In the Distance (8 page)

It took almost no time at all for me to make short work of the sandwich. I reached across the table and snagged a piece of bacon off Jamie’s plate.

“Hey! Leave my bacon alone!”

I smirked as I popped the piece of crispy fried goodness into my mouth. “That’s definitely not what he said.”

Jamie groaned at my awful joke and slid his plate farther from me. “Again, so not interested in the details of your night, Trev.”

I held my hands up in mock surrender, watching as he made his way through the monstrously large skillet of hash he was working on. With about half left, he pushed it aside and leaned back in his chair. “Damn, that was good. I’ll have to see if E can make that for me sometime. He’s always been much better than me at recreating dishes we come across.”

“I may have my own issues with your husband, but even I can admit he can cook his ass off.”

“It will make his whole week to know you actually said something nice to him.”

I snorted. “No, it won’t.”

Jamie gave up, a look of resignation on his face. “No, it won’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like hearing it. He’s worked his ass off to get where he is. It’s just nice to hear other people appreciate all his hard work.”

“Yeah, well, don’t read too much into it, J. He’s still got miles to go to make up for that sparkly personality of his. Which begs the question, where is your other half today? I can’t imagine even my presence would keep him from a meal like this.”

“Ethan’s with Tyler.”

The food I’d been so happy gorging on earlier felt like lead in my stomach at the mention of Tyler’s name. Why hadn’t he told me he was meeting up with Ethan this morning? Or had there been no plans and Ethan had suddenly created some, wanting to make sure Tyler escaped the evening alone with me unscathed?

“Come again?”

“I know that look, Trev, so calm down before you blow up and regret it. You and Ethan may hate each other but I swear you react to shit the same way.”

I bristled at the suggestion Ethan and I were anything alike, but waved my hand as nonthreateningly as possible to get him to answer my question. “Well?”

“They’re at the shelter over on Fifteenth.”

He paused a moment, then added, “The youth shelter.”

I sat there, not stunned by where they were, but by the fact Tyler hadn’t thought he could share that with me. “He never said a word about it. I mean, he’s talked about volunteering at the homeless shelter, but he didn’t tell me he was going with Ethan today.”

“Ethan could have ended up on the streets, alone, just like Tyler did, but he didn’t. And even though Tyler’s been through shit neither you nor I can fathom, he survived. They both did. But neither one of them wants to be pitied for what they went through. To them, it sucked, but it’s life and they’ve moved on. So, every Sunday, they pay it forward. They don’t do it to have someone pat them on the back, they do it because it’s what they feel they have to do.”

Who was this kid? Not many people survived life on the streets, but Tyler had not only survived it, he worked his ass off at both work and school to ensure he’d never be back on the streets again. Apparently, I didn’t know jack shit about Tyler. The crazy part was, I wanted to.

Before the words tumbled out of my mouth, I knew this was a bad idea. I knew, with every fiber of my being, not to ask. But like always, I charged right past what I should have done to what I wanted.

Throwing caution to the wind, I looked Jamie directly in the eyes and said, “I need to ask a huge favor.”

Chapter Eleven

Tyler

“Stay on the line. I’ll bus today.”

One look told me Ethan would rather be doing anything else than bussing tables right now. He was dragging today.

“Nah, I’ve got it. Go ahead and stay here. Donna looks like she’s on the warpath again and I’d rather be on the other side of the room.” I tossed my hand towel to the side and walked over to the closest table, collecting trash and trying to clean up as much as possible to free up a few more seats.

The truth was I hadn’t wanted to come today. In fact, this was the first time in two years I’d ever thought about skipping out of a shift here. I’d pulled doubles, stayed up late studying, even had a bad case of bronchitis once, but none of those had kept me from showing up on Sunday morning to volunteer.

When I looked over at Ethan, I felt even more like a shit. He looked dead on his feet, and still he was here, working the line at a shelter to make sure the fifty or so homeless kids had a hot meal in their bellies before they spent their day on the street. Most of the shelters around town served a quick breakfast seven days a week, but Margaret’s Mission made sure to have a larger, more substantial offering on Sundays for anyone who needed a warm meal. Officially, it was an LGBTQ-friendly shelter, but I’d never seen them turn away a hungry kid, regardless of where they fell on the spectrum.

I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself about last night. This was more important than making an ass out of myself in front of Trevor. I groaned just thinking about it.

“Hey, Tyler.”

The voice over my shoulder startled me, and I dropped the tray I’d been holding in the trash can.

“Oops. Sorry, Ty. I shouldn’t have snuck up on you.”

When I turned around, Avery was trying but failing to hold in her laughter.

There was a guy with Avery. I hadn’t seen him before, but I’d been volunteering less and less since classes started in August. The only downside to the queer community becoming more vocal was the shitty fact that more and more parents were kicking their kids out of their houses for being who they were instead of continuing to a lie. A swatch of blond hair peeked under the black skullcap the new guy had on. His clothes were relatively clean, but not nearly warm enough for December in Seattle. He looked about eighteen, but the way he took in everything around him without letting his gaze rest too long on any one thing told me he’d been on the streets long enough not to trust people, even the ones at the shelter who were here to help him.

I shifted my attention back to Avery and winked. “Yeah, oops, my ass. I don’t believe your innocent face for a minute. So, besides your not-so-innocent face, what’s up?”

She nodded in the direction of her mystery companion. “I wanted to ask for a favor. Nick’s looking for a job. He just passed his GED, but he needs more than the hours he’ll get at the fast-food place down the street, and we both know no one will hire him for a higher paying job without experience. I figured you could ask around to see if there was anything at Bistro 30.”

She looked over her shoulder in Ethan’s direction and I swear she paled a little. “I would have asked Ethan myself, but dude, he looks like shit today. Even I’m not stupid enough to brave that.”

Ethan couldn’t have heard us talking about him, but damn if he didn’t glance over in our direction, quirking an eyebrow when he caught my eye. I sighed and smiled, shaking my head to let him know everything was okay. Ethan had been here the one time an older kid had cornered me and made some shitty remark about the food. I hadn’t been in any real danger and Donna was on the kid before it had gotten out of hand, but none of it mattered to Ethan. He’d come barreling over to put himself between me and the kid, demanding the director either get the kid some help getting clean or some manners, preferably both. As annoying as it was, at least I had someone watching my back. From the look of it, Nick had Avery. And just Avery.

I looked back at them and smiled. “Ethan’s just tired. We’ve been slammed ever since Thanksgiving and everyone’s been pulling doubles to keep up with it all. Trust me, he wouldn’t have bitten your head off for asking about a job.”

Avery’s expression told me she believed that as much as she believed we were all going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly become straight.

“Okay, so he’s a little gruff, but he’s okay. He won’t bite.”

Neither one looked convinced. I laughed and put the empty tray I’d been holding on the nearest table. “How about we go over together and I’ll introduce you to him? I need to get back on the line anyway, and it will give you a chance to see he’s not a bad guy.”
Just pathologically overprotective.

After some coaxing from Avery, we finally convinced Nick to meet Ethan. When we reached the table, Ethan put down the new tray of hash browns and smiled at Avery.

“Hey, Avery. Still in the dental program at the community college?”

“Yeah. It’s good. Hard, but good. I almost have enough credits for the full-time program, which will get me a job in the campus clinic. The coffee shop’s been great, but I’ll be happy to have a regular income that doesn’t include me smelling like coffee beans no matter how much I shower.”

Ethan loaded some eggs and sausage onto a waiting kid’s plate, and then turned back to us. “I can relate. I don’t think I’ve ever had a day in my life where I didn’t come home smelling like oil. Or Nutella.”

A sly smile crept over his face and I knew there was a story there. A story that most likely involved Jamie. A story I most definitely didn’t want to hear.

“Um, Chef, I mean, Ethan?”

Ethan sighed and shook his head. “One of these days you’ll get used to calling me that when we’re not at the restaurant.”

I doubted it, but then again, I never even would have considered calling him Ethan to his face almost two years ago.

“So, Nick here is looking for a job and he was wondering if we had anything open at Bistro 30. I know we have a full staff right now, but since we’ve been swamped recently, I didn’t know if you were thinking about hiring any extra staff.”

Ethan handed the serving spoon he’d been holding to another volunteer and came out from behind the counter. He leaned against the nearest table and eyed Nick up and down. It wasn’t a patronizing look, just Ethan sizing him up to see what he was made of. I had to give Nick credit. He still looked green around the gills, but he didn’t shrink away from Ethan’s careful assessment of him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ethan shifted his weight and pulled a business card out of his wallet, handing it to Nick. “Why don’t you come by tomorrow and we can talk. We only have a busser position open at Bistro 30, but my sister was looking for some extra staff and she might have a place for you there, if you’re interested.”

Avery clutched Nick’s arm in excitement. “You’d love Claire. She’s so awesome and funny. She comes in here sometimes and she’s a total hoot.” Avery’s mouth snapped shut when we heard the low chuckle rumbling out of Ethan’s chest.

She backpedaled immediately and began stammering, “Oh my God, Ethan. I didn’t mean anything. I mean, you’re awesome, too.”

I laughed and put my arm around her, barely catching her next words when she buried her face in my chest. “Just kill me now.”

With my arms wrapped around her, I whispered in her ear, “He’s smiling, so stop freaking out. It’s all good, okay?”

It took everything I had not to laugh with Avery in my arms as I watched Ethan scrub a hand over his face. As I wondered how much damage control I would have to do, Ethan caught my eye over her shoulder and subtly nodded his head, his way of letting me know it was all good.

Avery, Nick and I made our way over to a table so I could give Nick a better idea of what he’d be walking into tomorrow, as well as the lowdown on both Bistro 30 and Claire’s new place, The Greenhouse. Avery piped in with a couple of funny stories about Claire, and before I knew it, twenty minutes had passed. Except for last night with Trevor, it was the first time I’d really just sat down and talked with anyone besides the crew at Bistro 30 since I’d left home.

“Hey, thanks. It’s been shitty trying to find a job.”

I looked up into Nick’s too-serious blue eyes and smiled. “No problem. I was there, too, once. If Ethan hadn’t taken a chance on me, well, I’m not sure what would have happened.”

“You working tomorrow?”

It didn’t take much to read between the lines of Nick’s question. Avery’s lips twitched into a smile behind his back.

“I have class in the morning, but I’ll be there for the afternoon shift. What time were you going to drop by?”

Nick’s expression brightened. “Maybe around two?”

I hesitated for a moment, quickly weighing whether or not this was a good idea. I wasn’t social on the best of days and I rarely, if ever, gave anyone outside of work my cell number. Nick wasn’t just anyone, though. I’d been exactly where he was until Ethan had given me a break. Nick wasn’t asking for my number because he wanted to go out. He needed help. Plain and simple.

Before I could overthink it, I grabbed a napkin from the table. “Here’s my cell number. Call if you need directions, or, well, anything. Trust me, I’ve been there before, but Ethan’s a good guy. And Jamie will be there, so he’ll be on his best behavior.”

Nick looked thoroughly confused by yet another name he didn’t know. “Who’s Jamie?”

There was a pause, then Avery beat me to it. “His husband. And dude, let me just say this. If I wasn’t into chicks? I’d be all over that.”

I wasn’t sure if I started laughing because of what Avery had said, or the shocked look on Nick’s face, but it felt good. Ethan raised an eyebrow once I’d made my way back over to the serving station and donned a fresh pair of gloves.

“Nick’s coming in tomorrow afternoon,” I told him.

Ethan nodded to himself and was quiet for a few minutes as a few new kids found their way to the serving line. Once the last one was through, Ethan cleared his throat. “You know, you were good with him back there.”

“He seemed solid. Well, as solid as anyone who has to come to the shelter to get a meal. But I didn’t get any bad vibes off him. Sometimes you can just tell the ones you need to stay away from, ya know? Nick, though, he just seemed like he needed to catch a break.”

Ethan just nodded again, his eyes down on the food but his mind on something I couldn’t see. “Ain’t that the truth.” He paused, then added, “Look, Tyler. I know we ride you hard at the restaurant.”

I started to interrupt, but he held his hands up to stop me. “Hear me out. Since the moment you started working for me, I’ve never once heard you complain.”

My eyes must have betrayed me, because he threw his head back and laughed. “I said
I
never heard you complain, not that you didn’t. Hell, I can’t imagine anyone working for me and not complaining. Trust me, Claire and Jamie have complained enough for it to count for everyone in the crew, twice over. My point is, you could have thrown my shit back at me numerous times when I rode your ass harder than I should have, and you didn’t. Just like today, you could have blown that kid off after I talked to him. But you didn’t. I watched you and I gotta say, Tyler, you were good with him.”

When I didn’t say anything, he laid a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. “Not like that. Although he’s not bad, if you like that whole blond-haired, blue-eyed thing.”

He winked at me when I finally looked back at him. Embarrassment flooded me. Not because I didn’t get his joke, or because Nick wasn’t good-looking. Nick was exactly the type of guy I would have drooled over in high school but would have been terrified of approaching. For all his good looks, though, I was surprised to realize I wasn’t interested in discovering if he was interested in me or not. I hadn’t picked up any signs from him, but I hadn’t actually been looking for any. Even though the humiliation of last night still burned in my gut, I couldn’t get Trevor out of my head. I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I didn’t have a chance in hell with a guy like Trevor. At the same time, I just wasn’t interested in pursuing anything with Nick. I sighed and cursed myself for ever agreeing to go out to dinner with Trevor.

“Look, all I’m saying is you’re good with people. I know it’s not easy for you to open up, something I seriously want to kick your parents’ asses for contributing to, but it doesn’t diminish the fact you’re good with people who need it. If you want to spend more time helping out here, just say the word. We’ll work it out at the restaurant.”

“He has a point, Tyler,” Donna said. “You of all people know how hard it is on the streets. Sometimes it’s enough to turn a person inside out until even they don’t recognize themselves. But you survived. What’s more, you have a special knack for making people feel comfortable, even when you don’t say a word.”

“It’s always the quiet ones.” Ethan snickered behind me.

Donna shot him a look and the snickering immediately stopped. Ethan suddenly found himself busy with tearing down the serving line, keeping a healthy distance between himself and Donna as he carried a few empty warming trays to the back.

Donna watched him push through the door to the kitchens and sighed. “I adore that man but he makes me want to smack and hug him at the same time.”

This time I let my laughter go. “Pretty sure you’re not the only one who feels that way.”

Donna shook her head before turning her attention back to me. “What his poor husband must go through. But for every gander, there’s a gander. He does have a point, though, Tyler.”

I busied myself with clearing up the rest of the serving station, but Donna must have taken that as a green light to keep talking.

“I take my job seriously around here. You’re good with the kids who come through here. I’ve watched you make the little ones smile while their parents attend the PFLAG meetings, and Nick, well, I’m pretty sure Avery’s the only person Nick’s talked to since he showed up here last month. The fact he sat and talked to you for as long as he did speaks volumes.”

I tried to shrug it off, not just because Donna was right—I’d never been good with taking compliments—but also because I’d been there. I’d been in their shoes and I still remember craving someone to give enough of a shit about me to stop and talk to me instead of judging me for who they thought I was. Isn’t that what most people wanted? To have someone to stop and, just for one moment, validate who they are?