there.”
“For fuck’s sake. How do you know everything?”
“You’ll learn when you’ve been back here longer that nothing goes on in this village without me knowing about it.”
“Why does that sound terrifying?”
Gerard chuckled and left Austin to himself as he went to serve someone. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about Liam, but one thing was certain: he was going to have to be a bit more forceful in getting them to talk again.
It was Sunday, and Austin was pissed off now.
He’d spent three hours in the bakery yesterday with Maisie, and there had been no sign of Liam.
Chloe was playing dumb, so she was clearly in on it.
Giselle and Henrietta had stopped by his table and fussed over Maisie as they always did.
Maisie was already calling them both her aunties.
When he asked if they’d seen Liam, they fumbled some answer about him not being around much this week.
The whole thing was ridiculous, and he was going to do something about it.
Austin didn’t have Liam’s number, though, and didn’t feel right asking for it.
Needing to de-stress before he picked Maisie up from Uncle Gerard and Uncle Kevin, he decided to go to the gym.
A quick detour home to change into his workout gear, and it wasn’t long before he was pulling up outside Rodrigo’s.
He could have walked it, but then would have needed to change.
He just wanted to get in, do a quick workout, pick up Maisie, and then take a long, hard think about what he was going to do.
His instinct was to go round to Liam’s place and force him to talk, which would probably just make him come across as crazy, but this avoidance thing needed to stop, and it wouldn’t unless they talked.
He grabbed his water bottle and a sweat towel and headed inside the gym.
It wasn’t a vast place, but was well equipped with everything a gym needed.
Rodrigo ran the place himself, with some part-time help, but he did all the classes and one-on-one personal training.
Austin’s membership gave him one PT session a week, and the rest of the time he could use the gym however he needed it.