Page 28 of Cool for the Summer

“Getting it!” Donovan shouts back.

I put my hands on a bag of snap peas and grab the fixings for a quick dip. I hear voices in the hall and my pulse goes up a few notches. Jack’s mentioned Kingston, but I’ve never met the guy, not to mention the mysterious friends he might be bringing. I wipe my hands on a dish cloth and put on a polite smile when Donovan brings the newcomers into the kitchen.

“Do you know Beck?” Donovan asks a man of about his height with ebony skin and shoulder-length locs wearing spiffy linen slacks and a paisley print short-sleeved button-down shirt. The man shakes his head no, so Donovan goes on, “Kingston James, meet Beck Avery.”

“Ah yes, Beckett, pleasure to meet you. I must have missed you at the wedding.” Kingston sticks out a hand and I shake it firmly.

“Beckett?” Donovan says, a wrinkle between his eyebrows.

“My mom’s a big reader,” I say to him, then I grin at Kingston. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Jack.”

“Don’t believe a word of it, dear,” Kingston says loftily.

I laugh. He’s a character and I immediately feel comfortable around him.

“And this is my dear friend Sergio,” Kingston says, putting his hand on the shoulder of the good-looking man with dark brown skin, short black hair, and dark eyes next to him. “Sergio, this is Jack’s cousin Beckett and an old friend of Pete’s, Van—well, Donovan Eastman, to be more precise. You might have caught him inPlum Islandor—what was that other Tony-winner?”

“I’m not much of a theater guy,” Sergio says apologetically.

Donovan waves away the sentiment.

“Sergio is doing the unthinkable and putting his house on the market. It’s a stunner on Beechwood Lane.”

“You’re moving away from Rosedale?” I ask, surprised. According to Jack, once people discover the town, they don’t tend to leave.

“Unfortunately, yes. I probably should have put the house on the market a while ago, but this one—” Sergio points to Kingston “—told me I should wait in case my new job didn’t work out. But I’m actually very happy in Seattle, even if it means goodbye, Rosedale.”

Donovan gets Sergio a beer and asks Kingston what he wants.

“I would have brought my own bubbly,” Kingston says, “but the afternoon got away from me.”

“No problem,” Donovan says. “We went to that wine shop you told me about. How’s this?” He flourishes the pricey bottle with the pretty label he picked up earlier at Wine and Roses and Kingston raises his eyebrows.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have. You’ll spoil me. Oh well,” he says happily.

“If we’re opening that, then we have to use these.” I pluck two of my new-old cocktail glasses from where I set them near the window after I washed them. “I got these today from the thrift store on Main Street.”

“So that’s what was in the bag,” Donovan says, as if some big mystery has been cleared up.

“Classy,” Kingston remarks. “Fill ‘er up, Van.”

Donovan pulls out the cork with a satisfying pop and the three of us put my new glasses to the test, while Sergio says he’s happy with his beer.

“I think champagne tastes better in these,” I say, smacking my lips.

“I think you’re right,” Donovan says, smiling at me.

It’s really bad how warm his approval makes me. I turn away and ask Sergio about his job, which he tells me is some kind of nonprofit financial work, while I make the dip.

“Let’s take this to the patio until the bugs realize we’re here,” I say, and we tromp outside, Cleo trotting between our legs. It never did get sunny today, but it’s still warm.

“So, you’re Jack’s agent—how do you know Donovan?” I ask Kingston once we’ve made ourselves comfortable at the outdoor dining table.

“I was friends with Pete long before he got the job illustrating the Super Rupert books—before I even started representing Jack. And since Pete and Van lived together, we all knew each other back in the day when we were coming up in the city. I was an assistant agent—you were, what? A bartender?”

“Waiter,” Donovan says briefly, pouring himself more of the sparkling wine.

“Oh, yes, now I remember.” Kingston’s eyes flash. And is it my imagination, or does he glance at Donovan’s ass? I wonder what Donovan was like when he was younger, before he broke out as an actor, and I feel a tug of jealousy that Kingston has known Donovan for so much longer than I have.

---