In the Distance (28 page)

Epilogue

Trevor
Six Months Later: Thanksgiving

As I walked into Bistro 30, my stomach growled. It’d been six hours since breakfast, but no way in hell would I wasting valuable calories and stomach space on airline food when Thanksgiving dinner was waiting for me here.

“Hey, this looks awesome.”

Ethan growled, “It was awesome until we realized wires got crossed and ended up with three whole turkeys. Four, if you count Claire’s tofurkey. But there’s no way in hell I’m counting that.”

“Really, Ethan? Of all the things we’ve got going on to worry about, this is what you choose to bitch about? You know you can put down an entire turkey alone in a week with sandwiches.”

Ethan grinned at Jamie and pulled him in for a kiss. “Yeah, and I get to gross you out when I make the waffles with the stuffing in them.”

Jamie made a sound of disgust. “Waffles shouldn’t have stuffing in them. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with that.”

I laughed. “As fun as this is watching you two fight over waffles, where’s Tyler?”

“He’s in the kitchen, helping Claire finish up the deviled eggs.”

I set down the box of pastries I’d grabbed on the way over on the table and went in search of my boyfriend. I’d been gone for a week in New York, helping with Alex’s latest publicity push, and even though I loved our phone calls and texts, I needed to see Tyler. We both worked long hours, him with the shelter and teaching with guest chefs and me managing my clients; when things were really hectic, falling into bed together at the end of the day was usually the only time I got to see him. Not that I was complaining about that part.

I pushed open the swinging door and made a beeline for the sweet potato casserole Claire was putting the finishing touches on. From the few dishes I’d already seen in the dining room, I’d need to run ten miles alone to work it all off. But the trade-off of getting to spend my first Thanksgiving with Tyler made it all worth it.

“Hey, Trev.” Claire smiled and pecked me on the cheek. Throughout our transition of finding a place to stay and setting things up so I could split my time between New York and Seattle, Claire had been one of our biggest supporters. Tyler hated to admit to having bad days when I wasn’t there, but Claire always seemed to know and would pound on the door to his apartment with an armful of food to drag him out of his funk.

“How ya doin’, short stack?” I gave her a brief hug and playfully patted her head.

“Watch it, lover boy. I might be small, but I can still kick your ass.”

“I don’t doubt it. I’d lay odds on you kicking my personal trainer’s ass, and he’s pretty scary.” Claire was barely five-two, but any sister who’d survived growing up with Ethan Martin had to be tough.

My gaze strayed to Tyler and Lily, the restaurant’s wine and booze distributor, who gestured wildly as she recounted her latest adventures.

“You should have Pratt bring you there. I mean, the dumplings? Jesus Christ, they’re so good I swear you’ll want to bang the guy who makes them. But he’s got to be pushing ninety, so maybe not.”

Tyler smiled when he saw me but continued to follow her conversation. I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter until I couldn’t stand it anymore and butted in. “Sorry, Lily. I haven’t seen Tyler in a week. I’m sure you can bug him after.”

She grumbled at me as I tugged him away into Ethan and Jamie’s office and closed the door. I could still hear her protests as I reached out to lock it and shoved Tyler against the door. He moaned and went boneless as I tried to put every single minute of missing him into one kiss.

When we finally broke apart, Tyler smiled at me. “That’s some hello.”

I pulled him closer and leaned my forehead against his. “Six months later and I still never get tired of seeing you after I’ve gotten back from traveling.”

He smiled and joked, “You must really love me, huh?”

“I must.”

I leaned down for another kiss when loud banging stopped me inches from Tyler’s lips. Frustrated, I called over my shoulder, “Can we help you with something?”

The door muffled Ethan’s voice, but his growl was unmistakably clear. “I have a key and I’m not afraid to use it.”

Tyler buried his face in my neck as we both shook with laughter. “I promise we haven’t defiled your desk, Ethan. Although Tyler does look incredibly delectable in his new black button-down, so the jury is still out.”

“
Pratt
,” Ethan growled through the door.

Tyler pulled away and opened the door to find a scowling Ethan with his fist raised, ready to bang on the door again.

“Sorry, Chef. I’ll be leaving now. I think Claire might need help getting things ready.”

I’d barely made it two steps to the door when Ethan stopped me.

“Hold your horses, Pratt.”

“Honestly, Martin. We didn’t even touch your desk. God only knows how many times it’s seen action from you and Jamie.” I shuddered at the thought.

Ethan smirked. “It’s a sturdy desk.”

“TMI, Martin. Shit, that was a mental image I definitely didn’t need.”

“Yeah, yeah. I didn’t want to talk about the desk, though. In fact, I wanted to thank you.”

Wait.
What?

“For not defiling your desk?”

Ethan leaned against the doorframe and turned his head back toward the kitchen. I followed his gaze and found Tyler laughing with Nick while Claire waved a spatula at them.

“For making him happy. Not many kids who end up on the streets get a second chance like this.”

I still had a hard time hearing about that time in Tyler’s life. Over the past six months, he’d shared little pieces of it with me. A story here, a memory there. But some of it was still too painful to talk about, so I never pushed. He could have ended up on drugs and selling his body to the first available john. He could have been killed.

“Shouldn’t I be thanking you? You’re the one who found him behind Cal’s place and gave him a job.”

Ethan turned back to look at me, his scowl long gone and replaced by something I only ever saw when he looked at Jamie. Complete adoration.

“Yeah, but you made him whole. We’re his family and love him, but I don’t think he ever really thought he deserved that love until you came along. So as much as I want to kick your ass most days—”

“Days ending in
Y
?”

He nodded. “Yeah, those. As much as I want to kick your ass every day, I’m grateful he’s happy. He’s like the—”

“Son?”

Ethan’s scowl returned. “I was going to say
little brother
Jamie and I never had.”

I laughed and looked back at Tyler, my heart already speeding up at the thought of three weeks at home with him in Seattle before I had to head back to New York for another publicity junket.

“Hey, Ethan? Can I ask you a question before we join up with everyone for dinner?”

“Yes, today is one of those days that ends in
Y
. Next question.”

My laughter caused Tyler, Nick and Claire to turn in our directions. I waved and started to walk through the door, but paused long enough to ask, “You and Jamie don’t, by any chance, have any plans to have a baby of your own someday, do you? Because I was talking to my mom and she told me of a great place in New York to get baby slings. I figured a black one for you and a pin-striped one for Jamie. What do you think?”

“
Trustfund.
”

Tyler

“Tyler? A message just came through for you.”

A
message?
Here at Bistro 30?
On Thanksgiving?

Theresa, one of the hostesses, handed me the phone and pressed the button for replaying messages. “Um, hi. I’m not sure this is the right restaurant, but if Tyler Mitchell works there, can you tell him his sister, Megan, called. I’ve called every other restaurant that has bistro in its name.” Her voice got softer, as if she was talking to herself. “At least that’s what I thought Mom and Dad said.” There was a pause, then her voice got stronger, “Anyway, if Tyler works there, can you tell him I really want to talk to him? He can’t call me at home, but I have a cell number he can reach me at. Tell him I miss him and Happy Thanksgiving. My number is...”

With shaky hands, I replayed the message several times, writing down the phone number she left at the end of the message and double-checking it before handing the phone back to Theresa.

“Thanks, Theresa.”

Warm arms encircled me from behind, a familiar voice rumbling in my ear. “You okay? Everything fine at the shelter?”

“No. I mean, yeah. Everything’s okay.”

I held out the message and phone number I’d copied down and showed it to him. Without a word, Trevor’s arms tightened around me. After a few minutes of soaking in his strength, Trevor turned and smiled at me.

“Told you your sister loves you. How about we call her after dinner? It will be good for you guys to catch up.”

“I’d like that.”

Trevor took my hand and led me over to the table, where everyone was already being seated.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving.”

Thanksgiving at Bistro 30 was something I’d never forget as long as I lived. Ethan, Jamie, Claire and I had spent days getting everything ready for it, on top of pulling extra shifts here and at Claire’s place. It had all been worth it. Ethan had invited everyone at Bistro 30 and The Greenhouse who didn’t have any place to go. When we started planning it, we figured we’d have maybe ten to twelve people to share Thanksgiving with us. Between the bussers, line cooks and waitstaff, we had double that number show up. It was a testament to how much Ethan, Jamie, and Claire treasured their staff, but even more of a statement as to how much their staff adored them.

“I’d like to have everyone’s attention, please.”

Trevor placed his hand over mine and squeezed as the room got quiet and everyone gave Ethan their attention.

“Thanksgiving is about being with family. For some people, that means biological family.”

Ethan paused and squeezed Claire’s shoulder.

“For others, it’s our chosen family.”

My heart lurched when Ethan bent down and kissed the side of Jamie’s head. Jamie turned his face and kissed him before he pulled away, earning several oohs and ahhs, along with one loud gagging noise from Claire.

“All of you in this room make our jobs easier and our lives richer. We all have a lot to be thankful for this year.” Ethan’s gaze zeroed in on Trevor and me. “So let’s all give a toast to being together as family.”

A chorus of “Happy Thanksgivings” and “Hell yeahs” echoed around the room. Two years ago I thought I’d lost my family for good. Now, here I was surrounded by people who loved and accepted me unconditionally. Like Ethan said, I had a lot to be thankful for.

A gentle squeeze of my hand brought my attention back to my main reason to be thankful this year.

I pulled his hand into my lap and squeezed it back. “Hey, you.”

Trevor’s deep brown eyes softened as he leaned forward and kissed me. It was nothing compared to the scorching kiss he’d given me in the office an hour ago, but it still made my toes curl with want for him.

“Hey, you. You guys really outdid yourselves. No wonder you’ve been half-asleep every time I’ve called you from New York.”

I looked around the table and smiled. “Yeah, but it was worth it.”

Trevor followed my gaze down the table to where Nick sat among some of the waiters from The Greenhouse. Nick was still a pretty closed-off guy, but one of the waiters, a tall, thin guy with multiple piercings had gotten Nick to talk and laugh when most people couldn’t.

“Nick looks happy.”

I sighed and looked back to Trevor. “He does, but he’s got a lot of demons locked up in that closet of his. It will take a pretty special guy to deal with it all.”

“He’ll find someone. I mean, come on, if a spoiled brat trust-fund baby like me can find his soul mate, I think Nick will be able to find someone who gets him.”

“Soul mate, huh?”

Trevor’s blush never failed to make me weak in the knees. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, it made me want to drag him off to a private corner and have my way with him.

“My mom’s words. You should have heard her this last week going on and on about you. If I didn’t love you so much, I would have told her to shut up.”

“Hey. Don’t tell her to shut up. Your mom is the coolest mom I’ve ever met.”

Trevor’s smile softened as he placed a kiss against my temple. “She is.” He pause a moment, the narrowed his eyes.

“What did my mom say to you in New York? Right before she and my dad left Cielo. I’ve asked her millions of times and she won’t tell me.”

I thought back to that night and how scared I was to meet Trevor’s parents. They had wealth, prestige and social status, and who was I? Some kid who was kicked out of his house by blue-collar parents who loved their religion more than their own son. But then I’d met them and it all clicked. They were gracious and kind, and funny as hell, all the things I loved about Trevor and then some. We were saying our goodbyes when Maggie had embraced me and whispered in my ear.

“She told me she could tell you were in love with me. Then she asked me not to let you go before telling you how I felt, because she worried you were going to be stubborn like your father and wouldn’t tell me you were in love until I said it first.”

The look of shock, then amazement on Trevor’s face was priceless. “That woman never ceases to amaze me. She’s full of surprises. Like when she told me where to get this made.”

Dangling from Trevor’s hand was a shiny key attached to a silver key ring. The silver disk on the key ring was engraved with three letters in fancy script:
TNT
.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Trevor nodded, folding the key into my palm. “I know you wanted to take things slow, work our way up to living together, but the new condo is too cold and fucking lonely without you there. I’ll understand if you want to keep your place, but—”

“Yes.”

Trevor tilted his head to the side, and asked, “Yes, you want to keep your place? Or, yes, you want...”