Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness (15 page)

Jeff is standing behind Evan, so Evan doesn’t see him as he shakes his head pleadingly at Dan.

 

“Seriously, Evan, is the breakfast
that
good?”

“It really is, man! The other meals… really not that great.” He looks around furtively as if to make sure that nobody heard that. “But the breakfasts are amazing.”

Jeff nods in support this time, and the three of them head into the diner. They’re greeted at the door by a tiny Asian woman in an oldstyle waitress uniform. She looks them over carefully, and then beams at them. “Welcome to breakfast, come on in.” She reaches for menus, and then glances back. “Just three of you?” At their nods, she leads them to a booth by one of the front windows. Every other seat in the place, Dan notices, is taken, and the place is bustling with servers and kids and general pandemonium. He glances at his watch—it’s not even eight o’clock yet.

Jeff sits in one side of the booth, and Evan slips into the other. Dan wonders how they’d react if he pulled up a chair and sat at the end, but Puppet-Chris tells him not to be petty, so he slides in next to Evan, since he’s on the closer side. Evan grins happily, and Dan notices that neither he nor Jeff has bothered to look at the menu. Dan looks inquiringly at Jeff. “Already know what you’re getting?”

Jeff nods, and Evan jumps in. “Breakfast special, man. All you need to know is how you want your eggs and what kind of toast. Everything else is taken care of.” Dan had been thinking waffles rather than eggs, but Evan seems pretty damn sure.

Their server, a middle-aged woman who fits every diner-waitress stereotype Dan can think of, bustles over with three cups of coffee. “Ready to order?”

Evan nods, and they all give their orders for the breakfast special. When the waitress leaves, there’s a not-altogether-comfortable silence. Without the passion of the night before or the frantic rush to get to the restaurant, they seem to be a little uneasy. Dan takes a moment to try to analyze their breakfast orders; they’d all gotten wheat toast, but ordered their eggs different ways. Is there some cosmic significance to Jeff’s “poached,” Evan’s “scrambled,” and Dan’s “over-hard with the yolks broke”? Maybe just that Evan and Dan are both grossed out by eating slimy things. Which makes Dan realize that Jeff hasn’t blown him yet, and that Dan hasn’t seen him use his mouth on Evan, either. That had better not be something missing from his repertoire, because just the thought of those eyes looking up at him, with his lips wrapped tight around….

Evan breaks into his thoughts with a giggle, and then turns to Dan. “Seriously, Dan, do you
ever
bottom? ’Cause you are the toppiest son-of-a-bitch…..” Jeff laughs, either at Evan’s words or Dan’s frantic attempts to shush him, and the tension is broken. It’s sort of reassuring to realize that Evan’s mind had wandered back to the same place Dan’s had. Roughly.

But Evan’s looking at him like he expects an answer. Dan glances around to be sure that everyone else is wrapped up in their own conversations and concerns. Then he shrugs and almost whispers, “Like I said, I do sometimes.” Then he thinks for a second, and has to admit, “But I’m not exactly laid-back about it.”

Jeff’s looking at him affectionately. “I bet you aren’t.”

They’re all a little startled when a white-blond head appears at the end of their table. It’s right at table height, so all that’s visible is the hair, but then the head tilts back and shows a jam-smeared face. Looks like a little boy, but… Dan leans over a bit to check out the clothes. Jeans and a T-shirt with a truck on it. Not totally conclusive, but what is these days? The kid is watching him warily, but not going anywhere.

“Hi, buddy,” Evan tries, but the kid has apparently fixated on Dan. Dan looks around for a parental figure, but doesn’t see one. The kid shyly extends a closed fist in Dan’s direction, and he extends his own hand in some trepidation. The kid obviously wants to give him something; Dan just hopes it’s not partially chewed egg. He puts his hand out flat, and the kid opens his fingers. A tiny plastic horse falls onto Dan’s palm. That’s a little startling.

He picks the horse up with his other hand and shows it to Jeff and Evan, who both look interested. Dan pretends to inspect the horse carefully, then offers it back to the toddler, who takes it with a sudden smile that prompts an almost involuntary mirror on Dan’s face. “Nice horse, little man.” The child looks critically at the horse, then nods in agreement.

Another child appears now, a couple years older. Dan cranes his neck to see if he can find a source for this one, but he seems similarly independent. The newcomer looks at the younger child. “You’re not supposed to bug people.”

Evan jumps in. “No, it’s fine, he wasn’t bugging us. Just… visiting.”

 

Apparently taking that as an invitation to do a little visiting himself, the older child smiles. “I’m Brian. He’s Todd.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Evan seems to be pretty genuine in this, and Dan wonders if the guy wants kids, or if he’s still too young to even think about all that. All the possible complications.

Despite Evan’s attention, Brian seems just as fascinated by Dan as his brother was, even ducking down a little to look at Dan’s legs. Dan shoots a questioning look at his tablemates, but they both shrug in bemusement.

Dan decides to try the direct approach. “What’s up, buddy?” Brian grins in a friendly way. “You’re not a horse.”

Dan really doesn’t know where this is going, but he shakes his head in solemn agreement. “Nope.” Brian doesn’t seem like he’s going to offer any more information, so Dan continues. “What made you think I might have been?”

Brian looks over to a table in the corner, and Dan decides that he’s found the source of the children, a woman in a flowered sun dress and a man in jeans and a T-shirt. They’re leaning over a little, talking to a couple at the table next to them. Brian says, “Mommy said you were a horse trainer, and then Daddy said it looked like you were the one who got rode hard last night.”

It takes Dan’s brain a bit to process that, and by the time he’s done his smile seems frozen on his face. Brian doesn’t seem to notice, though. “If you’re not a horse, what does that mean?”

Dan sits up a little, not leaning over to talk to the kid anymore. “You know what you should do? You should go over and ask your dad to explain that to you, buddy.” Brian gives him a questioning look, and Dan nods. “Yeah, off you go. And don’t forget to take Todd.”

The kids wander off, and Dan makes himself busy adding milk and sugar to his coffee. He doesn’t really think there’s anything he could say that would make the situation clearer to Jeff and Evan. If they don’t want to worry, that’s their choice.

When he’s done with his coffee, he looks up to find both of them looking at him. Evan starts. “Okay, the thing is, it’s a small town. People will talk for a while, and then they’ll get over it. Seriously, we would not be the weirdest thing around here, not by a long shot.”

Dan just nods and takes a drink of his coffee. He wishes the food would hurry up so he could get the damn meal over with and get the hell out of the restaurant.

Jeff takes a turn. “The same thing could have been said about a man and a woman having breakfast together.”

Dan nods again, and then the food arrives, like an answer to his prayer. He has to admit that the meal is pretty impressive, both in quantity and quality, but he’s having a bit of trouble enjoying it. He guesses that maybe he does care what people think; he’s not looking for anyone’s approval, but he wishes they would just mind their own business and leave him alone.

He cheers up a bit when he gets to the home fries. They’re cooked just right, with some sort of seasoning that he’s not familiar with but would definitely like to taste again. He looks up and sees both Evan and Jeff playing with their food. That’s a shame, considering how excited Evan had been. “These potatoes are really good,” he ventures, and Evan’s head jerks around.

“Yeah, they’re great, aren’t they? I keep trying to get Carla to tell me what’s in them, but she won’t.”

 

“Is Carla the one who greeted us?”

“Yeah. She pretty much just runs the door on weekends, but she’s the one who came up with all the recipes. Save room for dessert too… it’s excellent.”

“There’s dessert?” The original plate had three eggs, two pieces of toast, bacon, sausages, ham and home fries. Dessert seems a little excessive.

“Yeah, waffles.” Evan nods happily. “I think dessert for breakfast is a brilliant idea. The way of the future, even.”

“Good to know. I’ll save some room.” He eats a few more bites in silence. He realizes that he doesn’t even know these guys well enough to know if they’re normally silent over breakfast, or if they’re being unusually quiet. From what he’s seen of Evan at other times, he’s betting it’s unusual. “So, Jeff, are you gonna see your mom today? Or do gallery stuff?”

“Uh, a bit of both, hopefully. I need to go by the gallery for a few hours this afternoon, but actually… she was saying that she’d like to see the barn. She’s the one who taught me to ride, you know—she’s been a horsewoman all her life. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to bring her out.” He pauses a little awkwardly. “I can just introduce you as the trainer, we don’t have to….”

“Sweet Jesus! With
your mom
? I would hope we wouldn’t have to!” Dan’s aware that he has some mother issues, knows that other people, Justin included, have developed the ability to relate to their moms as human beings as well as maternal figures, but… there’s no way Dan is going to stand there while Jeff introduces him as the new member of her son’s gay threesome. For once, Puppet-Chris is in full agreement.

Jeff laughs a little. “Okay, take it easy. Trainer it is, at least for now. Assuming you don’t mind her visiting otherwise….”

“No, that’s fine with me. Does she still ride?” Dan doesn’t know if he wants to put some frail old lady on one of the eventers, but she could take Smokey for a spin, if Jeff wanted one of the others. Dan’s never really seen Jeff ride, other than the quarter horses that one night in Kentucky, and he wouldn’t mind having the chance.

“Yeah, just on the flat mostly now, though. But it’d be great if I could take her up to see the cross-country course.”

“Smokey’d be good, or maybe Sunshine, if Tat’s okay with it. I mean,
somebody’s
gonna have to keep her in shape until Tat’s back in the saddle.” Dan glances at Evan. “But we should get on that buying some riding horses thing. Do you want me to start looking around? I think I know a guy—he moved out here somewhere a few years ago.”

“Not Sean?” Evan asks.

“Uh, not for quarter horses, for sure… for eventers, maybe, but if we can find them ourselves, we’d save some money—he’s got to be taking a cut, right?”

Evan nods in agreement. “Yeah, okay. And I forgot tell you; my lawyers FedExed the signed partnership stuff to Chris, so he’s probably got it by now. As soon as he gets it to you and it’s signed, we’re good to go.”

“Wow, okay. I’ll call him later.” Dan laughs a little. “I guess I should talk to him anyway—he must be getting tired of my nocturnal phone calls.”

“Especially with the time difference,” Jeff says wryly. “Yeah, it sure doesn’t help.” Dan turns to Evan. “And you? Plans for the day? Are you ready to let Tat put you on a horse?”

 

Evan’s smile is a little nervous. “I guess… but you’re going to be there, right? She’s got a bit of a mean streak sometimes.”

 

“Yeah, Evan, I’ll keep your fifteen-year-old sister from hurting you.”

 

Evan grins. “And that means that I can hang out with you all day, right? Not as a babysitter, just….”

 

“Find a better word than ‘companion’, dude.” Dan frowns. “And, no, anyways. You should spend time with your friends, shouldn’t you?” Evan just shrugs. “I’ll talk to them, maybe? If they behave themselves, can they come to the barn?”

 

“Okay, man, I haven’t signed the papers yet—it’s still your barn.” “Yeah, but that makes it worse, because then I’m an employer, creating a hostile environment or whatever.”

Dan laughs a little. “Well, if I’m there, I’m gonna be riding anyway, so it’s not really a big deal who’s on the ground. But do you really want an audience for your first lesson?”

Evan shakes his head emphatically. “She can teach me this morning—they won’t be up until noon, likely.”

Their waitress comes back then, collecting the messy remains of their meals, and a moment later she’s back, carrying three plates of waffles piled high with whipped cream and fruit. Evan looks thrilled. Dan wonders a bit about the mechanics of being stupidly rich; does Evan have to deliberately deny himself things in order to enjoy getting them later?

There’s silence for a bit as they eat, but this time it feels more comfortable. That drops off pretty steeply when Dan looks up from his waffles to find that Brian and Todd have returned, this time with their father. The man looks a little nervous, a hand on each child’s shoulder, twisting a little in the fabric of their shirts. He’s looking not at Dan but at Evan.

“Uh, Mr. Kaminski, hi. I just wanted… I just wanted to apologize for my boys… anything they might have said earlier. If they gave you any offense, I apologize. I don’t know where they get this stuff from.”

Evan fixes the man with a steely glare. “You don’t know where they get it from? Really? ’Cause the way they were talking, it sounded like they got it from you.”

The man just stutters a little, and Dan is surprised by how long Evan lets it go on before he has mercy. “You probably want to watch what you say around them, don’t you think?”

The man nods a little frantically. “Yeah, you bet I will. Like I said, I’m really sorry.”

 

Evan nods. “No harm done, man. Have a good day.” And the man almost shoves his kids off their feet in his rush to get them out the door. Dan looks at Evan in some consternation. “Jesus, man, are you Tony Soprano or something?”

Evan just shakes his head, but Jeff frowns. “He might as well be. What percentage of the jobs in this area are directly tied to you, Evan? And that means that pretty much
all
of them are indirectly connected. You may not actually order hits, but if you told someone to fire him….”