Second Nature (His Chance 2)

“I love you, too. More than anything.” I picked up his hand and kissed his knuckle. Then I tucked him into bed and told him, “I’m going to brush my teeth. I’ll be right back.”

I scooped up my dirty clothes and brought them with me to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. Before putting them in the hamper, I removed a small packet from the pocket of my jeans. Then I tore open the baggie and flushed its contents down the toilet, rinsed it out, and wrapped it in toilet paper before throwing it in the trash can. It was a relief when it was gone, not because it was tempting, but because I couldn’t stand the sight of it.

After I washed up a bit, I returned to the bedroom and slipped under the fluffy white blanket. Gabriel was almost asleep, but he slid close and wrapped himself around me. As I stroked his hair, he murmured, “Did you get rid of it?”

“Yeah. It’s gone.”

“Good. I felt horrible about bringing that stuff into Sawyer and Alastair’s home.”

He fell asleep a few moments later, and I continued to stroke his hair. There was so much I needed to do. First and foremost, I had to help Gabriel find a local counselor, and I wanted to find a support group for both of us, because I’d been reminded that recovery was an ongoing process. Then I’d have to work on finding my next job, possibly in San Francisco, and figure out where we were going to live.

But right now, this was exactly what I needed to be doing. I closed my eyes and let myself relax as I held my boyfriend in my arms.

Gabriel woke up around seven that night. I was sitting beside him with my laptop, and I set it aside when he stirred and mumbled, “What’re you doing?”

“Researching companies in and around San Francisco. I found four special effects makeup studios that all sound great. I also updated my resume and online portfolio. I haven’t applied for any jobs yet though, because we’d just begun talking about staying here, and I wanted to confirm it was what you really wanted before I did anything else.”

“I would love to stay here.”

“Okay. Then I’ll send out my resume.”

He tucked himself under my arm and said, “You’re amazing, you know that?”

“In what way?”

“Instead of sitting back and hoping, you make things happen. Meanwhile, I’ve been just sort of daydreaming about a lingerie company for years.”

“It’s so much easier to try to find a job than launch a company,” I said. “Look how far I got when I wanted to open my own studio. Although I know now that it would have been premature. I’d rather spend the next three to five years working at an established company and building my skills before branching out on my own.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

After a few moments, I said, “I’m sorry again about going behind your back with Roger. I feel like my apology kind of got lost among all the things that happened over the last day.”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to beat yourself up about it. I know you feel bad, and I also know you meant well.”

“I feel terrible about losing your trust,” I said. “I know how important that is to you, and I promise to do everything I can to earn it back.”

“You didn’t lose it. When I first found out you’d been planning things with Roger, I got upset and might have said some things, but I still trust you with my life. You made a mistake, that’s all. I shouldn’t have freaked out and overreacted.”

“You don’t have to let me off the hook so easily. I know I fucked up.”

“I fucked up too, by walking away instead of talking to you when you did something I didn’t like. All we can do is learn from our mistakes and try to do better next time.” His stomach rumbled, so he sat up and grinned. “I’m really hungry. We should probably get up.”

“Vincent dropped off a huge, cheese-stuffed casserole a couple of hours ago, when he came by to pick up his keys and the SUV. We can warm that up if you want to. He said the food was both because he knew we’d had a rough couple of days, and because he and Dante bought way too much stuff at Costco and it wouldn’t all fit in their refrigerators.”

We both climbed out of bed, and he said, “I love the Dombrusos. Do you think they’d adopt me if I asked nicely?”

“I think they already did.”

He changed from his pajamas to jeans and an oversized black sweater, which reminded me we’d officially shifted to ‘guest’ status in this apartment. Then he took a big gift bag out of the closet, and I asked, “What’s that?”