Chapter 4
Rob hadn't expected that he would be the one to sit in the back with Danny and keep him calm. It was almost like Julian had more confidence in Rob than in himself. That man was a puzzle.
From the back seat, Rob had a good view of Julian's attractive profile. Most of the time, Rob was preoccupied with Danny, but he glanced toward the front now and then and enjoyed the view.
The drive was going well so far. Danny got scared sometimes, but not so badly that Julian had to pull over. Rob did his best to keep him distracted with things they saw along the roadside. When they drove through a stretch of roadway with only drying fields alongside them, Rob decided to tell Danny about his own childhood.
"When I was a kid, we went on road trips so we could have ourselves a cheap vacation. It was me, my sister, Christie, my mom and my dad. My sister and I wanted to stop everywhere. My dad had a bumper sticker that said, 'I break for barbeque.' That tells you everything you need to know." Rob said but Danny had on a confused expression. "That means he liked meat. Mom liked any place that made for a good family picture."
Mentioning her, Rob got wistful. She loved to compose a perfect shot then she would stare at the screen and smile. They had to work hard to get her in front of the camera though. That's why she was often missing from family pictures even before she was gone for good.
"What happened then?" Danny asked and Rob realized he had gone quiet.
"Right. We would find good places to eat or just have pie or ice cream. We would visit fun places and buy souvenirs."
"Souvenirs are little things that remind you of the places you visited," Julian said from the front. "And speaking of places to eat. We should stop somewhere for lunch. There is a place coming up soon. After we go over the bridge, it will be on our right."
Julian must have planned this stop. He was the opposite of the way Rob's dad had been. Dad was all about spontaneity. He wanted to discover new places, no advance research, no looking at reviews. Mom went along with it, though she did sneak a look at some maps so they wouldn't get hopelessly lost. It tore at the wound in Rob's heart to think how indulgent she had been, and at the end, how quietly she sank into her depression.
As they neared a roadside diner, Rob forced himself to shake off thoughts of the past. He needed to be cheerful for Danny's sake, and for Julian's sake too. Julian wasn't exactly chipper either, though he always had a smile for his little brother.
"This place looks nice," Rob said as they got out of the car in front of Dorothy's Diner with its blue roof and pictures of food painted on the windows.
"They have burgers," Danny said seeing one painted on a window in front.
"I guess they do," Rob said as they went through the doors and looked around for a free booth.
Spotting the dessert stand, Rob was about to say something about the mint chocolate chip pie behind glass that was right at Danny's eyelevel, but then thought better of it.
"Can he have dessert?" Rob leaned in to whisper the question in Julian's ear and he felt like time stopped. Julian smelled good. His skin, all of him would taste incredible – Rob just knew it. Being so near him, Rob had to hold his breath to get himself back under control. He almost forgot what he just asked Julian.
"He can have something sweet," Julian said then he got Danny's attention. "Look what Rob discovered."
Danny looked at the dessert display eagerly then up at Julian.
"Yes, you get to have one," Julian told him and led the way to an empty booth.
"And I found something I'd like. They have a Ruben on the menu," Rob said and pointed at two sandwiches going out on a tray. They reminded him of a deli he used to go to when he was in college.
"Order anything you like. Lunch is on me, of course," Julian said as he let Danny scoot in ahead of him into a booth.
"Thanks," Rob said and sat across from Julian and Danny. He vowed not to gaze at Julian like they were on a date, but it was hard not to appreciate the man when he was right there in front of him in all his bearded, handsome and refined glory. He was like some kind of dream date.
What was it he just vowed not to do? Oh, damn it.
It was like that all through lunch. With Danny being so quiet, it was easy for Rob to let his attention drift to Julian and his beautiful, brown eyes.
He had to cut that out. Noticing how Danny was eyeing his Ruben, Rob told him, "It's a grown-up sandwich, but you can try a bite if you want and if your brother says it's OK."
Julian nodded and Rob cut off a small piece for him and a bigger piece for Julian. Julian started to shake his head. But on seeing that his big brother was having some too, Danny smiled. Now Julian couldn't refuse.
"Thank you," he said to Rob.
"Thank you," Danny repeated after him.
The brothers each had a bite, and Julian said, "It's good."
But Danny frowned. "It's for 'growned-ups'," he declared.
