6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Gary

O nce Gary was home from making his rounds with the local businesses on Monday afternoon, he collapsed onto the sofa in his recording studio, nearly falling asleep on the spot. Boy, the last few nights had been rough. Seeing that photograph in the box from Dawn had bothered him more than he would have ever imagined. Now, not only was his brain constantly bombarding him with half-forgotten boyhood memories—scenes of Little League practices and barbecues and car trips to East Coast beaches—but his loneliness was also so painful that he could barely sleep.

He wished he had someone to talk to. Someone other than Mel. If only he had a boyfriend—someone sweet and sensitive who would hold him or, heck, even just be with him. Someone to keep him company while he figured out how to soothe the ever-present sting of parental rejection.

What a mess this was. Gary hoped he could figure out how to scrub his brain clean sometime soon. Otherwise, he might collapse from exhaustion. Maybe he ought to make some coffee so that he could get through the rest of the afternoon. He still had a couple of hours before Tell Me S’more even started.

The thought of coffee had Gary’s mind wandering back to yesterday afternoon at Jeff’s house. Seeing Jeff had really helped take his mind off of his past for a while. Jeff was kind. Surprisingly kind. Especially since Gary had mentally branded him General Grump when they had first seen each other in the food court. As he nearly drifted off to sleep, Gary kept replaying their time together in his mind, letting Jeff’s kind smile continue to distract him from all that other family stuff he so desperately wanted to forget.

A sudden knock at the front door caused Gary to startle. He got up to see who it was, saying a silent prayer that it not be his mom or Dawn or anyone else who wanted to shove some painful photographs in his face.

Gary opened the door, and his heart immediately did a flip-flop when he saw Jeff waiting for him.

“Uh, hey?” Jeff said, sounding uncertain. “I... brought you some books.”

Gary’s eyebrows shot up. “Books?! Really?” Gary’s smile had stretched so wide, he couldn’t help but think he probably looked like the Cheshire cat. “Wow, Jeff, that’s so sweet of you. Come in!”

Gary stepped aside. After Jeff kicked off his sneakers, he removed his backpack and held it out for Gary to take.

“Here.”

“I can’t wait to read them!” Gary plopped the backpack onto the sofa cushion to open it. “What made you want to bring me books?”

“Eh, they were my mom’s. I won’t be reading them.”

Gary pulled out the six books that Jeff had brought, the fullness in his chest swelling more and more with each one. Books! From Jeff!

“I am so touched. Really.” Gary flipped through the pages of a slightly outdated book on outer space. “Everyone in Niles will benefit from these! All of my listeners, anyway. Are you sure you’re okay with rehoming them?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. ”

“Well, I was practically passing out before, but I’ll tell ya, I am wide awake now. Do you want a cup of coffee or something?” Gary asked, hooking his thumb toward the kitchen.

“I thought you were wide awake.”

“Ah, one can never be too awake. Especially me.”

With a sweet half-smile, Jeff said, “Yeah, okay, I’ll take some coffee.”

“Cream and sugar, right?” Gary said with a wink.

Jeff rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, Gare.”

After setting up the coffee to brew, Gary resumed thumbing through the space book while he waited for the coffee maker to finish. Meanwhile, Jeff seemed content to study the shelves of records in the studio room. Once the coffee was ready, they stood in the kitchen sipping from their mugs, silently enjoying each other’s company. Or, well, that’s what Gary was doing. He couldn’t believe how nice it was to have Jeff over. And right when he’d needed it most.

“Thanks for coming by, Jeff. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

Jeff raised one of his eyebrows. Sheesh, how cute was that?

Gary tacked on, “Just, you know, I was feeling pretty low before.”

“Oh.” Jeff’s brow furrowed with what looked to be concern. “Why?”

“Ah, nothing you need to worry about.” He couldn’t let himself unload his silly parental rejection problems onto poor, unsuspecting Jeff. “But seeing a friendly face makes everything better. Truly.”

Just as Jeff opened his mouth to respond, the telephone rang.

“Ah, shoot. Could you hold on a sec?” Gary asked, holding up a finger. He set down his coffee cup and then walked over to where his telephone hung on the wall near the entryway. “Hello?” he said as he picked up the receiver.

“Hey,” Dawn said from the other end. “I need the necklace back.”

“Not a problem,” Gary said reflexively before realizing he had no idea what Dawn was talking about. “What necklace?”

“From the box. I think I want to leave it to Amy.”

“Oh.” Shoot. “Are you sure she’d want it?”

“Of course! It’s an heirloom.”

“Right.” Shit. “Which?”

“Ugh, Gary!” Dawn sighed. “Come on! I only put one in there!”

Gary’s stomach seized. “Remind me what it looked like again?”

“It was green ! From the 1920s.”

“Emeralds?”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Look, I know it’s only costume jewelry, but it was Nana’s.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Of course!” Not. “Come by before the show to pick it up. I’ll have it ready for you.” Nope. “See ya, sis.”

“Okay, but—”

Flustered, Gary hung up, smacking the phone onto the base. Well, this was... unfortunate. Really, really unfortunate. Not-spotting-the-iceberg-in-time unfortunate. God, Dawn might really start to hate him because of this.

“Fuuuck,” Gary said, leaning his back against the wall. He raked a hand through his hair. “So, Jeff, how interested are you in radio equipment? I may be spending these last two hours ’til showtime writing my will.”

“Not, uh, that interested,” Jeff said slowly. “I could take some records off your hands, though. Do you have Bing Crosby? ”

Gary smiled as he glanced up at Jeff, the request easing some of his panic. “Sadly, no. People only sell the worst of their records in yard sales. Unless someone passes.” Gary’s eyes found the phone. Nope. Right back to panicking. “Speaking of which, I suppose the folks of Niles will be forced to purchase their own terrible records back from me soon enough. Either that or toss them in the—” Oh! Right! Gary snapped his fingers. “Aha! The landfill!”

“The landfill?”

“I’ll search the landfill! Any chance I can catch a ride there?”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“Probably. But, look, you won’t be implicated in my criminal wrongdoing, I promise. Drop me off a block or two away.”

“I’m not—” Jeff let out a huff and rolled his eyes. “I’m not afraid of being caught. I just wanted to make sure you knew it was illegal.”

“Doesn’t matter. I think my choices are prison or six feet under on this one.” Gary pressed his palms together. “Please?”

“Don’t you have a car?”

“No, and there’s only”—Gary checked the clock—“one hour and fifty-six minutes until I have to be on the air. I’d call Mel, but I think she’s with Ken and she’d probably—no, definitely —she’d definitely kill me if I interrupted their couple time.”

Jeff let out a sound in between a scoff and a laugh as he leaned back against the kitchen counter.

“Sounds like a lot of people want to kill you,” Jeff teased.

And wow, something about that had Gary holding back another of those cheek-splitting smiles. It was almost like they were... maybe becoming friends? But there wasn’t time to dwell on that right now.

“Yeah, and I really can’t blame them either,” Gary said. “So, what do you think? Could I have a ride from the very sweet, very thoughtful Jeff Russo? ”

Jeff pursed his lips, seemingly thinking it over. He then sighed and set his mug on the counter. “Yeah, I can take you,” he said, starting over toward where Gary stood near the front door. “Come on.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

While following Jeff outside, Gary had to fight the urge to pull him in for a hug. God, he was so thankful. Even though the chance of finding the necklace was slim, he had to try, and hey, if it turned out that he was eventually arrested for trespassing, that might even make Dawn more likely to forgive him. Hopefully.

“Geez, Jeff, you have no idea how helpful this is,” Gary said, trailing behind as they walked to the car. “I could hug you right now.”

There was a short pause, and Gary couldn’t help but feel a little bit hopeful.

But then Jeff said, “Uh, I’d rather you not.”

And, well, that settled that, then.