The Cupcake Conundrum, page 4
part #2 of Williamsville Inn Series
Erik pulled him in with one arm and kissed his temple. “Good thing my place is spacious and needed some life breathed into it, then.”
“Good thing.” Seth slid an arm around his waist and gave him an adoring look. They were almost sickening, and yet, Adrian had never been so envious of anyone in his life.
“Well, I should get going,” Adrian said with a tight smile. “Gotta get the trailer returned or I’ll have to pay for another day of use.”
“Jay, why don’t you go with Adrian to drop off the trailer?” Seth suggested. “He might need some help with navigation or something.” His tone was casual but it looked like he was trying to communicate something with the pointed look he gave Jay, who opened his mouth like he was going to argue, then closed it with a sigh.
Oh. The pieces clicked into place for Adrian too. His brother wanted some alone time with his boyfriend. Adrian had no desire to be there for that reunion. And Jay probably didn’t want to be either.
“Sure, you can help me navigate,” Adrian said with a smile Jay didn’t return.
“Let’s get going,” was all he said.
They walked in silence down to the truck, and Jay once again plastered himself to the passenger door.
“Good call on coming with me. Neither of us wanted to be in that apartment while they reconnect,” Adrian said as he buckled his seatbelt. “It’s been almost two weeks since they’ve seen each other and ...”
“Yeah, I’d rather have my fingernails pulled off one by one.”
“Guess that makes me the lesser of two evils,” Adrian joked. He pulled out his phone and did a quick search for the location. It was at least half an hour drive from where they were, which meant Erik and Seth would have more than an hour alone.
Jay shot him a look. “I wouldn’t say that. In fact, I seriously thought about finding a coffee shop or a bar nearby to wait it out, but I didn’t want to explain to your brother why I can’t stand to be in the same room as you.”
Ouch. The hits just kept coming.
“He has no idea what happened between us last year, then?” Adrian asked, trying to sound casual.
“No. I never told him.”
“I’m surprised.”
“We weren’t living together at the time, and I had no idea you two were related. Seth and I’ve known each other for years, but I only moved in with him about six months ago. My lease came up right at the same time one of his roommates left. It seemed like the perfect solution for us both.”
“How did you two meet in the first place?”
“Several years ago, he did a feature on the hotel restaurant. I helped him with the food styling for the photo shoot. The executive chef was too busy to be bothered.” The disdain in Jay’s voice was evident, and Adrian was dying to ask what had happened but he didn’t want to push his luck. Jay was talking to him, and he didn’t want to risk pissing him off again. “Seth sent me an email with a link to the article once it went live, and we started talking after that. When I found out he was looking for a roommate at the same time I was searching for a place, it seemed like an obvious fit.”
“What are the odds?” Adrian said. “I mean that we’d meet, and then six months later you’d move in with my brother.”
“Life’s funny that way.” But there was nothing amused in Jay’s tone, and he lapsed back into silence.
Thankfully, Seth and Erik were both fully dressed by the time Adrian and Jay returned to the apartment. There was a suspicious glow to them both, and Seth’s hair was still damp from a shower.
“I’m sure you’re both starved,” Erik said with a smile. “Dinner should be ready in about fifteen minutes if that works for you. If not, we can keep it warm for a while.”
“That sounds good to me,” Adrian said. He hadn’t eaten since before he arrived at Seth’s place earlier today, and his stomach rumbled at the good smells coming from the oven. Apparently, they’d had time to cook in addition to whatever else they’d gotten up to. That or Erik had planned ahead. Probably the latter.
“Sure.” Jay nodded tightly. Seth and Erik exchanged a look that spoke volumes.
Clearly, they could tell that something was off with Jay. He was still very quiet as they ate, but Adrian asked about the upcoming wedding and Erik filled the silence.
“The renovations of the Williamsville Inn should be done in a few months, and we thought we’d hold the wedding there at the end of the summer. The place obviously holds special meaning to us, and well, that was one of the amenities we thought we’d focus on for the re-branding.”
Adrian looked at Seth in surprise. “You’re helping with the marketing?”
Seth shrugged. “Not officially. Holding events there was something Erik thought of long before we started talking about it. But there’s a gorgeous courtyard, and the place has already been in the news because of the Rex Garland song, so we figured we could tie it all together.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Adrian said. “He wrote that Christmas song there, didn’t he?”
“And met the love of his life too,” Erik said with a little smile at Seth.
The story about Rex Garland had been all over the news last year. The very famous and very gay singer had met a completely ordinary guy named Will, who was staying at the Williamsville Inn for work. Will had secretly helped the singer with the lyrics for his new song, and they’d fallen in love in the process.
When he’d read about it, Adrian had wondered what the hell had been in the water at that inn. And if he could get a little of it for himself.
“Erik says that like he had a clue who Rex Garland was when I mentioned him.” Seth snorted. “We were sitting near them at the airport bar and he had no idea. He’d never even heard of him.”
“I like his music now,” Erik protested. “That has to count for something.”
Seth just shook his head fondly. “Anyway, the inn has been getting some great press since then, but they haven’t really expanded into events yet. We figured we’d kick off the marketing for that with our wedding and kill two birds with one stone. There’s a whole marketing firm Erik’s company works with, but they seemed very on board with leveraging my social media presence as well.”
“What the hell, Seth? You’ve never offered to pimp out my bakery,” Adrian scoffed. “Not a single photo of a loaf of bread or a cookie on your Instagram.”
Seth’s eyes gleamed. “Bake me some cupcakes while you’re here, and I’ll pimp you out all you want.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes at Seth. “This is just a ploy to get me to make cupcakes for you, isn’t it?”
“Yes. But my offer still stands.”
Erik shook his head and glanced over at Jay. “Do you have siblings? I don’t, so I’m never sure what to make of these two.”
“Yeah, I have two older sisters, but we’re not that close,” Jay said quietly. “Big age gap.”
And just like that, Adrian was back in a hotel bed with Jay.
“What’s your family like?” Adrian asked. They were stretched out on the bed, sweaty and covered in various bodily fluids but too tired to move.
“You just fucked my brains out and you want to talk about our families?” Jay stretched an arm out and snagged a bottle of water off the nightstand.
“I’ve never really had sex with a stranger before,” Adrian admitted. “I don’t really know the protocol. Is getting to know the other person not allowed?” Truthfully, family was the first thing that had popped into Adrian’s head when he was trying to figure out how to make conversation but he could admit it was probably a little weird.
Jay gulped down the water, his throat working noisily. Adrian watched, unable to tear his gaze away. He was definitely going to need to see Jay do that later. With something a hell of a lot more personal than a bottle of water.
“Depends on the people, I guess. I don’t mind. I’m just not used to it. As far as my family? Well, my parents both came to the US from Bangalore, India as kids and met in college. My dad’s a dentist, and my mom works in his office. I have two sisters, both older. Quite a bit older, actually. I was, uh, a surprise to everyone.”
“Are you all close?”
“It’s complicated. Most of my life, it was just my parents and me on a daily basis. My sisters ... well, we get along, but we don’t have a lot in common. You?”
“Two brothers and a sister. I’m the youngest too, although, I never really feel like it. I got married young, so since then, I’ve felt more grown-up than my one brother. He travels a lot for work so he never really settled down. I’m not finding fault—he’s amazing at what he does—he’s just never had the kind of responsibilities I’ve had, you know?”
“Are you’re close to your siblings?”
“Oh, yeah, we’re all really close, actually. Except for my one brother—the world traveler—we’re all in Pittsburgh. My parents still live there too. They’ve all been hugely helpful since the divorce. Running—” he bit off what he’d been about to say. His mom even got his kids off to school every morning he was at the bakery. He was there to tuck them in every night, though. Except when they were at Michelle’s place. But there was no point in bringing all that up, right? Adrian wasn’t a dad this weekend. Just some guy enjoying his time off. “Running errands for me if I need them, that sort of thing. They’ve been amazing.”
“You said you were openly bi. I take it your family knows?”
“Oh, yeah. Plus, my one brother is gay so ...”
“How’d your parents take that?”
Adrian shrugged. “They were fine. When he came out, I threw in the ‘oh, by the way, I’m bi’ thing at the same time, and they just rolled with it all. My mom started suggesting I go out with ‘that nice boy of Sharon’s’ and ‘the cute girl at the grocery store’.”
“That’s sweet.”
Adrian laughed. “Her meddling was a little obnoxious, but yeah, I know I’m lucky. How’d your parents’ do when you came out?”
Jay dragged a hand over his face. “It was a little rough. Being gay was still illegal in India until 2017.”
Adrian winced.
“How much do you know about Indian culture?”
He shrugged. “Not a ton. I went to school with a few Indian kids but …”
Jay nodded. “Well, like I said earlier, it’s ... complicated. My parents came here in the 70s. There wasn’t a huge Indian community here then, so a lot of the immigrants were nervous about the new customs and afraid their kids would get corrupted by their American friends and forget their Indian heritage completely.” Jay rubbed at his face again. “My grandfather worked for an import/export business in Bangalore, so he had a lot of dealings with Americans. It was a little less of a culture shock for my parents than for some, but they were still very concerned about us becoming too westernized.”
Adrian nodded. “That can’t have been easy for them as parents. Or for you and your sisters.”
“Yeah, it was tough. I straddled this weird line of being too brown and Indian for white people and too white and American for the Desi community.”
“I’ve heard that term but I don’t really know what it means,” Adrian admitted.
“Desi? Uh, well the people and culture that come from the Indian subcontinent; India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are all lumped in together under the Desi umbrella.”
“Okay.” Adrian thought about what Jay had said. “I get that not feeling like you belong, although on a way smaller scale. As a bi guy, I’m too straight for gay people and too gay for straight people. I never quite feel like I fit anywhere.”
Jay looked vaguely surprised. “Yeah, I hadn’t thought of that.”
“So your family wasn’t okay with you being gay?”
“Not at first. We fought a lot. In the Hindu faith, the son is the one who lights his father’s pyre at his cremation. They were concerned that my being gay would make that unacceptable. The fact that I’m their only son created more pressure.”
“I can understand why that would be hard for them.”
“It was difficult to work through, but now, they seem resigned to the idea. I know they’d be happier if I walked into their house and said that I was marrying a woman. They’ve met a few guys I’ve dated, and they’ve always been polite, but it’s clear it’s disappointing to them.”
“That must be difficult.”
“It can be sometimes.” Jay offered him a wan smile. “The pastry chef thing wasn’t great either. There was a lot of hand wringing and praying to Krishna for a while. They were concerned that it wouldn’t be a stable career. They got more comfortable with it, eventually, and I know my dad is really proud of me. He’ll drop it into a conversation at the most random times too. Someone will ask what kind of bags he wants at the grocery checkout, and he’ll say ‘I brought my own. Oh, did you know my son is a pastry chef at The Kensington Hotel?’ It’s a little embarrassing, to be honest, but ...”
Adrian smiled. “It’s sweet.”
“Yeah. He does better with my career, and my mom does better with me being gay, so I guess it evens out a little. I know they’d both be happier about me being gay if I had a husband. We just don’t talk about it much.”
“At least, you’re not getting set up by your mother.”
“She might try if she knew any gay men. None of the Indian dating sites she knows about are queer-friendly, thankfully.”
Adrian chuckled. “Meddling moms are totally universal, I think.”
“Exactly.” They shared a smile.
“So can I ask? Is Jay your given name or a nickname?”
“My given name is Ajay.”
“Uh-jay?” Adrian repeated.
“Pretty close. It’s spelled with an A, though. It was just easier to go by Jay in school, and I got used to the nickname. My parents are really the only people who call me Ajay.”
Adrian nodded. “So, have you ever been to India?”
“Once, as a kid. I honestly don’t remember that much about it. I know we went to visit some relatives near Bangalore. We went during the wet season—because I was on break from school—and it rained a lot. Other than that, I mostly remember being bored looking at the old temple ruins on the outskirts of the city. I just wanted to be back home with my friends.”
“Yeah, at least, I had built-in friends with my brothers around,” Adrian said.
They lapsed into silence.
“All right, I think that’s enough talk about our personal lives,” Jay said. “What do you say we get in the shower, clean up, then figure out something for dinner?”
“Sure. Are you thinking about going out to eat?” Adrian stretched.
Jay’s gaze raked over Adrian’s body. “No.”
Adrian felt a shiver go through him at the promise in Jay’s eyes.
“What the hell is up with you two?” Seth’s exasperated tone broke through the fog of Adrian’s memory. “Jay, you’ve been in a foul mood all day, and Adrian’s on another planet.”
“Just thinking about everything I should get done,” Adrian lied.
“You are terrible at taking a vacation!”
He glanced over at Jay. “Tell me about it.”
Look how badly it had gone the last time he’d done it.
Four
February 2019 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
After dinner, they hung out in the living room, talking for a while, but it had been a long day for all of them, and Adrian wasn’t sorry when Erik brought up the topic of sleeping arrangements again after Adrian yawned.
“So, like I said earlier, I’m afraid I—we—only have the one guest room,” Erik explained. “We do have a very comfortable air mattress, though. We can set that up in the guest room if you don’t mind sharing—”
“I do,” Jay said, his words clipped.
Seth shot him a glance out of the corner of his eye. “We can set it up here in the living room then, I guess? The den is obviously way too full of boxes to squeeze a bed in.”
“That’s fine. I’ll take the air mattress. Adrian can have the guest room.”
“You sure you don’t mind sleeping in the living room, Jay?” Seth asked.
“It’s fine.”
It clearly was not fine, and from the looks Seth and Erik gave Adrian, everyone knew it. Fuck. This is getting monumentally awkward. And from the pointed looks Seth kept giving both of them, he was going to interrogate whomever he got alone first.
“Well.” Erik cleared his throat. “Guess we’ll get that all set up now for you guys.”
Erik and Jay set up the mattress while Seth showed Adrian around the guest room. “Towels are in there.” Seth pointed to a shelf in the attached bathroom. I’m afraid you and Jay will have to share the bathroom.” He lowered his voice. “What is going on with you two, anyway? You’re both acting weird.”
“Can we talk about this tomorrow?” Adrian asked quietly. He dragged a hand through his hair. He was exhausted and he just didn’t have the energy to deal with it tonight. Especially when Jay could overhear.
“Yeah, of course.” Seth shot him a concerned look. “You can tell me anything, though. You know that, right?”
“I do know.” Adrian reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m just fucking exhausted.”
“Yeah, of course.” Seth’s expression smoothed out. “Don’t hesitate to knock on our door if you need anything, okay?”
“I think I remembered to pack everything I need, but if something comes up, I’ll let you know.”
“G’night.”
“Night, Seth.”
After Seth disappeared, Adrian rummaged through his bag, looking for pajamas and his toiletry kit. He was looking forward to taking a hot shower, crawling into bed, and crashing hard.
As he pulled out his pants, he heard a soft, tentative knock on the door. He glanced up to see Jay in the doorway, an uncomfortable expression on his face.
“Mind if I use the shower?” Jay asked stiffly. He had a hanger with dress clothes dangling from his index finger. “I’m kinda sweaty from hauling boxes, and I want to make sure I get the wrinkles out of these clothes for my interview tomorrow.”
