Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 (8 page)

and everybody had survived. Lex had gone in the back to do some bookwork in the office, and Tally knew it was really hard for him to leave and not come popping back in every five minutes, but after a week of practicing with the coffee drinks and nearly three weeks at the register, they’d both decided that Tally was as ready as he was ever going to be. The afternoon had passed with little incident. Tally still got a few glares from the older locals, but the after-school crowd was cool, and he’d gotten used to the uncomfortable stares from those who remembered him not so fondly. His basic strategy was to respond as if they were smiling, and that usually threw them off enough that they just ordered their drink and went away. Even with the relative success of the afternoon, it was still a relief to flip the sign to “closed,” clean up, and walk into the back so he could stick his head in Lex’s office and tell him he was done for the day.

Tally found Lex bent over his desk, a pair of wire rims perched on his nose, angrily tapping the keys of an oversized calculator.
“Hey, uh, Lex? I’m done cleaning, and I was going to clock out.”
Lex looked up, startled. “It’s already six?”
“Yeah, actually it’s six fifteen.”
“Aw, shit! I’m supposed to be at Amy’s in twenty minutes. We changed it to Friday this week. If you’re done, I’ll see you Monday. You’ve got the whole weekend off.”
Tally smiled. He’d been thinking of going to sit at the beach the next day, maybe relax and read a book or something. “Yeah, I’ll see you Monday. Have fun with Amy.”
“I will—and great job today. I did spy a few times, and it seemed like you were doing really well. Hopefully, if this damn drive-through window permit ever goes through, I’ll be able to hire another employee and really get things going.”
“The city giving you grief?”
“Yeah. I’ve applied at least four times, and I keep getting railroaded.”
“Is it a problem with blocking alley traffic?”
“No, I have plenty of room to put a drive-through on the north side of the building, which is part of my property, it’s just the asshole who does permits—you know what? I’m sorry to dump all this on you. It’s really not your problem. Have a nice weekend.”
“Thanks, Lex. You too.”
It was blindingly obvious that there was something more to the permit story, and Tally was determined to see if he could do something to help—he’d have to see who it was downtown. A few of the people in that office would remember him fondly. Jerk that Tally may have been when he was with his friends, he’d known who to suck up to. He hadn’t brought out his ass-kissing skills in a while. Perhaps it was time for them to get a nice polishing.
But it would have to be on Monday. He was bushed, Lex was late for his dinner, and more than anything, Tally was looking forward to hitting the grocery store for some ice cream and going home to a long night of lounging. It was kind of a relief not to have much of a social life anymore—no social life at all, honestly. The gay scene in Seattle had always seemed like so much
work
. Looking good, having the right (rich) date, hiding his sub-par apartment from the obnoxious stuck-up queens who ruled the social universe; none of it had been easy. A night of the Food Network and some well-earned dessert was exactly what he wanted, and since there was nothing else going on in Butt Crack, Washington, he didn’t have to feel like a loser for wanting it.
But the universe, as usual, was fucking with him. This time, fate came out to play on the side of a muddy road at least two miles from his grandmother’s place. Just when a blissful night of Disney cake challenges and ice cream gluttony was so close he could taste it, smell it, and feel it melting on his tongue, his dumb car decided it had a different idea of the perfect Friday night, one that included dying when he was still nowhere close to home and a spring storm was pouring down in sheeting, splashing gushes that would soak him in seconds. Fan-fucking-tastic.
No help for it.
In an attempt to avoid explaining his circumstances to a bevy of half friends, he’d deliberately canceled his cell service the day he’d moved back to town. Of course that meant there wasn’t even a way for him to call his grandmother. Rolling his eyes, Tally grabbed the bag that contained two different kinds of ice cream, pocketed his keys, and pulled the hood that he was luckily wearing over his head. He only had about fifteen minutes of daylight left, and the last stretch of road to his grandmother’s was along the coast, heavy with trees and lacking in any sort of streetlights.
Tally trudged along, trying not to let the chilly ice cream bag rest against his leg too much. He scooted far onto the shoulder every time he heard a car coming and picked up the pace, knowing his grandmother was going to panic if he was more than a few minutes late. When he was a little more than halfway there, Tally heard a car coming and veered off into the gravelly ditch along the road once again. He saw the shadows looming ominously, like they always did when headlights curved along the densely wooded road, and shivered, trying not to creep himself out. It didn’t help when the headlights slowed down. Tally picked up his pace, trying to remain casual.
“Tally?”
To hear a familiar voice coming from the car, now idling on the side of the road, wasn’t what he was expecting. He stopped and turned, walking with relief toward the blinding headlights.
“Hey, Lex.”

L
EX
had been running even later than usual, speeding down a back road to Amy’s, when he saw the car parked by the side of the road.
Tally
. Nobody else in town had a car that looked even similar to Tally’s old red Triumph. The thing had shuddered to a stop outside the shop nearly every morning for three weeks, each time sounding like it was heaving its last breath. That last breath must have finally come. Lex pulled up behind the car slowly, pulling his parking brake and getting out to see if Tally needed any help. The doors were locked, and Tally was nowhere in sight.

Would he have started walking?
Lex guessed so, if he had no other choice. He’d never remembered Tally getting out a cell phone of any kind. Maybe he was one of the last people in the universe who didn’t have one. Lex jogged back to his car, through the downpour, which had gone from normal to gale force in a matter of minutes. Instead of turning onto Amy’s road, he took a right onto twisty Shorecrest Drive. He knew Tally’s grandmother lived at least a mile down that dangerous, dark stretch. He didn’t want his one employee turned into road kill.

When he saw Tally trudging, hood over his head, looking dejected and worn, something pulled painfully in Lex’s chest. He felt it, plucking at his heart, every weary step that Tally took pounding into him again and again the fact that Tally really wasn’t the jerk he’d once been. That person would’ve never been walking in the rain, grocery bag in hand, because his sad old car couldn’t make one last trip home, and he didn’t even have a phone to call anyone. The whole scene made Lex’s throat tighten.

Pulling over slowly so he didn’t spin out on the wet gravel, he rolled down his window and called out to Tally.
“Come get in the car,” he said when he’d gotten Tally’s attention. “I’ll give you a ride to your grandmother’s.”
“Are you sure?” Tally looked questioningly at the expensive leather seats. “I’m soaked.”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to let you walk the rest of the way home in this? You’d be out sick for a week. C’mon.”
The ride was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. Lex turned his heater up, and Tally sighed, sinking against the supple leather of his car seat. Lex found himself smiling at him, against his better judgment. The next thing out of his mouth surprised even him.
“Hey, do you want to come to Amy’s with me, after you get out of those wet clothes, of course. She always makes a ton of food.”
Tally’s glance was surprised and pleased. “Um, yeah. That sounds nice?” It came out like a question. “Are you sure?”
Lex chuckled to cover the fact that his insides were churning.
No turning back now.
“Yeah. I asked you, didn’t I?”
They were pulling up to Grace Loman’s driveway. Lex had forgotten at first that she was Tally’s grandmother—she’d always been one of his favorite customers. Lex hadn’t seen her in a few days. He hoped she was doing well.
“Let me go change and put this ice cream in the freezer. I’ll be out in five minutes. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. Take your time. I’m going to call Amy and tell her to expect one more.”
Amy took the news of their third dining partner with a giggle and a naughty innuendo that Lex stifled before she could run away with it.
“He’s just a friend, Ames. He had a rough night; I think it’ll be good for him to hang out.”
“Oh, he’s a friend now, is he? Last week he was just your
employee
.”
“Shut it. Here he comes. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Tally looked disturbingly edible with his hastily dried hair and those perfectly worn-out designer jeans that hugged his hips and ass so lovingly.
“Ready?”
“Yeah. Grandma says she’s locking the door at midnight, though, and I better be back.” Tally rolled his eyes. “It’s like I’m in junior high again.”
Lex chuckled. “At least you got midnight. Junior high was like a permanent lockdown for me.”
“Maybe if my parents had been stricter I’d have turned out more like you.” Tally said it with a smile but cringed at the word “parents.” Lex was sure the last thing he wanted to do was bring up the taboo subject of his father.
“I think you turned out pretty good, all things considered. Not what I would’ve expected, for sure.”
They were pulling into Amy’s driveway. Tally looked pensively at Lex.
“You really went to my high school. And you’re Emily’s brother. I wish I could remember….”
Lex panicked for a second but tried to look nonchalant. “Oh, I was quiet. You’d have never even seen me.” Not a word of that was true, but Lex got a huge pit in his stomach every time he thought of Tally figuring out who he was. “We’re here!” he added, probably a little too brightly. “Let’s head in.”
Amy greeted Lex with a hug and Tally with a friendly smile. She raised her eyebrows at Lex as Tally walked by, but he gave her a significant look.
Please keep your mouth shut.
He tried to send quiet vibes her way.
This was probably a huge mistake, bringing Tally here.
Too late.
“So, dinner’s ready. It has been for a while, since you were almost a half an hour late.” She glared at Lex jokingly.
“You know me. If it’s not for the shop….”
“Yeah. Then you’re not on time. It’s a good thing that you had Emily and then me to get you to school. Other than that, you’d have failed first period four years in a row.”
Lex choked a little. “Yeah, good thing I had my faithful girlfriend to keep me in line,” he joked, trying to cover up his discomfort.
“Too bad you broke up with me for Zac Efron.”
He punched her shoulder lightly. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
Lex and Amy kept up their usual banter through dinner, with Tally leaning back and smiling. Lex hoped Tally wasn’t bored out of his mind, but he did chuckle at Amy’s jabs and add comments when he had a clue what they were talking about. Lex couldn’t help the giddiness in his stomach. Tally’s warmth radiated next to him at the small table, and when he smiled, God, if it wasn’t like the sun rising on that sad face. He was tired of telling himself not to be attracted to Tally, of reminding himself what a complete train wreck it would be if he started having serious feelings for the guy. He wanted him, plain and simple.
Train wreck, Lex.
Too bad the words didn’t have anywhere near the effect they’d had at the beginning.
The meal passed without much incident, at least until the end when Amy brought up the damn drive-through window again. Lex still got all heated up every time he thought of that homophobic old asshole MacAuliffe down at the city building. The man had made no secret of the fact that he thought Rock Bay was no place for homos like Lex and that Lex should go off in search of greener pastures in some place like San Francisco, where most folks didn’t have a problem with his kind. If MacAuliffe’s signature weren’t necessary for the drive-through that would bring more money into his shop, then Lex would have told him to shove it months before.
“So what is the deal with the permit?” Amy asked. She’d been hounding him to go over MacAuliffe’s head for weeks. Tally, who’d been relaxed and halfway listening to their bullshit, suddenly perked up.
“Yeah, what is the deal? I wanted to ask you earlier, but you seemed like you were in a hurry.”
“Nothing new, especially not in a small town like this one. I’m sure you know Gerald MacAuliffe?” Lex shot a pointed look at Tally, who flushed. He’d been good friends with Gerald’s son Drew, so he had to have some familiarity with the old goat. “He’s being his usual homophobic self.”
“He won’t give you the permit because you’re gay?” Lex had to give Tally credit for looking appalled.
“He hasn’t said it in so many words, but I know that’s it. He’s always been very clear about his dislike for me and ‘my kind’, and he keeps throwing out these ridiculous reasons for rejecting my permit. The most recent rejection said he didn’t want to bring any drivethrough food places into town when he just approved Cheeky Coffee, that bikini stand down on Dock Street.” Lex rolled his eyes. Even the existence of that stupid place still annoyed him to no end.
Tally chuckled. “Did those make it all the way out here? We have them in Seattle too. I call it stripper coffee. The coffee is usually awful.”
Amy made a grunting noise and rolled her eyes. “That’s not what you’re paying for.”
“Thanks for being loyal, babe.” Lex leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“But seriously, you think he’s not approving it because he has some personal thing against you?”
Lex nodded. “Yep.” He couldn’t help making a disgusted face.
“I’ll go talk to him on Monday, if you want. As you said, I do know him… and he loved me. I was a total suck-up to him because I thought he could get me into Stanford.”
“You went to Stanford?” Lex tried not to sound shocked.
Tally snorted. “I didn’t go anywhere. Except to the Spaghetti Factory to wait tables. After everything that happened, college wasn’t even close to my list of possibilities.”
“What exactly did happen?” Lex couldn’t believe that had come out of his mouth.
“As far as I knew, that was very public record.”
“Not with your dad—I meant what happened to you? You disappeared.”
Tally stood and started gathering the dishes. “You have any idea what time it is, Lex? You’re going to be in a world of hurt if you’ve gotta open without me.” He spoke fast, looking uncomfortable. Lex let it slide. He’d been the one to ask the probing question in the first place. Tally escaped to the kitchen with a stack of dishes and promptly started washing them.
Amy shot him a glare. “What the hell did you bring that up for?” she hissed as quietly as she could, glancing out toward the kitchen where the water had just flipped on.
Lex shrugged, not even knowing the answer himself. The question had slipped out before he could think too carefully about it. “Sorry. I don’t know. I guess I’m just tired. I’d better go get him before he cleans your whole kitchen.”
Amy winked. “If that’s the case, then please leave him in there! I’ve got two double shifts at the hospital this week.”
Lex pinched her and turned to walk into the kitchen.