AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His voice was laced with bitter sarcasm. “Right, your solution is to fire me. Who’s going to put it all together?”
“As luck would have it, a replacement designer sort of fell in my lap. No wisecracks. Ms. Annabelle’s son is in town, and he happens to have a degree in art and graphic design. He’s not working, and he has the time to give the gala all his focused attention.”
“Her son just happened to be there with the ability to do my job, as good as me? Tell me about this son.”
“Hey, I never said the words as good as you. Come on, Billy. I have to get into the office. We don’t have time to sit around and gossip like a bunch of teenaged girls.”
“This must be even better than I think. You are deflecting big time. Nope, do not say another word. We are meeting for dinner. The cigar bar at seven. Oh, and you’re buying. Later, brother.”
The SOB hung up on me. I knew he would give me crap and possibly be pissed to high heaven about the preliminary work he’d already done, but now it was going to cost me cold hard cash. When I told him what else was on my mind about the new and very young graphic artist, I would be answering a list of probing questions and would likely have to purchase a bottle of his favorite whiskey. Small price to pay to get your best friend’s advice before you do something way out of character and possibly explosive.
When I pulled into the office parking structure, I went upstairs hoping to concentrate on my work and nothing else between now and my dinner with Billy.
Chapter 5
Hayes
* * *
Once Sterling left, I helped Mother reload the car and prayed that we were headed home. No such luck. I sat in the backseat of her car as she dropped off Ms. Eileen and Aunt Hattie. Just one quick stop was never quite the whole story with my mother. What I did know was that if I started complaining and asking her to drop me off, the longer she would drag out her errands. So, I went around town as she went to store after store, stopped in on two neighbors—who I had to get out of the car and at least say hello to—and then finally went to pick up her volunteer schedules from the hospital, the library, and the small community museum. When I suggested they could’ve all been emailed to her, she balked. She’d helped found and still ran those organizations, and tried to show up in person regularly.
“Where do you find the time, Mother? I can’t believe the museum is busy enough all year long for you to put in so many hours.” I was flipping through the tri-fold brochure. The information was good, and it looked like they’d grown the programs. The layout of the information needed some work and updating, but I was impressed.
“It’s not about finding time, Hayes, it’s about making time for what’s important. This is why I’m so happy that you’ll be working with Sterling. You could learn a lot from that man. Plus, he is so fascinating. Wait until you spend more time with him.”
All I could think about was how fascinating I already found the man. This wasn’t as hard of a sell as she thought. Multiple times during our little afternoon outing, I wanted to tell her that I finally understood what she meant when she said, ‘The Lord was testing her,’ at certain times while I was growing up. Her drive around town was testing me in the same way. Instead, I kept my mouth shut and willed us to get to the end of her never-ending to-do list. For the first time since I landed back in South Carolina, I was feeling motivated to do something with my day. I planned to find out everything I could about Mitchell Layton Sterling, Jr.
When we got back to the house, near dinner time, I was ready for an escape.
“No, Mother, I’m good. I have some things I want to check out for the project. I’ll come down and grab food later.”
“Fine, dear, and thank you again for agreeing to work on the gala. I’m so pleased and I know you’re going to do a wonderful job. We can talk about my ideas tomorrow.”
She walked away from me as though that was indeed the last word on the subject. The woman was either a thousand percent tuned-in and could read a room like a clairvoyant, or she could look at her son and miss the entire point. I went to my room and opened my laptop at the same time I dialed Annie. Her life wasn’t in shambles, and I knew she would be on the road driving home from work. She totally had time to talk.
“What it do, baby boo?” Annie’s voice boomed in my room. She listened to music way too loud when she was driving, so when she answered the phone through Bluetooth, she was roaring loud.
“Nope. That’s not it. Don’t do that. You don’t need a catch phrase. I’ve been telling you this for years. Please just answer the phone with hello.” While I gave Annie grief, I typed Sterling’s full name into the search engine.
“Fine. Hello, bored-O! What are you up to? Why are you up to anything? I thought for sure your pity party would last a little bit longer. I mean, I don’t see the loss in being rid of Preston the prick, but hey, it was your relationship. You’re allowed to mourn it.”
“Why are you my best friend again? Geez, shut it. Preston is in the past and I have—holy fucking hot guy alert!”
“What? Hayes, what are you talking about? I thought you were in the house. What hot guy? Are you watching porn while I’m on the phone? Not cool. We talked about this. I don’t care if you’re gay or not, but other than that one thing I asked you to show me, purely for knowledge, I don’t want to know about your sex life or hear you enjoying it.”
“No, this has nothing to do with porn. Seriously, what’s wrong with you? It is about the man I met at the Gullah Society gala planning meeting.”
“Is this Hayes? You went to your mother’s country club and met with her stuffy Society group to plan a gala, and you met a hot guy there? Can a twenty-two-year-old have a stroke? Cause I think you might’ve had one.”
“No stroke. His name is Mitchell Layton Sterling, Jr., and he’s some kind of businessman who also dabbles in event planning. I think. Anyway, I’m trying to research him now.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s hot as fuck, and I want to know more about him.”
“No. Nooooooo! Do not go there. How old is he? Did you learn nothing? Hayes, it’s too soon to start looking for a rebound relationship. You already cut your wallowing in self-pity time short by a week. You shouldn’t be thinking about a new dick. At least not yet. Do I need to detour to your house? This feels like an in-person conversation and intervention is needed.”
“I’m a healthy red-blooded gay man. I’m always thinking about new dick. And old dick. Famous dick. Foreign dick. You know how I love an accent on a hot guy.”
