Chapter 2
“I’m going to have more money for you soon,” DJ spoke into his phone as quietly as he could so nobody in the diner kitchen would overhear him. “Really. I promise. I’m getting paid on Friday and then I’ll give it to you.”
When the threats started spewing, he zoned out like always.
He had learned a long time ago that being terrified didn’t do a thing to fix his problems or increase his earning potential.
The only way to get through the situation was to make more money and that wasn’t possible if he was an anxious wreck.
Eventually, the shouting stopped and the call ended.
“Fuck me,” he mumbled to himself. Then he shoved his phone into his pocket, took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and went back to the sink.
He didn’t mind working hard, it wasn’t as if he had anything else to do, but with the insane interest rate on the debt his grandfather had racked up before he died nine years earlier, he didn’t know how he’d ever catch up.
“DJ, when you’re done with the dishes, can you come into my office?”
He looked away from the sudsy water and over his shoulder to his boss Tanner Sellers.
“Sure, but do you want me to finish cleaning up after the breakfast rush first? I’m working the midday shift at Strong Brew today and I want to make sure your kitchen’s ready for the lunch crowd before I have to leave. ”
“Absolutely. I’ll help.”
“You don’t have to do my job.”
“It’s my diner. That means it’s my job too. Everything is.” He smiled softly and got to work putting away supplies and wiping down the counters.
They cleaned up alongside one another with practiced ease, neither of them talking.
DJ would have been worried about the silence, but he knew that was just Tanner’s way.
He was a quiet, unassuming, but sweet guy.
They hadn’t gone to school together because he was a handful of years younger than DJ’s twenty-seven, but before Tanner had inherited Jesse’s Diner, he had worked there, and DJ had been taking odd jobs at Jesse’s from the moment he was old enough to be hired, so they’d known each other for years.
“Everything looks great.” Tanner dried his hands. “Do you have a few minutes before Brewster needs you at the coffee shop?”
He took his phone out of his back pocket. “Yeah, I’m good. He told me to get there by eleven.”
Tanner nodded and then walked toward his office and DJ followed.
“Is everything okay?” DJ sat in the chair across from the desk.
Nodding nervously, Tanner bit his lip and then he closed the door, his back to the small room. “So, uh, I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything, but I overheard you on the phone.”
He grimaced. The last thing he wanted was for everyone in town to know about his problems.
“Sorry about that. It isn’t…” He didn’t want to lie and say it wasn’t what it sounded like, because frankly, it was exactly what it sounded like. “I won’t take a call at work again.”
“I don’t care if you’re on the phone, DJ,” Tanner said as he turned around and walked over. “But it didn’t sound good. Do you need help?”
“I have it covered.” It turned out he was going to lie after all.
“Do you need to borrow money?”
Borrowing money was exactly what had gotten his grandfather into this mess.
He had been dead for nine years and DJ was still dealing with the consequences.
Or more accurately, he had been dealing with the consequences since he and his sister had lost their parents and moved to Hope.
Even back when he was alive and working, his grandfather gambled away more than what he earned.
DJ started mowing lawns when he was nine to contribute to the household.
“I don’t need a loan. I appreciate the job. That’s all the help I need.”
“I’d offer you more hours, but I don’t know how you’d fit them in with everything else you do.”
Tanner wasn’t wrong. DJ worked at Jesse’s Diner most mornings, getting everything ready for opening, prepping for breakfast, helping the cook through the rush, and then cleaning up afterward.
At night, he worked the counter or made pizza deliveries for Slice of Life.
And in between, he took shifts at the Strong Brew coffee shop, Pike’s Grill, and anywhere else in town that needed someone to fill in.
“I don’t mind hard work.”
“That’s not what I meant. I just…” Tanner looked away. “Jesse was so much better at this,” he said quietly, like he was talking to himself more than to DJ. “If you need something, just tell me, okay? I’m living with Steve now so I’m saving money on rent. I can afford to help you.”
“The only help I need is your secret to landing that gorgeous man,” DJ said, mostly joking.
Tanner’s boyfriend Steve Faus was hot. A little too preppy and put together for his taste, but definitely not someone he’d kick out of bed.
The two of them had similar demeanors, both calm and hard-working, but Steve was twice Tanner’s size and nearly twice his age.
They’d met through Steve’s son Mike, something Mike loved to brag about, and if he was drinking heavily, he’d also regale everyone with the story of how he set them up without their knowledge.
“I’d tell you if I had any clue how it happened. I assume I earned good karma in a past life or something because he’s more than I deserve and completely out of my league.”
He didn’t have all the details about Tanner’s childhood, but he knew that he had moved to Hope to live with his elderly grandmother just like DJ had lived with his grandfather.
Neither of them had had much parenting and both of them had lost what remained of the adults in their lives when they were barely adults. They had a lot in common.
“You’re a good guy in this life, Tanner. You deserve everything you’ve got.” He stood up and wiped his hands on his jeans. “I’m going to take off. Thanks for the offer.”
“Okay. I’m here if you change your mind.”
“I appreciate it.” He stepped toward the door and put his hand on the knob.
“Hey, DJ?”
He turned back around.
“Do you think…” Tanner darted his eyes away, looking nervous. “I was thinking, if you want to, you can come over for dinner sometime? Steve’s house is much bigger than my studio was and there’s a full kitchen. I can cook there.”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, I mean, with Mike living in Nevada, I don’t have any other friends here and I was hoping… Not that we’re friends exactly, but we’ve known each other forever and—”
“We’re friends,” he assured his shy boss. “And I’d love to come over for dinner. Just give me a little notice so I don’t schedule a night shift that day, okay?”
Tanner beamed. “I’ll talk to Steve about his schedule and then I’ll give you dates.”
“See you in the morning.”
He smiled as he left the office. His older sister had moved back to Massachusetts the second she graduated from high school, but DJ liked Hope.
The people were kind and friendly, and in a lot of ways, it was like the small town where he was born.
Except in Hope, there were other gay people and he could be himself.
When his parents were killed in a car accident, his grandfather had insisted that they come live with him.
He was their only living relative so there wasn’t much their family friends could do to stop him.
Kaira had been miserable in Hope, never having forgiven their grandfather for taking them away from their life.
When she went back to Claddagh, DJ had been left alone with his grandfather and Kaira’s expectation that he’d join her as soon as he turned eighteen and could make his own choices.
But as much as he loved his sister and the friends that were more like family in their small hometown, he couldn’t be himself there.
As far as he knew, there wasn’t a single openly gay person in Claddagh.
Moving back meant being expected to marry a woman and have children.
That wasn’t happening, so he stayed in Hope.
Thinking of his sister made him think of his niece and nephew so he took out his phone and sent a text. “I haven’t gotten a picture of my babies in days. Send me my fix before I go through withdrawals.”
She responded right away, as usual. “They learned how to walk so I’m constantly chasing them around the house. 80% of my day is spent figuring out what I can postpone until tomorrow. Hold on a sec and I’ll send you a cute one I took yesterday. They’re even mostly clean.”
By the time he crossed Main Street to get to the coffee shop, his phone vibrated with another text.
He looked down and smiled at the photo. His eyes were the same blue as his sister’s, but where he had nearly black hair, hers was a stunning red; his niece and nephew were her spitting image.
“They’re beautiful just like their mother. Tell them Uncle Dylan loves them.”
“You can tell them yourself if you come visit.”
Aside from the cost of the plane ticket, there was no way he could afford to take the days off work. But he couldn’t tell his sister that their grandfather’s loan sharks were harassing him because she already felt guilty that he was alone on the other side of the country.
“I have to get back to work. I’ll come see you as soon as I can.”
He wished it could be sooner.
“Dyl Dyl, I have the most amazing news!” his sister said as soon as he answered her call.
DJ pushed the bag of frozen peas against his cheek and hoped it would take the swelling down before he had to go into work that night. “Dyl Dyl? You haven’t called me that since we were kids.”
“Sorry, I’m just so excited!”
“It’s okay.” His sister’s joy was contagious so he chuckled despite the pain from the punches he had received in exchange for his apparently not sufficient loan payment. “What’s going on? Are you pregnant again?”
“Bite your tongue! The twins are only fourteen months old.”
“You like being a mom,” he reminded her as he wiggled around, trying to get comfortable on his scratchy, lumpy couch.