Chapter 5 Barbecue Rules
Found Family
Saturday afternoons were not supposed to involve emotional manipulation.
At least that was Mason Reyes's opinion.
Unfortunately, Connor Hale disagreed.
The disagreement explained why Mason found himself standing in Connor and Blake's backyard carrying a cooler full of drinks instead of enjoying a rare day off in peace.
The early summer weather was perfect.
The sky was clear.
The temperature was comfortable.
Music drifted softly from speakers mounted beneath the covered patio.
The smell of grilled food filled the air.
People laughed somewhere near the backyard fence.
It looked like the kind of gathering featured in advertisements for suburban happiness.
Mason immediately distrusted it.
Connor emerged from the house carrying a tray of burgers.
"You made it."
Mason set the cooler down.
"I was threatened."
Connor didn't even hesitate.
"Correct."
The older paramedic continued toward the grill.
Mason shook his head.
The man had become entirely too comfortable with his role as part-time relationship counselor and full-time menace.
A year ago, Connor probably would have skipped social gatherings altogether.
Then Blake Emerson happened.
Now the former emotional recluse hosted barbecues.
Life was strange.
Very strange.
Mason looked around the yard.
Several familiar faces from the EMS crew were already there.
A few emergency department nurses occupied a table near the patio.
Two respiratory therapists were arguing about baseball.
Someone had brought a ridiculously large dessert tray.
The gathering had the comfortable energy of people who spent enough time together to become something more than coworkers.
It wasn't unusual.
Emergency medicine created families.
Sometimes healthier than the ones people were born into.
Shared disasters had a way of doing that.
Blake stepped outside carrying a bowl of chips.
The younger doctor immediately smiled.
"Mason."
"Doctor Emerson."
Blake rolled his eyes.
"Don't start."
Mason grinned.
"Connor told me you're officially becoming boring."
The younger man looked offended.
"Excuse me?"
"You own matching kitchen towels now."
Blake froze.
Connor burst out laughing from across the yard.
The betrayal was immediate.
Blake pointed accusingly toward his boyfriend.
"You told him that?"
Connor looked entirely unapologetic.
"It was funny."
"It wasn't."
"It really was."
Mason enjoyed every second.
Some traditions deserved preservation.
A few more guests arrived over the next thirty minutes.
Hospital staff.
EMS personnel.
Friends.
The backyard slowly filled with conversation and laughter.
Mason helped himself to a drink and settled into a chair beneath a large shade umbrella.
For the first time all week, nobody needed CPR.
Nobody required surgery.
Nobody was trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
The peace felt almost suspicious.
Then Connor walked over.
Mason immediately became concerned.
Connor only wore that expression when planning something.
Usually something annoying.
"He's coming."
There it was.
Mason groaned.
"You invited him."
Connor looked innocent.
A terrible sign.
"We invited everybody."
"That's not the same thing."
Connor sat beside him.
"It kind of is."
"No."
The older paramedic laughed.
The sound carried entirely too much confidence.
Unfortunately, it also suggested Connor knew something Mason didn't.
The realization never ended well.
Twenty minutes later, a black SUV pulled into the driveway.
Mason noticed before he could stop himself.
The vehicle door opened.
Adrian Kane stepped out.
The surgeon looked surprisingly normal outside the hospital.
No scrubs.
No white coat.
No trauma bay.
Just dark jeans and a navy button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to his forearms.
The casual appearance felt strange.
Almost disorienting.
Mason had spent weeks seeing him in professional settings.
Outside the hospital, Adrian suddenly looked younger.
More approachable.
Dangerously attractive.
An observation Mason immediately rejected.
Mostly.
Blake walked over to greet him.
Connor followed.
A brief conversation began.
Adrian looked slightly uncomfortable.
Not nervous.
Just uncertain.
Like someone who wasn't entirely convinced he belonged there.
The feeling lasted only a moment.
Then Blake guided him toward the rest of the group.
Several introductions followed.
A few jokes.
Some handshakes.
Nothing dramatic.
Yet Mason noticed Adrian's posture gradually relax.
Interesting.
The surgeon eventually approached.
"Mason."
Mason nodded.
"Doctor Kane."
Adrian sighed.
"You're not going to stop doing that."
"No."
The answer arrived immediately.
The surgeon accepted his fate.
A wise decision.
The afternoon continued.
People moved between conversations naturally.
Stories circulated.
Food disappeared at an alarming rate.
Connor nearly started a small war after attempting to critique someone's grilling technique.
Several nurses threatened violence.
The situation eventually resolved itself.
Mostly.
Through it all, Mason kept noticing Adrian.
Not intentionally.
At least not entirely.
The surgeon spent most of the afternoon listening rather than speaking.
Observing.
Learning.
The behavior fit.
Adrian always seemed more comfortable watching than participating.
Yet something interesting happened as the hours passed.
He began laughing.
Not often.
Not loudly.
But genuinely.
A story from one of the paramedics earned a smile.
A joke from Blake drew a quiet laugh.
Even Connor managed to make him grin once.
The achievement deserved recognition.
Possibly a trophy.
Mason found himself watching the transformation.
The guarded distance remained.
The walls still existed.
Yet they weren't quite as high.
Not here.
Not around people who weren't asking anything from him.
Later in the afternoon, several crew members gathered near the patio.
The conversation shifted toward old emergency calls.
Bad decisions.
Ridiculous patients.
The usual topics.
Mason ended up telling a story about an intoxicated man who insisted a traffic cone had stolen his wallet.
The memory remained hilarious.
Adrian looked skeptical.
"That didn't happen."
"It absolutely happened."
"No."
Several paramedics immediately supported Mason's version.
The surgeon stared.
The realization visibly unsettled him.
"People are really like that?"
Mason laughed.
"Oh, Doctor."
The title earned another eye roll.
He continued anyway.
"You have no idea."
The conversation carried on.
One story became another.
Then another.
The afternoon sunlight slowly softened toward evening.
The atmosphere remained easy.
Comfortable.
For the first time since arriving, Adrian seemed genuinely relaxed.
The difference wasn't dramatic.
Most people probably wouldn't notice.
Mason did.
The surgeon sat with the group instead of standing apart.
Contributed to conversations.
Accepted teasing without immediately retreating behind professionalism.
The change felt significant.
Because Adrian rarely allowed himself that kind of openness.
Near sunset, Blake joined Mason beside the cooler.
The younger man followed his gaze.
Immediately understanding.
An unfortunate talent.
"You like him."
Mason nearly choked.
"Why is everyone obsessed with that?"
Blake smiled.
The expression looked entirely too familiar.
Connor had the same one.
The traitorous one.
The knowing one.
"It's obvious."
"No."
"It really is."
Mason sighed dramatically.
Blake laughed.
The sound blended easily into the rest of the gathering.
Family.
Found family.
Whatever people wanted to call it.
The backyard felt full of it.
Across the lawn, Adrian stood listening to one of the nurses tell a story.
A small smile rested on his face.
Relaxed.
Comfortable.
Present.
For the first time since arriving at St. Vincent, he looked like someone who belonged.
And judging by the way several crew members had already adopted him into conversations and arguments alike, he probably did.
The realization settled warmly somewhere inside Mason's chest.
Unexpected.
Unwelcome.
Impossible to ignore.
Because watching Adrian enjoy himself felt strangely satisfying.
More satisfying than it should have.
And as the evening continued beneath fading sunlight and easy laughter, Mason couldn't shake the feeling that something important had started changing.
Not just for him.
For Adrian too.
Almost
The barbecue slowly began winding down as the evening settled over Connor and Blake's backyard.
The loud conversations softened into smaller groups. Empty plates disappeared from tables. People checked phones, gathered belongings, and started saying their goodbyes.
After several hours of food, laughter, and relentless teasing, the gathering felt pleasantly exhausted.
The kind of exhaustion that came from enjoying yourself more than expected.
Mason stood near the patio helping Connor collect folding chairs.
The older paramedic carried a stack toward the garage.
"You could stop staring."
Mason immediately frowned.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Connor snorted.
"Sure."
The answer carried years of friendship and absolutely no belief whatsoever.
Mason hated when people knew him too well.
It happened entirely too often.
Across the yard, Adrian stood speaking with Blake near the back gate.
The surgeon looked far more relaxed than he had when he arrived.
His posture had changed.
The tension in his shoulders seemed lighter.
The guarded distance wasn't completely gone.
It probably never would be.
Still, something about him looked different.
More comfortable.
More present.
More willing to simply exist without carrying the entire weight of the world on his back.
The observation lingered.
Longer than it should have.
Connor noticed.
Of course he noticed.
The man was unbearable.
"You should talk to him."
Mason rolled his eyes.
"I talk to him all the time."
"Not like that."
The response arrived instantly.