Chapter Twenty
Alex cautiously opened his eyes, which seemed to resist his efforts. His head throbbed with a dull ache, and his tongue was like sandpaper. He propped himself up on one elbow, and tried to focus on the clock beside the bed.
Seven-thirty. The blinds were drawn, and a ribbon of bright light showed at the base of the window. He blinked, forcing himself to wake up.
It’s Sunday. Isn’t it?
When he caught the sound of breathing, Alex stilled. There was only him in the bed. He gazed around the room and blinked once more at the sight of Joshua, fully dressed, asleep in the armchair in the corner, a pillow stuffed between his cheek and the side of the chair.
What the hell?
Alex sat up, trying to sort through the fog inside his head. Why is he here? And why is he in a chair?
Just then, Joshua stirred, his eyelids flickering open. He stretched his long body, arms pushing toward the ceiling, before glancing at his surroundings until their gazes met.
“Oh. You’re awake.” Joshua yawned as he got to his feet and came over to the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Like my head went ten rounds with a bag of cement, and lost.”
Joshua chuckled. “That’ll be the tequila. I’ll put the coffee on.” He walked stiffly from the room, leaving Alex no clearer.
Tequila? Just how much did I drink?
Alex threw back the comforter and looked around for his clothing. He stepped into his jeans and pulled a clean shirt from the drawer. First stop had to be the bathroom. Once he’d splashed his face with warm water and brushed his teeth, he felt slightly more human.
That just left the small but not insignificant puzzle of the previous night.
Alex walked carefully into the kitchen, where Joshua had finished setting up the coffee machine. “Do you feel like I do?”
Joshua snickered. “Me? I feel just fine. I wasn’t invited to that particular party. It was all over by the time I got here. By the way, what did your poor phone ever do to you?”
“My… phone?”
Joshua disappeared for a moment, before returning with Alex’s phone. He placed it gently on the countertop in front of Alex, who gaped when he saw the screen. “Holy shit.”
“I found it like that on the hearth. Either you dropped it—or launched it.” Joshua regarded him steadily. “I don’t suppose you recall why.”
Alex was about to tell him he had no idea, when he remembered. Instagram. A photo. Two smiling men. #husbands. Oh fuck. He pressed his palm to his temple as if that would stop both the pain and the recollections.
“Here.” Joshua filled a tall glass with water. “Fluids will help. And when you’ve drunk that, I’ll fix us some breakfast. I was thinking pancakes.” His lips twitched.
Alex smiled. “I appreciate the humor. But to be honest, I’m not that hungry.”
“Then you can have toast and coffee for now, and we’ll go for brunch later.” Joshua gave him a keen glance. “Just as long as you know we’re gonna be talking about last night.”
Yeah, Alex knew. Maybe it was time anyway. “Toast and coffee sounds good. So does brunch. Just… can we not do a whole postmortem right now?” Alex didn’t think he could cope with a serious conversation until much later in the day.
“Fine. But Manda is expecting me to call with an update.”
Alex became still. “What does Manda—Oh God. I called her.”
“Yes, you did. And she called back.” Joshua poured out the first cup of coffee and held it out to Alex. “Here. I think you need this more than me.”
Alex took it gratefully. After a couple of mouthfuls, he gazed thoughtfully at Joshua. “You stayed last night because I was a mess, didn’t you?”
Joshua nodded. “No way was I gonna leave you alone.”
“Yes, but that chair… you could have slept in my guest room.”
Joshua gave a slow shake of his head. “You wouldn’t eat, you wouldn’t drink the coffee I made ya… I just wanted to stick close by.” He poured himself a cup and sipped it. “And now I’ll get some toast going. But brunch will definitely be on you.” His eyes gleamed.
Alex laughed, but stopped when his head gave a pulse of pain. “I think I’ll take something for my head, then I’ll call Manda. I owe her an explanation.” He sighed. “She might take it easy on me if she knows I’m suffering.” Joshua bit his lip, and Alex snickered. “Yeah, who am I kidding?”
He walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, in search of painkillers for his head. Once he’d taken a couple, he went into the living room and picked up the handset. He knew from experience that Manda would be awake. There was time for a couple of rings before she answered.
“Hey,” he said softly. “And before you rush into whatever monologue you’ve been rehearsing all night, can I please ask that you do it quietly? Some of us are feeling more than a little fragile.”
Manda huffed. “No sympathy.” She paused. “Well, perhaps a little. But you scared me to death. Just how much did you drink last night?”
Alex glanced over at the bottle, still sitting on the coffee table. “Let’s just say…the tequila didn’t make it.”
“Jesus, Alex!”
He winced. “Hey. Not so loud. Fragile, remember?”
“What were you trying to do, give yourself alcoholic poisoning? I’m just thankful Joshua was around. You know, I asked him to stay with you?”
Which wasn’t the way Joshua told it. Alex didn’t think Joshua would have needed telling. He was that kind of man.
“Not that I needed to,” Manda added. “He’d already decided he wasn’t budging. You’ve got a good one there.”
“Manda.” Alex tried to force as much patience as he could into his tone.
“Manda nothing. I just meant he’s a good friend.”
Alex doubted that.
“So, are you going to tell me what Turd—I mean, Todd—did?”
“Nothing much. He only went and got married.”
Stunned silence. Manda cleared her throat. “Tell me he didn’t call you up to tell you that. Tell me quickly, before I track him down and grind him to a pulp. Because that would be just—”
“No grinding required. They posted their wedding pic on Instagram, under hashtag husbands. He probably had no idea I’d see it. After all, Alex Rycliffe isn’t on Instagram.”
“Hmm. Not convinced, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.” Her voice softened. “Alex, I’m so sorry. Are you all right? That can’t have been easy. But then again, it does explain why you got out of your skull last night. And speaking of which… don’t you ever do that again.”
Alex heard the love in her voice. “I promise. I’ll save the drinking for when you’re around.”
“You’d better. Just… take it easy for the rest of today, please?”
“Joshua and I are going out for brunch, for starters.” Alex paused. “And then I’m going to tell him about Todd.”
“Wait—he still doesn’t know? I thought you two were bosom buddies, y’know, joined at the hip. I assumed you’d already—”
“Okay, okay, no, I hadn’t. A situation that will be rectified by the end of the day. All right? That good enough for you?”
“Yes,” Manda said simply. “He’s your closest friend—next to me, of course.”
Alex chuckled. “As if anyone could supplant you.”
“Hey, I take my BFF role pretty damn seriously. You do know when you find someone who’s prepared to put up with you, and you finally take the plunge, I’ll be right there as your Best Woman. That’s the law, right?”
Alex had to laugh, in spite of his headache. “I hate to break it to you, but if you want to be my Best Woman? Better start praying for a miracle.”
“Who says I haven’t already started?” Manda disconnected the call.
She has to have the last word.
~ 0 ~
Joshua figured if Alex was going to talk, he’d need a prod in the right direction. He’d been quiet throughout brunch, but Joshua put that down to his receding hangover. They’d come back to the house, and Joshua kept glancing toward the clock. Micah would be wondering what on earth was going on.
“I guess I owe you an explanation,” Alex said suddenly, after they’d been sitting in the living room for half an hour, listening to the clock tick, the chirp of birds, the odd rumble of traffic.
“You don’t owe me anything,” Joshua assured him. “But this brings us back to our conversation a while back, when I said you didn’t share much about your life.”
Alex nodded. “And you were right. The problem is, if you want to learn about my life, then we have to talk about Todd, because he takes up most of it. Or he did, until five years ago.”
“Okay.” Joshua settled back against the cushions. “Then tell me.”
“You know I said I was out when I was seventeen? That wasn’t the case with Todd. He was a relatively late bloomer, finally coming to the realization that he was gay when he was twenty-five. I think a lot of what happened between us can be laid at the door of that discovery.”
“How long were you together?”
“Almost twenty-three years,” Alex said quietly.
“We met when I was twenty-two. He was a few years older. Six months later we were living together, and as far as I was concerned, life was perfect. And it went on being perfect, right up to the point when the first cracks started to appear. Only, I didn’t see them for what they were.
I thought everything in the garden was just rosy. ”
“What kind of cracks? And after how long?”