Will & Patrick Do the Holidays by Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths

Author:Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths [Blake, Leta & Griffiths, Alice]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Fiction
Publisher: Leta Blake Books
Published: 2015-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Two days later, Will stands up from his desk at Good Works, stretches, and decides a walk and some coffee will do him good. He’s spent far too long staring at spreadsheets and they stopped making sense hours ago. He waves to Hillary, the receptionist, and hits the sidewalk out front, dwelling again on what he’s come to think of as ‘the bed thing.’

There’s nothing wrong with sharing a bed with Patrick. He knows this, and yet he can’t stop wondering if he should have stayed on the couch. Things felt a lot more clear-cut then. Now, though. Will sighs as he walks toward Brown Gargle. It feels different.

They haven’t talked any further about the night at the hotel bar and everything that came after. In the past, if Ryan found out Will was tempted to drink… Well, first, he’d never have come looking for him. Second, once Will stumbled home begging for forgiveness, Ryan would lecture him for hours — days — and suggest he move back in with Kimberly and the kids for a while.

It’s so different from how Patrick handled it. It amazes Will that someone who doesn’t even love him would barge in, take control in his own stubborn way, and steer Will out of the bar and back to safety. And when it was over, he hadn’t lectured or shunned him. No, he’d drawn Will in more intimately. Confessed about his father’s lack of love, and then invited Will to share the bed. Patrick had held him physically close in their sleep, and he’d never made Will feel ashamed about that, either.

The cuddling. That’s another thing they don’t talk about. When it comes time to sleep at night, Patrick just pointedly pulls back the covers on the opposite side of the bed and looks at Will until he crawls in. And no matter how many times Will tells himself he’ll stay on his own side, they wake up tangled together. And it had never been like that with Ryan.

Ryan needs his space to sleep. He usually got up in the night and moved to their very large sofa because Will was too hot, too heavy, too smothering. But with Patrick, it’s natural. They’re like pieces that fit. Will slots right into Patrick’s arms at night, effortlessly and without fuss.

It’s because we’re both lonely.

Will touches his new, clunky medic alert bracelet. Patrick wants everyone to think he’s the kind of man who needs no one and nothing, but Will knows better.

He’s so lonely. He doesn’t want anyone to know.

And since they’re both lonely, what harm does it do if they sleep together and find themselves in each other’s arms? They aren’t betraying anyone, and they both understand where they stand. It’s comfort. It’s human.

It’s real.

In and amongst the pretense of their lives, this quiet thing that happens in the night is real.

After passing his old high school teacher on the street and exchanging pleasant greetings, Will turns the corner and spots his destination ahead.

He’s pleasantly surprised to find Patrick inside Brown Gargle sharing a table with Jenny Burger.

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