Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Nate sighed; Gabe couldn't make it more obvious if he tried. His brother had set out to fix fences around the restaurant and Jay's office at the same time as Lewis was due to arrive.

Nate frowned as he contemplated exactly what trouble that could cause. "You can't stay around here," he said.

"The fences need fixing," Gabe said immediately.

"They do, but you don't have to do them today."

With a huff of defeat, Gabe dropped the post he had been wielding as if he were some kind of Highlander about to toss a caber. "Josh is so excited. You know I'm over there every evening. We were reading last night, and he's doing so well. Josh stopped the work and told me how every time his dad visits, he gets a present. I'm sitting there helping him with spelling, and he's talking about iPads."

Nate nodded. "How is his reading coming along?"

"Slowly." Gabe crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the older, broken post. It moved a little, but Gabe didn't seem that concerned about ending up on his ass on the ground. "Ashley and I try with him every night and do the exercises. Jay does the same thing with him. It's only been a couple weeks and we have a ways to go, but we'll get there and teach him the coping strategies he needs."

"Kirsten told me you helped her with her math homework."

Gabe shrugged and dipped his head. "Same as I would Luke."

"What about Ashley? What are you helping her with?"

Gabe punched Nate on the arm. "Nothing I'm sharing with you, big brother."

"There—you see. You have your answer. You're feeling sorry for yourself and worrying about Ashley, and you're getting all mixed up, when Lewis is only going to be here for a few hours, give his kid a present, and leave. You get the good parts—sharing Josh's successes, and Kirsten's, and you get the best chance to be in Ashley's life."

"I'll become the boring guy who does all the dad things," Gabe said quickly in response. He immediately dropped his arms to his sides and realization spread across his face. "Oh my God. I think I want to be that guy."

Nate hugged his brother. His job was done.

Lewis arrived with very little fanfare. When the cab pulled up in the parking lot, it was anticlimactic.

"That him?" Nate asked. They were standing outside the office together, and Jay was grateful for his comforting presence.

"Yeah."

"He's kind of short," Nate observed.

"You don't have to be tall to hit your wife and kid."

Jay spotted Ashley walking out to meet Lewis, and she was holding Josh by the hand. This was his cue to go join them. With a last squeeze of Nate's hand, he released the grip he'd had on him and walked briskly down to join his sister and nephew before they reached Lewis.

"Hey, Josh," Lewis called as they walked closer. The cab turned and exited the parking lot, disappearing down the road leading back to the entrance.

"Hey Dad," Josh muttered.

Lewis crouched down and held out his hands. Ashley glanced at Jay before reluctantly letting go her hold of Josh.

Josh hugged back but pulled away quickly. He hadn't seen his dad since he was little, just had the odd phone call and they'd exchanged photos.

"I have a present for you," Lewis said. He passed a suspiciously iPad-shaped box to Josh, who took it eagerly.

Poor kid was being bought, but Jay said nothing.

Josh ripped off the packaging. "Cool, Dad," he said enthusiastically.

"Go inside and charge it up," Lewis said firmly. "I need to talk to your mom. Maybe your uncle Jay could take you."

"Josh is perfectly capable of going to his new home alone." Jay waited for the comeback, but there was none.

"How are you doing, Ashley?" Lewis asked as soon as Josh was out of hearing range.

"I'm happy," she said carefully. "We're happy."

"I want you to know, Ash babe, that I changed. When I was inside, I found God and I know it was wrong what I did to you and Josh."

"Bull. Shit." Jay said and added a snort of laughter. "You found God? Where? In the bathrooms?"

Lewis stiffened in protest, but he said nothing. He simply inclined his head. Apparently he was acting the part of "new guy" and being patient was his main facade. Jay knew for a fact that behind that first layer was the real Lewis.

"It's always good to have faith," Ashley said.

"I knew you'd realize that," Lewis responded. "You always did have such a way of seeing the world. All innocence and light and forgiving nature. I didn't mean to hit you after I left jail, it was residual anger."

"Residual anger?" Jay said. He couldn't believe what Lewis was saying.

"Faith won't make me forgive you, Lewis. You drove my daughter to near enough live at her friends' houses because she was so scared, and you knocked Josh unconscious. I don't care what you did to me…." She stopped, and Jay placed a hand on her arm in support. "No," she began again, "that isn't right. I do care what you did. You ruined me, and when I actually have a chance at happiness, all I can do is mistrust the man."

"Ashley—"

"Enough, Lewis. You have three hours with Josh. You're not taking him off Crooked Tree, and he knows that. He also knows to shout if you raise a hand to him."

She turned on her heel and headed to the house. Jay spotted Gabe hovering near their home and Gabe nodded. There was no conscious decision that one of them could keep an eye on things, but between them they would.

Jay went to his office, and Sam caught him as they passed Branches.

"You want that meeting now?" Sam asked. He was dressed in scruffy jeans that were nearly white with wear and had holes in all the strategic places. His T-shirt proclaimed "Gayer than the Volleyball Scene in Top Gun," and he carried an empty bucket.

"Not if you're busy."

Sam shook his head. "I was cleaning the kitchen from top to bottom, but I've finished now. My staff will be in on Wednesday, so I wanted it done."

"Okay, when?"

"Now? I'll get a shower and be over in twenty with coffee."

They parted ways, Jay to his office and Sam to his small apartment in the eaves above the restaurant. Jay settled at his desk with the paperwork for the brochure spread out all over. He attempted to get a feel for this final check on the main wording. Carefully he tacked each page in order up on the board and stood back to admire the work so far. Luke's photos were stunning and captured every single image Jay had in his head. He shuffled a couple of the photos and considered what was missing. The words he had already, but he had the idea to interview Nate, Gabe, Luke, Marcus, Sophie, Sam—even Henry—and the others who worked there. Quotes from those at the center of it all would be the icing on the cake.

"You want some beauty shots of food?" Sam said from behind him, causing him to jump. "Sorry, you were in a world of your own."

Jay quickly pointed out the three pages dedicated to Branches. "I have some words about Branches, but if I can I'd like to add something about you and your ethos, maybe a quote or two? I need something simple: a more elaborate dinner, maybe the range of wines you have?"

"I can get something done so you can shoot."

"I'll get Luke to talk to you about a good time to take the photos." Jay indicated the photos on the wall. "These are all by Luke."

"Wow. He's good." Sam inspected the one closest to them and nodded thoughtfully. "Talking of a Todd brother, you and Nate…." His expression was questioning.

"We are," Jay said.

Sam made a motion like writing with a pen on paper. "Crosses that one off my list," he said with a chuckle. "Is that everything you needed to talk to me about? 'Cause if it is, that was the quickest meeting on record. Don't you want to check my menus, fiddle with prices, or anything else?"

"No," Jay said directly. "I'm not here to change anything that works. You have guests coming in from outside to eat here, your reputation is top-notch, and your food is excellent. Why change something that works? I need to sell you, get the people who visit from towns locally to see Crooked Tree as not just a place to visit every so often, but somewhere to revisit for riding lessons, or lunches, or…." Jay realized Sam was staring at him with his mouth open.

"You have a lot of ideas," Sam said with a grin.

Jay returned the smile with one of his own. His initial impression of Sam as a temperamental cliché chef was being eroded every time they met up. Maybe he was snappy and bossy only when he was in work mode.

"Everything okay?" Nate joined the conversation.

Jay turned to see Nate staring questioningly between himself and Sam. Jay couldn't decipher the look. Was Nate looking at him and feeling jealous, or was he looking at Sam and cursing lost chances? Sudden inspiration hit Jay and he took the three steps to stand in front of Nate, startling him.

"This is going to be awesome," Jay said. He crossed his hands behind Nate's head and pulled him down for a heated, sexy kiss.

Behind them Sam chuckled. "I get the message, Mr. Marketing Guy." Jay heard the door shut and relaxed into the kiss. He encouraged Nate back against the door and didn't argue when Nate flipped their positions until it was Jay trapped between the wood and a hard body. He couldn't get enough of being held and pushed and kissed by Nate.

"You were on Sam's list," he managed to say between kisses.

"I was? Hell, everyone is on Sam's list. Even Gabe, and he's straight."

"Sam doesn't seem like a guy who has lists."

"He doesn't." They kissed again. "Got his heart stomped on a few years back, found us—or we found him—and he keeps to himself. He's a quiet one when he's not in chef mode."

Interesting. Not that Sam was Jay's type, and he had Nate, who was very much his type, holding him, but he wondered who would break the heart of someone so damn cute.

"Did you see Gabe?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, he's out watching Lewis and Josh from a distance. Not sure Lewis likes it much—Gabe isn't being that inconspicuous."

"Your brother rocks."

"I didn't come here to talk about Gabe."

"What did you come here for, then?"

"Are you happy that Gabe has Lewis in his sights and your sister is okay?"

"I am."

"Good." With that single word, Nate pulled Jay close and kissed him hard.

The kisses became more in the blink of an eye. They only stopped when Jay pulled away and, after a bit of maneuvering, he had Nate pushed against the door. Jay got on his knees.

"We can't," Nate protested. "What if… the window… guh ."

Jay loved that he could reduce his lover to making no sense at all just by taking out Nate's cock and proceeding to completely and thoroughly blow him to orgasm. When Nate came, Jay didn't pull away; he swallowed and licked Nate's cock clean before tucking it away. Palming his own hard cock, he used the wall to help him stand. Nate had his eyes closed and was breathing heavily.

"Fuck," Nate said between breaths.

A knock on the door had the two men moving apart, Nate looking spaced out and Jay felt very satisfied with what he'd done. Nate looked down at Jay's hand, pressed against his own fly.

"I didn't?—"

"We couldn't."

"Later."

"Later."

The knock came again and someone tried the door. "Jay? I have some more photos."

Luke. Nate immediately moved to the pictures on the wall, leaving Jay to open the door.

"Hi, Nate," Luke said quickly. He had a broad grin on his face and looked from Jay to Nate and back again. "You two do know this place has windows, right?"