New Addition

Chapter 6

“Are you having lunch with Mark today?” Luke asked as he brought oatmeal to the kitchen table for Ethan, Reid, and himself.

“Yep.  I don’t think he wants to talk shop, so I have a feeling I’ll be hearing about the first year of marital bliss.”  Reid rolled his eyes.

“He’s your best friend.  Let him talk.”

“Right, so I can come back and fill you in on all the gossip.  Do I look like one of the nurses at Memorial?” 

Luke tilted his head.  “Be a good sport.  I’m having lunch with Casey to supposedly go over some paperwork in advance of the birth.  Paperwork that’s totally unnecessary this many weeks in advance.”  Reid watched as Luke’s mouth formed a devilish one-sided grin.  “I plan to get the entire scoop about him and...” Luke glanced at Ethan, shoveling his oatmeal into his mouth.  “... his new friend, and then I’ll fill you in.”

“Oh my God, this is turning into the nurses’ station.”

Swatting Reid on the arm, Luke sat down at the table.  “Reid, you know you want to hear all about your new pediatrician, my best friend, and your wayward, pregnant intern.”

After shoveling several more spoonfuls of food into his mouth, Ethan looked up.  “Geez, you two, it’s not exactly a state secret, everyone, even the kids at school, knows Allison Hughes got knocked up by some mystery dude.  Jesus, didn’t anyone ever listen in health class about birth control?  By the way, you two are worse than Faith and Parker.”

Eyes wide, Luke looked at his brother.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“When I saw them and their rugrats at the farm the other day, all they could talk about was who would win the bet about the date of Casey and Allison’s divorce.”

Nearly spitting out his mouthful of oatmeal, Reid swallowed quickly.  “The closest to the correct date gets...?”

“Reid, don’t encourage him!”

“Are you kidding?  This is the best part of being related to all of you.”

Luke tried to look insulted but it came off more looking as though he was resigned to the truth of Reid’s statement. Shrugging his shoulders he continued to eat his breakfast.

Ethan piped up, “If Faith wins, she gets a day at some stupid spa.”

Reid was amused by Ethan’s rendition of the possible winnings.  “And if Parker wins?”

“That’s the coolest!  If Parker wins, Faith stops bugging him about getting a Harley.”  Just short of bouncing in his seat, Ethan continued.   “If he gets it, he promised to take me for a ride.”  Before Reid could say anything, Ethan blurted out, “Don’t worry, he’ll have a helmet for me.”

Practically throwing the rest of the oatmeal down his throat, Ethan jumped up and grabbed his backpack.  “Natalie and Grandma Emma should be here in a minute.  Gotta go.”

As soon as he ran out the door Reid glared at Luke.  “Your sister better win that bet.”

“I’ll try to get some inside information at lunch today.”

“Do that!”

*~*~*

“Hey, Casey.”  Luke approached his friend’s table.  Casey was looking at his menu, but it was obvious he wasn’t really paying attention to it.

“Huh?”  Looking up, Casey blinked.  “Oh, Luke, hi.  I can’t believe you wanted to eat here.  What’s wrong with Al’s?  That would’ve been fine with me.”

Sitting down opposite Casey, Luke set his menu off to the side.  “First of all, since I inherited my mother’s portion of this hotel I like to come and check up on the place without warning from time to time.  Second, Reid is meeting Mark for lunch at Al’s and I wanted to have time alone with you.”

“I always knew you were after me.”  It was nice to see Casey making jokes and laughing.

“Yeah, sure, that’s it.  And third, I wanted us to have a place a little more private to talk.”  Picking up his menu, he quickly spotted what he’d order.  “Decide what you want to eat.  The sooner we order, the sooner we’ll be left alone.”

Nodding, Casey turned his attention back to the still open menu.  He quickly shut it and put it down, as did Luke.  Luke was pleased to note the waiter must have observed the signal and promptly arrived at their table to take their order and disappear.

“Casey, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine.”

“You know we haven’t gotten together since that night at Yo’s when you consumed half their stock.”

“I know.  Sorry I haven’t arranged to see you sooner.  I’ve been preoccupied.”

“I figured.  What I’m not sure about is whether you’re preoccupied with dealing with Allison and possibly deciding what to do about her pregnancy and your marriage, or whether you’ve been continuing your walk on the dark side.”

Casey’s eyes widened.  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that being discreet was never your forté.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Casey took a big gulp of his water.  The waiter soon arrived with two glasses of iced tea and Casey took a drink and, after swallowing, chewed on the ice cube the mouthful had contained.

“You can try to hide stuff from your family and your friends, but this is one friend who’s seen enough to know you’ve always walked on the precipice.”  Luke kept his voice soft so as not to draw attention.

“I’ve never.  Well, maybe I thought about it once or twice, but I never.”  Casey couldn’t seem to form a coherent sentence.

“Look, when we played make believe all those years ago for Noah’s sake, I had a sense that if it went on too long something might have actually happened.  Something neither of us would have been prepared to deal with.”

“When did you get so smart, Luke?  You were always Mr. Naive.”

“Chalk it up to all the years I’ve been living with a genius.  It’s self-preservation.” 

The waiter brought out their meals and quickly left the two alone once again.

“I know you told me a little of what happened when Jason took you home after that night at Yo’s, but Casey, please tell me you’re not stringing Jason along.  He’s just joined the staff at Memorial and Reid thinks he may be an asset.  He doesn’t want to lose him, and I have to say he was pretty nice and understanding the night we met.”

“He’s really understanding.”  Casey played with his food but didn’t take a bite.  “Let me fill you in on all the details of the night he offered to take me to Chris’ place. By the time we got there, and before we got out of his car, I’d sobered up enough to be completely with the program.”  Casey looked directly at Luke.  “I kissed him.  I’m not even sure why.  Maybe it was to get back at Allison in the most hurtful way possible.  All I knew was that sitting close to him, he looked good and I wanted him.  We kissed for a while, but he was cool enough not to try anything more.”

“I’m trying to find it in me to be shocked by all this, but I’m really not.  I assume you haven’t said anything to Chris or Katie.”

“As I told you before, I didn’t spend the night there.  I didn’t want to tell anyone else about the baby yet so I asked Jason if I could sack out on his couch.  He agreed.  When we got to his small rental he went to get some sheets for the couch but I followed him.”

Luke took a gulp of his own drink, not daring to utter a word.

“I kissed him again.  Told him I didn’t know what I wanted, but at that moment I didn’t want to sleep alone.  Pants on, shirts off we made out on his bed and then he just held me all night.”

“Damn,” Luke whispered, his hands gripping the edge of the table.  “How did you feel in the morning?”

“Besides the headache, which he supplied two aspirin for the minute I woke up, I was shocked.”

“You’d forgotten how you got there?”  Luke was trying not to sound worried.

“Hardly.  I was shocked because I was glad to be there.  We actually made breakfast together, took turns showering and, uhm, kissed a little more before we drove back to Yo’s to get my car.”

Luke nodded.  “And since then?  It’s been nearly a week.”

“Since then we’ve seen each other every day, even if it’s just at Java for coffee.  Luke, we’ve done a few more things at his place.”

“Holy shit!”  Luke tried to keep his volume under control but it was getting harder by the minute.

“We haven’t done THE deed, but let’s just say my pants haven’t been on all the time either.”

Luke looked from Casey to his food and back again.  “I don’t know what to say.”

“Neither do I.  I keep thinking this has to be more about Allison than me, but then I think about Jason and I smile; I fucking smile like a teenager.  I haven’t been a teen in almost a decade.”

“Casey, have you spent the whole night at Jason’s, apart from the first one?”

“Two nights ago.  Allison was pissed off.  I haven’t told her where I’ve been, but she hasn’t told me who the baby-daddy is yet.”  Casey played with the food in front of him but didn’t take a bite.  “Luke?”

“Yeah, Case?”

“I don’t love Allison or respect her, not like I should, and sure as hell not enough to even want to forgive and move on.”

“And Dr. Willis?”

“Fuck.  I don’t know.  I just know when I’m near him stuff happens -- and I don’t just mean my pants start getting tight.”  Casey bit his lip.  “And when I’m not with him I need to plan when I’m going to see him again.  I’m thirty years old.  Shouldn’t I have known this already?”

“Denial is a powerful force.”  Luke braved a bite of his lunch waiting for Casey to continue.

“I’m seeing him again tonight.  He’s making us dinner.  I want to spend the night, and I mean really spend the night.  I’ve been doing a lot of research online.”

“If this is really what you want, you should talk to Allison first.”

“I’m seeing her at our house after work, before I head over to Jason’s.”

“I’ll be just a phone call away if you need me.”

“I’m counting on that, Luke.”  As Casey smiled, he finally began to eat the food in front of him.  Luke noticed how settled and relaxed Casey became the more he divulged his feelings about Jason. 

The two sat quietly eating when Casey’s phone sounded a single chime indicating a text.  He looked at the screen.

“Is everything okay?”

“It’s from Jason.”  Casey’s smile practically reached from ear to ear as he turned the device around. 

Luke grinned as he read three simple words that revealed so much.  I care.  Later.

“You’ve got it bad, Casey.”

“I know.  Am I a total moron?”

Shaking his head, Luke thought about Reid.  “Not at all, I get the same way when I hear from Reid.”

“Still?”

“Always.”

“You’re one lucky man, Luke.”

“I think you may be getting lucky too.” 

Casey snorted.  “Let’s hope so.”

[TBC]

Return to New Addition