Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
GREG
I paced my apartment, unable to slow my racing heart or calm my shaking hands.
I had a stalker. I knew Tony had been trying not to scare me by being vague when he’d suggested it, but once I dropped the veil of denial, my brain slid all the pieces together.
The random flowers and the attempted break-in were the main clues.
But my mind kept going back to two encounters with men who made me feel unsafe even though they’d never said or done anything overtly threatening.
Could they have been the same man? I didn’t get a good look at either of them.
The man in the hoodie at City Lights had kept his head down and his voice low.
Frisbee Guy at the park hadn’t stuck around long enough for me or Tony to clearly see his face.
I closed my eyes, trying to remember the man from the park. Average height. Light-brown hair. Nothing about him stood out. Maybe that had been the idea. What would have happened if Tony hadn’t been there? If I had agreed to have coffee with him? Was it even him?
I growled in frustration. Why? Why me? Why now? I’d finally found someone wonderful after twelve lonely years, and he was trying to ruin it. I wasn’t a violent man, but I suddenly imagined myself beating this mysterious stalker to a pulp.
When my phone vibrated with a call, I nearly jumped out of my skin. Relief flooded me when I saw it was a call from Becky. Anything to take my mind off the possible stalker. “Hey, Becky. How are you doing? How did your finals go?”
“Really good,” she replied. “I got As in all three classes.”
“That’s great! Congratulations!”
“Thanks,” she said quietly. “Are you still coming to my graduation?”
“Absolutely,” I confirmed. “Is it okay if I bring my boyfriend?”
There was a beat of silence before she answered. “You have a boyfriend?”
“Yeah. It’s pretty new. I’ve known him for a couple of years, but we just started dating in March.” I decided she didn’t need to know about the whole friends-with-benefits thing.
“What’s he like?” she asked cautiously. “Is he good to you?”
I knew why she was asking. She remembered Randy. She knew I’d thrown away my college scholarship and future career to appease him. “He’s amazing,” I said. “He supports my dreams and encourages me all the time. He’s so good about respecting my boundaries.”
“Oh, Greg,” she said, her voice full of emotion. “That’s wonderful to hear. What’s his name?”
“Tony D’Angelo. He owns a security company here in the City. I met him through Jeremy Fitzgerald, the pianist I told you about.”
“The famous one you’re taking lessons from?”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “That’s the one. He’s known Tony for almost ten years.”
“That’s good to know.” She let out a soft sigh. “I know I sound like a mother hen, even though I’m younger than you. But I don’t want you to get hurt again. We both lost so much trusting the wrong people.”
“Yes, we did,” I acknowledged. “It’s not like we had a very good example to learn from.”
“Definitely not,” she agreed. “Speaking of Mom, have you heard from her lately?”
“Not since last month when she asked for money for her rent,” I replied. “She got mad when I told her I would send it directly to the landlord instead of giving it to her.”
“What a surprise,” she said dryly. “Why haven’t you blocked her yet?”
I sighed. “I don’t know. I suppose it’s that leftover feeling of responsibility. I was the one she relied on when we were kids. It’s hard to shake that.”
“Maybe a therapist could help?” she asked tentatively.
“Probably. It’s been a few years since I’ve been. I keep meaning to look for one here in the City, but then I get busy and forget.”
“Or you use being busy as an excuse to forget,” she shot back.
“Hey, when did you get so smart?” I teased.
She chuckled. “I just know it’s helped me. It’s why I ended up blocking Mom. She kept trying to make me feel guilty for making a life for myself. It’s like she doesn’t want us to be successful because she gave up her own dreams.”
“You may be right about that,” I replied thoughtfully. I didn’t know why that never occurred to me. “I’m so glad you got to fulfill your own dreams. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks,” she replied. I could hear the smile in her voice. After a moment’s pause, she added, “Ethan might be coming to the graduation too.”
Shock briefly stole my voice. “I thought he didn’t want to have anything to do with us. Isn’t he out in Washington or Oregon or something?”
“Oregon,” she said. “Portland, to be specific. I only just heard from him two weeks ago. It’s kind of what made me call you. We had a long talk about how he and I blamed you for shit that was really Mom’s fault.”
I sank down on my sofa. “Wow. I had no idea. I haven’t seen him since he graduated from high school. He changed his phone number and didn’t tell me where he was going to college.”
“Yeah, he feels bad about that. He said he’d rather talk to you in person than on the phone. He’s planning to come down the day before graduation so we can spend some time together before all the craziness.”
“We can probably swing that,” I said. “I just have to ask Tony.”
“I’m so happy to have all of us together again,” she enthused.
I found myself getting cautiously excited about it. “It will be good for us to be all in one place again.”
“Definitely.” I heard someone’s voice in the background. “I have to go. I promised my roommate I’d help her study for her last final. I’ll see you in less than two weeks.”
“See you then,” I replied.
After she ended the call, I sat there remembering the last fight I’d had with my brother before he left for school.
I blamed myself for pushing him. I’d wanted him to stay closer to home.
He’d wanted to get as far away as he possibly could.
Now I realized I’d been influenced by my mother’s neediness and her desire to keep us all under her roof.
I squeezed my eyes shut as tears stung them.
What a mess. I hoped I could reconcile with my siblings and build a stronger relationship between the three of us.
I shot a quick text to Tony asking if it was okay to move our departure to Delaware up a day. I didn’t expect an answer from him right away. I knew he had an interview that morning.
The call from my sister had stopped my spiraling thoughts, so I was able to sit at my computer and get some work done. I had three projects due in the next two weeks, and I was determined to finish before we left for Delaware.
Two of the projects were nearly complete website designs.
The third was a request for a character illustration for a gay romance novel.
It was something new I was trying. The first one I’d done had been for an author I knew personally.
She’d been so happy with the result that she told all her author friends.
Now I was getting steady requests for commissions from people who were ecstatic that I refused to use generative AI to make my designs.
I was deep into my drawing when an email from my business account popped up. I opened it to make sure it wasn’t about one of my current projects.
It was not. It was a request for graphic design work for an existing website. They were eager to start the work as soon as possible because the old designs were not getting the traction they wanted.
I emailed them back and told them I wouldn’t be able to start working on it for another three weeks, so they might want to reach out to someone else who would be able to get it done more quickly. Then I went back to my character design and didn’t think about it again.
Two hours later, my stomach let me know it was past lunchtime. I picked up my phone to check whether Tony had answered my text when another email came in.
Mr. Hayden,
It doesn’t surprise me that you’re a busy man.
Your artwork is excellent. I am willing to wait three weeks to have you work on my designs.
If you are amenable, I’d like to meet in person to chat about ideas.
I find I need the face-to-face contact to get my creative juices flowing.
When it gets closer to the date, we can decide on a place and time to meet.
Sincerely,
Paul Jameson