Page 41 of Disorderly

We kept the care ride upbeat, listening to music, and talking about our plans for the Christmas season. Jason was giving his crew two weeks off, so he was going to be home which only added to the excitement. While I’d been able to make it up for Christmas last year, I’d only had a couple of days off before I had to return to the city. Too many of our clients had year end reports due and I’d been one of the unlucky ones tasked with completing them. And the years before had been similar. Since I left university, I could only recall a couple of times where the three of us were able to spend both holidays together, but even then, one was usually in Voyageur Bay while the other was in Winnipeg.

Not only would the three of us be together for the holidays, but Katy would be with us as well. Her mom had Christmas Day off and we planned to make a day of it as a family since we were all that we each had. But that meant that her mom had to work over New Year’s which meant this would be my first time spending New Year’s Eve with her in years. And I couldn’t wait. Of course I’d have to find a way to sneak in a kiss or two without Peter finding out, but I was up to the challenge.

“Ready?” Peter asked as I met him at the front of his car.

I didn’t answer. Instead, I reached out, entwining our gloved fingers together. To walk across the full parking lot, hand-in-hand, would be a statement even if we did nothing else. Not that I could really tell if people were looking since we were all racing to out of the cold and into the arena.

After our tickets were scanned at the door, I stomped my feet and shook off the light dusting off snow on the large mats they’d placed inside. I peeled my gloves off my hands, tucking them into my jacket pocket. I hadn’t bothered with a toque or scarf since the distance from the parking lot to the arena wasn’t far. Besides, the arena would be warm enough inside that I’d be removing my jacket partway through the game.

“Grab drinks and food before we find our seats?” With the game tonight, neither one of us cooked supper, preferring to nibble on snacks and sandwiches over the afternoon. For an arena and one affiliated with a community college, the food stands carried some of the best food. It helped that a couple of the local restaurants including Strönds Microbrewery, made a couple of special recipes for the Northern Pikes hockey team and this was the only place during the winter you could get them… well, officially since you could sometimes talk them into making them at their restaurants when the team was on an away trip.

“Please. I’m starving.” Peter leaned into my personal space as he took my hand in his. “And for more than just food.” His blue eyes darkened into a navy colour that matched the jerseys the Pikes wore. The desire in them matched the rising desire in me.

“Oh, Mr. Evans, are you and boyfriend in line?” I didn’t know the student who interrupted, but I was thankful they did. While I wanted to be free with my actions, fucking Peter in public probably wasn’t the best idea. That would certainly be something that the board of my company wouldn’t approve of, saying that it wasn’t wholesome or fitting in withfamily values.

He grinned at me before turning back to the student. “Yes, Lily, we are. Did you come with your brother and Jake or with friends?”

“Josh and Jake got forced to bring me because Samantha wanted me to come with them.” And with her comment I placed the young girl. Well, maybe not that young since I knew she was only a year younger than Katy. Her father, John Westin, had become somewhat of an older mentor or almost father-figure to me since I’d taken over the accounts for their ranch and businesses. He’d taken me out for coffee a number of times to talk after word of thekissstarted to circulate.

We shuffledforward as the line moved, spending the time talking with Lily. It was fascinating to hear the fondness in her voice when she spoke of Samantha and she never shied away from insinuating that Samantha was the girlfriend to both Josh and Jake, a fact both of us knew, but Lily seemed almost proud of the fact that her brother was willing to be so open and happy with a girlfriend he shared with his best friend.

Thankfully, the line moved swiftly and before we knew it, we each carried a small box holding our drinks, burgers, and fries. This set up allowed us to continue to hold hands as we walked around the arena concourse to our entrance near the team benches and the red line. The area was crowded with fans and friends meeting, calling out their greetings. Nothing brought a community together like a good hockey game and the Northern Pikes drew people from as far away as Gimli. And with all the people around, I started to notice the covert looks and whispers. Tension prickled along my spine, making my skin itchy and I seriously began to second guess myself about my readiness for this outing. It hadn’t been the same when Lily mentioned our status, but that could have been because she was so young. Or maybe the fact that I knew her father had no qualms about my sexual orientation made her feel safe. But either way I was becoming uncomfortable. And if I was, then I could only imagine how Peter felt.

To my surprise, when I glanced over to Peter, he wore a large smile. And when someone called his name, he shouted out a greeting, raising our joined hands so that he could finger wave. His calm and happy demeanour helped to settle my anxiety, but it remained on a low simmer, making me antsy. I could only hope that it would fade completely once we were at our seats and the game began. Then hockey, and not the relationship between Peter and I, would be the focus of their concentration.

As we entered our row, Kyle, Geoff, and a couple of our other friends stood, making room for us to get to our seats.

“Would you look at that? Out and about like a real couple.” Geoff ‘s gaze lifted from our joined hands to smile at us. Prior to moving here, I’d only met the large animal veterinarian a handful of times due to the nature of his work, but now he’d joined the ranks of one of my new clients which gave me the opportunity to get to know him a little more. But even if I hadn’t, I’d heard the gossip stories about how he was in love with Kate, one of his two best friends, and when Tyler left Voyageur Bay suddenly, never returning, it broke up him and Kate. From little hints he’d dropped in passing conversation with me, I knew there was a lot more to the story than what the townspeople knew. And from the simple, brief look of longing in his eyes as his gaze dropped back to our hands, I made a mental note to reach out to him soon for coffee. We all needed friends and maybe, since I was a relative outsider, not having grown up in this town, maybe I could be that impartial confident that he appeared to need.

“It’s about freakin’ time.” Kyle smacked my shoulder as I passed in front of him before giving Peter the same treatment, only a little harder from the sound of his umph. “I was beginning to think the town’s gossip mill had shared in some collective delusion when they talked about a grand kiss between the two of you. Or that maybe one of your rejects was trying to get rid of all the other competition.” He held onto his abdomen as he fake laughed.

I rolled my eyes at his antics, but his point was valid… and plausible. I’m sure if one of Peter’s rejects had thought it would have worked, they would have told people years ago that he was kissing guys to stop the other women from sleeping with him.

Kyle straightened up. “But seriously guys, I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks,” Peter and I said together, causing the others to chuckle.

“They’re already speaking together. That’s sooo cute.” Jaedon batted his eyelashes while putting his hands together in a praying gesture under his chin. The sight, so incongruent with his slim build, colourful tattoos and all his facial piercings that we all laughed. But I was glad he was there and making a joke, cutting the tension in me. Out of all the guys, he was the one who knew what it was to be like in a same gendered, non-traditional relationship in a small town. And not having grown up here, but in a different small town where he hadn’t been accepted for who he was, he knew all about the hiding and then the feeling of freedom.

As we settled into our seats and the arena filled up around us, eager for the start of the game, Peter leaned over, giving me a sweet, relaxed kiss, making my lips and other parts of me tingle. “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“Not at all.” I pecked his lips, enlarging the smile he sported. But even as I said the words, I wondered how true they were. I’d grown up knowing that the other shoe would always drop, I just worried what form it would take when it did.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Katy

“Fuck.I’m so glad it’s Christmas break.” Mason threw himself against the locker next to mine. I shot him an annoyed look, worried he’d dented it with his bulk. And if he had, I knew Melissa would blame me in her snootiest voice because she hated the fact that Mason didn’t give her the time of day after he hooked up with her after the Harvest Dance. Not that he knew I knew about it, but secrets were hard to keep, and like it or not, Mason was one of the new school gods, so gossip abounded about him.

“Aren’t you happy about it?” He pouted. “I mean, what was that old song we used to sing, something about no dirty looks from teachers?” I wanted to smack my head as he grinned. He knew very well the lyrics to the song made famous by Alice Cooper. He was just baiting me, trying to get me into an argument about music or really anything since I’d been avoiding him a little with all the time I spent coordinating and organizing our Christmas hampers for various families. Not only did I handle the school’s contributions for both the junior and senior high, but I was also heavily involved in the larger organization for the town.

His grinned dropped a little when I refused to be sucked in. “But then again, I guess you don’t really get a break from those looks do you, with Mr. Evans living next door?”

“I’ll have you know Mason, that I only give out dirty looks when someone tries to make up excuses about why they need an extra day to complete an assignment when I know they had time to party the night before even if the party was a celebration for one our school’s sports teams.” I glanced at Mason in time to see his cheeks turn a little ruddy. When he ripped his gaze from Mr. Evans—Peter—to me, I raised an eyebrow. I hadn’t heard about this incident.

“It was one time. And Mr. Evans will tell you that I stayed in at lunch to finish the assignment and I received an eighty-two on it.” He twisted to rest his back against the locker as he raised both hands in a surrender gesture.

I nodded as I pulled out my winter boots to put on in place of my runners. Mason may have been a jock and tried to play up to the stereotype, I knew he worked hard on his academics, hoping for a US football scholarship, and having the academic chops along with the skills on the field would make him appear more attractive since Canadian football was a little different than the US version. Although he had all his previous football history at US schools where scouts had already watched him play.

---