Not Your Average Man by Edward Kendrick

Author:Edward Kendrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay
Publisher: JMS Books LLC [email protected]

Chapter 8

I woke Christmas morning to the sound of the room phone ringing. It took me a moment to figure out why. I’d gotten rid of my burner the previous night. That thought brought back everything else that had happened and for a second, before answering the phone, I heard the scream and shuddered. Then Coop’s cheerful, “Good morning,” wiped it out of my thoughts.

“Why are you calling at the crack of dawn?” I grumbled.

“We’ve got a plane to catch.”

That brought me fully awake. I looked at the time. Nine-ten, and counting down to eleven-thirty, when we were supposed to be taking off. “I suppose you’re already packed.”

“Yep. And downstairs eating breakfast.”

“I hate you,” I muttered. Not that I did. Not even close. But right now? “Thanks for waking me up,” I told him. “Next time, do it an hour sooner.”

Coop laughed. “Will do. I’ll see you at the airport.”

I washed up, dressed, and packed in record time. I wore the coat I’d borrowed until I was at the airport, where I left it in a stall in the men’s restroom before checking in for the flight. Coop, of course, had beaten me to the departure gate. He looked up from the book he was reading and winked when I walked past him.

Four hours later, I picked up my bag at baggage claim. I hadn’t seen Coop since he deplaned before me, and figured he’d taken off to catch his plane for the rest of his journey home. It hurt that he hadn’t even said goodbye, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I was waiting for the shuttle that would take me to long term lot where I’d left my car when suddenly Coop joined me. “I thought this was only a stopover on your flight home,” I said in surprise.

He nodded. “It was. But I changed my mind. I don’t have anyone waiting for me there, and it is Christmas, so…” He looked expectantly at me.

“I have no problem with that,” I replied, trying not to smile too broadly. “We can do something together to celebrate.”

“I was hoping you’d feel that way.”

On the way back to the city, Coop called and reserved a room at a motel a couple of miles from my apartment building. When we got there, I waited in the car while he checked in and left his bag in his room. Afterward, we went on to my place.

“You need a tree, and lights, and what have you,” Coop commented when he walked into the living room.

I snorted. “First off, in case you didn’t notice, all the Christmas tree lots are empty. Secondly, if I’d gotten a tree before we left, it would be shedding needles by now. Thirdly, I wasn’t in the mood in the first place.”

“Well, get in the mood. We’re going out to dinner and then…What do people do on Christmas day?”

“There won’t be any restaurants open unless we want Chinese, so that’s out.”

“Damn. What did you and…Never mind.”

“It’s okay,” I said, and it was.

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