My Stardust Melody, Chapter 38
"Are you sure Reid's gone?" Maddie asked hesitantly, entering the doctor's loft apartment. Nathan had invited her over for lunch and had come to pick her up at her work. She'd rolled her eyes at the old-fashioned gesture, but secretly she thought it was pretty sweet.
"Yeah, he started work this week. I've barely seen him," he replied, closing the door behind her.
"Oh…um…I guess he's glad to be back." Maddie was hoping to keep the subject of Reid as neutral as she could. Reid, however, remained a hot button issue for her, and she wasn't going to back down just because Nathan had a differing opinion.
"Don't tell me you're softening toward him." Nathan walked over to the sofa and dropped his keys into a dish on the side table.
She flashed him an annoyed glance and shrugged out of her coat. "Uh, not really. I still think he's all sorts of wrong for Luke. But, that doesn't mean I wish him ill or don't want him to be happy. Besides, I've heard a few things about him that make him seem a little more human. John at Java's was singing his praises to me the other day." The kid couldn't stop raving about how the "hot doctor"--John's words, not hers--had stepped up to help him. Maddie hadn't been able to get him to shut up about it.
"Sounds like softening to me," Nathan commented while taking off his jacket to reveal a grey sweater that perfectly matched his eyes. He looked flawless as always.
"Whatever," she huffed. "I think the fact that he ran into a burning building and rescued Luke is enough of a reason for me to wish him some amount of happiness." She wouldn't call that "softening," so much as just being "reasonable."
"Just not with Luke?" Nathan clarified while taking her coat and slinging it over the leather sofa.
"Just not with Luke. I still don't trust Reid farther than I can throw him. And he's given me plenty of reason to feel that way."
"Got it," Nathan said with some irritation.
"I thought we agreed to disagree?" Maddie pointed out and tried to imbue some levity into the way she said it by smiling. She didn't want a big confrontation, but she also didn't think she'd ever feel warm towards the man who'd put that heartbroken and wounded expression on Luke's face in the cabin. Or at least she couldn't see herself feeling good about Reid having anything to do with Luke. If Nathan couldn't live with that, she might as well walk out the door right now. Her forced smile fell at the thought.
Nathan walked over to her and took his hand in hers. "I think I must have made that agreement under duress," he said and grinned slyly.
Maddie felt relieved that Nathan was relenting, so she pretended to be irked by narrowing her eyes at him. She ignored the somersault her stomach did over the way his skin felt against her. "You're the lawyer. Don't try to weasel out of it now, and tell me you didn't know what you were doing."
Nathan laughed. "Good point. Just keep in mind I have a tendency to leap to the defense of my friends."
Maddie leaned in and confided, "Yes, and I like that about you." This was true. Even though she had been certain he was dead wrong the night he showed up at her house in the snow storm and defended Reid, she appreciated that he was a loyal friend. It wasn't that she thought he was misguided--or anything nearly so patronizing as that--she believed he just hadn't seen the dark side of Reid. Plenty of people in this world showed one face to their friends and another to their romantic interests. But, she was right about Reid just as she was right about him now.
"You do? What else do you like?" His hand was still holding Maddie's and his thumb was doing things to her insides that made her unable to think.
The somersaults became an Olymic floor exercise routine in her stomach. Blinking a few times, she replied. "Uh….your height?" Maddie sighed. Yet again, she was going to embarrass herself around this man. She was a smart girl. Why couldn't she have come up with something better than "height"?
"My height?" Nathan repeated after snorting through his nose.
"I like tall guys," she mumbled.
Nathan stood tall on his tiptoes, eliciting a giggle from Maddie. "Well, I guess I'll take it," he said. "Good thing both my parents are tall."
Nathan released her hand and Maddie's brain began functioning again. "Maybe I'll like your cooking," she offered.
He flashed a glamorous grin, that again rippled across her stomach, and snapped his fingers. "That I can guarantee. Why don't you go sit down at the counter and I'll start heating up the soup."
"What kind is it?" she asked. She felt on more solid ground discussing food--it didn't make her think of all the things that made her dizzy around Nathan…like the sound of his laugh, the color of his eyes, or the sleek way he moved.
"Pumpkin-cheddar. I made a ton. I thought we could take some over to Luke's house later if that's okay."
Maddie felt warm inside at Nathan's thoughtfulness. "Yeah, that would be nice. I know Faith would love a break from cooking." She'd better remember to add considerateness to the list of Nathan's attributes.
Nathan rummaged around in the refrigerator and pulled out a glass storage container. Then he pulled out a pot from the cabinet. "Don't judge me by my cookware. I have a much nicer set at home."
Maddie glanced at the pot--an ancient looking cast iron one with definite signs of rust on the outside. It completely distracted her from Nathan. "Good god. Was that Reid's grandma's or something? That's got to be the oldest pot I've ever seen." At least the inside looked spotless.
Nathan shook his head. "He got them for free in medical school. The frying pan is the same, and he won't replace it. He claims he uses it about once a year so why bother."
Frowning, she said, "I guess…that makes sense." Nathan's exaggerated eye roll made Maddie think she'd stumbled into an old argument between the two friends. She snickered at his long-suffering expression.
"No, it doesn't," Nathan said with exasperation. "The man loves food. You'd think he'd learn to cook well. Instead, he invests in fancy refrigerators for his frozen food and the most spectacular Panini grill you've ever seen for his hot sandwiches. It's the friggin' Rolls-Royce of grills."
Maddie's curiosity was piqued. "Well, now I kind of want to see this thing."
"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to touch it," Nathan muttered.
"Oh, be brave, Nathan," she said with mock seriousness.
Nathan warned, "Well, don't be surprised if I get shocked by some sort of invisible electric shield around it."
"For me," Maddie said, batting her eyes. Hmmm, maybe she could flirt after all.
"I guess it's a low risk."
Nathan walked across the kitchen to a solitary cabinet. When he opened the doors, a light shown down on the grill like it was the Holy Grail. The reflection off the metal almost blinded her.
"Wait, don't touch it!" she said, laughing. "I'm starting to think he really might have an alarm attached to it." She came up behind him and examined the machine. Who knew a Panini grill could be so swanky?
Nathan turned and smiled. "Told ya. He ordered it from somewhere that sells commercial-grade grills from Europe. It's straight from Italy."
"Ooh. Fancy," she drawled while widening her eyes.
Nathan took a step toward her but pointed at the grill like a showman. "It's double sided, too. You can make two sandwiches at different temperatures at once."
"Wow…I'm getting a little hot," she joked, then swallowed. Nathan was leaning in rather close, and she could smell his spicy cologne.
"Wait until I tell you about the electric…" He pulled back from Maddie abruptly and stared at a spot across the floor. "What the hell was that?"
Maddie whirled around. "What? What?"
"I think I saw a mouse."
"You're sure it wasn't Conchita?" Maddie asked.
"Yes," Nathan said with outrage. "I'm sure it wasn't my dog. I know what my dog looks like, thanks. I think it ran into the living room."
"Well, let's go look," Maddie suggested. She rather doubted it was a mouse. What would a rodent be doing in an apartment on the third floor? She didn't think a mouse could get up this high.
They surveyed the living room and didn't see anything. Maddie peeked under the sofa, a little tentatively because there was still a chance it was a mouse. "I don't see it."
Nathan nodded, "Well, maybe it was my imagination." Then he pointed toward a console table along a wall. "There! There!"
Maddie turned to see a grey and white critter scurrying along a wall, headed for a chest.
"Yiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!" she screamed, and without knowing how, jumped on top of Nathan. In fact, she somehow climbed up Nathan's back and had a choke-hold around his neck. One of her legs was draped over his shoulders and the other gripped his ribcage.
"Maddie! Urgh." He coughed a few times. "Maddie…blurg…it's just a mouse. You can get down."
She latched on tighter. "That was no mouse! I know mice! That was some sort of mutant ninja! He was huge! He probably ate Conchita!" Irrationally, she worried for the dog's safety. "Aren't you concerned that your dog has been killed by that…that…thing?"
Nathan sighed and tried to loosen Maddie's hold on his neck. "Conchita is lying on Reid's bed, sulking over him being gone. That little traitor moons over him because he lets her have scraps from his disgusting sandwiches. And radioactive or not, I still don't think the mouse is big enough to hurt any of us." He started walking toward the sofa.
"Don't you dare put me down!" she yelled. There was no way she was getting on that sofa. The mouse could somehow have gotten under it.
"Ow! You clinging to me like this would be flattering under other circumstances."
"This is no time to flirt," she reprimanded.
Nathan's shoulders slumped, which made it harder for Maddie to hang onto him. "Well, what do you suggest we do? You can't ride around on me until the end of time."
Maddie paused and calmed herself for a moment. Think, Maddie, think. As sanity ebbed back into her brain, she realized there was only one thing they could do. "Ugh, we have to try to catch it. I can't be here if I know it's running around."
"Can I put you down?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah." She unlocked her legs from Nathan's hips and slid down. "Don't laugh at me," she warned.
"Not at all. In future, I shall fondly recall the time you tried to jump my bones. Just don't blame me if I erase the involvement of the mouse from the tale. I didn't know you were so flexible." Nathan waggled his brows at her.
Folding her arms over her chest, she said, "You can tease me when that mouse is out of here."
"I suppose it's un-chivalrous of me to do it when you're all defenseless and frightened."
"I'm not…"she began oversensitively, but realized saying she wasn't scared would probably get her struck by lightning. She squared her shoulders and said, "Let's go get this mouse. Do you have a box?"
Nathan went into his room and found a plastic shoebox to drop on top of the rodent. Maddie wasn't too happy that she'd been left in the living room alone with the mouse but guessed she'd never live down the story of her running out of the apartment the moment Nathan's back was turned. Bravery was overrated, she thought glumly.
When Nathan emerged, he said, "Okay, Maddie, you're going to have to move the chest so I can drop the box on the mouse."
Maddie nodded. She did not want the duty of capturing the mouse, so this was definitely the better task in her mind.
She crept over to the chest on her tiptoes. She was glad she was wearing loafers today and not the pumps she'd eyed this morning. She wanted as much protection for her feet as possible. The idea of that mouse touching her skin gave her shivers.
Nathan squatted down on the other end of the chest, and Maddie noticed he had put his body as far away from his hands as possible. It seemed she wasn't the only one a little nervous over the furry creature running out.
"Ready?" he asked and waited for her nod. "On the count of three. One…two… three."
Maddie started to move the chest away from the wall. Nothing happened.
"You're going to have to move it farther," Nathan said.
Maddie swallowed, and summoned up her nerve. She gave the chest a good pull and the mouse ran out. "Catch it! Catch it!" she yelled feverishly.
"Not helping!" Nathan chimed as he missed on his first attempt and the mouse scooted by him. Maddie grabbed a book off the chest and threw it in front of the mouse to divert it from heading into the kitchen. It ran across the floor with Nathan on its heels. Just before it made it to the safety of the sofa, Nathan managed to trap it with the box.
"You did it!" Maddie cheered, running toward Nathan, throwing her arms around him. He picked her up and whirled her around.
"That was a nice move with the book," he complimented, putting her down.
"It was, wasn't it?" she said with a smile. "But you had the harder job."
"Do I get a reward?"
"What would you like?" she asked.
"Oh, I can think of something, can't you?" His eyes darkened and Maddie had more than an inkling of what he was thinking.
Before she could even contemplate that this would be their first kiss since dating, he slid his hand along her jawline. She looked into his smoky grey eyes and sighed. Her last thought before the world blacked out was that this seemed like a mutual reward.
***
Henry Coleman had a theory.
Now, he hadn't shared his theory with anyone because he knew it wouldn't be popular and he wanted to prove it before acting on it. In fact, he flattered himself that he was being downright scientific about this idea. First a hypothesis, then some testing and analysis, and finally (after putting the theory to good use) he'd disclose the results.
Not that he was going to get a Nobel Prize for solving Luke Snyder's romantic life, but it was a worthy cause nonetheless.
As he finished cleaning up the diner at the end of the day, he reviewed everything he knew. The facts were thus in Henry's mind: Luke, whether he admitted it or not, still had feelings for Reid. The doctor ran into a burning building for Luke, so his feelings were pretty much a given. Everyone, including Luke and Reid, seemed to think a romantic entanglement between these two at this point was impossible.
Henry, however, believed nothing was impossible in love and war. Wait, was that the right saying? Never mind, the point being that Henry wasn't ready to judge Reid based on his bad press. If Barbara had made any conclusions about Henry based on Henry's past, well Babs would have steered clear. Of course, if she'd placed value on past behavior she might have avoided marriages to his father and Craig Montgomery, but Henry thought it best not to split hairs over it. No theory was perfect.
The diner owner was willing to allow that people changed. He had. Barbara had. Some people did, and some people didn't. James never did, and the aforementioned Craig never seemed to get his act together either. The question was whether Reid would hurt Luke in the future. Given that the entirety of Damian's deception was on the table, Henry was optimistic. Cautiously so, but he had hope.
There was a chance these two star-crossed lovers might just work together…like Romeo and Juliet. Or Romeo and Romeo. Without the poison and the dagger. Henry would play the role of the friar, just not a celibate one. Huh, Henry thought with a surprised shrug, I understood more of that play Barbara dragged me to than I thought.
He might keep his nose out of the entire thing if Luke didn't need someone so darn obviously. Pickings were slim in Oakdale, and Luke already had a friendship of sorts with Reid, which helped matters. Furthermore, Henry had noticed that Luke seemed to value Reid's opinion and company. And when Henry had oh-so-casually mentioned to Luke that the barista at Java was gay, Luke had looked green in the gills. It was the worst cover-up of jealousy Henry had ever witnessed, and he'd seen a lot of people in Oakdale pretend disinterest at times. It was more-or-less an Olympic competition Oakdale, and Luke would finish in last place with that terrible poker face. Luke had better not show that expression around Maddie, or he would get a big lecture. And good God, if Maddie ever saw the looks both men were trying to hide at the diner, then Luke would probably be the subject of another kidnapping. If Henry had put an ice cube between the two men, it would have melted. Much faster than normal, he meant.
Henry wasn't ready to throw caution to the wind, however, and embrace Reid--er, have Luke embrace Reid--without a little more info. Just because he thought Luke was interested didn't make Reid the right guy. Hadn't Bubbles been interested in a lot of men over the years? And how many of them had been the right guy? If she'd just listened to her old pal, Henry, her love life would have been a lot smoother. I mean, Jack? Seriously? For Bubbles? What the hell was she thinking?
Henry shook his head. He'd digressed. It was just so hard for him to focus with all these insightful thoughts rattling around his head. The fact was that he needed to do a little more investigating of Reid. What did anyone really know about the doc other than he was a hotshot neurosurgeon? Henry wanted to get a better picture of his life and make sure there were no bats in the attic. Or any literal skeletons in the closet. Or worse, a guy on the side.
If Reid was making eyes at Luke, the blond better be the only guy Reid was fantasizing about. If Henry found that lovelorn expression the doctor wore around Luke wasn't just for Luke, Henry wouldn't be happy. So what if Luke and Reid weren't in a relationship? Henry was a strong believer in emotional monogamy. If Reid was yearning for Luke like some sort of love-struck teenager, then he shouldn't be messing around with some other guy's heart. Men could be very sensitive over that sort of stuff.
After coming to these conclusions that evening, Henry then spent a little over a week nosing around Reid's life. Henry hadn't found much on Reid that troubled him thus far. Nothing on the web, his interviews of the nurses, or his snooping through a few files--that happened to be lying around--had suggested anything too sinister. The nurses had some strong words about Reid not even knowing their names. He was abrupt, and a couple of the senior nurses suggested that Reid was merely socially awkward. From what Henry could tell, Reid was so focused on his work that he had no patience for less than the absolute highest standard of care--and it came across as rudeness. Since it was Oakdale, Henry guessed Reid was in for years of disappointment on that front. Just wait until someone changed test results on his watch, Henry thought with a snicker.
Rudeness, however, wasn't a huge sin in Henry's book. Good god, Chris Hughes was polite, and Henry thought he was nothing better than a hairy ape trying to get up Katie's skirts. Since Reid was trying so assiduously to stay away from Luke's skirts--er, pants--it showed a lot more respect for Luke than Chris every had for Katie. Besides, Luke didn't seem to mind Reid's personality. Hadn't Henry been told the story of how blunt Reid seemed when Luke and Reid first met at the party? And how Luke had fallen like a misaimed dart for him, only to find that Reid was a cad out for Luke's money?
Henry nearly had the story memorized, and now that everyone knew that Damian had tricked everyone, it seemed likely to him that Reid's continued lack of social graces would still be some sort of weird aphrodisiac to the blond man.
There was one thing that troubled Henry, however. Reid kept disappearing from work, usually around lunchtime for a couple of hours. He'd done it every day for his first week back at work. No one seemed to know where he was. It was time to find out.
Henry rummaged in his closet for the perfect outfit so that Reid would never recognize him. He put on a pale pink shirt with a brown plaid suit with faint pink lines running through it. He found a darker brown plaid trilby hat with maroon accents to pair with his ensemble. On his top shelf, he opened his box of disguises and grabbed a long blond mustache. Looking in the mirror, Henry grinned in satisfaction. The doctor would never know Henry was anywhere in the vicinity with this inspired look.
Waiting around the corner and using a mirror to spy the door to Reid's office, Henry stood and waited for nearly an hour until Reid emerged. Reid was shrugging into his jacket and never noticed the mysterious "stranger" walking twenty paces behind him. Henry chuckled at Reid's naiveté. Only a newcomer to Oakdale would think that surreptitious activities wouldn't get him followed. Reid didn't even double back on his path. What a novice. Henry tried not to sulk at the lack of challenge.
Reid walked at a brisk pace through Old Town toward the university area. Henry was panting as he tried to keep up. Did Reid run marathons or something?
Henry waited as Reid turned onto Spring Street. It was a residential area, which made Henry frown in consternation. Who would Reid visit every day around here? Eventually, Reid came to a quaint Cape Cod-style home and walked up the front steps. A large oak tree by the sidewalk provided a convenient cover from which to spy.
Whoever Reid was visiting was expecting him. The door swung open almost immediately upon Reid ringing the bell. Henry squinted and tried to make out who Reid was meeting, but all he saw was the shadow of a thin man with glasses. Hmmm.
Henry walked up to the front of the house and saw that there were curtains along the front window. He couldn't see a thing, and cursed the fact that this was the first person in Oakdale that apparently had any sense of privacy.
He waited, staring at the house and trying to figure out what business Reid could have here. After an hour passed, Henry decided that "business" was unlikely…unless it was of the monkey variety. He tapped his fingers against his thigh, concentrating. His head started to hurt.
Another ten minutes passed, and Henry's curiosity got the upper hand. Coming out from behind his tree, he walked up to the door and turned the brass doorknob. It was unlocked.
Henry crept into the hallway, careful not to make any noise. Henry was not by nature a quiet person, so this was a taxing exercise. His mustache began to scratch his nose but he steadfastly ignored it.
Looking around, it was clear this was definitely someone's home. There were keys on a table by the stairs, a coat stand with several jackets by the door. Henry wondered about the outline of the man he'd seen. Could Henry have been right about Reid and John the Barista? It all seemed to add up. The guy was skinny with glasses, and the owner of this house was skinny with glasses. Reid apparently knew both of them. Reid was gay, and John was gay. Reid seemed to have a thing for younger guys, and John was definitely young.
Henry knew it might be irrational, but if he was planning to help set up Reid with Luke, it pissed him off to no end that Reid was blowing it by sleeping with John. And how often did Reid need to get laid that he blew off work every day of the week? Was the man insatiable? What would Bob think of this outrage? What sort of doctor left work to go have sex with some sexy barista in the middle of the day? Did Reid come here at night, too? Henry almost felt bad for John being subject to whatever constant depraved desires drew Reid to this place. Thank god Luke had escaped this overzealous sex-fiend…
A low voice from the next room got Henry's attention. His eyes narrowed to slits as he tip-toed toward the entry. He stayed toward the edge of the door so he could peek around the corner. Spying a foot hanging off the end of a sofa, his hackles raised further. The asshole was so eager to get some that he couldn't be bothered to take off his shoes? How uncouth.
Henry didn't know a hell of a lot about gay sex, but he guessed gay men didn't like shoes involved any more than he did. Men's shoes, Henry silently amended. Ladies high-heeled shoes could be quite enticing, he thought. A favorite pair of Barbara's sprang to mind. It was too bad they really hurt his feet.
He heard a low murmur, presumably from John. Henry couldn't believe he'd spent the better part of a week wasting his time on Reid. The nerve of Reid to have a lover and keep it a secret! Well, Henry was about to bust up this little love nest. Henry closed his eyes, took an enraged breath and jumped into the room. "Ah-hah!" he cried, pointing his finger toward the sofa with all the indignation and conviction pent up inside his plaid-shrouded body.
There was silence, and Henry opened his eyes. Lying on the sofa was a fully-dressed Reid, and an older man, probably in his fifties, was sitting on a leather chair cater-corner to the couch.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Mr. Coleman?" Reid barked, sitting up.
Uh-oh. "You tell me, Reid! What are you doing here?" No sense in backing down now, Henry decided. In for a penny, in for a pound.
"Are you an idiot?" Reid asked.
Henry scratched at his neck. "I don't know. Am I?"
The man in the chair finally stood up and said in a firm tone, "I don't know who you are, but this is an invasion of this man's privacy. I must ask you to leave."
"Not until I know what's going on here," Henry said, marching over to a Naugahyde chair across from the stranger's.
"I will call the police if you don't leave," the man said.
"Oh, call them," said Henry. "Tell 'em Henry said 'Hi.'"
Reid rolled his eyes and said to the other man, "Let me deal with this."
The professorial-looking fellow put a hand on Reid's shoulder and advised, "Reid, what you say here is private. Whoever this is has no right to know anything you're doing."
Reid shrugged him off and replied, "Well, he's not going to leave unless I say something, and trust me, you don't want him hanging around. You'll have to go find a shrink if he stays here long enough."
Henry watched the pair with interest. He couldn't quite decide what the relationship was.
Reid turned to Henry and folded his arms over his chest. "This is my therapist. We're having a session. Now get out. I'll not have you ruin this for me--do you know how hard it was to find a competent psychiatrist in Oakhell? I can tell you that he's the only one within a hundred miles that has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. from an Ivy League school."
"Therapist?" Henry questioned. "So…this isn't wham, bam, thank you…man? You're not indulging in a little afternoon delight?" He cringed at the lethal glare Reid gave him.
Reid rubbed his palm against his cheek so hard that the skin stretched taut. "No, you cretin. He's not teaching me the facts of life, and we're not hitting the sheets. We're not getting our rocks off or having a dance without pants. We're not making the beast with two backs playing hide the sausage. Get the picture?"
"You thought of all those euphemisms just now?" Henry asked, impressed.
Reid's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes. He muttered something under his breath about Henry and lunatics, but Henry couldn't quite decipher it.
"Why are you interested in what I'm doing anyway?" Reid asked.
"Uh…hmmm." This was a good question that Henry was not going to answer truthfully. He had long ago learned that honesty was a shortsighted policy. Why put all your cards on the table when it left you nothing to play? "Well…You see…" This was awkward--he couldn't think of a good lie. He shifted back and forth on his feet and wondered if he could just run away. Maybe if he stayed quiet, Reid would eventually just go back to the hospital. Light bulb! "As a benefactor of the neurowing I was concerned you were neglecting your sacred duties to our hospital for frivolous pursuits," he explained with as pretentious of a voice as he could muster. Henry hadn't even known he knew the word, "frivolous," so he mentally high-fived himself for using it. Helping Barbara with her crossword puzzles must have helped his vocabulary.
Reid swallowed hard while he glared some more at Luke's business partner. Henry was pretty unperturbed--Katie had been giving him worse looks for years, and nothing compared to Barbara when she was mad.
Finally, Reid said, "Yeah, I'm not buying that crap you just spewed. Just tell me you're not about to embark on another scheme to run me out of town. I don't want to go home to find the walls bleeding."
Well, so long as Reid didn't suspect the truth, Henry was happy. "I have no plans to run you out of town--Scout's honor" Henry said, holding up four fingers spread into the shape of a "V". In fact, Henry was hoping Reid might stick around for a long while. No need to tell Reid that, though. Men had a stupid habit of running away if they even got a distant whiff of a romantic fix-up in the air.
Reid closed his eyes. "That's the Vulcan…You know what? Never mind. Just get out before I call the cops or the loony bin, which is clearly where you belong."
"Now, now. No need to get snippy."
***
Luke was sitting at the kitchen table with Maddie and Nathan, who appeared to be very much a couple, when Henry waltzed into the kitchen. The diner owner pulled a chair up to the table where the others were sitting. Luke wondered if Henry's Sherlock-Holmes-On-Acid outfit was just a new sartorial phase or if it portended something more worrisome.
"So…uh…Luke….How ya doing?" Henry asked in a higher than normal voice.
"I'm fine, Henry. What brings you here?" Luke asked suspiciously. When Henry was nervous, it could mean anything.
Henry shifted in his chair and his eyes darted to Maddie. It was clear he wasn't expecting to see her here and was embarrassed. "Well…see…I thought I should tell you that you might get an irate phone call sometime later today."
"What did you do?" Luke asked.
Henry tugged nervously as his ear. "Do you still have that vodka in the refrigerator?"
"Henry…" Luke warned.
"Oh, fine." Taking a breath, he said, "I followed Reid from the hospital to a house by the university. When he didn't come out, I walked in."
"And?" Maddie said. She obviously knew her brother well enough to comprehend that the story was about to take a very bad turn.
Henry sighed. "And I thought he was getting it on with somebody, so I jumped out from the door and scared the hell out of his therapist."
"You what?" shouted all three other occupants of the table.
"Henry, why would you do that?" Luke asked. He couldn't believe Henry had done something so intrusive. He just couldn't believe it. Luke sat stunned for a moment. His horror over Henry's actions warred with his shock that Reid was in therapy. Was Reid really so determined to conquer his anger?
"I thought he was slacking on the job," Henry said in his defense.
"What did Reid do?" Maddie asked, horror tingeing her voice.
"Told me to leave," Henry said sheepishly.
"Did you?" Nathan demanded.
"Well, not before I found out what was going on."
"Henry, I can't believe you'd invade his privacy like that," Luke said. Oh my god, oh my god. How on earth am I going to explain this to Reid?
"Stop it, Snyder. I see those guilty wheels spinning in your head. This is Henry's fault," Maddie shot at the blond. She turned to her brother and said, "So?"
"Well, with Luke being all friendly and stuff with him, I wanted to make sure he was on the up-and-up."
"That doesn't sound like you acted out of concern for the hospital," Luke commented. It sounded suspiciously like Henry was interfering in Luke's life. And in true Henry fashion, he did it in the least explicable and most deranged way possible.
"Well, there was some worry over the neurowing mixed in there, I'm sure. I don't want someone as crooked as a dog's hind leg working there."
Luke rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Jesus. I can take care of myself, Henry. I thought we were clear on that after I bailed you out of jail in December. Maddie, tell him you wouldn't interfere like this in my life."
Nathan gave Maddie a rather telling look, and she looked at Luke apologetically. "Well…I might have had a tiny talk with Reid about you a few days after the fire."
Luke laid his forehead on his hands. "This is why I can never introduce anyone new to my friends and family. You're all crazy," Luke lamented. "I'd be much richer if I'd just opened an insane asylum. I bet it would be full in a week."
"Are you mad?" Maddie asked with worry lacing her voice.
Luke sighed. He couldn't get too angry with her after what they'd all been through in the past month. Maybe in more normal times, he'd let off some steam, but very little had been "normal" since Reid had moved to Oakdale. His friends tended to go into overprotective mode when they thought Luke felt the least bit vulnerable. It was annoying and unnecessary--at times infuriating--but it came from a good place. "No, not at you, but when everyone is gone, you'll be telling me about what exactly you said to Reid. Details, Maddie. Lots of details."
"Reid's okay with it, Luke. He gets why Maddie was trying to protect you," Nathan added.
Maddie made a small smile of thanks toward Nathan. It was obvious to Luke that they were becoming quite attached to each other. Luke wondered if Nathan's temporary stay in Oakdale was about to become indefinite. God knows Reid could use the support against Luke's friends. Jesus, what Henry had done…
"I'm surprised he's not gotten restraining orders against us," Luke said. "Maybe that's where he is now." He could just picture Reid demanding the order from Jack.
Nathan snorted and murmured sarcastically, "Yeah, that's likely." Luke didn't quite understand what Reid's friend meant by that comment.
"Sorry, Luke," Henry said, before Luke could question Nathan.
Luke nodded at his expression of regret. "It's not me to whom you owe the apology. Just promise me that this is the last of you trying to stop Reid from being friends with me." He glanced at Maddie and said, "That goes for you, too." She nodded in response.
Henry sighed and said, "Well, if I have to. Oh, and I apologized to Reid. He started getting pretty snippy about me sitting there, so I figured retreat was my best option at that point."
"Can you blame him?" Luke asked and then turned to Nathan. "Did you know Reid was going to therapy?" Luke closed his eyes and realized how impertinent his question was. "I'm sorry. Whether Reid is going to therapy and if he's told you is none of my business." Luke might be extremely interested in why Reid had a therapist, but Nathan was not the person to talk to about it. Luke shouldn't even know about it at this point.
"It's okay," Nathan replied. "Actually, I didn't know. But I don't think Reid would be uncomfortable that we do. He's not wired like that. He tends to be private and not spread everything he does around, but he usually could care less when people find out something about him. Embarrassment isn't something that comes easily to Reid."
"Oh," Luke said. "That's…nice." He could feel Maddie's and Henry's watchful eyes on him and decided not to question Nathan too much more about the doctor. He didn't want to give them more reasons to behave crazily. Besides, as Nathan had pointed out, Reid was a private person. If Luke had questions about Reid, he should ask the doctor himself.
Nathan cleared his throat, leaned back in his chair, and asked, "Is anyone even going to comment on what Henry's wearing, or are you all perversely immune to this kind of thing by now?"
"What?" Henry squawked.
"Henry likes to think he's a master of disguise," Maddie commented and rolled her eyes.
"His mustache is hanging off his lip," Nathan said dubiously.
Henry pointed one finger at Nathan while reattaching the moustache with the other. "Hey, your brainiac friend never saw me once when I was following him."
Nathan's eyebrows rose. The tall man asked, "Did he recognize you when you jumped out at him?"
"Well, maybe the disguise could use a little work…Oh, you can stop laughing, Maddie." Henry glared at his sister.
Maddie then started chortling so hard that she was gasping for breath. "Sorry, I just pictured it in my head. You jumping out with that stupid hat and your mustache falling off…The only thing better would have been if you'd been wearing a plaid cape."
Luke snickered--Henry really did seem to be wearing a color-challenged Sherlock Holmes costume. Too bad he wasn't as cute as Benedict Cumberbatch.
"I got this hat to wear to the Derby," Henry said, offended.
"You're going to wear that thing on TV?" Maddie asked.
"Yes," Henry said firmly and then cocked his head to the side. "Well…it's an option. I'm still thinking of an all-white linen suit paired with a white shirt that has tiny red roses all over it."
Maddie turned to Nathan and Luke and declared, "If anyone asks that day, Henry and I are not related."
A/N A little happier, no? In fact, we're just a short hop, skip and a jump to a lot more happiness. Yay.
I was hoping I would be able to post a chapter featuring the horses today, but I'm a bit behind. However, since yesterday was the Kentucky Derby, I thought I'd share that I've very loosely looked at the 1989 rivalry between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer when writing about Midnight and Serendipity (with some Sea Biscuit, War Admiral, and Unbridled sprinkled in as well). Look-wise, they're exactly who I've patterned the horses after. Anyway, Easy Goer, the favorite, lost a muddy Derby to Sunday Silence, and then again lost in an incredibly close Preakness--but he broke Sunday Silence's Triple Crown Run (and my little heart) in the Belmont that year, redeeming himself. Yesterday, Easy Goer's trainer finally got his first Derby win with Orb on another muddy track nearly 25 years later.
Here's a picture Easy Goer and Sunday Silence:
"Yeah, he started work this week. I've barely seen him," he replied, closing the door behind her.
"Oh…um…I guess he's glad to be back." Maddie was hoping to keep the subject of Reid as neutral as she could. Reid, however, remained a hot button issue for her, and she wasn't going to back down just because Nathan had a differing opinion.
"Don't tell me you're softening toward him." Nathan walked over to the sofa and dropped his keys into a dish on the side table.
She flashed him an annoyed glance and shrugged out of her coat. "Uh, not really. I still think he's all sorts of wrong for Luke. But, that doesn't mean I wish him ill or don't want him to be happy. Besides, I've heard a few things about him that make him seem a little more human. John at Java's was singing his praises to me the other day." The kid couldn't stop raving about how the "hot doctor"--John's words, not hers--had stepped up to help him. Maddie hadn't been able to get him to shut up about it.
"Sounds like softening to me," Nathan commented while taking off his jacket to reveal a grey sweater that perfectly matched his eyes. He looked flawless as always.
"Whatever," she huffed. "I think the fact that he ran into a burning building and rescued Luke is enough of a reason for me to wish him some amount of happiness." She wouldn't call that "softening," so much as just being "reasonable."
"Just not with Luke?" Nathan clarified while taking her coat and slinging it over the leather sofa.
"Just not with Luke. I still don't trust Reid farther than I can throw him. And he's given me plenty of reason to feel that way."
"Got it," Nathan said with some irritation.
"I thought we agreed to disagree?" Maddie pointed out and tried to imbue some levity into the way she said it by smiling. She didn't want a big confrontation, but she also didn't think she'd ever feel warm towards the man who'd put that heartbroken and wounded expression on Luke's face in the cabin. Or at least she couldn't see herself feeling good about Reid having anything to do with Luke. If Nathan couldn't live with that, she might as well walk out the door right now. Her forced smile fell at the thought.
Nathan walked over to her and took his hand in hers. "I think I must have made that agreement under duress," he said and grinned slyly.
Maddie felt relieved that Nathan was relenting, so she pretended to be irked by narrowing her eyes at him. She ignored the somersault her stomach did over the way his skin felt against her. "You're the lawyer. Don't try to weasel out of it now, and tell me you didn't know what you were doing."
Nathan laughed. "Good point. Just keep in mind I have a tendency to leap to the defense of my friends."
Maddie leaned in and confided, "Yes, and I like that about you." This was true. Even though she had been certain he was dead wrong the night he showed up at her house in the snow storm and defended Reid, she appreciated that he was a loyal friend. It wasn't that she thought he was misguided--or anything nearly so patronizing as that--she believed he just hadn't seen the dark side of Reid. Plenty of people in this world showed one face to their friends and another to their romantic interests. But, she was right about Reid just as she was right about him now.
"You do? What else do you like?" His hand was still holding Maddie's and his thumb was doing things to her insides that made her unable to think.
The somersaults became an Olymic floor exercise routine in her stomach. Blinking a few times, she replied. "Uh….your height?" Maddie sighed. Yet again, she was going to embarrass herself around this man. She was a smart girl. Why couldn't she have come up with something better than "height"?
"My height?" Nathan repeated after snorting through his nose.
"I like tall guys," she mumbled.
Nathan stood tall on his tiptoes, eliciting a giggle from Maddie. "Well, I guess I'll take it," he said. "Good thing both my parents are tall."
Nathan released her hand and Maddie's brain began functioning again. "Maybe I'll like your cooking," she offered.
He flashed a glamorous grin, that again rippled across her stomach, and snapped his fingers. "That I can guarantee. Why don't you go sit down at the counter and I'll start heating up the soup."
"What kind is it?" she asked. She felt on more solid ground discussing food--it didn't make her think of all the things that made her dizzy around Nathan…like the sound of his laugh, the color of his eyes, or the sleek way he moved.
"Pumpkin-cheddar. I made a ton. I thought we could take some over to Luke's house later if that's okay."
Maddie felt warm inside at Nathan's thoughtfulness. "Yeah, that would be nice. I know Faith would love a break from cooking." She'd better remember to add considerateness to the list of Nathan's attributes.
Nathan rummaged around in the refrigerator and pulled out a glass storage container. Then he pulled out a pot from the cabinet. "Don't judge me by my cookware. I have a much nicer set at home."
Maddie glanced at the pot--an ancient looking cast iron one with definite signs of rust on the outside. It completely distracted her from Nathan. "Good god. Was that Reid's grandma's or something? That's got to be the oldest pot I've ever seen." At least the inside looked spotless.
Nathan shook his head. "He got them for free in medical school. The frying pan is the same, and he won't replace it. He claims he uses it about once a year so why bother."
Frowning, she said, "I guess…that makes sense." Nathan's exaggerated eye roll made Maddie think she'd stumbled into an old argument between the two friends. She snickered at his long-suffering expression.
"No, it doesn't," Nathan said with exasperation. "The man loves food. You'd think he'd learn to cook well. Instead, he invests in fancy refrigerators for his frozen food and the most spectacular Panini grill you've ever seen for his hot sandwiches. It's the friggin' Rolls-Royce of grills."
Maddie's curiosity was piqued. "Well, now I kind of want to see this thing."
"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to touch it," Nathan muttered.
"Oh, be brave, Nathan," she said with mock seriousness.
Nathan warned, "Well, don't be surprised if I get shocked by some sort of invisible electric shield around it."
"For me," Maddie said, batting her eyes. Hmmm, maybe she could flirt after all.
"I guess it's a low risk."
Nathan walked across the kitchen to a solitary cabinet. When he opened the doors, a light shown down on the grill like it was the Holy Grail. The reflection off the metal almost blinded her.
"Wait, don't touch it!" she said, laughing. "I'm starting to think he really might have an alarm attached to it." She came up behind him and examined the machine. Who knew a Panini grill could be so swanky?
Nathan turned and smiled. "Told ya. He ordered it from somewhere that sells commercial-grade grills from Europe. It's straight from Italy."
"Ooh. Fancy," she drawled while widening her eyes.
Nathan took a step toward her but pointed at the grill like a showman. "It's double sided, too. You can make two sandwiches at different temperatures at once."
"Wow…I'm getting a little hot," she joked, then swallowed. Nathan was leaning in rather close, and she could smell his spicy cologne.
"Wait until I tell you about the electric…" He pulled back from Maddie abruptly and stared at a spot across the floor. "What the hell was that?"
Maddie whirled around. "What? What?"
"I think I saw a mouse."
"You're sure it wasn't Conchita?" Maddie asked.
"Yes," Nathan said with outrage. "I'm sure it wasn't my dog. I know what my dog looks like, thanks. I think it ran into the living room."
"Well, let's go look," Maddie suggested. She rather doubted it was a mouse. What would a rodent be doing in an apartment on the third floor? She didn't think a mouse could get up this high.
They surveyed the living room and didn't see anything. Maddie peeked under the sofa, a little tentatively because there was still a chance it was a mouse. "I don't see it."
Nathan nodded, "Well, maybe it was my imagination." Then he pointed toward a console table along a wall. "There! There!"
Maddie turned to see a grey and white critter scurrying along a wall, headed for a chest.
"Yiiiiiiiieeeeeeeee!" she screamed, and without knowing how, jumped on top of Nathan. In fact, she somehow climbed up Nathan's back and had a choke-hold around his neck. One of her legs was draped over his shoulders and the other gripped his ribcage.
"Maddie! Urgh." He coughed a few times. "Maddie…blurg…it's just a mouse. You can get down."
She latched on tighter. "That was no mouse! I know mice! That was some sort of mutant ninja! He was huge! He probably ate Conchita!" Irrationally, she worried for the dog's safety. "Aren't you concerned that your dog has been killed by that…that…thing?"
Nathan sighed and tried to loosen Maddie's hold on his neck. "Conchita is lying on Reid's bed, sulking over him being gone. That little traitor moons over him because he lets her have scraps from his disgusting sandwiches. And radioactive or not, I still don't think the mouse is big enough to hurt any of us." He started walking toward the sofa.
"Don't you dare put me down!" she yelled. There was no way she was getting on that sofa. The mouse could somehow have gotten under it.
"Ow! You clinging to me like this would be flattering under other circumstances."
"This is no time to flirt," she reprimanded.
Nathan's shoulders slumped, which made it harder for Maddie to hang onto him. "Well, what do you suggest we do? You can't ride around on me until the end of time."
Maddie paused and calmed herself for a moment. Think, Maddie, think. As sanity ebbed back into her brain, she realized there was only one thing they could do. "Ugh, we have to try to catch it. I can't be here if I know it's running around."
"Can I put you down?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah." She unlocked her legs from Nathan's hips and slid down. "Don't laugh at me," she warned.
"Not at all. In future, I shall fondly recall the time you tried to jump my bones. Just don't blame me if I erase the involvement of the mouse from the tale. I didn't know you were so flexible." Nathan waggled his brows at her.
Folding her arms over her chest, she said, "You can tease me when that mouse is out of here."
"I suppose it's un-chivalrous of me to do it when you're all defenseless and frightened."
"I'm not…"she began oversensitively, but realized saying she wasn't scared would probably get her struck by lightning. She squared her shoulders and said, "Let's go get this mouse. Do you have a box?"
Nathan went into his room and found a plastic shoebox to drop on top of the rodent. Maddie wasn't too happy that she'd been left in the living room alone with the mouse but guessed she'd never live down the story of her running out of the apartment the moment Nathan's back was turned. Bravery was overrated, she thought glumly.
When Nathan emerged, he said, "Okay, Maddie, you're going to have to move the chest so I can drop the box on the mouse."
Maddie nodded. She did not want the duty of capturing the mouse, so this was definitely the better task in her mind.
She crept over to the chest on her tiptoes. She was glad she was wearing loafers today and not the pumps she'd eyed this morning. She wanted as much protection for her feet as possible. The idea of that mouse touching her skin gave her shivers.
Nathan squatted down on the other end of the chest, and Maddie noticed he had put his body as far away from his hands as possible. It seemed she wasn't the only one a little nervous over the furry creature running out.
"Ready?" he asked and waited for her nod. "On the count of three. One…two… three."
Maddie started to move the chest away from the wall. Nothing happened.
"You're going to have to move it farther," Nathan said.
Maddie swallowed, and summoned up her nerve. She gave the chest a good pull and the mouse ran out. "Catch it! Catch it!" she yelled feverishly.
"Not helping!" Nathan chimed as he missed on his first attempt and the mouse scooted by him. Maddie grabbed a book off the chest and threw it in front of the mouse to divert it from heading into the kitchen. It ran across the floor with Nathan on its heels. Just before it made it to the safety of the sofa, Nathan managed to trap it with the box.
"You did it!" Maddie cheered, running toward Nathan, throwing her arms around him. He picked her up and whirled her around.
"That was a nice move with the book," he complimented, putting her down.
"It was, wasn't it?" she said with a smile. "But you had the harder job."
"Do I get a reward?"
"What would you like?" she asked.
"Oh, I can think of something, can't you?" His eyes darkened and Maddie had more than an inkling of what he was thinking.
Before she could even contemplate that this would be their first kiss since dating, he slid his hand along her jawline. She looked into his smoky grey eyes and sighed. Her last thought before the world blacked out was that this seemed like a mutual reward.
***
Henry Coleman had a theory.
Now, he hadn't shared his theory with anyone because he knew it wouldn't be popular and he wanted to prove it before acting on it. In fact, he flattered himself that he was being downright scientific about this idea. First a hypothesis, then some testing and analysis, and finally (after putting the theory to good use) he'd disclose the results.
Not that he was going to get a Nobel Prize for solving Luke Snyder's romantic life, but it was a worthy cause nonetheless.
As he finished cleaning up the diner at the end of the day, he reviewed everything he knew. The facts were thus in Henry's mind: Luke, whether he admitted it or not, still had feelings for Reid. The doctor ran into a burning building for Luke, so his feelings were pretty much a given. Everyone, including Luke and Reid, seemed to think a romantic entanglement between these two at this point was impossible.
Henry, however, believed nothing was impossible in love and war. Wait, was that the right saying? Never mind, the point being that Henry wasn't ready to judge Reid based on his bad press. If Barbara had made any conclusions about Henry based on Henry's past, well Babs would have steered clear. Of course, if she'd placed value on past behavior she might have avoided marriages to his father and Craig Montgomery, but Henry thought it best not to split hairs over it. No theory was perfect.
The diner owner was willing to allow that people changed. He had. Barbara had. Some people did, and some people didn't. James never did, and the aforementioned Craig never seemed to get his act together either. The question was whether Reid would hurt Luke in the future. Given that the entirety of Damian's deception was on the table, Henry was optimistic. Cautiously so, but he had hope.
There was a chance these two star-crossed lovers might just work together…like Romeo and Juliet. Or Romeo and Romeo. Without the poison and the dagger. Henry would play the role of the friar, just not a celibate one. Huh, Henry thought with a surprised shrug, I understood more of that play Barbara dragged me to than I thought.
He might keep his nose out of the entire thing if Luke didn't need someone so darn obviously. Pickings were slim in Oakdale, and Luke already had a friendship of sorts with Reid, which helped matters. Furthermore, Henry had noticed that Luke seemed to value Reid's opinion and company. And when Henry had oh-so-casually mentioned to Luke that the barista at Java was gay, Luke had looked green in the gills. It was the worst cover-up of jealousy Henry had ever witnessed, and he'd seen a lot of people in Oakdale pretend disinterest at times. It was more-or-less an Olympic competition Oakdale, and Luke would finish in last place with that terrible poker face. Luke had better not show that expression around Maddie, or he would get a big lecture. And good God, if Maddie ever saw the looks both men were trying to hide at the diner, then Luke would probably be the subject of another kidnapping. If Henry had put an ice cube between the two men, it would have melted. Much faster than normal, he meant.
Henry wasn't ready to throw caution to the wind, however, and embrace Reid--er, have Luke embrace Reid--without a little more info. Just because he thought Luke was interested didn't make Reid the right guy. Hadn't Bubbles been interested in a lot of men over the years? And how many of them had been the right guy? If she'd just listened to her old pal, Henry, her love life would have been a lot smoother. I mean, Jack? Seriously? For Bubbles? What the hell was she thinking?
Henry shook his head. He'd digressed. It was just so hard for him to focus with all these insightful thoughts rattling around his head. The fact was that he needed to do a little more investigating of Reid. What did anyone really know about the doc other than he was a hotshot neurosurgeon? Henry wanted to get a better picture of his life and make sure there were no bats in the attic. Or any literal skeletons in the closet. Or worse, a guy on the side.
If Reid was making eyes at Luke, the blond better be the only guy Reid was fantasizing about. If Henry found that lovelorn expression the doctor wore around Luke wasn't just for Luke, Henry wouldn't be happy. So what if Luke and Reid weren't in a relationship? Henry was a strong believer in emotional monogamy. If Reid was yearning for Luke like some sort of love-struck teenager, then he shouldn't be messing around with some other guy's heart. Men could be very sensitive over that sort of stuff.
After coming to these conclusions that evening, Henry then spent a little over a week nosing around Reid's life. Henry hadn't found much on Reid that troubled him thus far. Nothing on the web, his interviews of the nurses, or his snooping through a few files--that happened to be lying around--had suggested anything too sinister. The nurses had some strong words about Reid not even knowing their names. He was abrupt, and a couple of the senior nurses suggested that Reid was merely socially awkward. From what Henry could tell, Reid was so focused on his work that he had no patience for less than the absolute highest standard of care--and it came across as rudeness. Since it was Oakdale, Henry guessed Reid was in for years of disappointment on that front. Just wait until someone changed test results on his watch, Henry thought with a snicker.
Rudeness, however, wasn't a huge sin in Henry's book. Good god, Chris Hughes was polite, and Henry thought he was nothing better than a hairy ape trying to get up Katie's skirts. Since Reid was trying so assiduously to stay away from Luke's skirts--er, pants--it showed a lot more respect for Luke than Chris every had for Katie. Besides, Luke didn't seem to mind Reid's personality. Hadn't Henry been told the story of how blunt Reid seemed when Luke and Reid first met at the party? And how Luke had fallen like a misaimed dart for him, only to find that Reid was a cad out for Luke's money?
Henry nearly had the story memorized, and now that everyone knew that Damian had tricked everyone, it seemed likely to him that Reid's continued lack of social graces would still be some sort of weird aphrodisiac to the blond man.
There was one thing that troubled Henry, however. Reid kept disappearing from work, usually around lunchtime for a couple of hours. He'd done it every day for his first week back at work. No one seemed to know where he was. It was time to find out.
Henry rummaged in his closet for the perfect outfit so that Reid would never recognize him. He put on a pale pink shirt with a brown plaid suit with faint pink lines running through it. He found a darker brown plaid trilby hat with maroon accents to pair with his ensemble. On his top shelf, he opened his box of disguises and grabbed a long blond mustache. Looking in the mirror, Henry grinned in satisfaction. The doctor would never know Henry was anywhere in the vicinity with this inspired look.
Waiting around the corner and using a mirror to spy the door to Reid's office, Henry stood and waited for nearly an hour until Reid emerged. Reid was shrugging into his jacket and never noticed the mysterious "stranger" walking twenty paces behind him. Henry chuckled at Reid's naiveté. Only a newcomer to Oakdale would think that surreptitious activities wouldn't get him followed. Reid didn't even double back on his path. What a novice. Henry tried not to sulk at the lack of challenge.
Reid walked at a brisk pace through Old Town toward the university area. Henry was panting as he tried to keep up. Did Reid run marathons or something?
Henry waited as Reid turned onto Spring Street. It was a residential area, which made Henry frown in consternation. Who would Reid visit every day around here? Eventually, Reid came to a quaint Cape Cod-style home and walked up the front steps. A large oak tree by the sidewalk provided a convenient cover from which to spy.
Whoever Reid was visiting was expecting him. The door swung open almost immediately upon Reid ringing the bell. Henry squinted and tried to make out who Reid was meeting, but all he saw was the shadow of a thin man with glasses. Hmmm.
Henry walked up to the front of the house and saw that there were curtains along the front window. He couldn't see a thing, and cursed the fact that this was the first person in Oakdale that apparently had any sense of privacy.
He waited, staring at the house and trying to figure out what business Reid could have here. After an hour passed, Henry decided that "business" was unlikely…unless it was of the monkey variety. He tapped his fingers against his thigh, concentrating. His head started to hurt.
Another ten minutes passed, and Henry's curiosity got the upper hand. Coming out from behind his tree, he walked up to the door and turned the brass doorknob. It was unlocked.
Henry crept into the hallway, careful not to make any noise. Henry was not by nature a quiet person, so this was a taxing exercise. His mustache began to scratch his nose but he steadfastly ignored it.
Looking around, it was clear this was definitely someone's home. There were keys on a table by the stairs, a coat stand with several jackets by the door. Henry wondered about the outline of the man he'd seen. Could Henry have been right about Reid and John the Barista? It all seemed to add up. The guy was skinny with glasses, and the owner of this house was skinny with glasses. Reid apparently knew both of them. Reid was gay, and John was gay. Reid seemed to have a thing for younger guys, and John was definitely young.
Henry knew it might be irrational, but if he was planning to help set up Reid with Luke, it pissed him off to no end that Reid was blowing it by sleeping with John. And how often did Reid need to get laid that he blew off work every day of the week? Was the man insatiable? What would Bob think of this outrage? What sort of doctor left work to go have sex with some sexy barista in the middle of the day? Did Reid come here at night, too? Henry almost felt bad for John being subject to whatever constant depraved desires drew Reid to this place. Thank god Luke had escaped this overzealous sex-fiend…
A low voice from the next room got Henry's attention. His eyes narrowed to slits as he tip-toed toward the entry. He stayed toward the edge of the door so he could peek around the corner. Spying a foot hanging off the end of a sofa, his hackles raised further. The asshole was so eager to get some that he couldn't be bothered to take off his shoes? How uncouth.
Henry didn't know a hell of a lot about gay sex, but he guessed gay men didn't like shoes involved any more than he did. Men's shoes, Henry silently amended. Ladies high-heeled shoes could be quite enticing, he thought. A favorite pair of Barbara's sprang to mind. It was too bad they really hurt his feet.
He heard a low murmur, presumably from John. Henry couldn't believe he'd spent the better part of a week wasting his time on Reid. The nerve of Reid to have a lover and keep it a secret! Well, Henry was about to bust up this little love nest. Henry closed his eyes, took an enraged breath and jumped into the room. "Ah-hah!" he cried, pointing his finger toward the sofa with all the indignation and conviction pent up inside his plaid-shrouded body.
There was silence, and Henry opened his eyes. Lying on the sofa was a fully-dressed Reid, and an older man, probably in his fifties, was sitting on a leather chair cater-corner to the couch.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Mr. Coleman?" Reid barked, sitting up.
Uh-oh. "You tell me, Reid! What are you doing here?" No sense in backing down now, Henry decided. In for a penny, in for a pound.
"Are you an idiot?" Reid asked.
Henry scratched at his neck. "I don't know. Am I?"
The man in the chair finally stood up and said in a firm tone, "I don't know who you are, but this is an invasion of this man's privacy. I must ask you to leave."
"Not until I know what's going on here," Henry said, marching over to a Naugahyde chair across from the stranger's.
"I will call the police if you don't leave," the man said.
"Oh, call them," said Henry. "Tell 'em Henry said 'Hi.'"
Reid rolled his eyes and said to the other man, "Let me deal with this."
The professorial-looking fellow put a hand on Reid's shoulder and advised, "Reid, what you say here is private. Whoever this is has no right to know anything you're doing."
Reid shrugged him off and replied, "Well, he's not going to leave unless I say something, and trust me, you don't want him hanging around. You'll have to go find a shrink if he stays here long enough."
Henry watched the pair with interest. He couldn't quite decide what the relationship was.
Reid turned to Henry and folded his arms over his chest. "This is my therapist. We're having a session. Now get out. I'll not have you ruin this for me--do you know how hard it was to find a competent psychiatrist in Oakhell? I can tell you that he's the only one within a hundred miles that has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. from an Ivy League school."
"Therapist?" Henry questioned. "So…this isn't wham, bam, thank you…man? You're not indulging in a little afternoon delight?" He cringed at the lethal glare Reid gave him.
Reid rubbed his palm against his cheek so hard that the skin stretched taut. "No, you cretin. He's not teaching me the facts of life, and we're not hitting the sheets. We're not getting our rocks off or having a dance without pants. We're not making the beast with two backs playing hide the sausage. Get the picture?"
"You thought of all those euphemisms just now?" Henry asked, impressed.
Reid's shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes. He muttered something under his breath about Henry and lunatics, but Henry couldn't quite decipher it.
"Why are you interested in what I'm doing anyway?" Reid asked.
"Uh…hmmm." This was a good question that Henry was not going to answer truthfully. He had long ago learned that honesty was a shortsighted policy. Why put all your cards on the table when it left you nothing to play? "Well…You see…" This was awkward--he couldn't think of a good lie. He shifted back and forth on his feet and wondered if he could just run away. Maybe if he stayed quiet, Reid would eventually just go back to the hospital. Light bulb! "As a benefactor of the neurowing I was concerned you were neglecting your sacred duties to our hospital for frivolous pursuits," he explained with as pretentious of a voice as he could muster. Henry hadn't even known he knew the word, "frivolous," so he mentally high-fived himself for using it. Helping Barbara with her crossword puzzles must have helped his vocabulary.
Reid swallowed hard while he glared some more at Luke's business partner. Henry was pretty unperturbed--Katie had been giving him worse looks for years, and nothing compared to Barbara when she was mad.
Finally, Reid said, "Yeah, I'm not buying that crap you just spewed. Just tell me you're not about to embark on another scheme to run me out of town. I don't want to go home to find the walls bleeding."
Well, so long as Reid didn't suspect the truth, Henry was happy. "I have no plans to run you out of town--Scout's honor" Henry said, holding up four fingers spread into the shape of a "V". In fact, Henry was hoping Reid might stick around for a long while. No need to tell Reid that, though. Men had a stupid habit of running away if they even got a distant whiff of a romantic fix-up in the air.
Reid closed his eyes. "That's the Vulcan…You know what? Never mind. Just get out before I call the cops or the loony bin, which is clearly where you belong."
"Now, now. No need to get snippy."
***
Luke was sitting at the kitchen table with Maddie and Nathan, who appeared to be very much a couple, when Henry waltzed into the kitchen. The diner owner pulled a chair up to the table where the others were sitting. Luke wondered if Henry's Sherlock-Holmes-On-Acid outfit was just a new sartorial phase or if it portended something more worrisome.
"So…uh…Luke….How ya doing?" Henry asked in a higher than normal voice.
"I'm fine, Henry. What brings you here?" Luke asked suspiciously. When Henry was nervous, it could mean anything.
Henry shifted in his chair and his eyes darted to Maddie. It was clear he wasn't expecting to see her here and was embarrassed. "Well…see…I thought I should tell you that you might get an irate phone call sometime later today."
"What did you do?" Luke asked.
Henry tugged nervously as his ear. "Do you still have that vodka in the refrigerator?"
"Henry…" Luke warned.
"Oh, fine." Taking a breath, he said, "I followed Reid from the hospital to a house by the university. When he didn't come out, I walked in."
"And?" Maddie said. She obviously knew her brother well enough to comprehend that the story was about to take a very bad turn.
Henry sighed. "And I thought he was getting it on with somebody, so I jumped out from the door and scared the hell out of his therapist."
"You what?" shouted all three other occupants of the table.
"Henry, why would you do that?" Luke asked. He couldn't believe Henry had done something so intrusive. He just couldn't believe it. Luke sat stunned for a moment. His horror over Henry's actions warred with his shock that Reid was in therapy. Was Reid really so determined to conquer his anger?
"I thought he was slacking on the job," Henry said in his defense.
"What did Reid do?" Maddie asked, horror tingeing her voice.
"Told me to leave," Henry said sheepishly.
"Did you?" Nathan demanded.
"Well, not before I found out what was going on."
"Henry, I can't believe you'd invade his privacy like that," Luke said. Oh my god, oh my god. How on earth am I going to explain this to Reid?
"Stop it, Snyder. I see those guilty wheels spinning in your head. This is Henry's fault," Maddie shot at the blond. She turned to her brother and said, "So?"
"Well, with Luke being all friendly and stuff with him, I wanted to make sure he was on the up-and-up."
"That doesn't sound like you acted out of concern for the hospital," Luke commented. It sounded suspiciously like Henry was interfering in Luke's life. And in true Henry fashion, he did it in the least explicable and most deranged way possible.
"Well, there was some worry over the neurowing mixed in there, I'm sure. I don't want someone as crooked as a dog's hind leg working there."
Luke rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "Jesus. I can take care of myself, Henry. I thought we were clear on that after I bailed you out of jail in December. Maddie, tell him you wouldn't interfere like this in my life."
Nathan gave Maddie a rather telling look, and she looked at Luke apologetically. "Well…I might have had a tiny talk with Reid about you a few days after the fire."
Luke laid his forehead on his hands. "This is why I can never introduce anyone new to my friends and family. You're all crazy," Luke lamented. "I'd be much richer if I'd just opened an insane asylum. I bet it would be full in a week."
"Are you mad?" Maddie asked with worry lacing her voice.
Luke sighed. He couldn't get too angry with her after what they'd all been through in the past month. Maybe in more normal times, he'd let off some steam, but very little had been "normal" since Reid had moved to Oakdale. His friends tended to go into overprotective mode when they thought Luke felt the least bit vulnerable. It was annoying and unnecessary--at times infuriating--but it came from a good place. "No, not at you, but when everyone is gone, you'll be telling me about what exactly you said to Reid. Details, Maddie. Lots of details."
"Reid's okay with it, Luke. He gets why Maddie was trying to protect you," Nathan added.
Maddie made a small smile of thanks toward Nathan. It was obvious to Luke that they were becoming quite attached to each other. Luke wondered if Nathan's temporary stay in Oakdale was about to become indefinite. God knows Reid could use the support against Luke's friends. Jesus, what Henry had done…
"I'm surprised he's not gotten restraining orders against us," Luke said. "Maybe that's where he is now." He could just picture Reid demanding the order from Jack.
Nathan snorted and murmured sarcastically, "Yeah, that's likely." Luke didn't quite understand what Reid's friend meant by that comment.
"Sorry, Luke," Henry said, before Luke could question Nathan.
Luke nodded at his expression of regret. "It's not me to whom you owe the apology. Just promise me that this is the last of you trying to stop Reid from being friends with me." He glanced at Maddie and said, "That goes for you, too." She nodded in response.
Henry sighed and said, "Well, if I have to. Oh, and I apologized to Reid. He started getting pretty snippy about me sitting there, so I figured retreat was my best option at that point."
"Can you blame him?" Luke asked and then turned to Nathan. "Did you know Reid was going to therapy?" Luke closed his eyes and realized how impertinent his question was. "I'm sorry. Whether Reid is going to therapy and if he's told you is none of my business." Luke might be extremely interested in why Reid had a therapist, but Nathan was not the person to talk to about it. Luke shouldn't even know about it at this point.
"It's okay," Nathan replied. "Actually, I didn't know. But I don't think Reid would be uncomfortable that we do. He's not wired like that. He tends to be private and not spread everything he does around, but he usually could care less when people find out something about him. Embarrassment isn't something that comes easily to Reid."
"Oh," Luke said. "That's…nice." He could feel Maddie's and Henry's watchful eyes on him and decided not to question Nathan too much more about the doctor. He didn't want to give them more reasons to behave crazily. Besides, as Nathan had pointed out, Reid was a private person. If Luke had questions about Reid, he should ask the doctor himself.
Nathan cleared his throat, leaned back in his chair, and asked, "Is anyone even going to comment on what Henry's wearing, or are you all perversely immune to this kind of thing by now?"
"What?" Henry squawked.
"Henry likes to think he's a master of disguise," Maddie commented and rolled her eyes.
"His mustache is hanging off his lip," Nathan said dubiously.
Henry pointed one finger at Nathan while reattaching the moustache with the other. "Hey, your brainiac friend never saw me once when I was following him."
Nathan's eyebrows rose. The tall man asked, "Did he recognize you when you jumped out at him?"
"Well, maybe the disguise could use a little work…Oh, you can stop laughing, Maddie." Henry glared at his sister.
Maddie then started chortling so hard that she was gasping for breath. "Sorry, I just pictured it in my head. You jumping out with that stupid hat and your mustache falling off…The only thing better would have been if you'd been wearing a plaid cape."
Luke snickered--Henry really did seem to be wearing a color-challenged Sherlock Holmes costume. Too bad he wasn't as cute as Benedict Cumberbatch.
"I got this hat to wear to the Derby," Henry said, offended.
"You're going to wear that thing on TV?" Maddie asked.
"Yes," Henry said firmly and then cocked his head to the side. "Well…it's an option. I'm still thinking of an all-white linen suit paired with a white shirt that has tiny red roses all over it."
Maddie turned to Nathan and Luke and declared, "If anyone asks that day, Henry and I are not related."
A/N A little happier, no? In fact, we're just a short hop, skip and a jump to a lot more happiness. Yay.
I was hoping I would be able to post a chapter featuring the horses today, but I'm a bit behind. However, since yesterday was the Kentucky Derby, I thought I'd share that I've very loosely looked at the 1989 rivalry between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer when writing about Midnight and Serendipity (with some Sea Biscuit, War Admiral, and Unbridled sprinkled in as well). Look-wise, they're exactly who I've patterned the horses after. Anyway, Easy Goer, the favorite, lost a muddy Derby to Sunday Silence, and then again lost in an incredibly close Preakness--but he broke Sunday Silence's Triple Crown Run (and my little heart) in the Belmont that year, redeeming himself. Yesterday, Easy Goer's trainer finally got his first Derby win with Orb on another muddy track nearly 25 years later.
Here's a picture Easy Goer and Sunday Silence: