No Good Deed - Marie Sexton Page 0,31
best not to think about it at all. But the psychological testing had forced him to think about it in great details. They’d asked Jonas over and over again how he felt about the surgery. He’d spent the last half of the psychological testing sitting on his hands to prevent himself from chewing his nails.
He was never going to get through this. Just the thought of it was enough to nauseate him.
He took several slow deep breaths, trying to put it all out of his mind. He felt better by the time they pulled into the Tap House parking lot, which was full.
“He only plays three nights a week now,” Charlie said, “but it’s usually packed.” He parked, turned off the car, and turned to look at Jonas. “You sure you’re okay with this?”
“Of course.”
Charlie probably worried that seeing Gray’s new lover would bother him, but Jonas was curious, more than anything. What kind of guy could get Gray Andino to commit to him and only him for the rest of his life? Maybe there was a small tinge of annoyance for Jonas—an acknowledgement that he hadn’t been good enough for Gray. That he’d been cast off and forgotten. But hot on its heels came relief. Living with Gray had been exhausting, like enduring today’s mental testing each and every day. Three years of feeling inadequate and unappreciated had been more than enough. When he finally ended things with Gray and moved out, he hadn’t been sad or heartbroken. Angry, maybe. But more than anything, he’d felt liberated.
Whoever Avery was, he could have Gray, and more power to him. Jonas only hoped the poor guy knew exactly what he was in for. The rest of his life dealing with Gray’s manic intensity? No way. Jonas would rather have wrestled alligators with both arms tied behind his back than face that fate.
He could hear the music before Charlie opened the door. It was Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” the whole crowd shouting “crazy, if you let it” at the end of the chorus as they walked in.
Charlie laughed. “That’s a new one.”
Jonas stopped inside the door, his eyes drawn to the stage in the center of the space. It held two pianos—one grand, one upright. The latter was played by a man in a suit who looked to be late forties. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that the other one was Gray’s husband.
He was young—Jonas guessed mid-twenties —and had bright purple hair, sticking straight up off his head and held in place by a fair amount of product. He stood as he played, singing the next verse into the microphone.
Man, he looked happy. Jonas couldn’t imagine anybody who lived with Gray being this carefree.
“Come on,” Charlie said, touching Jonas’s elbow. “We’ll get a beer.”
Most of the wooden picnic tables were full, but it wasn’t as if it was standing room only. It was easy to weave through the room to the bar.
“Charlie!” The black woman behind the bar looked tough as nails. Depending on the company, Jonas might have described her as butch. “We haven’t seen you in ages. Welcome back!”
“Emily owns this place,” Charlie told him.
“Nice to meet you.”
Charlie ordered beers. Three or four different people came to greet him before they could find a table. Charlie made sure to tell Jonas who each one was.
“That’s Teddy. From my motorcycle group.”
“That’s Will. I know him from my leather group.”
“That’s Sarah. I know her from Urgent Care.”
Jonas said hello to them, but he could barely tear his eyes from the pair of piano players. “I take it Avery’s the one with the purple hair?” he asked, when he finally had Charlie’s full attention again.
Charlie laughed. “That’s him. The other one’s Robert. He’s nice, in that totally uptight way. Kind of like Phil, if you know what I mean. Let’s find a table.” He searched the room for an empty seat. “Maybe over there, or…well, shit.”
“What?”
Jonas followed Charlie’s eyes to a table in the corner. Two men sat there, waving at Charlie. They couldn’t have been more different from each other—one in his twenties, skinny and cute, the other early forties, big and broad and scruffy.
“I didn’t expect them to be here.”
“Who is it?”
“Taylor and River.” He glanced at Jonas. “It’s going to be weird if I don’t at least go over there.”
Jonas’s heart thumped a bit harder than usual. “It’s fine. Maybe they won’t know who I am.”
He eyed them as they made their way to the table. It