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“I can run to the store. It’s only a few minutes away.”
“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Not at all,” he said. “Be back in a few.”
Just as he walked by the stairs, Tripp hit the bottom step. “Where you going?”
Jayme glanced over his shoulder before grabbing his keys and wallet from the small table next to the door. “To get some orange juice.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can manage without it.” Tripp insisted.
“It’s fine. It’ll be my birthday present to you since I didn’t know it was your damn birthday,” he said pointedly.
“I’m sorry. It kinda crept up on me. I forgot.”
“Mmm hmm. I’ll be back.”
“Okay.”
Jayme hopped in his truck and headed to the store which was only a few minutes away. The parking lot was basically empty, with only a few cars this early in the morning. It should be a quick in and out. He wandered down toward the cold section where the orange juice was located. He glanced down the aisles as he passed. He came up short when he saw two familiar faces down the chip aisle. His soon-to-be ex-wife, Mallory, and his best friend, Brendan.
What the hell were they doing here? Not only this early, but were they together? Jayme walked down the aisle toward them. Brendan tossed a bag of chips into what appeared to be Mallory’s cart.
“Hey,” he said as he approached.
Both their heads whipped around to stare at him. Brendan hid the shock better than Mallory did. Was something going on between them?
“Jayme! Hi!” Mallory exclaimed, a little over-enthusiastically.
“Hey,” he replied, his tone clipped. Was Brendan messing with his ex-wife behind his back? “You guys are here awfully early.”
“I stopped in to grab some milk, and I ran into Mallory. Stopped to say hi,” Brendan explained.
“Yeah. And you know I always come to the grocery store early when no one is here,” Mallory said.
That he did know. “Okay, for a second there I thought you two were here together,” he said, eyeing them suspiciously.
“What? No!” Mallory said, shaking her head fervently.
Jayme looked back and forth between the two of them, still not sure if they were lying to him or not.
“What are you doing here so early?” Brendan asked.
“It’s Tripp’s birthday and his mom and sister are cooking breakfast, but we were out of orange juice. It’s apparently his favorite.”
Brendan looked at him funny but didn’t say anything. He knew what Brendan was thinking. Brendan was thinking that the rumors were true. Well, they kinda were now. Oh well.
“All right. I’m gonna go,” he said. “See ya’ll later.”
“Bye, Jayme,” Mallory said.
She seemed to be doing okay. He hadn't seen her since they filed for divorce. He didn’t know what to expect from her. He didn’t know if she’d be upset to see him or not. She seemed like her normal self, maybe she didn’t take the divorce as hard as he initially thought.
“I’m gonna go grab milk. See you guys later too,” Brendan said and walked away in the opposite direction from Jayme.
Jayme made his way to the orange juice, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He wasn’t convinced that something wasn’t going on with those two. It would be kinda fucked up if Brendan was making the moves on his ex-wife without asking him first. He wasn’t sure he would care if they got together, but he didn’t want it done behind his back.
~~~
Tripp
“Tell me about Jayme. Are you two seeing each other?” his mom asked.
He sat at the table with a cup of coffee and the six-month old Noah in his lap. “What makes you think that?”
Donna glanced over her shoulder at him. “He seemed...I don’t know...put out, I guess, when he realized he didn’t know it was your birthday. I thought maybe you were more than friends.”
“It’s...complicated. We just started messing around. He’s never been with a guy before, so...”
“He’s never been with a guy before?” his mom replied.
“Nope. He was married to a woman, they’re in the process of getting divorced,” he said.
“Because he realized he was gay?” Elianna asked curiously.
He barked out a laugh. “No, no. That’s not why. They had other issues.”
“Is he gay?” Elianna frowned.
“That’s what we’re in the process of finding out,” he muttered.
“Bi-curious?” Elianna offered.
“Yeah, that’s a good term for it,” he agreed.
Just then the front door opened and closed, and a moment later Jayme walked into the kitchen with the orange juice. Tripp cocked his head at the almost troubled expression on Jayme’s face.
“You okay?” he asked his partner.
“Yeah,” he said as he put the orange juice in the fridge. “I saw Mallory and Brendan at the store.”
“Together?” he squawked.
“Well, they said they just bumped into each other, but I’m not convinced.”
Tripp frowned. “Would you care if they got together?”
“I don’t know. I’d at least like my best friend to come and talk to me about it first. That’s what’s bothering me the most. If they are together, why hide it from me?”
