I parked in the garage, knowing both Isaac and Joshua would hear the automatic garage door open. Hell, Isaac could hear my Jeep come down the street. But I didn't know what I'd be walking in on.
I didn't know whether to be angry or scared; two years ago, I'd innocently walked in on my then live-in-boyfriend and found him in our bed with another guy.
Isaac knew all about my relationship with Paul and how it ended, and I never once thought Isaac would be the kind to cheat. I knew him. I knew this man, and I knew in his soul he wasn't capable of such an act, but it didn't stop the cold ache of dread in my belly as I walked inside.
It was almost like deja vu.
I came in through the internal garage door, through the laundry to the sunroom. I could hear them before I could see them; voices from the living room discussing medical research into something, but the conversation stopped when I walked into the room.
I put my bag on the kitchen counter and was greeted rather enthusiastically by Missy and then Brady. I gave both dogs a pat and walked into the lounge room. Going for casual, I greeted both men with, "Hey."
Isaac smiled back at me. "Carter," he said, sitting with one leg bent under the other. He patted the seat next to him, motioning for me to sit there. "You're a little late. Everything okay?"
I almost fell into the seat beside him. "Yeah, it's okay. I'll tell you about it later," I told him, looking over at Joshua. I gave him a half-hearted smile. "Joshua."
"Hello again," he said rather cheerfully. "Hope you don't mind, I offered Isaac a lift home. Save on cab fare."
"Mind? No, I don't mind at all," I lied with a smile. I looked back at Isaac and put my hand on his knee. "How was your day?"
"Good," he answered brightly. "We were just discussing medical advancements with different eye surgeries. It's all rather interesting." Then he put his hand on my thigh. "You sure everything's okay? You don't sound like you're okay."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a sigh. Then changing the subject completely, I asked, "What do you want to do for dinner?"
Isaac tilted his head, obviously wondering what was going on with me, yet very aware of Joshua sitting in the room. "Let's order in, yes? You pick. I don't mind."
This was Isaac being sweet. He knew I wasn't up for any argument. I smiled at him and rubbed his thigh, then looked over at Joshua to find him smiling at us. "I can go," he said quickly. "Carter, if you've had a bad day…"
"No, it's okay. I'm sure Carter won't mind," Isaac interrupted, speaking to Joshua. "I was rather interested in those information sites you were talking about."
Too bad if I did mind, I thought to myself. And as much as it pissed me off that he was here, it pissed me off even more that I'd thought of Isaac in the same vein as my no-good, cheating ex-boyfriend Paul. "I don't mind," I said again. "Truthfully, I don't mind. I'm thankful for you driving Isaac home."
Isaac gave my thigh a reassuring, gentle squeeze, but Joshua stood up. "No, I really should be going anyway. Isaac, I can give you that information at work in the morning. There's no rush. Anyway, it looks like you two could use some alone time right now."
"Joshua," I said, standing up as well. "You don't have to leave, really, I'm fine."
"It's no problem," he said quickly. "I need to get going anyway."
Isaac stood up beside me. "If you're sure…"
He was sure, apparently, because he left. I still didn't know what to make of him. If he was such an asshole, why would he leave on my behalf? I still didn't necessarily like the guy, but he may have just redeemed himself a little.
I closed and locked the door behind him. "I didn't mean to chase him off," I said to Isaac as I walked back into the living room. Isaac was sitting on the sofa and I sat beside him.
"No, that's okay," he replied. "I know you didn't. He said he had to leave."
I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "You enjoy his company."
"Only as a friend, Carter-"
"Oh, I know that," I said, cutting him off. "That's not what I meant. I meant you like his company, as in you get along well, that's all."
"Yeah, we do get along," he admitted. "He knows so much about what we do at Hawkins and what other schools do across the country. He knows all the new technology and programs and the latest developments and research. I find it interesting."
I leaned my head on the back of the sofa and looked at him. "I know you do, baby. That's really great."
He put his hand out, reaching for mine. "Tell me, what happened today."
I took a deep breath and sighed. "It's Mrs Yeo. She really wasn't well today."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I asked if there was someone I could call, but she said she'd be fine."
"What was wrong with her?"
"Sounded like a chest infection. She was coughing and wheezy. She really wasn't well, and she's so small and frail."
"She doesn't have any family, does she?"
"I think she mentioned a nephew?" I said, trying to remember. "But jeez, he'd have to be in his sixties, at least." I sighed. "I just worry about her, that's all."
"Did you want us to visit her this weekend?" he asked. "We can drop in and check on her tomorrow."
"I don't know," I said hesitantly. "Would that be overstepping some professional boundary?"
"Carter," he chastised me. "You've been calling in to see her every two weeks for a year. We gave her a new cat when her old cat died! You even helped her bury her old cat. I think we should go and see her."
I smiled warmly at him and held his hand in both of mine. "You can't fool me, Mr Brannigan. You might want the world to think you're snobbish and arrogant, but I know how sweet you really are."
"Oh no," he said casually. "I'm arrogant. I'm even arrogant enough to admit it."
I leaned in and kissed him. "Well, would your arrogant self settle for Italian for dinner? I feel like pasta and salad."
"Sounds good."
We called in to see old Mrs Yeo on Saturday. She wasn't well, but appreciated the time we took to call in, and the chicken soup we brought with us. When we left, Isaac agreed that no, she didn't sound very well at all. She was going back to bed as we were leaving.
On Sunday, we went trail walking on the Wompatuck State Park trails. We both enjoyed the outdoors, hiking, and it was the Wompatuck trails where Isaac had spent a night out in the cold last winter. But we go back often, maybe every second weekend, taking the paved paths or the trails for hikers. For a blind guy hiking, the Isaac and Brady duo actually made a great hiking team.
And they both loved it. Isaac loved it. We'd take a backpack with lunch, Missy too, and the four of us would spend hours in the great outdoors.
Except without my hiking boots, we were limited to the paved paths, much to Isaac's chagrin. The police had taken them, and I still hadn’t got them back.
We'd walked the popular path to take a seat by the small lake. "Why won't you let me just buy you another pair?"
"Because I'll get my perfectly good pair back from the police."
"I still can't believe he took them, or thought you were implicated."
"Yeah well, the more people they can discount the better."
"Mmm," he hummed thoughtfully and took a mouthful of his water. "Still, I told that detective all he should have needed to know."
I chuckled. "Not everyone's as smart as you. You might need to be a little tolerant of those who trust only their sight."
Isaac growled out a huff. "Anyway, I'd like to know if they found anything. Not that I expect them to have."
"We should call the detective tomorrow," I agreed. "Even if just to remind him we're still here."
Isaac sighed. "I don't know what the point of it was, you know."
I frowned at him. "The point of what? Notifying the police? Because that sonofabitch deserves to be caught."
"No," Isaac said with a shake of his head. "The guy, who… who pushed me. I don't know why he took what he took. It doesn't make sense."
"Why's that?"
"He didn't take anything of real value," Isaac mused. "Sure the laptop and that are worth a bit of cash at a dodgy pawn shop, but nothing else. He took random stuff. Specific stuff."
"What are you thinking, Isaac?" I asked. "Do you think there's something else to it?"
He shrugged. "I really don't know."
He was quiet for a while, while my mind raced with possible reasons and scenarios as to what the intruder was after exactly. Before I could say anything, Isaac started talking about how the summer sounds varied to the other seasons. He asked me what I knew about migration and breeding habits of the birds he could hear.
"Um, I'm not entirely sure," I admitted. "I could give you an educated guess."
He clicked his tongue. "What kind of veterinarian are you?"
"Key word being veterinarian, not an ornithologist," I defended myself proudly. "I'm not an expert on birds."
"Oh, please," he scoffed impatiently. "Give me your educated guess on the Red-throated Loon."
"Well, given the size of the bird, I'd say it lays between two and three eggs, early spring. The fact it occupies deciduous trees when nesting is indicative that the bird migrates for winter."
Isaac grinned and nudged me with his elbow. "Sounds like more than an educated guess. Why didn't you just say that in the beginning?"
"Because I'm not exactly sure."
"Maybe not, but you could have told me anything, I wouldn't know the difference."
I shook my head. "Why on earth would I do that? You'd know if I were lying anyway."
He tilted his head as if considering it. "Probably. But your answer was pretty impressive."
I chuckled at him. "If you think that was impressive, you should hear my theory on the mating ritual of the male homosapian species."
"Homosapian or homosexual?"
"Either or," I told him. "I'm fluent in both."
He grinned at me. "Is there anything you don't know?"
I laughed out loud. "Nothing I'm not willing to learn tonight. Do you know of any willing participants I could do my practical examination on?"
He leaned into me, nudging me again with his elbow. "Well, possibly. Do you have anything in particular in mind?"
"Thought I'd start with a complete and thorough physical, bearing in mind some areas may only be examined by tongue alone."
Isaac picked up Brady's harness and stood up. "You ready to leave? I have a sudden urge to go home."
I chuckled at him. "Your wish. My command."
Isaac phoned Detective Zinberg on Monday after work and was told, basically, that although the detective wasn't there at that time, there were developments in the case and he'd be in touch in the next few days.
He spent the evening attached to his laptop, with both earphones in, listening to whatever he was 'reading' online. Joshua had given him some interesting reading apparently, and it kept him rather absorbed.
He sat lengthwise on the sofa with his laptop on his lap and his feet in my lap while I tried not to fall asleep watching some television. It wasn't unusual for Isaac to read a lot, he quite often sat for hours lost in a book, be it Braille or audio. He'd usually only have one earphone in, so he wasn't completely cut off from the world around him. But if he was with me, and I was watching television and he wanted to read—like tonight—he'd put both ear plugs in.
I tapped his leg, and he immediately pulled out one earphone. "Yeah, what is it?"
"It's late, babe. I'm just going to bed."
"Oh, I'm almost done here. I'll be in in a few minutes."
I yawned. "What are you reading?"
"Oh," he seemed to hesitate. "It's something Josh gave me. It's about different research and medical advancements in ophthalmology. It's really very interesting."
"Well, it sounds interesting, but I'm beat," I told him. "We can talk about it tomorrow if you like?"
"Um, okay. Sure."
I rubbed his shin through his sleep pants. "Okay, I'll turn everything off. Don't be too long."
"I won't," he answered, lifting his feet off me so I could stand up. He said, "Don't have too sweet a dream without me," before slipping the earphone back in, going back to his audio before I could reply.
I pointed the remote at the large flat screen, turning it off, and as I walked to the hall, I hesitated at the light switch. I always hated doing this, even though rationally I knew it made no difference to him, it still felt wrong to me. I hated the thought of turning off the lights while he was still up reading or listening to his screen reader, even though he'd reassured me it made no difference to him; his world was permanently dark.
I smiled sadly at him sitting on the sofa with his earphones in, because as much as I hated doing it, as much as it saddened me to do it, I turned off the lights and left Isaac sitting in the dark.
For the next few days, we spent lazy nights at home. I drove him to and from work, we went for walks in the evenings and we talked, of course. Isaac was animated, as always, when he spoke of his work. And I had to admit, the introduction of Joshua and his industry knowledge, has sparked an enthusiasm in Isaac which I envied.
At night, he read a lot, more than usual, while I watched TV or read work journals or newspapers. We made dinner, made out, made love. It was kind of perfect.
I called in to see Mrs Yeo, as I did every other Thursday, and I thought she was doing better. She opened the door, looking a little pale, still wheezy, but she smiled when I arrived.
"Where's Isaac and Brady?" she asked.
"They'd be on their way home from work," I told her. "Hopefully not trying to cook dinner, because he's really not that good at it."
Mrs Yeo smiled. "My husband couldn't cook. Hopeless, he was. Not even make tea," she said in her broken English.
I gave Tiddles the cat a look over, though there was no need. It wasn't the cat's health that concerned me. I sat with the older woman for a little while, sipping green tea, and talking about something she'd read in the paper. I was pretty sure it was from last week, not that it mattered. She just enjoyed the company. Though the longer I stayed, the quicker she seemed to fade and as soon as was polite, I told her I should go.
"Say hello to your boy," she said to me as I was leaving. "You tell him he visit next time."
"I will," I told her with a reassuring smile. "I'll tell him you said so."
After expecting her to be worse, or at best, no better than the last time we saw her, I left happier that she seemed to have improved. But my mood soon soured as I pulled into the drive to find Joshua's car parked out front.
He'd obviously driven Isaac home, and I should have been grateful.
But it just irked me.
I was trying to like him, but I just couldn't warm to him. There was something about him I just couldn't put my finger on.
I walked in through the internal door from the garage to find them sitting at the kitchen bench reading something in Braille.
They looked very happy, and that irked me too.
I wasn't typically a jealous guy. Well, I never thought myself to be jealous. I had no problem with Isaac spending time with friends. What I had a problem with, was when that friend didn't seem to be a friend at all.
Nevertheless, I smiled when I saw Isaac. I nearly always did.
Isaac turned his head to the sound of my feet, and he smiled. "Hey."
I walked over to him, and ignoring Joshua altogether, I kissed my boyfriend on the cheek. "Hey. Whatcha doin?"
Isaac smiled and tapped his fingers on the book in front of him. "Just doing some reading. You sound happier. How was Mrs Yeo?"
"She seemed better," I told him. "Still not great. She tired quickly."
"That's good, yes?"
"Yeah, I think so. Oh," I said as I remembered. "She told me to tell you to take some cooking lessons to 'keep your man happy'," I impersonated her poorly.
"Why would she say that?"
I kind of smiled at Joshua. "I might have told her your cooking was… experimental."
"Experimental?" Isaac repeated. Then he pouted. "And I was going to cook dinner tonight."
"Oh."
"Well, I'm not now," he said indignantly. "God forbid it be too experimental."
I smiled at him. "I happen to like experimental."
Isaac pursed his lips, knowing I was no longer talking about his cooking. "Well," he said, and cleared his throat and turned to face Joshua. "Please excuse Carter. He has no manners."
I chuckled. "Hi," I said by way of greeting.
He smiled tightly. "Hi."
Missy sat patiently at my feet, trying to contain her excitement at my being home. I gave her a good pat. It was a great excuse to show Joshua he wasn't worth my attention. "Hey girl," I cooed as I gently roughed Missy's face. "Want dinner or a walk first?"
"Does he always talk to his dog?" Joshua asked, presumably in good humor.
"Always," Isaac answered. "It took me a long time to realize that while we might be the only two humans in the room, sometimes the conversation is not with me."
Standing up straight, I smiled and shrugged. "Sorry, Isaac, do you want dinner or a walk first?"
Isaac sighed dramatically. "See what I have to put up with, Josh?"
I chuckled and shook my head. "You're not so hard done by, Isaac. I'll even let you cook dinner to prove it."
"Yeah, thanks."
"I'm considerate like that," I added, as I washed my hands in the sink. When I was done, I walked to the fridge. "Iced tea, water, a beer?"
Along with some drinks, I pulled out from the fridge some different cheeses and those little stuffed, marinated peppers Isaac loves from the deli, and then some wafer crackers from the cupboard. "I'm a little hungry. Here, help yourself," I offered to Josh. On a small plate, I cut a few pieces of cheese, added some stuffed peppers and some crackers, and put it in front of Isaac. "Your favorites; twelve, four and eight o'clock," I said, letting him know where abouts the food was on his plate. It was habit for me to do it, and figuring Joshua worked with blind people, I presumed hearing things described as per the clock face would be nothing new to him.
The corner of his lip twitched, almost in a smile. It was almost a sad smile. Reactions like that threw me with Joshua. Sometimes he'd be all smug and give me a daring glare, then other times he'd smile and seemed almost sorry.
I couldn't figure him out.
"Mmm" Isaac groaned. Then he spoke with his mouth half full, "Josh, you have to try these peppers. They're so good."
"They're his absolute favorite," I explained. "They're stuffed with ricotta and marinated in some kind of oil. Isaac would eat the whole tub."
Joshua did try one, then some cheese and then he picked up the cracker box. "What's that?"
"What's what?" Isaac asked.
Joshua grinned. "These labels on the cracker box."
"Oh," I said with a grin. "I had some fun with the Braille label maker."
"I can see that," Joshua said with a chuckle.
"Oh, dear God," Isaac said quietly. "What does that one say?"
Joshua ran his finger over the label. "It says 'hello handsome'."
I grinned. "I put little notes on the food."
Isaac groaned. "You should have seen what he put on the chocolate spread."
"He peeled the label off!" I told Joshua.
"Because it was rude," Isaac replied. "What if Hannah had have seen it?"
"I'm fairly certain Hannah knows all about… body painting in chocolate spread," I said, censoring what I was going to say because of Joshua. He seemed a little uncomfortable, or awkward, so it was also safe to assume he could imagine what I'd put on the note for chocolate spread. "Anyway," I added, changing the subject, "I'll take Missy for a run. I'll only be about an hour, so by the time I get back, dinner will almost be done."
Isaac scoffed. "Well, I will have called for takeout by then, yes."
"Deal." I walked around to his side of the kitchen bench, toward the hall. "I'll just get changed. Won't be long."
I quickly switched into some running gear and joined them back in the kitchen. They hadn't moved and were now talking about deli foods. I walked up to Isaac where he sat on a stool at the counter and kissed him softly on the lips. "I'll be back soon." Then I looked at Joshua. "Nice to see you again. Thanks again for driving Isaac home."
"No problem."
I called for Missy and clicked her lead onto her collar. "I've got my keys Isaac, so you can lock up if you want."
Pulling the front door closed behind me, we started an immediate jog. I wanted Isaac to know I trusted him by getting home and then leaving him there with Joshua. I wanted him to know, although Joshua wasn't my favorite person, I didn't mind if he was there.
But the slightly jealous side of me wanted Joshua to know Isaac was with me, hence the reason for the kissing him hello and goodbye. I always kissed him hello and goodbye, so that really was no different to any other day. Isaac certainly wouldn't think anything of it, but I wasn't going to stop doing it just because Joshua was there.
I wanted him to see it.
I wanted him to see that was how Isaac and I were together everyday.
Because just on the off chance the underlying thing I couldn't quite identify in Joshua was him trying to win over Isaac, then he'd see Isaac and I were very much together.
Did that make me possessive?
Probably.
Did I care?
Nope. Not one bit.
I loved Isaac. Loved him like I'd never loved another human being. And I'd be damned if some guy like Joshua would just blow into town and sweep him away.
As tolerant and pleasant as I was being to Joshua, I smiled when Missy and I jogged through the front gates and Joshua's car was gone.
I unlocked the door, walked inside and leant on my knees to catch my breath, to find a smiling Isaac on the sofa. He sniffed. "Dinner will be here in about ten minutes. Go shower. You stink."
I grinned, walked over and kissed him soundly. "Love you, too."