Friends spooning wasn’t unheard of. Hell, it was a lot more platonic than
what Jace wanted to do. He tried to silence those urges by distracting
himself. Instead of thinking of tasting and touching Victor’s body, he
posed questions to himself. Can I? Can I move back here? Can we be
together again? Can I live this life again? The two words were still on
his lips as he finally found sleep.
Can I?
Chapter Sixteen
Jace awoke to an empty bed, even reaching over to grope the vacant
spot just like they did in the movies. Why did they always do that? In
case the other person had turned invisible? Flopping over onto his back,
he considered the events of the night before. For a moment, Jace thought
they had given in to temptation. His dreams had been sex-fueled, never
concluding in release. He still felt frustrated, even now, which meant that
he hadn’t betrayed Adrien.
Just thinking of his estranged boyfriend helped deflate Jace’s
erection. Driving here hadn’t solved anything. He wanted to be with
Victor so much that there didn’t seem to be room for anyone else. Jace
was stuck, unable to act on any of his desires. Unless he called Adrien
and broke up with him over the phone. That would free him and Victor
to—
Jace swung out of bed rather than chase the thought down another
dead end. After getting dressed, he made his way upstairs, the smell of
sizzling eggs drawing him into the kitchen. He pictured Mrs. Hemingway
at the stove, wearing a comfortable old nightgown while Victor yawned
at the table, awaiting his meal.
Jace was nearly right, but the people were in the wrong places. Mrs.
Hemingway sat at the table, flipping through a magazine while Victor
attacked a frying pan with a spatula.
“Oh! Jace!” Mrs. Hemingway hopped to her feet. She still seemed
spry, which took him aback. Wasn’t she supposed to be struggling
somehow? “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Oh, you look so grown
up!”
Jace let himself be hugged, matching Mrs. Hemingway’s grin when
she pulled away.
“It has been a long time, hasn’t it?” she asked.
“Yeah. Well over a year. I was surprised too.”
“Oh good!” She put a hand over her mouth. “I mean, not good that
we haven’t seen each other. Good that I got it right!”
“Sit down, you two,” Victor said. “Breakfast is ready.”
Jace took a seat, not hiding his puzzlement. Since when did Victor
cook? Jace stifled a grin, wondering if all of this was to show him how
much had changed.
“Scrambled eggs and toast,” Victor said, sounding apologetic as he
set a plate down in front of him.
“It smells great!” he said truthfully. “Why are they pink?”
“That’s the barbeque sauce,” Mrs. Hemingway said. “I always use
that.”
“You always use cheese,” Victor said. “I’m the one who started
using barbeque sauce.”
Victor’s mother waved a hand like he was being silly. Then they all
tucked in. Besides a gas station burger on the drive up, Jace hadn’t eaten
much lately. Once his stomach realized this, it couldn’t get enough. Jace
shoveled in the food, accepting Victor’s offer of more toast. Then he
swigged it all down with coffee.
“That’s how a growing boy eats,” Mrs. Hemingway said
approvingly.
Victor snorted. “Let’s hope he doesn’t get any bigger. His feet were
hanging off the bed this morning.”
Jace pictured Victor standing over the bed, watching him while he
still slept. Jace would have done the same and had in the past. They felt
the same way. There was no denying it. Why hadn’t he broken up with
Adrien before coming here?
“How is your family?” Mrs. Hemingway asked.
“Fine,” Jace said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Actually, I
haven’t seen them yet, but I’m sure everything is fine. They don’t even
know I’m here.”
“Won’t they be surprised? I love it when my Victor shows up
unexpectedly.”
“Yeah.” Jace nodded. “I should probably head over there now. You
want to come with me, Victor?”
“He can’t,” Mrs. Hemingway said. “Victor has to go to school.”
“Mom,” Victor said warningly.
“What?” Jace asked looking between them. “You’re taking classes
somewhere? College or vocational?”
Mrs. Hemingway tittered like a little girl. “Victor can’t go to college.
He’s just a little boy!”
Jace’s stomach sank. He watched with increasing trepidation as Mrs.
Hemingway’s expression became distant. Then she got up from the table
to fetch the coffee pot. Victor’s eyes remained fixed on the table.
“More coffee?” Mrs. Hemingway offered, the pot poised above
Jace’s cup.
“Thank you.”
He studied her as she poured, seeing no mischief in her eyes. This
was for real. She smiled pleasantly at him as she refilled Victor’s cup
next.
“I’m going to take a shower now. You boys enjoy yourselves today.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Victor was quiet until the sound of water running
could be heard elsewhere in the house. Then he met Jace’s gaze. “Sorry
about that.”
Jace felt strangely frightened. “What’s going on?”
“She gets a little confused these days,” Victor said. Then he rolled
his eyes, as if disgusted with himself. “It’s worse than that. She has
Alzheimer’s.”
Jace didn’t know how to respond, at least when it came to words, so
he got up from the table and went to Victor. He wanted to hug him,
comfort him somehow, but when he reached out Victor brushed his
hands away.
“Don’t,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want a hug because my
mom’s going crazy. That’s not going to make it all better.”
“I’m sorry,” Jace said lamely. “That was stupid of me.”
“It wasn’t.” Victor exhaled. “I’m not used to talking about this, that’s
all. Who would I tell? It’s just me and her.”
Jace slid into the chair next to his. “So what does this mean? This is
probably a dumb question, but is she going to be all right? I mean, they
have treatments for this sort of thing, don’t they?”
“She’s on medication,” Victor said. “But she needs someone to make
sure she takes it. Mornings are always like this. Or nights, when I get
back from work. You know that trip I took with Greg? I came home and
she was sitting in the bathtub, fully dressed. The water was stone cold. I
have no idea how long she’d been sitting there.”
A mad chuckle escaped Victor’s lips. He put his hands over his face,
as if to quell the muffled noises that sounded more like crying. His eyes
were red and moist when he moved his hands away. “That’s when we
went to see the doctor. Before then, I just figured she was getting old.
Who doesn’t forget where they put something, or struggle to remember a
name? That’s not so weird, right?”
Jace thought of his own mother, suddenly feeling a need to see her,
to make sure she was okay. “Does the medicine help?”
“Yes,” Victor said. “She does pretty well on her own. Sometimes it’s
easy to pretend there’s nothing wrong. Then she’ll make an oddball
comment and— Well, you saw for yourself. She just needs extra help
sometimes. It’s early onset Alzheimer’s, that’s all.”
“I wish I could help,” Jace said.
“Nah.” Victor put on a brave face. “I’ve got it under control. So how
long are you going to be in town?”
Thoughts of Texas made Jace’s stomach turn. Did he still have a job?
“I’m not sure. I need to swing by my parents’ place, make a few calls.”
“Go do that,” Victor said. “Then come see me again, okay? I’ll be
here all day. I don’t have to work.”
“Okay.” Jace didn’t move. He didn’t want to leave after Victor had
dropped a bombshell like that, but he could also tell that Victor wanted to
be alone. Jace supposed he could understand that. They would talk more
about this when he returned. First, he wanted very much to give his own
mom and dad a very big hug.
* * * * *
“I’m sorry honey,” Jace’s mother said, leaning back in the patio
chair. “It sounds to me like the symptoms are already quite serious.”
“Definitely advanced Alzheimer’s,” his father added from next to
her. “My aunt, your great aunt, had it. Stuffed a turkey one year and left
it in a cold oven for hours. Served it that way too. Worst Thanksgiving
ever.” Bob sniffed, not an ounce of amusement in his voice. “She was so
old we thought it was just age. Didn’t have many years left in her, which
was a mercy.”
“Dad!” Michelle said. She was stretched out on the wooden deck,
jeans rolled up to expose her legs to the sun. “We don’t want Mrs.
Hemingway to die!”
“I didn’t mean it that way. I mean it was a mercy she was already so
old before it got bad. That was a long time ago too. I’m sure treatment
options are better now.”
Jace sighed. Sitting cross-legged on the patio, he held one of his
mother’s purring cats in the basket his lap made. He never could keep
track of their names. “She seemed okay in general. A little absentminded,
maybe. Mrs. Hemingway was always a little flaky, but I figured it was
just her personality.”
“Regardless,” Serena said, pursing her lips. “It can’t be easy for
Victor. I wish there was something we could do.”
“Me too,” Jace said.
“Then move home,” Michelle said.
“Stop that,” their mother chastised. “Jace has his own life to worry
about.” She looked moderately hopeful. “Unless you want to, of course.
We wouldn’t mind.”
“He’s not doing anything until he graduates from college,” Bob said.
“And then he’s getting a job to pay us back for all that tuition.”
“I already have a job, Dad.”
“Then go buy me some whisky, you no-good bum!”
Jace smiled and shrugged. “I will. You coming with, Michelle?”
“Sure, but we’re taking my car.”
Maybe it was a perk of being the youngest, or perhaps a benefit of
staying home, but Michelle had a brand new car bought by their parents.
They called it a high school graduation present. All Jace had gotten was
the old car they used to share. Oh, and the out-of-state tuition. Still, it
was nice to ride in a car that didn’t have a crack in the windshield or a
radio that stopped working if the air condition was turned on.
“You’re really leaving again tonight?” Michelle asked as they
cruised out of the neighborhood.
“Yeah. I called work and told them there was a family emergency.
That saved my ass, but they expect me back on Monday. Plus I have a
final tomorrow that I haven’t even studied for.”
“Tell me about it,” Michelle said. “I thought college was going to be
all parties and pretty boys.”
Jace grinned. “The boys are very pretty.”
“True. How’s Adrien?”
Jace sighed.
Michelle sat upright and smiled. “Did you two break up?”
“You don’t have to look so excited about it. And no, we didn’t. But
things aren’t looking good.”
“Sorry. It’s just that he’s kind of a jerk.”
“Funny, Greg said nearly the same thing.” Jace glanced out the
window. Four years away from Warrensburg and nothing seemed to have
changed. “Maybe Adrien isn’t the right one for me.”
“You might want to consider your options,” Michelle said with
slightly more tact.
“What about you? What’s his name?”
Michelle was silent.
Jace glanced over at her. “Nobody?”
She shook her head.
“That’s unusual for you. You’re awfully young to be calling it quits.”
“Awfully young to be settling down,” she corrected. “Anyway,
shame about Victor.”
Jace slumped down in his seat. “Yeah.”
“Maybe after you graduate, you could come back. Give him a hand.
Greg says that you two are still hot for each other.”
“Greg seems to know more about my love life than I do,” Jace
grumbled.
“Is he wrong?”
Jace stared out the windshield, unseeing. “No. He’s not wrong.”
Then he blinked. “Since when are you so friendly with Greg?”
“Small town,” Michelle said dismissively. “And he lives within
shouting distance. It’s worth considering, isn’t it? Coming back, I mean.
Are you really going to stay in Texas forever?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not trying to pressure you,” Michelle said.
Jace snorted.
“I’m not! I’ll lend Victor a hand. Mom and Dad too. If things get
worse, we can check in on Mrs. Hemingway when he can’t be there. I’m
sure Greg will help. He’s always liked Victor and helped him out in lots
of ways. Hell, even Bernie chipped in by giving Victor a job. I want you
here, but not because you feel obligated. Small communities have their
good side too. We’ll watch out for him.”
Jace looked at his sister. She was getting awfully mature these days.
No more crazy little sister, letting boys sneak into her window. Michelle
was a woman now.
“Maybe,” Jace said. “I want to graduate. After that, I’m not sure
what’s left for me in Houston anymore.”
Michelle smiled. “You know how they say you can never go home
again?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re full of it. The truth is, you can never leave home. Not
completely.”
Jace thought about it. “Sage advice. You’re so grown-up.”
Michelle nodded. “Totally. Hey, once we’re home again, let’s drink
half of Dad’s whisky and fill it back up with water.”
Jace grinned. “Why settle for half?”
* * * * *
Victor’s arms were looped around the chains of the swing. Hunched
over and with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, he listened
impassively, never interrupting as Jace rambled on about his unhappy
relationship with Adrien.
Jace, twisting back and forth on his own swing, had never intended
to talk to Victor about any of this. He preferred to focus on the moment.
Or the distant past. An hour ago, they had walked to a nearby park.
While not as nostalgic as sitting in the woods together, this more natural
environment caused a stirring in Jace’s chest, a longing for a different
time. So when Victor asked how he and Adrien were doing, Jace starting
talking, mostly to keep himself in check.
“I flew off the handle. Really bad. Rather than stick around and
make things worse, I hopped in the car and drove up here.”
“To see me?” Victor said with a smile. “In that case, I’m surprised
last night went the way it did.”
“Yeah.” Jace swallowed. “I should have broken up with him before
leaving.”
Cigarette burnt down to the filter, Victor flicked it away. “You make
