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“So, what do you do for fun, anyway?” Tom said, stirring sugar into his latte as they took a break late in the afternoon.
“Fun?” Jesse asked, frowning at the tablet he was using to monitor the new motion detectors.
“Yeah, you know—the stuff you do because you enjoy it rather than get paid for it.”
“That’s the same stuff,” Jesse said, nodding at the iPad. “Though I’ve never been paid for it before…at least not this much.”
“That’s surprising,” Tom said mildly.
Jesse sipped his coffee and didn’t meet his eyes. “I’m not the most employable person in the world.”
“No?”
“No.”
“Okay,” Tom said easily. “So you like computers. What about humans?”
“What humans?”
“Friends, family…significant other?” Tom asked, a little too casually.
Jesse examined him a long moment before turning his attention back to the iPad. “One married brother and a nephew. That’s about it.”
“No folks?”
“No.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Jesse said, tapping commands he didn’t need to, just for the sake of doing something. “Mum died when I was young. Dad went last year. He hadn’t been well for a while.”
“That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, like I said,” Jesse said, a little too firmly. “We weren’t close. What about you?”
“Me?”
Jesse looked up. “Same question.”
Tom smiled. “Lots of sisters, but they all live down south. My folks live in Spain. Oh, and very much single.” His smile widened. “So, who was the girl you broke in here with?”
“A friend. Well…sort of. She’s my tattoo artist.”
“I thought she was some sort of social media star?”
“That, too—even if all she seems to do these days is get us both in the shit. Though…” He looked around the break room with a half-smile. “I seem to have lucked out this time.”
“Perhaps the universe owed you one,” Tom said. He dropped his gaze to his mug and fiddled with the empty sugar packet. “We should both get a bit of time off this Saturday. Wanna—I dunno—do something?”
Jesse examined the nervous set of Tom’s face before swallowing. “I can’t, I’m sorry. I’m spending the day with Oliver, my nephew,” he added when a questioning frown crinkled Tom’s brow. “I promised to take him to the Christmas markets.”
“Oh well, you can’t break a promise like that,” Tom smiled. “Next weekend then?”
“Perhaps you could try dating a nice guy. You know, just for the sake of variety.”
He made himself study Tom’s handsome face, sloping shoulders and the tightness of his grip on his coffee cup.
“Sure,” Jesse made himself say. “I’d like that… That is, if we’re allowed?”
