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We keep watching each other, standing closer than we were a moment before. The weight of his stare feels heavier than it used to be, thick with years of separation, and pain, but still strong with the bond we’d always shared.
We both startle when a ringing breaks through the silence. Morgan chuckles, and I take a step back as he pulls his cell from the pocket of his jeans.
“It’s Rob. I should probably, um…take this.”
His words are like water thrown onto the flames of a moment ago. Morgan has a boyfriend. A man he lives with. And he’s leaving again. I’ll be smart to remember that.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Morgan
I shouldn’t feel weird getting a phone call from my boyfriend when I’m with Dusty, but I do. My skin prickles with the loneliness of him looking away. I can’t explain why that’s the way it feels. It makes no sense, really.
“Yeah, sure. Of course,” Dusty says, taking a few steps back.
The air in the room feels thicker. There’s so much of my life he doesn’t know about, so much of his that I don’t know about either. It wasn’t supposed to ever be this way between us.
I raise the cell to my ear. “Hey.”
“Hey. You’re on speaker. I’m on my way to work and thought I’d call to check in. It’s going to be a busy few days, so I’m not sure I’ll be able to talk.”
My free hand goes to the back of my neck, rubbing the skin there. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just a big contract and an important potential new client. What are you doing?”
“I’m at Dusty’s auto shop. He’s showing me around.” I glance at my friend, who is leaning against a counter, his hands in his pockets.
“Who’s Dusty?” Rob asks, and I hold in my sigh.
“My best friend from childhood. I told you about him the other day. He opened his own repair shop.” Sometimes Rob is good at pretending to listen, other times he’s not, but he only holds on to the knowledge he cares about, and clearly my life in Birchbark isn’t on that list.
“That’s nice. I went to dinner last night with Matt and Chris. We ended up at a club afterward…”
Rob tells me all about his night out with friends of ours, complete with the twink who was hitting on him. There’s no jealousy because we have an open relationship, so I listen, making random comments, while looking at Dusty and rolling my eyes, then holding up my hand to do the movement of someone talking too much.
Dusty chuckles, but something about it doesn’t ring true.
Eventually, Rob says, “I just got to work. I better go.”
“Okay. Have a good rest of the week.”
“You too,” he replies, then ends the call.
I shove my cell into my pocket again. “I should head out. I need to do some grocery-shopping and get back to check on Dad. What time should I come back?”
Dusty’s forehead wrinkles, brows drawn together. Instead of answering my question, he says, “Did he ask about you? Your dad? It didn’t sound like it from your side of the conversation.”
My spine stiffens. No, he hadn’t, and I hadn’t even noticed. That’s just how Rob is. I like it that way, not having people in my business, but then, shouldn’t he care that his boyfriend’s father had a stroke? Shouldn’t he at least ask? “That’s not really how we are.”
“You’re not the kind of boyfriends who ask each other if you’re okay? To see how you’re dealing with all the shit that’s going on in your life since coming home?” There’s confusion in his voice, but also the sharp edge of anger. Dusty doesn’t get it and doesn’t want to. A big part of that is because he could never be like that. He needed more and gave everything.
“Leave it alone, Dust.”
He holds up his hands in defeat. “It was just a question. Your relationship is your business. I just… You deserve someone who asks, who wants to make sure you’re okay.”
I’m at a loss for words, my throat tight like there’s a foot on my windpipe, cutting off my oxygen. Spencer has made his thoughts on Rob extremely clear over the years, but hearing it from Dusty hits differently…cuts deeper.
Dusty would care. He would ask. Despite everything, Dusty is still there for me.
