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“No, that’s usually been true. Only when convalescing did things even slow down.”
“You like that though, don’t you? Not getting shot, but having something important to do.”
“Yeah, I do like that.” And Jack realized he really did and that was what had been missing as Gray took on the challenge of being a detective and Mason pushed himself to finish school. Jack had stagnated. Gray tried to tell him it was time for a change, but he’d been too scared.
The bar had cleared out somewhat by the time Jack and Henry emerged from the office. Soon the crowd would shift from families and people getting off work to men and women who’d come to drink rather than dine.
Jack grabbed them two stools. “Do you mind if I introduce you to Mason?”
“No, I just wish I was more together.”
“Mason’s a bartender. He deals with people who aren’t together all day.”
“Yeah, I guess, but…”
“You don’t need to try to be someone else with him. Trust me.”
Mason made his way over to them as quickly as he could. He smiled at Jack, and the look on his face gave his feelings away. How could anyone sitting at the bar not know he and Jack were more than friends? Surely Henry would have guessed it if Jack hadn’t told him already.
“Mason, this is Henry.”
Henry cut his eyes to Jack, looking vulnerable, worried he wouldn’t measure up somehow.
“He’s helping me talk through all the crap I need to make a decision on,” Jack said.
Mason grinned. “Thanks. Jack needs that. He won’t listen to me.”
Henry laughed. “Stubborn, is he?”
“You bet.”
“Me too,” Henry said. “So I know how to handle it.”
“Good.” He glanced down the bar. “I’ve got customers waiting, but I want to talk to you more later.”
“We’ll do that,” Jack called. “And I’ll see you after your shift ends.”
Mason grinned back, obviously not caring who saw or what they thought.
When Jack and Henry were in the car heading back to the shelter, Henry said. “You know how you said you weren’t out officially at work?”
“Yeah.”
“You should just go for it. You don’t have to hide from foster parents or anyone. What you’re doing isn’t illegal. It isn’t wrong.”
“We’ve been waiting for the right time to tell everyone at work, though after what happened when I got shot, we told some people, and I’m sure plenty more suspect it.”
“You don’t have to make some big announcement, you know. You could just show up here and hold hands, just be together.”
Henry was absolutely right. What if they just acted like it was the most normal thing in the world, not something they needed to confess like a crime? Had they all been making a bigger deal of it than it should be? Not that it wasn’t big, but now that he and Gray weren’t partners anymore at work, and their supervisors knew… Sure plenty of people would give them hell, but apparently they were already doing that, so why not at least have the freedom of being themselves where ever they went?
“How’d you get so wise?”
Henry shrugged. “My parents. They were awesome.”
Jack laid a hand over his. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
