Part 11



It was mid-July and Justin was jogging through the park with the puppies, now quite a bit larger than they had been when he and Brian had brought them home, when he quite literally ran into Ben Bruckner.  Of course, given that Ben was built like a linebacker and Justin was built more like a… well smaller than a linebacker, Justin did not come out of the encounter completely unharmed.



“Oof!” Justin grunted as he landed hard on his tailbone, the dogs in a tangle around his feet.



“Oh god!  Justin! I’m so sorry!” Ben apologized profusely.  “Are you okay?”



Justin took a minute to untangle the dogs’ leads and then took the offered hand up.  “Yes.  I think so.  Maybe bruised my pride a little.”  He dusted the dirt off his ass and winced.  “And maybe my posterior as well.”



“I am so sorry,” Ben offered once again.



Justin smiled.  “It’s okay, Ben.  Really.  I should have been watching where the dogs were dragging me.”



Ben, as though just noticing the puppies, bent low to greet them.  “They’re beautiful.  When did you and Brian get dogs?”



“A few months ago, for my birthday,” Justin said.  He began to walk along the path to the dog park and Ben fell in beside him.  “Actually, Randy was my present.  But we got to the farm to pick him out and Brian got suckered by Harry.  He’s the sneaky one.  So we both got dogs for my birthday.”



“With their striking blue eyes, I can believe Brian could easily be swayed by one of these puppies,” Ben said meaningfully.  “They’re Weimaraners, right?”



“Yep, pure-blooded and completely pampered,” Justin agreed wryly.  “How have things been for you?  Debbie keeps me somewhat informed about who is doing what, but she’s still a little pissed at Michael, so she doesn’t talk much about you guys.”



In fact Michael was the only one who hadn’t approached Justin to apologize and attempt to make amends.  After his reunion with Emmett, it seemed like Lindsey, Melanie and Ted all found the courage to seek Justin out.



“Things have been… okay,” Ben sighed.  “I’ve tried to get him to see sense about you and Brian.  He’s just…”



“He blames me for the fact that Brian is angry with him,” Justin said.



“Yes,” Ben agreed.  “He’s got some sort of blind spot where that man is concerned.  It wasn’t nearly so obvious when Brian was still living in New York.  Now that he’s back, however, Brian seems to be all that Michael can think about.  He obsesses on ways to get Brian to forgive him, but he never stops to consider that he’s the one in the wrong.”



“I’m sorry.”



Ben looked at Justin with some confusion.  “For what?”



“Because my presence in Brian’s life is what prompted all of this,” Justin shrugged.  “If Brian hadn’t moved back to Pittsburgh to be closer to me and Gus, none of this would have happened and you wouldn’t be watching your husband obsess over another man.”



Ben actually laughed.  “That’s one way to see things.  I prefer to think that the universe has a reason for the way things happen.  Michael once told me that when he and Brian were on the outs, you were the one who brought them back together.  You even returned some expensive comic book that Brian had bought for him.  That comic book is how Michael funded his comic book store, which in turn is how he and I met.  Everything happens for a reason.  And in time, I’ll know what the reason for all this is.”



They reached the fenced area where the dogs could run free with other dogs and Justin let the puppies off their leashes and watched as the two headed straight for their favorite area: the agility training equipment in the training area.  Justin had seen other owners teaching their dogs to weave through the bars, crawl through the tunnels, jump over the hurdles and balance on the bridges.  Somehow, Harry and Randy seemed to just naturally understand how to perform each of the tasks.  Justin let them explore each time they came, and then took them through a run that one of the trainers showed him.  They were getting very good and Justin often wondered if he should let them compete.



“They seem to be quite good at that,” Ben commented as they watched the two dogs play.



“They’re hunting dogs by nature,” Justin said.  “And they are very agile.  I do some training with them, but they pretty much do most of the work themselves.  And they egg each other on.”



“Like human siblings,” Ben mused.



Justin grinned.  “Exactly.  Harry is better at remembering what comes next in the course, but Randy is the faster of the two and makes up for any mistakes he might make with sheer speed.”  Justin pulled out a tennis ball and whistled for the dogs.  “Watch this.”  Once the puppies were both sitting politely at Justin’s feet, staring intently at the ball, Justin threw it as far as he could.  The puppies took off after the ball with Randy in the lead almost as soon as they were moving.  He got to the ball well ahead of Harry.  But Harry danced around his brother happily, nipping at the other dog’s tail occasionally until Randy barked at him and dropped the ball.  Harry snatched it up and trotted back to Justin to hand it over for another throw with Randy loping along behind him.



“I see what you mean,” Ben laughed.  “Wow.  I never realized how much personality dogs have.”



Justin tossed the ball again and started a pattern over the next half hour while he and Ben continued to talk about life and animals and the universe.  Only twice did Harry actually beat Randy to the ball, and then only because he distracted the other dog.  Only three times did Randy actually make it back to Justin with the ball still in his mouth.



“They seem like they need a lot of attention,” Ben finally said as Justin gave them water from the doggie fountain before they started the long run back to the loft.



“They do,” Justin admitted.  “They’re active dogs and need to run every day.  They also get very attached to their families.  But since I’m home so much working, it hasn’t really been a problem.  If I have to be gone, or we can’t exercise them for some reason, we take them to a doggie daycare that keeps them moving.  In fact, I take them there every Thursday even if there’s nothing else going on, just so that they get used to being there.”



Ben had to laugh.  “Doggie daycare?”



Justin looked sheepish.  “Yeah, that was Brian’s response too.  But it works.  They make sure they get lots of exercise and they are socialized with other dogs, and I get a whole day without them under feet. Plus the caretakers reinforce the training classes we all attend on the weekends.”



“Well, I suppose it’s working,” Ben said.  “They seem very well trained to me.”



“If only people were so easy to train,” Justin mused.



Ben had to agree with the younger man.  “I’m still working on him, but I don’t know if Michael will ever really understand what he did.  I think the best anyone can hope for is for him to change his future behavior.”



“I don’t think Brian will let it go at that,” Justin said sadly.  “He misses Michael.  I know he does.  But he won’t let him back into his life until he makes things right with me.  Not by my urging, but because…”



“Because he loves you,” Ben said.  “I would feel the same way if I was in his place.”  Ben paused for a moment as though pondering something.  “I just don’t get what is so special about Brian.  I mean, he was a great fuck and all but…” He looked at Justin guiltily, as though he hadn’t meant to say that much.



Justin chuckled in response.  “Don’t worry, I know about the White Party.  I wouldn’t recommend telling Michael, though.  As for what makes Brian special, you wouldn’t respond to it in the same way because you have the same sort of confidence and self-awareness that draws people to you.  You may get it from your spirituality and Brian from his sexuality, but that self-assurance is like a magnet to most people.  Especially someone as insecure as Michael.”



Ben nodded slowly.  “I suppose I can see that.  And I would think you would fit the self-assured category as well.”



Justin shrugged.  “Maybe.  Not quite as self-assured as you and Brian, but definitely more than Michael and most of the other fags in Pittsburgh.  The important thing to remember is that Michael does love you.”



Ben nodded again and gave Justin a genuine smile.  “I’m really glad I ran into you.”



“Me too,” Justin laughed.



They went their separate ways when they reached the edge of the regular park, but Justin and Ben both hoped that things might be different in the future so that they could actually be friends.



BJBJBJBJBJ



“Michael, I won’t tell you again, unless you make things right with Justin, I don’t want to have anything to do with you,” Brian said and hung up his phone.  He closed his eyes and scrubbed his face with his hands before falling heavily back against his desk chair.  He sat there for long moments with his eyes closed as he gathered himself together.  When there was a quiet clearing of a throat, he looked up to find Cynthia standing in his doorway.  “What’s up?”



“I just got a call from  Frank G. Hall’s executive assistant,” Cynthia gushed in a way that was totally unlike her.  “He wants a meeting.  With you!”



Brian rolled his eyes, but inside he was just as excited as Cynthia.  “So?  What did you tell him?”



“He’ll be in town this weekend for his goddaughter’s wedding,” Cynthia said.  “You’ve got breakfast meeting with him Friday morning.  His assistant said, and I quote, ‘He thinks your boss is either crazy or very shrewd for moving out of New York.  He wants to see which it is.’”



“A little of each,” Brian said with a smirk.  Then he couldn’t hold his excitement in any longer.  “Fuck!  Do you know how many companies he owns?  How many national brands he has under his parent corporation?”



“364,” Cynthia said smugly and then squealed.  “That’s one for every day of the year with a day off for Christmas.  A quarter of those accounts would be enough to make us one of the largest agencies in the country.”



“Don’t jump ahead too far,” Brian said.  “We aren’t set up for that many national accounts yet.  And he’ll want to test us.  It’ll be a slow build.”



“But it will happen,” Cynthia said knowingly.  “Shit Brian, he asked to meet with you personally.  He’s not sending one of his flunkies.  The fact that he knows who you are and that we made the move at all speaks volumes.  Brian, this is going to happen.”



“I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure it does,” Brian agreed.  “I need you to get me everything you can on Mr. Frank G. Hall and his companies.  I’m not going into this blind.  We have three days to prepare and I intend on using every second.”



BJBJBJBJBJ



“Brian?” Justin said sleepily.  “Why are you still up?”



It was two in the morning and Justin had woken to find that Brian had slipped out of bed sometime after Justin had fallen asleep.  Brian had been working like mad for since Tuesday and Justin had no idea why.  All Brian would tell him was that he had a meeting with a potential client coming up that was very important.



“I’m sorry,” Brian sighed and rubbed his face with both hands.  “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d read through these files one last time.”



“Cramming the night before a test never works,” Justin told him teasingly as he climbed into Brian’s lap and wrapped his arms around the other man.  “Either you know it by then or you don’t.  The best thing to do is get a good night’s sleep and try to relax.”



Brian chuckled.  “That might work for the SATs but I doubt it will be the same with Frank Hall.”



“Frank Hall?” Justin said.  “As in the Frank Hall that owns restaurant chains and soda companies and toiletry companies and… and pretty much anything that can be sold in this country? Frank Hall the richest gay man in America? That Frank Hall?”



“That’s the one,” Brian said.  “I have a breakfast meeting with him in…” he checked his watch “…six hours.  He asked to meet with me personally to discuss why I moved Kinnetik from New York.  He thinks I’m either crazy or very smart.  I intend to prove the latter.”



“Let him think you’re a little of the former as well,” Justin said.  “The most successful people are a little crazy.”  Brian gave his blond a skeptical look.  “No seriously, genius is often confused with madness.”



“I’m trying to get his business, not scare him off,” Brian said.  “Can you be serious for a minute?”



“It’s rather difficult at two in the morning,” Justin said.  “But okay.  Brian, you don’t have to impress this guy; he’s sought you out because he’s already impressed by you.  Just relax and be yourself and he’ll see exactly why you are so good at what you do.  You don’t have to memorize his life history to do that.  You have the gift of reading people, gay or straight, and charming their pants off.  Just do that.  Pretend he’s just another potential client and loosen up.”



Brian closed the file on his desk and then turned to his lover and kissed him.  “You’re right.  I do need to relax.  Know what’s the most relaxing thing in the world?”



“I have an idea,” Justin replied with an impish grin.  “Why don’t we go back to bed and you can show me?”