Unconventional

Only Julian hadn’t shown up.

“Maybe he’s not coming?” Noah offered. He saw the look of disappointment in my face. “You know… just today, I mean.”

He knew what I was thinking: that maybe I’d finally lost him. That after all this work without pay, maybe I’d driven my stonemason off.

Nothing lasts forever, a little voice sounded. It was almost sing-songy. Admonishing.

“He was supposed to finish the wall today,” I said sullenly. “We were going to start the courtyard.”

“It could be he’s sick,” said Noah with a shrug.

Yeah, right. A man like Julian didn’t get sick. Germs bounced off of him. He laughed at sickness.

I glanced down at my phone for the fourth or fifth time. Still nothing. No calls, no messages — nothing indicating the mason wouldn’t be in.

Could you really blame him though?

I could and I couldn’t. I wanted to believe — with all my heart — that mine and Julian’s relationship extended beyond employer and employee. At least, it sure did for me.

At the same time, if he took off for greener pastures? I’d have to understand. I’d have to appreciate the extra work he’d already put in, and try not to—

“Ah, here’s Chase,” said Noah, rubbing his stomach. “Finally.”

Noah’s truck rolled in, with Chase at the wheel. He skidded to a dusty, graveled stop. Smiled his familiar smile, as he jumped down from the big cab.

“Where’s Juli—”

Noah shrugged and cut him off, grabbing at the bag in Chase’s hand. Breakfast, finally, but it would be worth the wait. There was only one place nearby that could approximate anything close to American bacon, and thankfully it did it well.

“Did you get extra ketchup?”

Chase sighed dramatically. “Damn, I knew I forgot something.”

“What about—”

Noah stopped abruptly mid-sentence. Moving so fast I almost didn’t see, he reached out and swiped the sunglasses straight off Chase’s face.

“You asshole!” Noah shouted.

My confusion was made even more apparent by my sudden gasp. Chase’s entire left eye was puffy and swollen. Around the edges, everything was black and blue.

“You went and saw him?” Noah seethed.

“Calm down.”

“After everything we talked about! You went there all by yourself?”

My midnight lover looked ready to kick Chase’s ass. The only thing stopping him was that Chase had apparently already gotten his ass kicked.

“Why the fuck would you try something that stupid?” Noah cried. “After what he did the other day, and you go there alone? And without anything to even…”

His sentence trailed off as he suddenly realized something: I was standing there, listening.

“Anything to even what?” I asked.

Neither man said a word. I was at Chase’s side now, pulling my glove off to gingerly touch the side of his swollen face.

“What happened, Chase?”