Open Road (18 page)

“Yeah. Let’s find Café Du Monde.” Angus pulled out his phone.

“We’ll probably have to wait in line with the tourists.” Reece felt it was fair to warn him.

“That’s okay. We’re tourists too.”

Reece did something then he didn’t know he’d planned to do. He reached down and took Angus’s free hand in his, threaded their fingers together, and started walking toward where the dot on Angus’s phone’s GPS told him Decatur Street was.

Angus looked up at him and smiled but didn’t say anything about it. He squeezed once, though, and let Reece lead the way. Angus made light comments about the buildings, the people, the park they passed through, and finally a sputter of laughter when they saw the huge line building outside of Café Du Monde.

“It’ll be just like Franklin Barbecue. Worth the wait, right?”

“For the experience at least. We can’t come here and not get beignets at Café Du Monde, right?”

Angus gave him a sly smile. “Well, if we have to do the big New Orleans things—we’ve walked Bourbon, we’re having the beignets, but there’s something else we’re going to have to try.”

“What’s that?” Part of Reece was almost scared to ask.

“I believe on the way here we passed by an absinthe bar.”

“
Angus
.” Reece hadn’t ever tried anything like that. He wasn’t an adventurous drinker on his best nights, and hadn’t smoked more than a few joints with Angus back in the day. He wasn’t that guy. He didn’t know how to be that guy.

“Seriously. It’ll be a cool experience. You and I. Absinthe. The French Quarter….”

At that moment, Reece decided the trip wasn’t just about Angus and healing. It was about him too. He’d left his shell behind somewhere in Vegas, or maybe in Santa Fe when he’d cuddled Angus close like a lover and held him through the night. It was time to let go.

“You know what? What the hell. I’m in.”

“Yes!” Angus crowed quietly.

They stood in line for beignets and watched the crowd go by on busy Decatur Street. Angus looked on his phone for sights they needed to see, and Reece found himself rubbing a slow circle on the lower part of Angus’s back. No big deal. Right? They were friendly. Always had been. They were close. Always had been that as well. He could totally hold hands with Angus, cuddle him, and rub his back, and it wasn’t a big deal. Especially if he only wanted to kiss him a little. Or a lot. And if Angus stripped his clothes off to bare his creamy skin for Reece to kiss…. If that was something he thought about, it wasn’t inappropriate, right?

All of a sudden, a very strong drink sounded awfully good.

“Hey,” Angus said. “There’s a hat store really close to here. You wanna go check it out after we eat?”

“You want to get a hat?”

“Sure. I could rock a fedora, right?”

Angus would look adorable in pretty much anything. “Of course. Sitting on the balcony with your New Orleans-ish drink and all.”

Angus chuckled. “Cool. And I want to go walk through Jackson Square again. That was gorgeous. And see some more of the streets.”

“I’m good with all of those things.”

“And we should probably go look at the Mississippi since we’re basically right there.”

“Yeah. Probably.” Reece wanted to do it all, just like Angus seemed to want to. He also kind of wanted to stay there forever and soak in the culture.

“Angus and Reece in New Orleans,” Angus said with a grin. “Who would’ve thought it.”

Even though it was… part of them now, the traveling, the cities, and the hotels, it still seemed like something separate from them, some life another person was living.

“Angus and Reece in New Orleans,” he echoed. Reece pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them with the Café Du Monde sign behind them. He texted it to their moms, Peyton, and Cherry with the caption “NOLA!!!” and stuck his phone back in his pocket. Since they’d slept in a little, it wasn’t very long before his phone was buzzing with texts. He’d told the moms he was taking care of Angus and kept them updated on his general progress. To a point. He hadn’t exactly told them they’d gone much farther than Southern California. Yeah. Oops.

When Reece didn’t answer the texts, the ringing started. Angus gave him an accusatory stare. “You shouldn’t have poked the hornet’s nest.”

Reece laughed. He reached into his pocket to pick up the phone. Of course it was nearly their turn in line, so Angus waved him away to a bench and said he’d grab them breakfast.

“Hey, Mom,” Reece said as he walked away toward the closest empty park bench. He ended up on the bottom stair of a concrete amphitheater.

“What on earth are you two doing?”

“Checking out New Orleans?”

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought you were in California.”

“No. We’ve been… other places.”

“Reece. Now.”

Yeah, he was almost thirty, but that didn’t exempt him from the rule of at least telling his mother where he went. He supposed it was a little unsafe of them just to disappear.

“Um, we spent a night in Vegas. I wasn’t a huge fan, but it was pretty neat to see.”

“And?”

“Santa Fe was gorgeous. Quiet but beautiful.”

“Santa Fe.” His mother’s voice was flat and only vaguely pissed off.

“And Austin, in Texas. We went cliff jumping. I think it was actually really good for him. He seemed a lot more like himself.”

“And now you’re in New Orleans.”

“Yeah.”

“When exactly are you two planning to come home?”

“I’m not sure. Soon. I think. We’ll just turn the car in and get a plane ticket.”

“Are you doing okay with money?”

Reece grinned. “Mom, I’m your son. I have a crappy old car, my house is nearly paid off, and I make decent money.”

“So the answer is yes.”

“Yeah. And this has been worth way more than a nice car or a bigger house. It’s… incredible. All these places I’ve never seen.”

“I understand, sweetie. You’ve just never ventured this far from home before.”

Reece hadn’t spent much time at all outside of Oregon. He was starting to wonder what on earth he’d been waiting for. “I know, Ma. It’s pretty incredible, though.”

“And you said Angus is doing a lot better.”

“Yeah. He’s him again.” Reece saw Angus walking toward him with two coffees and a bag of pastries. “He’s… even better than he was before they broke up. He had it rough at the beginning, but I think he needed to get away from reality. I think maybe I did too. We’re good, Ma. Better than good.”

“Okay. I need you to tell me where you are from now on. All this time I thought you boys were still on the West Coast.”

“I will. I’ll let you know what we do next.”

“Please do.”

“And can you tell Kelly that Angus is a lot better? His old phone might have done a bit of a disappearing act, but he has a new one, and I don’t want her to worry too much because his old phone broke.”

“She’s worried
sick
. She wants him to move home to Astoria.”

“I know, but that’s not really the best idea. We’re taking care of all that when we get back. I’ve gotta go. It’s beignet time.”

“I love you, darling. I’m a little jealous.”

“We’ll come back together.” Reece smiled. “Bye, Ma. I’ll let you know where we land next.”

Angus looked pleased with himself when he walked up to where Reece was seated. “I got us three each. We might feel really sick when we get done with this, but hell. It’ll be worth it, right? And here’s your coffee.”

“HEY, THIS
place looks good. You ready for lunch?” Reece asked.

He gestured at the sign of a quaint-looking little café. There had been a sea of cafés and bars and restaurants, but there was something about this one that called his name. They’d been walking around for hours, drunk on the strangeness of the old buildings, the music, the people, and maybe a little bit looped from the heavy, sticky heat. Neither one of them were used to all the walking, and they’d been putting in miles everywhere they stopped.

“Yeah, that looks great. I’d love to sit for a while, and it’s kind of dark and cool in there.”

The café was on a quiet corner in a little brick bungalow with yellow-shuttered windows and what looked like a garden courtyard barely visible behind a large gate. It was called Café Stella, and Reece hadn’t seen anything quite as inviting. They walked in the door and already felt relief from the heat outside. It had seemed light in the morning, but as they walked, humidity had seeped into their skin until it was nearly part of them.

“Please seat yourself,” someone called from the kitchen. “I’m down a server today, so I’ll be out in just a minute to take care of your order myself.”

Angus and Reece chose a booth in the corner, with plush leather seats and a dark teak table. “I really like this place,” Reece murmured. “It’s kind of a mix between the old and traditional and the new and cool.”

Everything was either dark, nearly black, or white. The ceiling was hung with star lanterns of different sizes, most likely an homage to the name of the café. There were thick glasses with cut flowers, and the most heavenly aromas coming from the kitchen.

A chef bounded out of the kitchen to hand them small cardstock-backed menus. “Sorry about that. At least it’s not crowded today, right?”

Reece couldn’t help staring. He’d always thought Angus was the only guy he’d ever really found attractive. So that wasn’t exactly true. And this olive-skinned chef with the slow grin and dark hair piled on top of his head in a sexy bun… okay. He was hot as hell.

“It’s okay. We really aren’t in any hurry.” Angus flashed him a bright smile. “Do you have any recommendations?”

“Nobody ever leaves here without a slice of drunken devil cake, but other than that… I love it all. I’m the one who designs the menus.”

“Thanks….” Angus paused.

“Remy. My name’s Remy.”

Of course it was. Reece bit his lip to keep from grinning like a fool.

“Should we just holler when we’ve made our choice?”

“That’d be great, darlin’.” Remy winked and turned to go back to the kitchen area.

As soon as he was completely out of earshot, Angus laughed and kicked Reece under the table. “You were totally checking him out. Don’t even lie.”

“What are you talking about? No, I wasn’t.”

“Pfft.” Angus rolled his eyes. “He’s gotta be straight, though. Didn’t ping me at all.”

Reece raised an eyebrow. “Well, we know all about your pings and their accuracy, don’t we?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Angus asked.

“Um, you suck at it?” Reece smiled. “So I’m guessing we’re going to get some of the drunken devil cake…. What else do you want?”

“Oh, God they have po’boys. I need another one.”

“And andouille sandwiches too. With plantanos. I’m glad we picked this place.”

They called gorgeous Remy the chef back out and placed their orders, along with two extra-large ice teas. Neither one of them missed it when a second guy, tall and rangy and maybe not as flashy but still pretty damn gorgeous, walked into the café. He smiled at them and then walked into the kitchen like he owned it. They didn’t see much of it, but it was obvious the man gave Remy a kiss in greeting. On the mouth. Reece chuckled.

“Let’s talk about your pings again.”

“Shut it.”

Their sandwiches were pure heaven, and the chocolate cake… well, that wasn’t even describable. They left the café with big smiles and tons of compliments for their very not-straight chef.

“Where to next?” Reece asked.

“Short nap and then a second wind?”

“Does it count as a second wind if you have to take a nap to get it?”

“Don’t ask me,” Angus muttered. “I didn’t make the rules.”

By the time their short nap was over, and they had the sweat of the day rinsed off and were back on the streets, the sun was setting purple and pink over the French Quarter.

“So. Absinthe bar?” Angus asked.

Reece chuckled. “You really want to try this, don’t you?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Okay. I’m in. Lead the way.”

It took a wrong turn or two, but eventually the two of them found their way back to the little bar on Pirates Alley that they’d passed a number of times already that day. Reece took a deep breath and followed Angus in the door.

“YOU READY?”

Angus and Reece had just spent the last fifteen minutes inside the bar, listening to a rather fascinating history of absinthe and its many uses. Even though he’d forgotten about it during the bartender’s minilecture, the history lesson still had to end with them drinking the stuff, so after a demonstration on proper technique, the bartender poured.

Reece took a small sip. The stuff was potent and licorice flavored. Not horrible at all. But strong. Strong as hell, by the way the inside of his mouth tingled.

“That’s… interesting,” Reece said.

“Sip slowly,” she told him. “Let it sink in.”

“I like it. But I’ve always loved black licorice.” Angus took another long sip. “I might end up getting another one of these.”

“I’m not sure if I love it, but it’s better than a lot of the things you’ve handed me.” Reece chuckled. He took another sip of his drink. And then another. Before he knew it, he and Angus were ordering a second.

The bartender gave them a knowing look. “Might not want to have too much more than these two your first time out of the gate.”

“We won’t.”

They each had another absinthe and then left with a tip to wander up and down Bourbon again and take in the crowds, because touristy or not, apparently there was nothing quite like Saturday night on Bourbon. The streets were filled with people and lights and noises, and, in a way, Reece thought, it
was
like Vegas—there was the same feeling of accepted debauchery in the best possible way. But where Vegas neatly funneled crowds in and out of high-powered casinos and luxury bars, these buildings were cramped and dark and to him infinitely more interesting.

“Hey, you wanna go in there?” Angus asked. There was a bar on the corner with a rainbow flag hanging over the door.

“Yeah. Sure. Let’s go check it out.”

They went into the bar and were enveloped by darkness. Reece reached out to hold Angus’s hand but then realized he was already holding it.