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“Yeah. That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” And somehow, I did. I didn’t believe there was a bigoted bone in Brian’s body. “You should get these in a vase.” I handed them over, and he stared at them as if he didn’t know what to do with them. “Oh my God. You don’t have a vase!”
“I don’t go buyin’ myself flowers!”
There was no stopping the laugh that fell from my lips, and surprisingly, Brian seemed to be trying to hide a smirk. “Do you have a big cup?”
“I’ll find something. Guess you should come in.”
“That would be nice,” I teased. When he stepped back, I went inside. Again, it was clear it was an older home, with older furniture. It was clean and comfortable, and it didn’t smell like cigarettes, but like cedar, the way Brian did.
“It ain’t much, but it’s mine. Meant to clean up a bit, but I was still a little riled up when I got home, then had to shower, and now you’re here.”
“It looks great. There’s nothing to clean up, though a little natural light would be nice.” I made sure my voice was playful so he knew I wasn’t being a dick.
“Shit. Yeah. Was gonna do that too.” Brian looked from the flowers to the windows, like he wasn’t sure what to take care of first.
“You get those in some water, and I’ll start opening blinds.”
“Figured we’d go outside.”
“Which we can. Light is still nice. The flowers will like it.”
He rolled his eyes, but I was pretty sure there was some amusement in there too. Before he told me no, I started doing what I said, going to the closest window and pulling the blinds up. He sighed, but then I heard his footsteps going in the opposite direction and the water being turned on. I got the living room taken care of, then went to the dining room, which was directly across from it, his kitchen to the left. There was only one window there, and then the sliding glass door, which wasn’t covered.
Brian came back with the flowers in an oversize beer mug and set it on a small, round table with scuff marks on the top.
“Perfect.” I smiled.
“I should, um…go get a shirt on or somethin’.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him he didn’t have to on my account, but I was being Good Charles and not flirting with the straight man.
“You can go outside if you want. Wait. Where’s the piano?”
“In my SUV. You get dressed, and then we can grab it together.”
He nodded, lingered, then shook his head, though I thought it was more at this whole situation and himself than me. Brian was out of his element, but it was cool that he was still open to the experience.
I walked around the living room while he was in his bedroom. There weren’t many photos, but there was one of Brian with a young Sutton, a little girl, and who I assumed were their parents.
Shit. He’d lost them all in one swoop? I couldn’t imagine how tough that had been, and then Brian was immediately raising a kid. That would be a lot for anyone.
“This is your brother? Phil, right?” I asked when he came back in the room in a black tee.
“Yeah, should we go get that now?” He wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t look at the photo, tension rolling off him, his usually relaxed posture straight.
Clearly, it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about. I liked trying to get him to speak but only when I could tell he wasn’t uncomfortable, so I said, “Sure. Let’s do it.”
It took us no time to get the stand and keyboard out of my SUV and onto his covered back deck. There were outlets to plug it in, along with a few chairs. In his yard he had a firepit, with more seating around it and a grill. There was no doubt in my mind that Brian spent a lot of time out here.
“It’s nice here, peaceful.”
He nodded but didn’t reply, hands shoved into his pockets.
“You’re ready to play, aren’t you?” I asked, and his lips curled up slightly in a grin.
“Sorry, I just…”
“It’s fine. I’m actually really excited about it too. I have a full-size upright back home in New York. I play often, but I haven’t played with anyone else since college. By the time I got into law school, I was too busy to make time for it.”
“That sounds awfully tragic to me.”
It was my turn to smile. “Yeah, it does. Go get your guitar, and let’s do this.”
“Okay.” He looked down, then away, almost like he was nervous to make eye contact with me.
Brian got to the sliding glass door before I said, “Hey.”
“Yep?” He finally turned my way.
“Thank you for this…for having me over today. I think maybe I needed it.” Which was a weird thing to say. Why would I need it? And hell, we hadn’t even done anything yet, but it was how I felt.
