MY FATHER MY FRIEND
9
Brian was really surprised that Joan and Claire had actually left him alone. But he sure wasn’t complaining. He picked up the folder for LeMont Restaurant. They had opened their first store on Mount Washington in Pittsburgh and then Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Now they had a grand opening in Manhattan in New York. He looked at the new store which had the colors of the French flag in their sign. The slogan, Dine at LeMont, a Restaurant Specializing in Quality French Cuisine was blazoned across the top. He trusted Justin’s judgment that they would not want displays of affection from customers as it was a high-class establishment. The ads were to be featured on Billboards and on TV and would have various combinations of diners. They were going to have to work late that night to get the presentation ready. Brian called the diner and ordered two of their specials with some of the lemon bars Justin loved. He told Justin he would be right back as he was going to pick their dinner up.
Michael was sitting alone eating as his maw and Kiki were rushing around with the full evening crowd. The ding of the door brought Brian inside and he sat at the counter.
“Briaaannnn! Finally, you are without boy wonder! We can go to Babylon tonight. It can be like old times again. Bet there are lots of hot guys there now. We’ll have a lot to pick from.” He slung his arms around Brian and tried to turn his face for a kiss.
Brian stood up to get away from Michael’s arms. “I’m not going to Babylon, Mikey! The crowd there is entirely too young anymore. Christ Mikey, stop trying to kiss me! I don’t need or want you clinging to me anymore. I’m married to Justin now. We might try getting the gang together with our spouses for a night once in a while, but I don’t go without Justin.”
All of a sudden Molly threw her arms around Michael. “Hey, just the one I was hoping was here. Vicky is working on paintings for a show in New York. You can keep me company while I eat.”
Deb and Kiki stood by Brian and watched her manhandle Michael over to a table. Daammnn, she was small but mighty. She was chattering a mile a minute at him. Michael wrenched his arm out of her grip and wiped his cheek where she had kissed it leaving a big pink lipstick print behind. He was red as a beet with embarrassment as he ran out the door. The whole diner roared laughing. Deb and Kiki were leaning on Brian with tears running down their cheeks they were laughing so hard.
Molly came over and tilted her cheek up at her brother-in-law. He leaned down and briefly kissed her cheek. Deb hugged her as she wiped her face.
“Maybe he’ll behave himself for a while, ya think?” Molly said hopping on the stool beside Brian.
“We can only hope, Moll. I’ve got your and Brian’s order ready. You both have four lemon bars included. You two go make your spouses take a break and eat. Then see if you can get them to go home. They need their rest.”
Arriving back at Kinnetik, Brian told Justin about Molly’s antics. After they both had a good laugh at her antics, he said. “She used to be a pest that aggravated the hell out of me. One of her favorite things was to repeat everything I said. Oh, I used to tell her to shut up and threaten her, till I realized I just needed to be the one to shut up.”
“Justin, I’ve been thinking of setting up a daycare in Kinnetik. What do you think?” Brian asked with a small grin on his face.
“I’m not sure how many have kids. Do you know?” He asked. Wondering why he hadn’t found this out before.
“There are four young ones in the art department, two daycare eligible. Three in legal, but only one daycare eligible. There will possibly be one in the ad department pending approval by a certain artist.”
“Brian? Did... did you just say?” A wide-eyed Justin asked.
Pulling his lips in, Brian nodded. “I’d like us to have at least one, two if you think we could handle both at once. One from both of us?”
“Oh, Brian! I’d love to have two if you really think we can manage. I know we have three bedrooms, but they need a yard to play in.” Grabbing Brian, he rained kisses on his face, causing him to laugh.
“It’s true we have the bedrooms, but I thought perhaps we could look for a house, with a nice wooden privacy fence in back and a five foot wrought iron one in front.”
“Well, that would work, we could sell the loft. Maybe have a pool and a patio in the back as well. It would be nice to have BBQs. Perhaps we could get a dog?”
“My poor Armani, dogs shed. But I guess you could keep one brushed. So is it settled, a couple of kids, a new house, and a dog? We’ll look into an egg donor and a surrogate tonight.”
The two men hugged and got back to work. Justin to the art department and Brian to his office where he called Ted to discuss finances on a house.
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Two weeks later, they had found a house at the end of a cul-de-sac in the gated community Ted and Blake lived in. It had three bedrooms, one of the two bathrooms had a huge waterfall shower. The other bathroom was between the two medium-sized bedrooms. A big kitchen with a big island that had four stools. A small breakfast nook was in a corner of the kitchen with two big windows. The living room had a big stone fireplace. There was a full basement that they planned to put a pool table and exercise equipment in. With a couch, two loveseats, and two matching chairs. A big-screen TV on the wall with a bar with lockable doors. The wooden privacy fence was already around the backyard. There was a nice-sized pool with a patio. Brian contracted to have big flowerbeds surrounding the front yard. An attached two-car garage was included with a big storage room.
Justin found a surrogate with a separate egg donor and in four months, twins were on the way. One day Justin worked late to finish the boards for Brown Athletics, as they were to attend the ultrasound the next day and hopefully know what they were having. He arrived home to find Brian in the backyard. There was a wide swing for them to sit in with two baby seats built into it.
“Sooo, are we going to spend a lot of time out here?” Justin asked.
“Why not? You notice we can sit side by side with the baby seats on the ends. Plus the seats are easy to detach once they no longer need them. We’ll cover it for the winter.”
“I see that. It might be relaxing to sit out here in the evenings with an after-dinner drink.” He snuggled up to Brian, as it was late fall and a chill was in the air.
Meanwhile, as to the Novotny-Bruckners, Ben had picked up dinner as Mike had a reading group at Red Cape. He overheard a conversation at another table. They were talking about what Mike had said to Brian and how Brian had to stand up to avoid Mike kissing him. That part didn’t bother him. Old habits were hard to break, but why did Mike say about the pickings at Babylon? A conversation for later at home.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Talk of new additions and storms on the horizon for some.
Chapter End Notes:
What will the babies be? Boy? Girl? One of each? Trouble ahead for Mike? Thanks for reading.