Page 101 of But For You

I was betting not many. Just thinking about having Aja Harcourt as a mother-in-law would be terrifying. She was smart and gorgeous. Good luck trying to live up to that.

My plan had been to make dinner, but Regina called and said that she had made lasagna and asked if we would like to come over. I explained about Robert and Gentry, and since she had not seen them since right before school started, she was excited to have them.

Once there, I excused myself when I saw Aaron Sutter’s number come up on my display.

“And?” he muttered on his end.

“What? I thought you’d call and give me an update,” I defended myself.

He sighed deeply.

“That bad? I thought you guys had⁠—”

“He had to go work on a task force thing in New York.”

“Yeah, I know. I figured that would be good. If you hated him, it would just be done. If you liked him, you could miss him.”

Silence.

“Aaron?”

He was never quiet or thoughtful, and it was sort of freaking me out.

“He’s in the closet, you know. Like, no one at work knows he’s gay.”

“Yeah, well, only your friends know you’re gay. Even your family doesn’t know.”

“They know.”

“They suspect. Everyone does. But you’ve never come out to the press or to your parents or your brother. You never go to your big social engagements with a guy on your arm. You and I never arrived together; we never left together. When I showed up on the society pages with you, it was always as your friend. You have amazing friends who would never breathe a word about your personal life. Even Todd, who I hate or did hate, even him, he⁠—”

“Todd got married and moved to Connecticut, you know. You’d probably actually like him now.”

“Don’t get crazy,” I told him, remembering his buddy who had always figured me for trash. “I’m just saying, you have good people in your circle, and they would never out you.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So, then what?”

“No, I just … it was nice, you know? He gets it.”

“Okay. And?”

“And what?”

“And Duncan Stiel? What’s the deal?”

He cleared his throat. “When he gets back, he’s gonna call me.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“So …” I drew out the word. “You’re not gonna pop up to New York to visit him?”

“No.” He sounded irritated. “He’s working, and I have to fly to Berlin tomorrow to discuss contracts and … things.”

“Things?”