Heartward Page 6

  Abey nodded as though what he was doing was really serious.

  “Do you want to get the sofa while he’s busy? He probably has ten minutes, and then he’ll be on to a million other things.”

  “Let’s do it.” Alan followed Tyler out front and opened the back of the truck. He carried in the cushions and then slid the frame to the back of the truck. He and Tyler each took a side, hefted the sofa up, and carried it toward the front door.

  Tyler used his elbow to open the storm door, and they proceeded inside and set it in the living room against the large wall. Alan sighed and placed the cushions.

  Abey hurried in, stuffing a grape into his mouth, jumping on the sofa. “Mine!”

  “It is, huh?” Tyler grabbed him to stop the jumping and let him swallow, then tickled Abey, and peals of laughter filled the room. Abey squirmed and laughed harder, trying to get away and loving the attention. It was wonderful to see both of them so happy. “How about it can be for both of us. Okay? We can share it.”

  Abey stilled, looking up at Tyler, then giggled. “No. Mine.” More tickles followed until Tyler zoomed Abey off the sofa and into the kitchen.

  “Did you finish the grapes?” He placed him back on the chair, and Abey eventually went back to his grapes. “Can you thank Mr. Alan for bringing the sofa?”

  “Mine.” He seemed determined to stake his ownership.

  “Thank Mr. Alan for bringing it. Okay?” Tyler asked. “It was very nice of him.” Tyler turned and caught Alan’s gaze. For a second it grew heated, and Alan tugged at his collar. “It was pretty amazing of him to bring it for us so quickly.”

  “Fank you,” Abey said to him and turned to Tyler. “Mine.” He grinned and ate another grape.

  “Are there going to be any left for dinner?” Tyler asked.

  Abey pulled the last grapes off the stems and handed Tyler the stem bowl. “Play now? Done cooking.” He climbed down, ran down the hall, and returned with cars in each hand, proceeding to run them all over the floor.

  “He has so much energy,” Alan observed.

  “Yup. Right up until he crashes and falls to sleep.” Tyler sighed. “Tuesday was his first day in day care, and his teacher, Miss Carol, said he never stops playing or watching for the food. At lunchtime, he ate his, and if the other kids weren’t done, he tried to take theirs.” Tyler turned up the heat and got the water boiling as the room filled with the scent of bacon. God, there were some foods that were gifts from the gods, and bacon was definitely one of them. With the water heating, Tyler browned off the small cuts of bacon in a sauté pan. Abey ran over at top speed, and Alan caught him before he reached Tyler.

  “That’s hot, little man. You don’t want to burn yourself,” Alan told him gently. “Do you want to show me your cars? Papa is making you some dinner that’s going to be really yummy.”

  Abey looked longingly toward the pan and grabbed Tyler’s leg, fussing and whining softly.

  “You can have a piece of bacon, but only once it cools down.” He was so patient. “Go play, and I promise I’ll give you a piece.” Only then did Abey back away and return to his cars. “It’s all about food. Carol told me that usually they have to beg to get the kids to eat, but not Abey.”

  “Are you going to pack some extra for him from now on?”

  “No. I am going to bring in some crackers she can give him. The whole thing is the fact that he didn’t have enough food at one time, so he overcompensates. Sometimes he eats until he gets sick, so I have to watch him.” Tyler seemed really stressed. “I know there is nothing I can do but try to make him feel comfortable and let those memories and the behavior they drive ease up. Sometimes I think it is, and then there are times….”

  “Day care is new. He’s probably pushing the boundaries to try to see where they are.”

  “I thought so too.” Tyler salted the boiling water and then added the pasta, stirring it before letting it cook. Tyler called Abey and gave him a piece of bacon, as promised, and made him sit at the table to eat it. “Can I change the subject and ask why you opened the store?”

  “I thought there was a market for it. There’s the furniture store in town, but they sell new pieces, and that’s great. I work with them a lot of the time because if someone is looking for that and they come in my store, I send them down, and they do the same for me. But new furniture is too expensive for a lot of people, and garage sales can be hit or miss—mostly miss a lot of the time. I go to a lot of auctions and sales, where I can buy good furniture that’s made well and going to last, and I sell it at a fraction of the cost of new. I can fix the finish if need be and do minor repairs and things. The building had been a variety store years ago and sat empty for a long time. I leased it inexpensively, made improvements, and now I have a regular clientele. I also offer consignment services, but only under the deal that I set the prices. Some people think their things are worth a fortune when they aren’t.” He shrugged.

  “So you want to provide value?”

  “And fill a need. So many people can’t afford five hundred or a thousand dollars for a chair, but eighty or a hundred bucks and the piece is clean and isn’t going to fall apart? Yeah, they can do that.” He watched as Tyler drained the pasta and then moved to the sauce. Abey watched as well, his attention fully on the process, licking his lips as the scent of garlic joined the bacon smell that filled the kitchen. Tyler tossed the pasta and bacon with a mixture of eggs, cheese, and a little cream. It was something else, and man, did Alan’s belly rumble. “I’m not going to get rich, but I like it, and it keeps Marcie and me busy.” He grew quiet as he watched Tyler’s fluid movements. Tyler was graceful, and because he had an audience, seemed to relish adding a few flourishes as he went. “What about you? Why a fireman?”

  “That’s a hard one. I went to college and decided I was going to be a social worker. At least that’s where I started. My father was none too happy, though Dad is rarely happy with me. It’s been that way for years. My brother, Grant, is perfect. He graduated top of his class, went to med school, and is a leading researcher in Houston. Grant is five years older than me, so we were only so close, and by the time I was thirteen, he was away at college.” Tyler shrugged. “I don’t think it helped much that I turned out gay. Dad was proudest of me when I was in high school, playing sports. It was the one thing Grant wasn’t good at. So I thought I’d figured out a way to please him. The gay wiped that out.” He flashed a forced smile.

  “Is your brother married?”

  “Yes. But they don’t have any children. Claudia doesn’t want any. She is a partner in a law firm down there and isn’t about to give up her career for anything. I have a sister as well; she’s married and the baby of the family.” Tyler continued to stir as the sauce thickened and coated the linguini. The scent was Alan’s idea of heaven. “Anyway, the social worker thing didn’t pan out, and I was always good physically….” He cleared his throat. “When I was home on a break, the house next to Mom and Dad’s caught fire. I remember watching the firemen hurry into the house and pull out RaeLynn and her sister. I realized I wanted to do that.” Tyler’s cheeks flushed, and he turned away. “My whole body thrummed with excitement at the thought. It was what I wanted to do. I finished my degree and enrolled in the training.”

  Tyler let the pasta sit and got out bowls. He also put Abey in his big-boy chair, cut up the linguini for him, and gave him a spoon and the bowl. Tyler finished setting out salad and plates for them. He added a beer for each of them and sat down across from Alan. “I hope it’s okay.”

  Alan took a bite and hummed softly. “This is amazing.” He actually blinked, it was so damned good. “How long were you in Italy?”

  “About a year. We were trying to help with the humanitarian crisis that was brewing over there.” Tyler took a bite and lowered his fork, checking on Abey. “Things were really hard because of Russian aggression, among other things, so a lot of people smuggled themselves into Turkey and then Albania, trying to get to the EU countries. They
ended up trying to get to Italy, and it was overwhelming for them.”

  “I remember that,” Alan said softly. “There was that picture that everyone was sharing on social media of the little boy on the beach with the rescuer holding him.” He shook his head. “It was so sad, but Lord knows the current administration here wasn’t going to offer help.” Alan swallowed. “I remember the story going on to say that the little boy lived. There was no more information after that.”

  “He did, and you’re having dinner with him right now,” Tyler said.

  Alan’s mouth hung open, midbite. “You were the rescuer?”

  “Yes. We were never able to find any family. Everyone was presumed dead.” Tyler’s hand shook, and he set down his fork, growing pale. “I will never forget that day for as long as I live.” He smiled and turned to Abey, making sure he was doing okay. Then Tyler got up and went to the sink, leaving his dinner behind.

  Dang, Alan hadn’t meant to upset him. Alan stood, went up behind Tyler, and placed his hand on his shoulder. Tyler didn’t move, but he also didn’t pull away, so Alan went ahead and hugged him, gently wrapping his arms around Tyler’s chest. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  Tyler breathed deeply and leaned slightly back against him. “It was awful. There was a report of a ship sinking within sight of the coast. I knew it had to be a refugee boat and hurried down there to try to help. Locals were gathering boats and things, but by the time I got there, the boat reported was nowhere to be seen. I hurried up the coast, and that was when I found Abey, along with a few other people. Apparently a man had tried to save him and nearly made it to shore. He went under, and another man saved Abey, who wasn’t breathing, and I was able to resuscitate him. That’s when that picture was taken.” Tyler put his hands on top of Alan’s. “As far as we could piece together from the ones who made it to shore, there were two hundred or so people on board, but fewer than twenty made it, including him.” Tyler reached for a paper towel off the holder and blew his nose.

  “You know it’s okay to—” Alan wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He had certainly never seen his dad, his own role model, act this overcome… about anything.

  “The hell it is. I’m supposed to be strong and….” Tyler’s shoulders shook, and Alan stood with him, holding Tyler as he stood silent and yet vulnerable. He didn’t try to say anything more. It would only make the situation uncomfortable. Instead, he offered what solace he could with the gentlest of touches.

  “Papa,” Abey called, and Tyler wiped his eyes once again.

  “I’m okay.” He slowly turned around, his eyes red, but otherwise he was okay. “Do you want some more?” It seemed Abey had been the only one to actually eat his dinner.

  Abey held up his bowl, and Tyler sighed and got some more pasta for his son. “Thank you,” Tyler said to him as he finished taking care of Abey. Then he motioned, and Alan took his seat once more.

  “I didn’t know.”

  Tyler shook his head and took a small bite. “No one does. Not even my parents. The images were all over the internet, and my mom would come unglued if she knew the details.” He was being evasive, probably for Abey’s sake. “In the pictures, you really can’t see my face.” He took a deep breath and ate some more. “I’m okay now.” He rubbed Abey’s head gently.

  “Do you want to talk about something else?” Alan asked.

  “If you don’t mind, you might as well hear the rest of the story. See, we couldn’t find any family, and because it was all so murky, there were calls to send everyone back. The Red Cross tried to find family but had no luck tracing them. It seemed the boat had just loaded people on and set sail. Many remain nameless still. The government was helping the refugees as best they could. I stayed with him in the hospital and asked my supervisors about adopting. I couldn’t let him go into limbo. So after the searches turned up nothing, the Red Cross recommended my adoption and the government eventually approved it.” Tyler sniffed. “I hope he has family out there somewhere and that they’re thinking of him.”

  “They must have been really desperate if they were making that kind of crossing.” At least that made sense to him.

  “Yes, they were. The other people on the boat with Abey… some had seen the family, but they didn’t know them well at all. I extended my stay in Italy in order to make sure the adoption went through and to get him a passport and documentation. He’s my son now, and if I can help it, he’ll know happiness and as much love as I can give him.” Tyler seemed much calmer now. Abey had finished his pasta and sat in his seat a little glassy-eyed. Tyler gave him a few grapes, and Abey ate them before falling half asleep in his chair.

  “My God, he eats.”

  “Yup. Almost anything you put in front of him.” Tyler chuckled and told Alan about the biting. “My dad teased that he was going to call him Cujo, and my mom said she’d bite my dad if he did.”

  “So they’re taken with him.”

  “Yup. Mom is in grandma mode big-time, and when Abey calls him Grampy, my dad melts a little. The stubborn fool is going to be wrapped around his little finger soon enough. I never thought about being a parent, and now that I am, I can’t think of being anything else. Did you ever want kids?”

  Alan paused. “I never thought about it. I’m a guy from Scottville, like you. It wasn’t like there were a bunch of other gay kids or a pride parade. It was something no one talked about.”

  “I know. It’s like we had to figure everything out for ourselves. I attended a few parades when I was in college. A friend of mine sophomore year convinced me to go. I got a rainbow T-shirt, and when he picked me up at the dorm, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry.” Tyler grinned, lighting up his entire expression. That was sexy as hell, especially the twinkle of mischief in his eye. “He had on these white short-shorts with brass buttons, angel wings, white boots, glittery white armbands, and a white headband. He also had a wand, because apparently he was some sort of fairy angel. Anyway, I followed him out of the dorm, and Gabriel, that was his real name, pranced across campus to the parade, picking up admirers like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. By the time we got there, he was a parade unto himself, and once we took a spot, he marched down the parade route, shaking the wand, which dispensed glitter… tons of glitter. The thing was full, and half of Big Rapids had glitter in their hair.”

  “Were you and Gabriel close?”

  Tyler nodded. “He and I were really close, and I wanted us to be more.” Tyler finished his pasta and took a bowl of salad. He also made up one for Alan. “The dressing is my own. When I was in France, I learned to make this incredible, simple, mustard sort of vinaigrette. It’s light but flavorful.”

  Alan dressed his salad as Tyler continued, which was awesome, because Alan was really interested, even if his belly twisted with a slight pang of jealousy. “Were you intimate?” Alan asked, conscious that Abey was right there with them, still asleep in his chair.

  “Yes. And it was really good. Gabriel was something else… in that area. But he was also this incredible free spirit that wasn’t going to be tied to anyone for very long. At least not then. Now he’s a lawyer in Grand Rapids with a husband, three kids, a mortgage, soccer practices, tennis lessons….” Tyler’s eyes danced. “Exactly the opposite of what he was then, and he’s really happy. We’ve stayed friends, and he helped me with the legalities on this end when I was getting Abey.”

  Hearing his name, Abey woke, and Tyler washed him up and got him out of the chair. He played with his cars, and Tyler ate faster. Alan did the same, figuring there was only so long Abey would occupy himself.

  “This is awesome.”

  “The farm market on the corner of US 10 and Stiles has amazing Bibb lettuce. It just isn’t the same with anything else.” They finished their salads, and once done, Alan pitched in to help Tyler clear the table. “When did you figure out what you wanted?”

  “Business school. I went to West Shore Community College to get my grades up. Playing sports really did a num
ber on my GPA, and I’d realized I wasn’t good enough to go all the way. I buckled down, worked hard, and met some people very different from myself. It was a great experience. I ended up at Western Michigan in Kalamazoo and sort of figured it out from there. I learned how to run a store at my first job, with CVS. Eventually I was promoted to store manager. I didn’t want to work for anyone else, though, and after I moved back, my dad decided to retire from the council. And since I had opened a successful business, I was asked to run for his seat. It’s sort of the family business. Dad always said it was his way of giving back to the community. And that’s how I think of it.”

  “Do you want another beer or something to drink?” Tyler asked. “We can go into the living room where it’s more comfortable.”

  “A soft drink is good. I have to drive home.”

  Tyler got a couple of Cokes, and they went into the living room. Abey ran past, crawled onto the sofa, and spread out in the center. “Mine.” He giggled, and Tyler tickled him.

  “Why don’t you play with your cars?” Tyler asked, and Abey bounded to the floor to run the cars around the room.

  “Do you get approached to do favors for people?” Tyler asked.

  “Yes. People expect that I can fix their parking tickets, or I get calls about building permits that have been denied or ignored until they’re found out.” Alan shook his head. “I had a builder try to pay me off last year. He’s in jail and took another council member with him. A crony of your boss, I’m afraid.” Alan opened the soda and sipped from the can. “How are things going on that front?”

  “Pretty well. I’ve worked a little with the chief, but not a great deal, mostly passing shifts. Which is fine. The men seem to like me, and I have some training scheduled for next week. They were impressed with how I knew how the outbuilding at the farm was going to behave, and a few guys asked me to help teach them some rescue techniques.” Tyler smiled. “The men are really good and want to do well, overall. I think some of them are afraid of the chief.”