THE WRITER
Chapter 3
Shortly after Mark, Noah, and Sammy arrived everyone sat down to dinner. Although it was understood the twins would sit between Reid and Luke, Reid wasn’t pleased to notice Dan quickly settled himself in the vacant seat on Luke’s other side. That guy couldn’t keep his eyes off Luke; he sure as hell better keep his hands to himself!
As he spoke, Dan placed his hand gently on Luke’s arm. “Your grandmother has been so good to me.” Reid could feel his temper rising.
“It’s obvious that warmth and friendliness run in the Snyder family.” Dan squeezed Luke’s shoulder.
“I can see why you moved here, Noah. The people in Oakdale are all so welcoming.” Dan turned toward Luke. “No wonder you continue to live here despite the fact you could probably live anywhere in the world and be a huge success wherever you might choose to settle.” Dan patted Luke’s hand.
After turning his attention from Miri, who had just finished eating her after dinner handful of Cheerios and was now drinking from her cup, Luke looked at Dan. “You know, Dan, part of the reason I choose to live in Oakdale is because I love and support my family, particularly my husband. Reid is Chief of Staff at Memorial and I’m on the Board. We both love what we do and our family is growing happy and healthy here. Why would I want to live anywhere else?”
Reid could feel the tension that had been building leave his shoulders. Luke turned toward Reid, reached across both babies, and stroked his cheek. “No, there’s no place else in the world I’d rather be.” Luke smiled and Reid nodded back, receiving the unspoken message.
“My, my, Dan.” Emma stood up. “Before you boys begin talking shop, could you please help me clear the table? I’ll show you where everything is in the kitchen as we clean.”
With a smile on his face, Dan quickly stood up and started clearing plates. “I’d love to help.” He glanced at the four men at the table. “Be back soon so we can discuss the documentary. I’m really excited about it. I’ve been researching Memorial and its entire lead staff for the past two weeks.”
As soon as he left the room Ethan pretended to stick his finger down his throat and gagged. “Oh my fu--” Ethan stopped, spotting the twins, then continued. “Oh my friggin’ God! Luke, I thought he was going to give you a massage, or more, on the table before our dinner was cleared.” Ethan then looked at Reid. “And I was surprised you didn’t give him a right cross.”
Mark laughed; Noah’s eyes widened; Luke chuckled.
Reid looked directly at Ethan and then at Luke. “If your brother hadn’t made it quite clear that he wasn’t interested in that guy, I probably would have but it was unnecessary to hurt these hands, the same ones used for delicate surgeries, on that idiot.” Reid then turned to Mark and Noah. “And for a man who said he had a crush on you,” he pointed to Noah, “he wasn’t paying much attention to you.”
Smiling, Mark turned to Noah. “I got lucky. Plus, Noah and I discussed young Dan before he arrived. Thankfully, my husband has as much interest in the writer as yours does.” Mark squeezed Noah’s shoulder.
“Luke, you know I’d never tell you what to do--” Reid’s voice took on a more serious tone.
Luke raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe I do make some strong suggestions from time to time, but this is different. I may sound a little too much like Katie when she’s turning on her alarmist radar, and I’m going to risk sounding like a jealous husband.” Reid looked at the table, the kids, anywhere but directly at Luke.
“You have my attention, Reid. Go on.” Luke took Reid’s hand and laced their fingers together across the twins' highchairs.
“Something isn’t right. I don’t trust that guy.” Reid felt his stomach churning and it wasn’t the large amount of food he had just consumed.
Noah quietly added. “He just wants to make a documentary about the hospital. Dan knows you and Luke are happily married.”
“So why does Luke need to be involved in this film?” Reid couldn’t believe his voice sounded so desperate as he practically pleaded with Noah to leave Luke out of the production.
“Luke is one of the best screen writers I know.” Noah continued. “Dan can write well but he needs a collaborator with experience and Luke is the best person in Oakdale to make this project work.” Noah looked directly at Luke. “If you don’t want to do this you don’t have to. I’ll work with him or get some of my staff writers to tackle the documentary. No hard feelings whatever you decide, Luke.”
Luke looked around the table. When his gaze rested on Reid, Luke stood and took the now vacant seat adjacent to Reid’s that Ethan had wisely abandoned to leave the adults to their discussion. “Reid, you know how much I love you. You can trust me to keep everything with Dan completely professional. I can handle him.”
Reid nodded. “I know you can, but there’s something I feel like we’re all missing here. Who knows? Maybe these are the irrational ravings of an insanely jealous husband. And I may regret this, but I’m not embarrassed to say in front of everyone here that I don’t trust Dan as far as I could throw him.” Reid ghosted his fingers over Luke’s cheek. “Promise me you’ll be cautious when working with him.”
“I plan to work with him at WOAK so we won’t even have the opportunity to be alone.” Luke leaned into Reid’s hand and gently kissed the tips of each of his fingers. “There’s no reason for us to ever be alone so you have nothing to worry about. I understand your concern and don’t belittle it at all. If anything, I’m completely flattered, especially since you said all this with Mark and Noah sitting right here as our witnesses.”
“Noah, you’d better make sure everything is always on the the up and up with this character.” Reid glared at Noah.
“I promise to stay involved with this project and personally oversee it. I told Dan I’d be supervising continually and intend to follow through on that. You can count on it, Reid.”
Luke blushed. “I really can take care of myself. I don’t need Noah to babysit me.”
“Let’s just say he’s appeasing my overprotective gene.”
“Besides, Reid. I want to get this project over with as soon as possible so I can return to writing my novel. It’s been coming along smoothly.”
“Okay.” Reid leaned in to meet Luke’s waiting lips. The two tenderly kissed one another several times before parting, hearing a mock cough behind them.
When Reid turned toward the sound of the intrusion, he saw something in Dan’s eyes that made him shudder. Was it anger, resentment, or possibly disgust. He hoped he really was overreacting and the look was simply that of amusement, although Reid was quite certain it wasn’t.
[TBC]