Chapter 6
“Pizza delivery!” DJ said with a smile. “Hungry?”
“Starving.” Seamus stepped aside so he could walk through the front door. “Thanks for bringing dinner.”
“No problem. After all, it’s date night.” He winked at Seamus as he put the pizza box on his counter. “Did you have a good day?” He walked over to the cabinet and took out two plates and then got a few napkins from the drawer.
Seamus had lived alone since he left home at eighteen, and while he socialized with people all day at work, he hadn’t ever been close enough with someone for them to be so familiar with his home. The sight of it tightened his chest.
“It was fine. Work was work. How about you?”
“Our days have finally cooled down so we were able to keep the windows and door open at Strong Brew. I love November weather!”
“I spend my days in a basement. I have no sense of when it’s hot or cold and I don’t remember the sun,” Seamus said, only partially kidding.
“At least it’s a nice basement with a big screen TV you get to control.”
“Clearly, you haven't spent as much time as I have with drunk people. I control very little. Unless live sports are on, I’ve started playing game shows. Nobody actually likes them, but everyone seems to find them equally tolerable, so they don’t fight.”
Laughing, DJ got a couple of glasses from the cabinet, added ice from the freezer, and then filled them from the filtered water spout next to the sink.
He looked so at home that Seamus considered asking him to move in.
There was plenty of space for them both, and if he lived with him, DJ wouldn’t have to pay rent and he could work less.
He could relax and they’d be able to spend more time together.
Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to raise the topic.
He had gotten to know DJ pretty well over the past couple of months, and while he was laid back and kind, he also had a fair bit of pride.
There was no missing how hard he worked, which was too hard, and yet he deftly avoided any of Seamus’s suggestions that he slow down.
The reason he worked so much had to be financial, but he never asked him for help, and since he hadn’t heard anything about it from his family, he suspected DJ didn’t ask his sister either.
When he tried to remember details of what DJ’s friends had said about him at the bar months earlier, he thought they’d also been confused about why he needed to work so much.
But there was no way to talk about finances or work hours without DJ sidestepping the topic.
“Do you want a beer?” DJ asked, making Seamus realize he had been standing in his own home watching DJ get their meal together without helping.
“Thanks for doing all that.” He was already caught up in his head. Drinking probably wasn’t a good idea. “I think I’ll surprise my liver and stick with water.”
Still smiling, DJ walked over to the coffee table and set their glasses and napkins down. “How many slices do you want?” he said as he returned to the counter.
“I can get it.” Seamus stepped forward.
“I'm already here.” Pizza box lid in his hand, DJ looked at him expectantly.
“Two. Thanks, DJ.”
He put slices on both of their plates and then took his usual spot on the armchair. “Mmm.” He chewed and swallowed his first bite. “You’d think I’d get tired of pizza after eating it most nights, but I still love it.”
“Why do you eat so much pizza?”
“Brent lets us eat for free after our shifts.”
“That’s really generous of him.” And it was an opening for Seamus to ask if DJ needed help.
“He’s great. Tanner is too. Everyone gets free meals at Jesse’s. And Brewster doesn’t mind if we have coffee and we can eat any of the pastries that haven’t sold by closing. I’m really lucky to work for such wonderful people.”
So he didn't spend money on food because he ate while he was working his three jobs. What exactly was going on with his husband’s finances?
“DJ, is everything okay?”
“What do you mean?” he said, still looking light and happy, which meant he didn’t understand the question.
Knowing he was going to dampen the mood, but needing to address the situation, he drew in a deep breath and said, “With money, is everything okay? You work so much.”
“Oh.” The genuine smile was replaced with the one he used when he was avoiding the issue. “I’m good. Don’t worry.” He stood. “Do you want more pizza?” He looked down at Seamus’s plate. “You haven’t eaten. Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m fine.” He really didn’t want to ruin their night. DJ had so little downtime, he deserved to enjoy it. “Sullie sent me a card game that he said we’d like. He said it’s popular for newlyweds in Claddagh.”
“We’re probably different from other Claddagh newlyweds, but sure.”
His genuine grin was back, and his eyes were sparkling, confirming to Seamus that he was right to postpone the difficult conversation for another time.
Besides, that would give him time to come up with the right thing to say.
He wished he could ask someone for advice, but he didn’t want to embarrass DJ by talking about his personal problems with people in Hope and there would be no way to bring the issue up with his brothers or his parents because DJ was his husband, which meant they assumed DJ was living with him and that, if he needed money, Seamus would provide for him.
“Do you want to start on the cards while we eat?” Seamus asked.
“Okay. How does the game work?”
Seamus picked up the box from the end table and opened it. “Um, from what I can tell, there’s a bunch of questions in different categories. We take turns rolling the die and the other person asks a question from whatever category we landed on.”
“I’m not sure I understand how that’s a game but I’m into it. What are the categories?” DJ came back to his chair, another slice of pizza on his plate.
“Let’s see.” He looked at the back of the box. “Blue is work. Red is hobbies. Purple is goals. Green is history. Orange is beliefs. And yellow is sex.”
The first category was work. Maybe he’d get lucky and the game would ask the questions he couldn’t. Surely DJ couldn’t change the topic if a roll of the die chose it. Hopefully he wouldn’t refuse to play now that he knew he’d have to answer work-related questions.
“That sounds interesting, actually.” DJ sat up straight.
“You roll first,” Seamus said excitedly as he set up the cards. He took them out of the box and separated them by color, stacking each one upside down so only the category written on the back was visible. “Ready.”
DJ tossed his die onto the coffee table. “Green,” he said. “That’s history.”
Seamus picked up the card from the top of the green pile and read it. “What’s the best pickup line you’ve ever heard or used?”
“That’s in the history category?” DJ asked skeptically.
“I think it means your history?”
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.” He furrowed his brow in thought.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever used a pickup line on someone, but I’ve heard some here and there.
I’m not sure if it’s the best one, but it’s the most memorable.
I was working at Strong Brew and I had just taken this woman’s order when a man marched up, handed me cash, and said he was paying for her drink and to make him the same one.
She looked completely confused and asked if she knew him; he said no, but he wanted to tell her a story and would she mind sitting with him.
The whole thing was so odd that I think she agreed without really thinking about it.
After I gave them their drinks, I found tasks to do close enough so I could hear them because I’d never seen either of them before and I didn’t know what he was up to. ”
“What did he want to tell her?” Seamus asked.
“He told her the story of his life starting at birth with a bunch of details about different things over the years including ages that were clearly older than he was. He talked about his wife, their marriage, their kids, all this sweet stuff, and then he ended the story talking about his death bed and how his last words were that he was so glad he had bought his future wife a drink in a random coffee shop in the middle of nowhere.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“Did his attempt to pick her up work?”
“She gave him her number, so maybe? They weren’t from Hope. Both of them were stopping in town to take a break while they were driving to Phoenix or Vegas or California.” He shrugged. “So I guess we’ll never know.”
“I wonder if he uses that line a lot,” Seamus said.
“I can’t imagine many women would give a stranger the time to listen to all that. She was either bored after driving alone for hours or she was really into him.” DJ took a drink of water. “I like to believe that she was into him, and I witnessed a weird but successful meet cute.”
“I’ll go with that.” Seamus picked up the die. “My turn.” He rolled it. “Orange.”
“Beliefs,” DJ said as he picked up the card. “Oooh, I like this one.” He lifted his legs onto the chair and crossed them. “Do you believe in fate or free will?”
“Hmm. I’d have to say free will because I left my family and my home and everyone I knew to move across the country and build a life that’s completely different from the one I would have been fated for had I stayed in Claddagh.
” He nodded at his own words as he spoke.
“If that’s not free will, I don’t know what is. ”
Head tilted to the side, DJ squinted at him. “That’s an interesting viewpoint of your situation.”
Seamus blinked. “What do you mean viewpoint? It’s what I did.”
“Did you?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?”
“Yes, you’re here.” DJ smiled at him. “You’re here in a small town, running a bar, and playing a Claddagh get-to-know-you game with a person from the community who you married due to an arrangement set up by your parents.
” He bit his lower lip. “Your family’s in the restaurant business, right?
They own restaurants and bars in Claddagh and the surrounding towns? ”
“Ye...yes,” Seamus said hesitantly, mind swimming.