Page 4 of Stray for You

Garret nods along as I give him the run-down, interrupting with an occasional question. When I’m done, he sits back in his chair with a sigh and folds his hands on his desk.

“You’re good at this, Julian,” he says. “Really good at it. You always come back with the most leads of anyone in this office.”

I smile crookedly. “Natural talent. What can I say?”

“Whatever you want to call it, it’s working. Upper management has noticed.”

My eyebrows flicker up involuntarily at this. I’ve never aspired to much in this company. I’m happy enough with my job and my pay. I certainly wouldn’t want to be confined to the office all the time like Garret, so upper management has rarely crossed my mind.

“I’m … grateful,” I say.

Garret chuckles. “Relax. You’re not getting stuck in the office any time soon. I told them as much myself. You’re too good out in the field for us to lose to office work.”

I relax into my chair, tension draining from my shoulders.

“But there is another conference coming up,” Garret says. “I know you just got home,” he adds quickly, “but this is a big one. It could open us up to a completely different market, and I want my best rep on it. That’s you, Julian. If you aren’t up for it because of your recent trip, I understand, but you’ll have earned yourself a big vacation and bonus if you pull this one off.”

I don’t really need the money, and I have no idea what I’d do with a vacation except visit my mom down in New Jersey. No, the actual reason I perk up from this offer is because I genuinely enjoy these stupid, degenerate trips. They’re my natural environment. Moreover, they cocoon me in the kind of energy and attention that insulates me from the loneliness of the empty apartment waiting for me in Manhattan.

“I could be convinced,” I say carefully.

“You know we’ve been looking at breaking into tech for a while now,” Garret says. “If we could sell to those guys, there’s potential for VC money. It could be huge. We get the right partnership with the right company, hell, even a startup, it couldskyrocket our profits. Not just for the quarter, either. We’re looking at year over year growth. It’s a huge opportunity.”

“Uh huh, yeah, I remember.”

“So, Seattle.”

The word drops like a hammer. Seattle. Where Cameron lives. Of course it’s Seattle. Of course it’s not Silicon Valley. Why shouldn’t fate bend this way? The universe has some sense of humor.

“Seattle?” I say.

“It’s not Silicon Valley, but Facebook, Google, Amazon — they’re all out there. This is going to be huge. I want you to get in there and make connections with anyone you can. Sell them on the merger of tech and health. It’s the next big innovation. It’s the thing both industries have been waiting for. All that shit. You know the script.”

I do, but the script doesn’t usually include being in proximity to the one person in my life who I’ve always felt like I let slip away before we had a chance.

The rest of Garret’s instructions sail past me. My brain is churning over the possibilities. Where exactly does Cameron live? Seattle is a big place. What is he doing out there? Will Henry know? Maybe Cameron’s not even there anymore. Maybe he’s unreachable. I haven’t texted him in years. Would he respond if I tried? Has he blocked my number? Maybe he’s been waiting all these years for me to reach out to him, pining in silence, dreaming of the day we’d be together again. Okay, that one sounds far-fetched, but what can I say? I’m a bit of a romantic at heart.

There are too many possibilities to count, but by the time I leave Garret’s office, I nearly skip back to my desk. My smile isn’t plastered on this time around. This thing singing in my chest isn’t the fake cheer I smear on to charm a client or co-worker. I’m going to be near Cameron again. Only for a week and only forwork, but that’s better than I’ve had in years. Surely, he can’t be holding on to his hatred of me after all these years. It must have passed by now. Our moms aren’t even together anymore. There’s nothing to keep us from being best buds — and perhaps even more than that.

Yeah, definitely.

I don’t bother to pretend I’m answering emails when I get back to my desk. I hunch over my personal (not work) phone and start texting Henry. If anyone will know where Cameron is, it’s him.

If fate is kind, I’ll be seeing my brother-not-brother again very, very soon.

Chapter Three

Cameron

I STROKE TUX’S SLEEK black fur, which is nearly a match for my own hair. His back rises, his tail going up as he paces along the counter of the coffee bar. He dances back and forth before me, demanding extra pets.

I’m fine providing them. There’s nothing else to do right now. Rainbow Rescue Cat Café lies quiet around me. One patron sips a coffee while typing on her laptop. Most of the cats are sleeping somewhere around the café, a few lounging in the window seats bathed in mid-day sunlight and others hanging off the big cat tree that dominates the center of the café. My single patron hasn’t needed me since she got her drink. There isn’t even a yoga class going on on the other side of the café. It’s the peak of the lull, and I am happy to entertain Tux, and myself, during it.

He flops onto the counter, not caring about the hair he gets everywhere, and presents his soft white belly to me, the very same belly that earned him his name. He’s all black except for this strip of belly fur, making him look like a little man in a fancy tuxedo.

“Mom would love you,” I murmur at him as he rumbles.

We always said we’d get a pet after we moved out here and settled in, but “settling in” has taken longer than either of us assumed. We came here after I graduated from university. At first, we lived together, but it quickly got awkward for a man in his early twenties to be living with his mother. She moved inwith Aunt Mary, and I found a little one-bedroom apartment in the same town. We’re still close together, and I still see her at least once a week for dinner, but I have my own space.

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