Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 03 - Of Dark and Bright (6 page)

“Well, I like the sound of that!” Krista said. She looked over at Dan with an oddly meaningful expression and added, “I’m sure Dan really values the relationship.”

That was a bit weird, but Evan let it pass. And Tat hadn’t seemed to notice at all. She was staring at Krista’s bulging abdomen with near-maniacal excitement. “Is everything going okay? With the baby? Do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?”

Krista grinned. “Everything’s good. Just went to the doctor and got all checked out, and he gave me a bunch of vitamins and stuff. It’s going to be a beautiful, healthy baby.” Another weird look at Dan, and Evan absolutely wanted to know what was going on there. “But I asked them not to tell me if it’s a boy or a girl. I want to be surprised.”

Tat nodded happily. “So no blue or pink yet—that’s cool. I like babies in white clothes. I mean, we could get some yellow and green and stuff too, but we already got a bit in white—we kept the receipts, so we can return anything you don’t like—and I think it’d be excellent to keep that as the base color for its wardrobe.”

“Wow,” Krista said. “I hadn’t really gotten that far. I mean….” She looked at Dan again. “I’m not sure where the baby’s going to be, after it’s born.”

That only slowed Tat down for a moment before she said, “Well, it’ll need clothes wherever it is. I brought a few bags of stuff over, in case you wanted to look at it.” She scowled at Dan. “And you probably want to sit on a comfier chair, right? There’s good furniture in the living room—do you want to go in there?”

“Sure,” Krista agreed, and she followed Tat without a second look at either of the men in the room.

 

Evan was left in the kitchen with Dan. “Sorry for busting in,” he said. “Tat was pretty excited.”

Dan nodded, but that never really meant too much, Evan had discovered. Dan would nod his head for practically any reason, totally without connection to actually accepting what was being said to him. The only way to be sure where you stood was to look him in the eyes, and right then, Dan’s eyes were focused pretty intently on the doorway his sister had just passed through.

“You okay?” Evan asked. He waited, and finally Dan turned toward him and moved in. Dan was usually pretty good about reciprocating casual affection, but he didn’t generally initiate it. Evan wasn’t sure if this was a good or bad sign, but he opened his arms and let Dan step into them. Dan rested his forehead on Evan’s shoulder.

“I’m okay,” Dan said, his voice a little muffled. “It was just a bit weird.”

 

“We’ll sort it out,” Evan promised. “We’ll make it work.”

“Yeah,” Dan said, but Evan didn’t believe him. He reached his fingers down to rest gently underneath Dan’s chin, then lifted just enough to urge Dan to look up. Dan lifted his face before his eyes, but he finally looked at Evan, and Evan wasn’t reassured by what he saw.

“It’s going to work,” he repeated, and he put all the conviction he could muster into his voice.

 

Dan smiled reluctantly. “If you say so.”

“That’s what I want to hear,” Evan said, and he turned quickly, pulling Dan’s head into the crook of his elbow and dragging him toward the living room. “Now let’s go see what Tat’s been spending all her money on.”

Dan let himself be guided, and Evan tried to ignore the knot of worry forming in his stomach. What had made Dan so uncertain? And what could Evan do to make it better?

“SO
,
EVERYTHING’Sokay, then?” Jeff said. He was pulling his shirt
back on and didn’t bother to look at the doctor. Didn’t bother, or couldn’t make himself.

“I didn’t say that,” the doctor said, just as Jeff had been afraid he might. “I said I couldn’t see the problem. But if you’re having pain like that, as regularly as you are, then whether I can see it or not, there’s something wrong. I’m going to refer you to a cardiologist, to rule out the most obvious, and the most serious, possibilities. When we get the results from that, we can talk about the next step.”

“I was probably exaggerating things,” Jeff said quickly. “It seemed like a problem, but—”

“Jeff, stop it. You’ve been my patient for almost twenty years, and this is the first time I’ve seen you outside of your yearly checkups. You’re not a hypochondriac. You’re experiencing a medical issue, and we’ve got a good team of people ready to help you with it.” The doctor’s voice was kind, but firm, and Jeff didn’t try to argue with him.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t deflect. “I’m forty-three,” he said. “It’s too early for it to be my heart, right? And I’m fit—I exercise and watch what I eat.”

“High school athletes sometimes keel over with heart attacks.” The doctor held up his hand before Jeff could respond. “I don’t think you’re at risk for that. From the tests I could do here, everything seems fine. But you need to take this seriously. You’re relatively young, and you’re relatively fit, and those are both factors in your favor. But you’re having chest pains. I want to know why.”

Yeah. Jeff wanted to know why too. He finished buttoning his shirt and took the slip of paper the doctor offered him. “Dr. Lam works out of this office, so you can make an appointment at the front desk. There may even be something available today, if you’re able to wait a while.”

Jeff didn’t want to do that. He wanted to get out of this place and forget all about it. He wanted to get back home and keep Evan and Tat from driving Dan crazy, and he wanted to meet Dan’s sister and start trying to figure out how she was going to fit into their family. And apparently his preoccupation was clear on his face, because the doctor clucked disapprovingly.

“Jeff, you need to take this seriously. You came to see me; that was a good first step. Now you need to follow through.” He paused, then added, “You need to take care of yourself so that you’ll be in good enough condition to take care of everybody else.” He smiled gently when Jeff looked at him in surprise. “I may only see you once a year, Jeff, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know you. Now, get out there and make an appointment. I’ll follow up with Dr. Lam as soon as you’ve seen her. And, Jeff—if you can’t get in to see her soon, I’m going to recommend a trip to the hospital to find another cardiologist. This isn’t nothing.”

Jeff nodded reluctantly and shuffled out the door. His heart was fine; he didn’t need a cardiologist. But he thought of Evan’s face, excited as he talked about Krista’s baby, and he thought of Dan, stubborn and proud, working so hard to do the right thing. The doctor was right. Jeff needed to take care of himself so he could be sure he’d be around to take care of them. He found the end of the line for the receptionist and joined it, the referral slip clutched in his hands. He’d be okay. He had to be.

Chapter 5
“
H
E’Snot one of the valuable ones,” Dan explained. He looked over

at Smokey, happily eating the carrot Krista had brought out to the porch, and thought how inadequate the words were. He tried to clarify. “I mean, he doesn’t cost a lot. He was a gift, actually, so he didn’t cost anything, except for five years of putting up with Chris’s bullshit beforehand.” He scratched the Quarter Horse’s withers and looked over at his sister. He had no idea if this was making sense to her. “But he’s mine. The other horses—some of them are great. They’re all worth a lot of money, and they’re talented athletes, and well-trained. But Smokey’s mine. And he’s well-trained too.”

He looked down to see that Smokey had finished the carrot and had taken an experimental mouthful of the pink flowers that had been carefully planted along the porch’s foundation. The horse was chewing thoughtfully, like a food expert savoring a new flavor, and Dan pushed him back a few steps. “Well-trained at some stuff,” he clarified. “He’s not, like, housebroken or anything.” Dan couldn’t really understand why it was so important to him that his sister appreciate his horse, but he couldn’t deny that it was. He didn’t want to stop talking, didn’t want to give her the opportunity to speak and say something that would show that this was just one more area where she and he had nothing in common.

But when he dared to look back at Krista, she was smiling at the little cow horse on her lawn. “He’s adorable,” she said. “Those videos you showed me… the eventers? They looked kinda scary. Too big, and, I don’t know… too fancy. This one, though….” She reached her hand out, and Smokey politely raised his nose to sniff her fingers. Looking for more carrots, obviously, but willing to be petted if that was all she had to offer. “He’s one of us, isn’t he?”

Dan nodded slowly and let the relief wash over him. Krista understood. “Yeah. He’s a tough little commoner. He’s got a lot of heart, and he gets shit done.”

“Can I get him another carrot? Or an apple?” Krista grinned. “Or I think I might have a few sugar-free candies somewhere in there.”

“Evan gets carried away,” Dan said, but he didn’t feel the need to defend his boyfriend. Evan could take care of himself. “He sees something that sounds good, and he can’t buy just a little.”

“Well, the next option for candy that gross is to buy
none
,” Krista said firmly. “I’m pregnant, not diabetic.”

“He read an article,” Dan said, and he smiled at Krista’s snort. An article on folic acid had prompted Tia, the Kaminski housekeeper, to make spinach-stuffed ravioli and send it over. Krista had said it was surprisingly delicious, and the floodgates had opened. Robyn had read about calcium and how supplements weren’t always enough, and had become an expert on all things dairy, despite her vegan leanings. Tat had set up “fruit of the week” programs from three different companies, because she’d read that a diverse diet was important. And Evan had found articles on babies being able to hear in the womb, and had somehow bought or had manufactured a huge set of “wombphones,” huge earphones designed to be strapped to the mother’s belly. He’d sent along some Bach and Mozart to play, but Dan wasn’t convinced that Evan wouldn’t have found some way to introduce his own voice to the recordings, sending subliminal messages about living large and going for profit maximization.

Dan had been trying to avoid getting caught up in the hype. It was gratifying to see everyone so excited, so welcoming, but this was his sister. They had their own history together, abbreviated though it was, and hopefully they had some sort of a future together, as well. They were about more than gifts. And Krista was more than a babyproduction machine to him.

She returned with an apple and a carrot, and fed them both to Smokey, laughing as the horse drooled apple juice all over her hand. “He just expects me to hold it for him?” she asked, waiting with her arm outstretched as Smokey chewed his second bite of apple.

“He’s not wrong, is he? Some horses take the whole thing, but that’s usually the ones that haven’t gotten a lot of human affection. The ones that trust people, they’ve learned that they don’t need to grab it all at once. And it’s a lot easier for them to chew it a bite at a time.”

Krista smiled affectionately at the horse. “So he’s had a good life, then. Smokey’s had people take care of him.”

 

Dan nodded. “Yeah. He hasn’t always been as spoiled as he’s been the last few years, maybe, but he’s always had it pretty good.”

Krista’s green eyes looked familiar to Dan as she turned and looked at him. “So maybe he’s not really one of us after all,” she said softly. She didn’t wait for an answer, just went back to fussing over Smokey. Dan was glad she was willing to be distracted, because he really had no idea how to respond to what she’d said.

E
VAN liked to watch Dan. Doing pretty much anything, but especially doing things that really captured his attention and forced him to concentrate. Sex. Riding horses. And, strangely enough, cooking.

It had been almost sad, over the years, watching him get better in the kitchen. When Tia had first started teaching him to cook, every job had required his full focus; Evan could get turned on just watching Dan’s frown as he chopped vegetables or stirred a pot of soup. Now, though, Dan was competent, almost expert, and he only had to concentrate for the more complicated stuff. Evan had considered trying to persuade him to take up cake decorating, or, if he was feeling more manly, leaving the kitchen and doing some wood carving. Or maybe he could make those miniature models, the ones that people used tweezers to put together. Evan didn’t really care about the finished product, he just wanted to see Dan’s frown of concentration, and the way he moved so gracefully and efficiently, as if his body was instinctively doing exactly what it was designed to do. But today he was trying something new in the kitchen, and he was looking just as focused as Evan liked.

It was unbelievably seductive, and Evan was glad Tat had stayed at a friend’s house the night before. And he was glad that she’d chosen to live in a dorm when she went to college in the fall. It would be the best of both worlds; she was just moving to the city, so she’d still be close enough for him to keep an eye on, but she’d be far enough away that he could have the house to himself more often. Now if he could just figure out a way to get Jeff and Dan to agree to move in.

“How do you know when your butter is ‘soft but not too soft’?” Dan groaned, and Evan remembered that for Dan, at least, this culinary adventure was not purely foreplay. “I should have waited for some time when Tia would be here.” He looked over at Evan, perched on the breakfast bar stool, and shook his head in disgust. “You don’t even know what I’m trying to make, do you?”

“It smells really good,” Evan said supportively.

 

“That’s the onions and the bacon. There’s really nothing hard about caramelizing onions and frying up some bacon.”

“I bet there’s something hard somewhere else,” Jeff said with a knowing smirk in Evan’s direction. He was standing in the kitchen doorway, sweatpants slung low on his hips, thin T-shirt falling just right from his broad shoulders. His hair was still mussed from the pillow, and Evan really, really wanted to touch him. But that would just support his dig about Evan’s little cooking fetish, and Evan didn’t want to do that.

Dan frowned at both of them. “This is serious. I’m already using a speed-recipe, which is probably a bad idea. If we want these bastards to be edible, I really need to know how soft to make the goddamn butter.”