Page 15 of Mimosa

“Abs, if he is, he’s not going to actually do anything about it.”

“What if he does? What if Cosmo rejects him, and, well, I’d expect him to, because he’s crazy about Taran.”

“We cannot start worrying right now. I don’t think he’s going to try for him. Maybe he’ll wait and see if Cosmo and Taran split, or maybe he’s going to try and be rejected. If so, we have to be there for them both. Promise?”

Abs lay his head on Mims’s shoulder and whispered, “Of course.”

“Good. Now, can I tell you my dilemma?”

“You’re hot for the other cop. I swear, are we all going to fall for cops? That’s dangerous, but, gotta say, sexy.”

Mims should have known that Abs would know. There were few secrets allowed to be kept at the pub. “He’s pretty.”

“Pretty like me and you or pretty like…Cosmo and Goldie?”

Cosmo and Goldie were their muscle men. They both loved working out almost as much as anything else they liked doing, if not more. “Kind of…in between? I mean, he’s not this huge ripped guy, like Goldie, but he’s a little bigger than Cosmo. He’s lean and firm, you can tell.”

“He’s also got brown hair, I hear?”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s not gray haired and ready for the nursing home.”

Mims laughed. They all got endless enjoyment from teasing him about his taste for older men. “Well, yeah, that’s why he’s nice to look at but he’s not for me.”

“God, Mims. That is just wrong.” Abs moved off Mims and then made Mims face him. “Maybe it’s good he’s closer to your age. Maybe that’s what you need.”

“I can’t help who I like, Abs.”

“Yeah, you can. Take a chance on someone who isn’t married and in the closet except for when he’s fucking you.”

Mims wanted to take offense to what Abs was saying, but he was right. They were all right. He wanted to be happy, to find a guy that could be with him in public, where they had a chance of being together for more than fucking once a week.

After Abs left his room, Mims called the latest old man he was enamored with, only to get his voicemail. Again.

He sent a text, telling him that he would wait one more day for a call, then he’d say goodbye. It was a text he was used to sending.

And, like so many, he didn’t get the call the following day, or the day after that, so he blocked and deleted the number from his phone, and decided to get on with his life.

Again.

The weekend was approaching and the guys met in the basement to practice their routines. Oh, a lot of it was off the cuff, improv for the masses, but they still practiced choreographed moves to wow the crowd at least a few times a night.

Hippy was the best juggler, and when Mims got to the basement, he was indeed tossing three bottles around like it was no harder than tossing only one.

Cosmo was looking on, smiling and clapping. After the conversation with Abs, Mims decided to watch them closer, and seeing that, well, he worried.

“Cosmo, how’s Taran?”

“He’s great. Thanks for asking.”

The response from Cosmo came as Hippy dropped one of the bottles, and it thumped hard on the yoga mats that were set around him for just such a purpose. His mood immediately turned sour.

And Mims’s mood wasn’t boosted either. Abs was likely right. Hippy had a thing for Cosmo.

Goldie came into the room with a flourish and said, “I have the best idea for tomorrow night. On Fridays, we’re always a little out of practice, even with these sessions. Bartending once during the week makes us slow on the draw. So, how about we get some dance moves going. Four at a time dance on the bar while the two left behind handles the orders and we switch off all night?”

Mims asked, “That’s great, Goldie, but it’s Thursday. How are we going to learn dance moves in a day?”

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