Page 63 of Blown

“I haven’t,” Jake said, scrubbing a hand through his hair and glancing around the bustling train station. “But so far, the city hasn’t endeared itself to me. I think I’d rather just go home.”

Rafe’s budding plans deflated. Despite their victory, Jake was off.

Rafe had a fair idea of why. At least, he hoped he knew why. If he was right, he could fix it, but it would take a little work first.

“Alright,” he said, resting a hand on Jake’s shoulder and squeezing it as they moved to join the queue for tickets. “Let’s go home.”

Jake was amazed by how fast things moved once important people set all their balls in motion. On the train ride back to London, Rafe called his mum to let her know when they’d be back, and after consulting him, he’d sent the pictures and video to Todd so that he could spread the word and figure out whose glass Hélène had in her studio.

By the time they arrived in London, several people had already texted or called Rafe, and Jake, too, to ask for details about the whole story. And by the time they made it all the way back to Hawthorne House in the late afternoon, despite asking Todd to keep things on the down low until they were able to do more research and get all their ducks in a row, people were already making vague posts on social media that something was afoot in the glass world.

“Hopefully they’ll be able to keep the lid on things until you get your visa application sorted,” Janice said as she drove them back to Hawthorne House from the local train station.

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Rafe said, glancing over his shoulder at Jake in the backseat, a twinkle in his eyes.

It was lovely that Rafe supported him, but after everything the two of them had shared, he wasn’t sure the support Rafe was offering was the support he really wanted.

The weekend passed in a blur of getting as much work on the visa done as Jake could while all the offices that he needed to file or ask questions of were closed. Miraculously, at least in his opinion, he received phone calls from two of Britain’s mostinfluential glass artists, wanting to talk about his work and his plans for the future so they could endorse him for the visa in good conscience.

The rest of the weekend was spent working in the hot shop with Rafe. Hélène had stayed true to her word and made another post on social media saying she’d mistakenly posted the wrong photograph of her upcoming collection and that the work she’d posted was by Rafe and Jake. She even admitted she’d been inspired by their English countryside line. All of that meant Jake and Rafe had a lot of work to do to fashion more pieces for what would hopefully be their own exhibition someday.

Jake didn’t care if they ended up showing in the Tate Modern or if everything they made was sold through Hawthorne House’s website. He just wanted to work side by side with Rafe. But just as things started to settle for him, Rafe turned quiet and shifty.

“You’re not planning to go behind my back and claim all the credit for yourself, are you?” Jake asked, half joking, as they cleaned up the hot shop on Sunday evening.

“Not on your life,” Rafe said with a teasing wink. “That’s not my style.”

Jake managed a grin. “I know, I know. That’s something I would do, not you.”

“I was thinking of Hélène, but if the shoe fits….”

Jake laughed, tentatively feeling like things were on their way to being good between the two of them again. He couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling he had that everything wasn’t right with Rafe, even when Rafe invited him up to his flat for supper.

Supper turned into a lot more, and Jake didn’t end up leaving until the next day, but even that intimacy and the comfort he was sure they both got from sleeping naked in each other’s arms didn’t ease the nagging feeling that he was about to have the carpet pulled out from under him.

“Something is definitely wrong with Rafe,” he told Early a few days later, on a particularly lovely summer afternoon, as he worked on the initial round of paperwork for his Global Talent visa. “He’s been acting strange since we got back from Paris.”

“Has he?” Early asked from the table under the window in the office as they stapled syllabi for Robbie’s fall ceramics classes together. “He seems normal to me.”

“He’s definitely off,” Jake said, ticking the last boxes on the form, then signing and dating it at the bottom. “It’s totally disconcerting,” he went on as he got up and headed to the printer to scan everything. “Honestly, I thought we were getting somewhere. I thought that the feelings between us were starting to be real.”

He frowned as he slipped his documents into the printer and tapped the right buttons to get it to scan. Everything was great between the two of them. His body certainly thought so. He hadn’t been that satisfied in ages. So why was he so worried?

“Honestly, I think Rafe has fallen head over heels in love with you,” Early said, coming over to the printer to hit the right buttons when Jake couldn’t get it to do what he wanted it to do.

“Then why am I filing for a Global Talent visa instead of a fiancé one?” Jake mumbled, frowning at the printer as it whirred to life.

That’s what it boiled down to. He had everything he needed to move to the UK now, but he didn’t have Rafe. Not even for pretend. A few months ago, he would have been ecstatic. Now he questioned what he really wanted. If he didn’t have Rafe, would it be worth it to make such a huge move?

“Stop worrying,” Early told him, eyes dancing with mischief. “You’re overthinking everything. It’s going to be alright, I swear.”

“If you say so,” Jake sighed, then moved back to the computer to work with the images the printer sent him.

It only took a few more minutes. He had everything he needed, and after uploading the documents to the UK Immigration website and clicking “Done”, his Global Talent visa was on its way and in the queue.

A profound sense of disappointment settled over him. He leaned back in his chair, staring at the computer screen, no idea what to do next.

“Cheer up,” Early said as they leaned forward to look out the window. “I have a feeling everything will work out perfectly if you just give it a little time.”

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