"It's temporary, only until Mr. Upton returns. I spoke with him too. He should be taking the reins again soon," Julian said.
"And you'll let him know what kind of boss Thayer has been, right?" Rob said in that challenging way he had.
"I will, believe me," Julian assured him. "That man doesn't belong in charge of anything. If I had known he would become my boss, I would have never gone to work at Upton Investments."
"Did you know him before?" Rob asked.
"Not him, but his younger brother was at boarding school with me. He was one of my biggest tormentors," Julian told him.
"Great. Asshole genes run in the family," Rob said like he was ready to pummel both Thayer brothers if he only got the chance.
"His brother must have told him that I make a good target." The first thing Pete Thayer said to him when they were introduced was that Julian and his brother went to school together. Then he smirked knowingly. "Thayer zeroed in on me as soon as I started at Upton Investments. He kept it low key while Mr. Upton was around, but since then, he has become more reckless."
"That has to bring up bad memories. How bad did it get when you were bullied at school?" Rob asked, his tone grave.
Julian didn't like talking about that, but he couldn't refuse Rob when he had that serious look in his eyes. "My things were always disappearing then reappearing with obscene things written or drawn on them. One day some of the guys led by Alex Thayer barged in on me when I was taking a shower and took pictures and video, said they would put them online. They didn't as far as I know. Another time they pushed me down the stairs, and I sprained my ankle."
"They had to get into serious trouble for that," Rob said.
Julian shook his head. "They claimed it was an accident."
Rob glowered into the distance then brightened when his eyes fell on Danny trying to get Lenny to look at a big leaf. Turning to Julian with a sigh, Rob shook his head. "That should all be in the past. You found your little brother. You should be happy. But to have to put up with Thayer at work after being bullied at school by his brother of all people. Damn, it pisses me off."
"I lived through it. I'll live through Thayer as my boss as well." Julian was trying to be reassuring, but he found himself frowning. He then saw Rob watching him intently, questioningly, so he confessed what was on his mind. "I hate to think that what happened at school had any effect on me, but between that and my grandfather, I became so closed off. If it wasn't for Danny coming into my life, I might have lived the rest of my life inside my protective shell. I hate that I did that to myself. It was like I let them win."
"No. We all have things that hold us back – losing people then not believing in finding happiness or anything that lasts," Rob said, making a confession of his own. He dropped back on the blanket with his arms folded under his head. While Julian gazed at him, Rob's gaze was lost in the copper treetops right above them.
"Because of your mother?" Julian asked tentatively.
"That's a big part of it. But when I take stock of my crappy relationships, I know I didn't make good choices. My last boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend. I ended up losing both of them, and a lot of trust in people. Kind of lost my temper too. I found them together after kicking down the door. Then I put my fist through a wall twice instead of their lying faces. If the wall wasn't lousy, I would have a broken hand." Rob shut his eyes and Julian could see how hurt he must have been.
Julian couldn't understand how anyone could cheat on an incredible man like Rob. He didn't deserve to be hurt and betrayed like that. "You know you're a great guy, don't you?" Julian told him, his voice a little shaky with emotion.
Opening his eyes, Rob smiled at him then shook his head like he didn't realize it was only the truth. "Am I? I kind of came to expect that every relationship was going to end badly and leave me feeling like road kill. That's why I decided to stick with random hookups until I hooked up with my 'straight' roommate and got kicked out. The timing was hell." Rob's eyes brightened again and he gave Julian another smile. "That's when you came to my rescue. Your job offer was just the break I needed."
"I'm glad," Julian said, but he didn't like how Rob made it sound like the break might be short-lived and then he would go back to his real life, look for guys to hook up with.
If he did, Julian was sure someone would ignite Rob's passion again. He would fall in love and be happy. Julian knew he wouldn't be so lucky. "At least you had the courage to try. I never even got that far. For me, it was always strictly strangers, strictly anonymous, meant to be forgotten." Julian didn't know why he was telling him this, maybe just to be fair since Rob told him about himself. Now he wondered what Rob would think of him. It was too late to take back what he said so he tried to explain himself. "It was only a handful of times, usually when I was out of town on business. Typical, right?"
"You're hardly typical," Rob told him with that disarming smile of his. And just like that, he wiped away Julian's embarrassment.
Maybe this was why Julian was always baring his soul to him, so Rob would make him feel OK about everything. While Julian was basking in Rob's alluring smile, Danny ran over saying, "I saw a fishy!"
Rob jumped to his feet. "You know what that means? We have to go fishing." He offered Danny his hand and they went off to find a branch to use as a fishing pole.
In the end, Julian got handed a fishing pole too. Fishing to Danny was just holding a stick over the water and calling out, "Hey fishy, fishy. Come 'ere."
Julian looked over at Rob, who just shrugged.
Once he got bored with that, Danny had a new idea. "Make us a boat, Julian."
"Do we have paper?" Julian said and checked to see if he had anything on him.
Searching their takeout from Peach Tree Café, Rob came out with something. "Here's another receipt," he said and held it up. He also found a menu from the café, so Julian got to work making small boats.
Done with that, he left Danny and Rob to launch the boats. They would need to get back home soon, so he started cleaning up. Julian was folding up their blanket as Rob and Danny fished out the boats from the pool of water.
"So this was a good picnic, right?" Rob asked Danny, and he agreed.
