Chapter 8 #2
Jasper waved Craig off and turned his head to look out the window.
It did look miserable outside. It was the first snow of the year, and it had started to stick as the temperatures finally dipped below freezing.
At some point during the night, it would fall more heavily, especially as he gained elevation towards his house.
But the alternative was, what? Ask a bartender to take a drunk man home?
Pay surge pricing for a Lyft that would drop him half a mile from his house anyway because the driveway was dicey in winter weather?
Call his sister, who would have to get her kid out of bed and be justifiably furious?
Maybe he should have left with Craig, but it was too late now.
He decided on a hot toddy to warm himself up before he started on his journey. It couldn’t be too bad a walk—seven miles, it would take him two hours, tops.
Sipping on his new drink, he enjoyed the heat that spread to his limbs from both the alcohol and the temperature of the water.
When he was done, he used the bathroom, grabbed his coat from his chair, closed out his tab—which was much more than he’d expected and solidified his need to create a budget for himself—and headed out to the parking lot.
Wow, it was cold. So much colder than he’d imagined ten minutes earlier when he’d been sitting in a warm building, drinking a warm beverage, enjoying the emotional warmth from a good vent session with a new pal.
It was dark, too, which of course wasn’t surprising, but he wasn’t used to walking around so late. He turned on his phone’s flashlight and held it out, hoping cars wouldn’t run over him as he made his way down the street, looking for the main road home.
Thirty minutes after leaving the bar, he was somehow only a mile and a half closer to Pelham.
At this rate it would take him the rest of the night to get there.
He had to pick up the pace, but it was just so cold.
The wind was blowing against his face, and the piercing chill burned every bit of his exposed skin, forcing him to walk with his head down.
Eventually, he’d be surrounded by forest—thick, heavy trees to block the wind from creeping down his collar—he just had to get out of town.
Glancing at his phone to check the time, his stomach sank when he saw his battery close to twenty percent.
With the flashlight on, it would never make it the whole walk.
Time, cold air, anxiety, and dread had sobered him somewhat, but not enough that the alcohol was forgotten.
It was still making its way through his system, and with urgency.
He could admit he was a moron based on several choices he’d made this evening, and now he had something else to add to the list: stepping into the sparse trees to relieve himself in relative privacy.
That privacy didn’t even last long enough for Jasper to empty his bladder, which he couldn’t help but laugh about.
He hadn’t seen a single car the entire walk, but this asshole was flashing their brights at him, pulling to the side of the road with the engine running.
If his luck was any indication, the car would belong to a cop halfway through writing a ticket for indecent exposure.
He’d probably be in the news tomorrow. His budding friendship with Craig would be over before it began, he’d lose his job, and he’d be forced to move in with Stevie until he could save enough money to move out of Massachusetts and start a new life.
He zipped his pants quickly, but not because he was eager to meet his fate.
It was just fucking cold, and his dick was about to fall off.
He stepped out from behind the tree to see who was there, but the headlights made it impossible to make out anything beyond the ground in front of him.
A large figure climbed out of the car, nothing more than a silhouette behind the glare from the lights. Jasper’s legs wobbled at the sight.
Whether it was too much alcohol, too little food, or simply the presence of a huge, faceless man standing six feet in front of him, he wasn’t sure. Whatever the cause, his stomach reacted to the situation by emptying itself in the shallow snowbank by his feet.
He heard a familiar sigh. “Get in the car, Jasper.”
Ryan.
If it had been even five degrees warmer, it would have been an easy no. Jasper didn’t need Ryan—hadn’t for many years. In fact, statistically speaking, if this were any other time in the past few years, Ryan would have been out of town, unable to rescue him from the side of the road.
Oh, that was good. Jasper was going to say that.
“You know, statistically speaking, if this was any other time in the last few years, you’d be out of town, unable to rescue me from the side of the road.”
Ryan sighed again. “You’re right. But statistically speaking, I am in front of you right now. Let me get you home.”
“That is not a statistic.”
“Jasper.”
A gust of wind blew through the trees and knocked a clump of snow off the branches above Jasper’s head. It landed all around his neck and melted down his back. A pathetic whimper escaped through his attempt at a scowl.
Without saying anything else, Jasper got in the front seat and tried to buckle himself in. Ryan joined him seconds later and turned the heat up, pointing it in Jasper’s direction before reaching over and fixing Jasper’s seatbelt. The warm air hitting his face was so heavenly, he groaned.
“You’re not gonna throw up again, are you?”
“No.” Jasper leaned his head against the window to avoid looking at him.
Ryan handed Jasper a bottle of water. “Drink, please.”
He did.
“Is there some reason you thought walking seven miles in the middle of the night to another town was a good idea?” Ryan asked.
“It was a perfectly fine idea. The weather just didn’t cooperate.”
They were both quiet for a few minutes until Ryan mumbled something under his breath about getting a DUI without having a single drink, then lowered the back windows to get some fresh air.
“Have fun tonight?”
“Yeah,” Jasper said. “Until about five minutes ago.”
Ryan let out an irritated laugh. “Are you angry with me for picking you up?”
“No. I’m angry with you for stalking me twice and scaring me so badly I threw up.”
“You threw up because you had five drinks and no food besides the lemon from your hot toddy.”
“What, did you interview the bartender?” Jasper asked, finally turning to look at him. “Like I said, you’re a stalker.”
“I’m not a stalker! Your friend Craig texted me from your phone and said you were planning on walking home.”
“That bastard,” Jasper said, glaring out the front window.
“Or the opposite. He was worried about you. And so was I.”
“Fine. Thank you for picking me up. But I’m still mad you made me vomit.”
“Okay. I’m sorry I scared you. But you scared me, too.”
Jasper napped the rest of the drive, which was only about fifteen minutes. By the time they got to the house, the snow was deep enough that the driveway was difficult to navigate, and Jasper had to figure out the best way to encourage Ryan to leave without risking his life.
“We need to get going on the trees,” Ryan said.
The spotlights around the driveway illuminated the plants around the chicken coop, now heavy with snowfall. Every autumn, the two of them trimmed back dead branches and thinned anything that might fall on the house or coop, but with the havoc of their breakup, it hadn’t happened.
“I can stay in the guest room tonight and we can do it in the morning, if you want help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“What do you mean? How are you going to do it alone?”
“Who said I was doing it alone?” Jasper asked, lifting himself from the car, hoping the walk to the house would give him enough time to think of an answer to Ryan’s inevitable follow up questions.
“Who’s helping you?” Ryan asked, following close behind.
Jasper didn’t turn to look at him, just wiggled the key in the lock until the door finally opened. “Just someone I know.”
“Jasper. Are you trying to be difficult?”
“Yes,” Jasper said, smiling. His face softened as he stepped inside. “Thank you for the ride, Ryan. I’m serious. I appreciate it.”
“I don’t care if things are hard between us right now, you should have called me.”
Jasper gave a slight nod. “Yeah, probably.”
He stared at Ryan, who still hadn’t crossed the threshold, probably assuming Jasper wouldn’t allow it.
And when they’d pulled up to the house, that had been the plan.
But now Ryan was damp from melting snow, driving his very nice car, and exhausted with bags under his eyes from what Jasper assumed was lack of sleep.
As irritated as he’d been at Ryan’s refusal to give him the space he’d requested, sending him into the unknown and risking his safety wasn’t an option.
He sighed. “Come in.”
“Okay. Thank you. It is cold out here.”
Ignoring the immediate brightness on Ryan’s face, Jasper only said, “Yes, it is.”
He took his time walking to the bedroom and changing into something warm and dry.
Without thinking, he picked up a pair of sweats and a dry shirt from the pile of Ryan’s clothes he’d been putting together.
He put them down, considering whether it was too domestic and familiar to offer them, and after a bit of back and forth of picking them up and putting them down, he decided to leave them on the chair.
When he returned to the kitchen, he found Ryan still standing in the mud room directly inside the front door. He still had his shoes on. His coat was still zipped. The only change he’d made was removing the beanie from his head, which he was twisting between his fingers in front of his chest.
“Come in, I said.”
“Okay. I didn’t know if you, um.” Ryan took his coat off. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I don’t know.”