Risk Is a Four-Letter Word (11 page)

Zeke fought back a blush as his mom wrinkled
her nose. "Yeah, well, his dad had brown eyes, too," she said flatly.
Crap
. His mother wasn't happy either.
She was just making nice so everyone would get along. He frowned at her, but
she avoided his look. "Did you know that Eric and Zeke are dating?"
she asked Carrie.

"Mom!"
Zeke protested, choking on a bite of egg. Eric's mother looked like
she wanted to spit, but Zeke's mom gazed at him innocently, ignoring her
friend.

"What? That's what you told me last
week."

Zeke sighed and put his fork down. "Yeah,
that's true."

Carrie jumped in, probably hoping to deflect an
argument. "Yes, I knew, Mrs. Griffin."

Zeke's mom pursed her lips, but before she
could say anything, Sherry interrupted. "If you knew, then why were you in
their
bed.
Naked?" She practically hissed the
last word. Zeke sent a "run away" look to Eric, but his lover shook
his head minutely and dropped heavily into the chair next to Carrie.
Brave man.

Carrie blushed and forged ahead. "Well, my
car got stuck on

Eric chimed in finally. "We had to get her
out of her wet things and warmed up."

"You had to get naked to do that?"
Sherry
asked,
her voice sharp. Zeke sensed the hurt
beneath her bitchiness. He'd known this moment would come ever since he
realized she had a thing for Eric, almost two years ago now.

"The best way to bring someone's body
temperature up is to share body heat," Josie said. Zeke stared at her in
surprise. She was defending Eric now? The woman who hadn't spoken to her son in
a week when she found out he was in a relationship with a man? He frowned as
she continued. "You don't want to bring up the temperature too fast
though. If the cold blood in the extremities hits the heart, it can be
dangerous. Sharing body heat is the most efficient and safest way to help
someone if you can't get them to a hospital." She eyed Carrie
speculatively. "Usually stripping down to the underwear is sufficient,
however."

Zeke's chest hurt when he realized what was
going on. The only reason Josie was talking was because she hoped Eric would
fall for Carrie instead of Zeke. Problem was, Eric
was
falling for Carrie, it's just he wasn't also falling out of
love with Zeke. He glanced at his friend. Eric looked haunted. Zeke didn't know
what to do. Carrie looked from him to Eric, then at their mothers and Sherry.
She opened her mouth and shut it again. The undercurrents swirling in the room
were deadly. He didn't blame her for keeping quiet.

"Eric, where did you
meet Carrie?"
Josie asked.

Zeke wondered how she missed the part where he
was naked with Carrie, too.
Probably willful blindness.
She just didn't want to picture her son Eric in bed with another man.

"
We
met her on the beach. Then at
MoMA
," Eric answered, warily.

"Then we met her at the hospital, when
Eric cut himself," Zeke explained, voice neutral.

"And then I brought a client by, to see
some of their work," Carrie explained. "That was last week."

"And you thought you'd pop by in the
middle of the night? Sounds like you barely know each other," Sherry said.

Zeke didn't know how to explain the attraction
he and Eric felt for Carrie. How every time they ran into each other, it felt
like the universe was nudging them. He took a deep breath, about to at least
try and explain when Carrie suddenly jumped up from her chair.

"You know, I've got to get going."
She hurried over to the bag of her wet clothes and pulled out her boots.
"The snow is already melting."

Zeke frowned and pushed away from the table.
Can this get any more awkward?
"Hang
on,
we'll drive you to your car."

Carrie shook her head. "No, no, I'll be
fine. Look, they already plowed the roads and the snow is melting fast. I could
use the fresh air." She had her boots on and was slinging her purse over
her shoulder before he could catch her. She picked up the plastic bag with her
wet clothes and walked away so quickly Zeke couldn't figure out what just
happened.

"Carrie, we can drive you, just wait a
second," Eric called after her. He looked for his boots, but they weren't
near the door like usual. Zeke vaguely remembered sticking them in the laundry
room last night so they'd dry out faster.

"Seriously.
I'll be fine." She moved through the kitchen to the living
room then paused at the front door. "I really appreciate all you did for
me.
Really."

Zeke hurried after her, but she had the door
unlocked and open before he even got out of the kitchen. Near the front door he
saw her hesitate and grab a worn business card out of the bowl on the side
table.
What the--?

"Goodbye, Zeke. Eric," she
said,
a wistful note in her voice then she was gone.

Eric stumbled out of the laundry room with his
boots on and his coat buttoned askew. He saw the front door was closed and
yanked it back open. He stepped onto the porch. "Carrie! Wait!"

Zeke joined him, shivering as his bare feet
touched the melting snow. "Eric. She's gone." He'd watched her run
down the driveway like a bat out of hell. There was no way they'd catch her.
Their truck was still piled under the snow and neither of them was dressed.

"Shit!" Eric yelled then spun around.
"Why'd you let her go?"

"What did you want me to do, tie her
up?" Zeke said, pissed.

"If necessary," Eric snapped.

Zeke looked at him for a long moment.

"All right.
Fine," Eric said, backing down and stomping back inside. He
kicked off his boots, ignoring the stares of the three women who'd followed
them to the living room.

"She wanted to go, Eric," Zeke said,
shutting the front door behind him. His heart hurt. This situation was a total
clusterfuck
.
First Josie, my mom, and Sherry show up out of the blue and then Carrie
spooks and run.
Not that I
blame her, after the way the women treated her
. He shook his head. He just
wanted to go back to bed.
Preferably with Eric.
He
tried not to think about the card Carrie took when she left. That card had her
number on it. Clearly she didn't want them contacting her again.

"Yeah, whatever."
Eric rubbed his face and turned to his mother. "Thanks a lot,
Mom."

She glared. "I didn't do a damn thing,
Eric. You're the one who ran her off. She probably knows better than to take up
with a man who likes other men."

Zeke's mouth dropped open.
Did she just say that out loud?
He watched Eric's face pale but
before he could say a word Sherry started yelling. "You're a bigot, Mrs.
Wright. And you're talking about my brother too, in case you've
forgotten!"

Wait, now she was defending them? "Sherry,
don't bother. Just--" He struggled for words and failed. "Just don't."

"No,
you
don't, Zeke. I'm not a child. I may not like the fact that you're dating Eric, but
it's not because I hate gay people!"

Josie's face turned pink. "
Don't talk
to me like that, young woman. You don't know a
thing about it."

"I know a
helluva
lot more than you do, Mrs. Wright. One of my best friends is gay. And he's a
perfectly normal person. So is Eric, not that you can see that."

"It's unnatural," Josie said.

Zeke moved closer to Eric, wishing he could
stop this train wreck.

"Enough, both of you," Zeke's mom
interjected. She sounded tired. "Josie, I thought you were going to at
least
try
to understand." She
turned from her friend to her daughter. "And you, Sherry, show Mrs. Wright
some respect. She didn't grow up like you. It's hard for her to get used to
this." She waved her hand at Zeke and Eric.

"You don't have any problem with it, Mom,"
Sherry said.

Zeke's mom sighed. "I did, a little."
Sherry gasped, and Zeke could tell from the look on her face that she was
furious, but before she could open her mouth again, Zeke's mom continued.
"Then I remembered how much I loved Eric like my own son. And I remembered
how much I love Zeke." She sent him a smile. "And I realized it just
doesn't matter. I'm going to love them both no matter what they do. And they're
not fundamentally different now than they were three weeks ago. Not really."

Josie shook her head. "Yes, they
are."

Zeke couldn't think of a damn thing to say. He
shifted closer to Eric and leaned on him. Eric slipped his hand into Zeke's.

"No, not really.
Eric is still your son. Zeke is still mine. They still live
together. Just because they share a little bit more with each other now doesn't
change that."

Josie's shoulders slumped and for the first
time Zeke felt a hint of pity for her. She was really struggling with this.

"I'll try. I know I promised to try,"
she said.

Zeke's mom smiled and hugged her friend.
"That's all we can ask for." She straightened and looked at Zeke and
Eric. "We should get out of your hair, too. I've
gotta
get to work, even if it's just for half the day."

Sherry grimaced. "Yeah, I thought we'd get
the whole day off school, but nope."

Josie nodded, grabbing her coat from the stair
banister where she'd tossed it. Then she stiffened. "What about that
woman? Carrie. What was she really doing here?"

"Mom, she was freezing," Eric said,
dodging the question.

Zeke watched Josie grit her teeth and nod. She
knew what was going on, but she wasn't going to make an issue of it, at least
not right now. He let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"All right.
I'll see you Sunday for dinner?" Josie asked Eric.

Zeke froze. That was a peace offering. Would
Eric take it?

"Yeah.
I'd like that, Mom. See you Sunday." Eric's voice was quiet.

Zeke exhaled.

"You too, Zeke," Josie said.

Zeke nodded, relief filling him. He'd been part
of their Sunday dinners for as long as he could remember.

"All right, it's time for us to go,"
Zeke's mom said. She walked over and gave Zeke a hug. "I'll see you
later."

Zeke hugged her back. "Okay."

"Later, bro," Sherry punched him in
the arm. She stopped in front of Eric.
"You too.
Bro."
She punched him as well. Zeke smiled. His sister
was trying, too. Despite her disappointment, she was trying.

"Bye, Eric. Zeke," Josie said,
slipping her coat on. She didn't hug anyone, but then Zeke didn't expect her
to. Eric held the door and the three women left. It felt like the end of a long
day and it was only mid-morning. Zeke sighed and rubbed his eyes. His gaze fell
on the bowl near the door. He fingered through the keys and spare change,
crumpling up a receipt when he didn't find what he was looking for. He hoped
he'd been wrong.

"What?" Eric asked, coming to stand
next to him.

"Carrie took her card out of the bowl.
Unless you programmed her number into your cell?"
Eric
shook his head and Zeke continued grimly. "Well, we no longer have
Carrie's number. She took it back."

He and Eric stood there, looking at the piece
of pottery. When Eric's hand suddenly shot out, knocking it to the floor, Zeke
didn't even flinch.

Chapter Seven

The seventh time Carrie ran into Zeke and Eric,
she was pissed off at herself.
And completely mortified.
Scared of her feelings for them.
She'd been trying to
avoid them for the past few weeks and mostly succeeded, but they lived in the
same small town. She was bound to run into them sooner or later. Sure, work
took her into the city a lot, but there was only one grocery store. Truthfully,
she'd been waiting for it to happen. She was a fool for running out on them.
For snatching her card.
It was a stupid thing to do. The day
after the storm, she'd told her sister about what happened and Olivia had been
shocked.

"You what?
Both of them?
At the
same time?"
Olivia asked a few days after the snowstorm. Chocolate
ice cream dripped down her chin.

Carrie handed her sister a napkin as she thought
about how to explain what happened. They were sitting in an ice cream shop in
the mall. Carrie really needed someone to talk to so she'd persuaded their mom
to babysit Olivia's kids for the day and dragged her sister out shopping.