You'd Have to Ask - 34. Chapter 34

Dinner at Cole's

Greg pulls up the long drive and parks his car next to a truck. He checks out the house. He is impressed.

He walks up to the door and looks for a doorbell, he sees none so he knocks. Greg hears a pile of thumps and then the door opens.

“You made it!” Cole says with a smile.

“Good directions, Cole.” Greg says as he checks Cole out. The man was obviously in the midst of changing. He still has his uniform on however the shirt is unbuttoned. He can feel a stirring in his crotch.

“Let me put some shoes on and I’ll help you with your stuff.”

“No need for that Cole, I only brought one bag.” Greg says as he heads to the car and pulls out a bag from the back seat. He thinks about the other bag and decides to give it to Cole later.

“I guess the drive down was uneventful?”

“Yeah, once I was passed the Airport.” Greg says, “I almost took the first Lacombe turnoff though.”

“Lot’s of people do that, it is not a bad drive but it adds about half an hour if you are coming to Bentley.” Cole says as he opens the door wide to allow Greg in.

Greg puts the bag down and bends over to take off his shoes.

When Greg is standing again, Cole offers to take him on a tour of the house. Greg is impressed when he sees the side of the house facing a lake is almost all windows.

They tour the main floor and then Cole picks up Greg’s bag and leads him upstairs. Cole shows Greg his bedroom and puts the bag on the floor by the bed.

“I know it’s not much but I actually haven’t had many guests. There are extra blankets in the closet if you need them.” Cole says, he notices that he can’t make eye contact with Greg.

Greg senses that Cole is nervous, hell he is too. He decides to step closer to the man, so he goes over and tests the bed. This puts him next to Cole. “This is great Cole!” He then turns towards the other man and opens his arms.

Cole steps closer to Greg and the two men embrace.

“Thanks for having me down, Cole.” Greg says as he squeezes Cole’s shoulder.

“Thanks for coming.” Cole says as he pulls away from Greg and looks into his eyes.
They break apart and Cole says that he has to finish changing. He shows Greg where the bathroom is and then heads to his room.

Greg unpacks his bag. He didn’t bring much, just enough for a quiet weekend in the country. When he is done he heads down stairs and admires the view from the living room.

Cole walks into the living room and steps up beside him. “Great isn’t it?”

“Yeah, especially with all the trees changing colour.”

“You picked a good weekend, they will all be barren next week.” Cole laughs.

“Yeah, Fall in Alberta should be called Drop!”

Both men laugh.

“You hungry?” Cole asks.

“Yeah, I all I had was a bagel so far today.”

“A bagel that’s it?” Cole asks.

“Yeah, I tend to get busy and forget to eat.”

“I can’t imagine ever forgetting to eat.” Cole shrugs his shoulders at the idea. “I thought we’d have some steaks.”

“That would be good.” The mention of food makes Greg hungry, “You want me to fire up the barbeque?”

“Sure, if you want. Do you need some matches?”

“Actually no, I have some.” Greg has a guilty look on his face.

“You mean you smoke?” Cole asks.

“Yeah, do you mind?”

“I was just a little surprised that’s all.”

“Well I am a light smoker, actually looking for a reason to quit.” Greg heads to the door, to put his shoes on. He is glad to get that out of the way, hopefully it doesn’t affect Cole too much.

“The barbeque is on the porch, to the left. I’ll get the steaks ready, want a beer?”

“Sure Cole.” Greg says as he stands up.

“I have Bud, Bud and Bud.” Cole says.

Greg laughs, it takes some of the tension out of the air. “I guess I’ll have a Bud.” as he heads out the door.

“So he smokes, well this weekend was to find out more about each other.” Cole says to himself as he goes to the fridge and pulls out two bottles of beer. “Guess I shouldn’t make a big thing about it, maybe he will quit.”

Greg gets the fire going and closes the lid so that the grill will heat up. He lights a cigarette, as he is really nervous. He just finishes having a pull on it when he hears Cole come out.

Cole looks at the cigarette and smiles.

“Don’t worry I am house trained.” Greg says.

“No problem guy, if we were all perfect I wouldn’t have a job.”

“Really?” Greg asks.

“Yeah really.” Cole smiles and passes a beer to the other man.

They clink the necks of the bottles and toast each other.

“You know, I was so nervous I must have smoked three or four while driving down here.” Greg says.

“You were nervous too?”

“Big time!” Greg says looking into Cole’s eyes.

“You know what, me too!” Cole says.

Greg stubs out the cigarette and motions Cole towards him. The two men embrace again pulling each other close.

They break apart, Cole heads back into the house to get the steaks Greg follows.

“You don’t have to come in.” Cole says.

“Yeah I do, gotta use the can.”

“There is one to the left just inside the door.” Cole points it out as they enter the house.

“Gonna get something out of my bag.” Greg says as he runs up the stairs. He gets his toothbrush and toothpaste and heads to the bathroom. He brushes his teeth and notices some mouth wash. He rinses his mouth out and then heads back downstairs.
Cole is out on the deck and Greg can hear the sound of the steaks cooking. Greg steps up behind Cole and grabs him around the waist and then he rests his head on Cole’s shoulder.

Cole turns and smiles he can smell the wintergreen scent of mouthwash. He leans towards Greg and offers his mouth. The two men kiss.

“How do you like your steak?” Cole asks, as they break apart.

“Medium rare.”

“Same as me.” Cole checks the meat and sees it is almost time to flip them.

“ Are we going to eat out here?”

“Sure if you want, I didn’t bring anything out though.”

“It’s Ok I can get some plates and knives and forks.”

“Ok, do you want me to tell you where everything is?”

“Nah, I think I can find it.”

“There is a potato salad in the fridge, take that out too.”

“Sure will.”

Greg is back in short time with everything.

They are soon eating, as there is no table so both men are balancing their plates on their legs.

“How is your steak?”

“Perfect” Greg says.

“I had planned to eat at a table, like civilized people, but there won’t be too many more nights when we can eat outside without parkas.”

“It’s all good Cole.”

“My partner of the past several weeks is transferring to a different shift, she wanted me to come out for a beer tonight. You interested?”

“Sure I’m easy, does she know I am coming?” Greg knows that this will be a test, but then again everything is going to be a test for a while.

“Yeah, she originally wanted to go out right after work, I said I had company and may go out after supper.”

“Anything else I should know?”

“Well she is recently divorced and shopping I guess.”

“Shopping?” Greg says and starts to laugh, Cole laughs too. “That’s too funny!”

“Yeah it is. She doesn’t know yet though.”

“Cool, your secret is safe with me.” Greg says as he picks up his beer and tips it to Cole.

Cole beams he is happy. This trip tonight while totally unplanned will help him he knows that. If the two of them can pull it off he will have nothing to fear, he hopes.

They finish eating and take the dishes to the kitchen. Greg turns on the taps and washes everything. Cole gets a towel and dries.

When they are done, the two men kiss again.

They break apart and Cole says they better get going.

“I think I should drive Cole.”

“Why is that?”

“Because sooner or later I am gonna want a cigarette and I don’t want to smoke in your truck.”

“Ok, you win but I am buying the first round.”

“Your on!”

They get dressed to go outside. Cole goes and turns off the barbeque, which he left running to let it burn some of the grease off.

He gets in the car and puts on his seat belt. He notices Greg doesn’t put the car into gear so he looks at him. Greg leans over and kisses Cole again.

“How are you doing Cole?”

“Not too bad, how are you?”

“Well I told you before that I had sort of retired from the scene, it’s been a while since I have been on a date. I want to thank you for changing that.”

Cole says nothing, he just thinks about it, and a date with a guy in his hometown.

“You’re nervous aren’t you?” Greg asks.

“Terrified is more like it.” Cole says.

“Good we both have something in common.” Greg says and he reaches over and grabs Cole’s hand.

Cole looks out the window, he is enjoying Greg’s company. He notices there is music playing at a low volume. He recognizes it, as it is his favourite CD.

“You like David Gray too!” Cole says as he reaches over to turn up the music. Suddenly feeling more confident.

Greg removes his hand and Cole looks at him.

“Gonna have a smoke before we get there.” Greg lights a cigarette and rolls down the window.

Cole thinks this is the only thing so far he would change about Greg.

“Geez I am gonna have to quit this soon before the weather gets too bad. Nothing worse than standing outside at –20 to have a fix.”

“What’s stopping you?” Cole asks.

“I think…I think it is too soon to share that with you.” Greg says.

“Maybe going out with a non-smoker is the reason,” Cole says to himself.