Gregg sucked on his teeth. “What kind of changes?”
“Okay.” Nate clasped his hands together. “Obviously, this will all depend on what plans you might have for the future, but I was wondering if you’d like to run this place, for real.”
“In what way?”
“Basically, you’d be the manager, run things out front. So, more hours, more money. We could discuss a new assistant manager.”
“You can afford to do that?”
“I’ve crunched the numbers. It’d work.”
“And that would mean what for you?”
“I’d be more behind the scenes, the business side. At least for now, until Luka is older. Despite having this place, I’ve always done everything I could to be there for him. I can’t say it’s been easy, and I’ve had people help me a lot, you included, but I guess what I’m getting at is I need to be better where Luka is concerned. In the future… I don’t know, but I feel like…” He paused. “I used this place to bury my head. It was an excuse to ignore a lot of things…” He waved his hand in front of his chest. “Things in here and I don’t want to hide, close myself off anymore. I want to take the chance that’s presented itself to me.”
“Jared?”
Nate lowered his head.
There was a brief silence, then Gregg said, “Okay.”
“Really?”
Gregg nodded. “I mean, you asked me so nicely.” He smiled. “Honestly, I hadn’t thought much about the future. I’m comfortable here.” He exhaled through his nose. “Maybe if Rhea was still around, she’d have bullied me out of here and forced me towards bigger things before now, but I like it here. The staff, the customers, the atmosphere.” He shrugged. “And as you said, the future, who knows, but for now, I’m up for it.”
Nate’s thoughts went to Rhea. “She really would have, wouldn’t she?” He couldn’t help but smile. “Anyway, we’ll work out the details over the next week and get it down in writing soon. Is that okay? Anything you want to know?”
“One thing.”
“Sure.”
“Is it okay if I make a suggestion about a new assistant manager?”
Nate leaned his head to one side and listened.
“I’d like to put Abi’s name forward. She’s been pretty dependable recently and it seems she’s been thinking of looking for something with more hours and money, so I think she’d be interested. That okay?”
“That’s fine, and I agree, she’s been a great help.”
The conversation changed from business to idle nonsense, and eventually Gregg excused himself.
It was as if a weight had been lifted from Nate’s shoulders and the rest of the day flew by, until the last hour to closing.
“I want to go home,” Nate mumbled as he lurked near the bar.
Abi joined him. “Have you got something good waiting for you? Or is it someone?”
Nate folded his arms across his chest. “Neither. He’s meeting me here.”
“It’s creepy.”
“What is?”
She waved her hand in the direction of his face. “Seeing you all smiley.”
“Is it really that weird?” He was going to end up getting a complex over it at this rate.
“It’s not that you’re smiling, but just the…” She raised her shoulders. “I don’t know. They’ve more oomph than they used to have and there’s more of them. Not that I didn’t appreciate your serious brooding face. You know it was all like…” She narrowed her eyes and pouted. “I’m Batman,” she said in a husky voice.
“You done?”
“Yeah, I’m done.” She stood straight. “Oh, customer,” she said, excusing herself in a series of bouncy side-steps.
The minutes counted down slower than Nate thought possible, but at long last they reached closing time.
“Goodnight,” Abi said as Nate locked up.
“Night.” Nate watched her walk down the street to her waiting boyfriend, then checked his phone. Jared had texted to say he had been held up. Something about his roommate and how he’d explain later but was now on his way to the bar.
“I could have met you somewhere else.” He sighed and rested against the shutter.
“Nate.”
Nate stood and gave a short wave. “Hey.”
“Sorry. Were you waiting long?”
“Forever.”
Jared’s face dropped. “Really?”
“No, not really,” Nate said with a smirk and took a step. “We’ve only just locked up. Promise.”
Jared pressed his hand to his chest in relief and joined Nate as he walked.
“Is everything okay with your roommate?” Nate asked. “We could have just met up in the morning.”
“No, no. I wanted to see you, and yeah, Ethan is fine. Well, as fine as Ethan ever is. I don’t really know how he does it, but I’m starting to think he’s a beacon for assholes. Every single man he’s dated ends up screwing him over somehow.”
“Maybe he should hire himself one. A nice guy like you,” Nate said.
Jared smiled. “A nice guy, huh?”
“Mmm. Very nice.” Nate nudged his shoulder to Jared’s as they walked. The backs of their hands brushed together, and Nate let out a contented sigh when Jared caught hold of his fingers. They walked hand-in-hand to the station, a chaste kiss before boarding the train heading for home.
“Hey,” Nate said in a hushed voice, laughing as Jared grabbed him and they stumbled together through the door and into the apartment.
“I missed you,” Jared mumbled into Nate’s back as he hugged him from behind. “Did you miss me?”
Nate leaned his head back, pushing his cheek to Jared’s when he rested his chin on Nate’s shoulder. “Of course, I did.” He closed his eyes as Jared moved his hands lower and rested them over his belt buckle. It’d only been a few days since he’d seen him last, but he loved having Jared around.
“Can we?” Jared whispered in his ear. “Luka’s not here, right?” His lips brushed Nate’s neck, his teeth grazing the skin slightly as he nudged Nate’s earlobe with his nose.
“He’s at his grandparents. All weekend.”
“All weekend?” Jared asked.
“It’d be impossible to decorate Luka’s room if he was here. He’d be in and out of there wanting to help or wanting to get something—a book, a
