Chapter Twenty-Six - The Tin Man Who Didn't Want A Heart
It was a great thing he had Taz now, as he had a reason to go out of the house, and also to go jogging. Getting back to playing sports with buddies was not yet on his list of priorities, as he was still trying to get his life in order, and adjust to the post-Aron era, as he had come to call his life now.
Taz was a great jogging partner. Adjustments to the shoebox, as he called his home now, had to be made, and the cabinets now held dog foods from various brands which Carter wanted to try to see what Taz liked best. Apparently, his puppy was not pretentious at all, and, if there was anything he needed to worry about, as the human in charge, was the risk of making Taz overweight.
So running every day in the park had to do. He had gone back to his freelancing gigs, and everything was looking up. There was one thing to take care of, and that was to give Aron the money back, for the hospital bills and everything else.
Only that Aron hadn't called yet, and Carter had to respect his best friend's choice and not be the one to call again. It had been three days, but who was counting?
"Do you know how to count, Taz?" he asked his dog.
Taz just barked as a reply. That could mean anything. He was busy petting his dog on the head, so he didn't notice someone coming from the opposite direction. For one second, he balanced on both feet but somehow managed to remain standing. The other guy wasn't so lucky, and he was now struggling to get up, while rubbing his behind.
Carter hurried to offer the guy a hand and felt his jaw beginning to drop when he saw who it was.
"Simon," he said without thinking.
Wearing a sporty getup that left little to the imagination, and complemented the guy's slim figure, Simon was right there, in flesh and blood.
"Do I know you?" Simon smiled and took Carter's hand to bring himself up.
"Oh, no, I don't think so," Carter said quickly. "I just mistook you for someone else."
"Someone else named Simon?" the guy asked, still holding Carter's hand.
"Yes."
Okay, okay, he had to make a habit of thinking before talking.
"That is so uncanny!" Simon exclaimed and his mouth stretched into a large smile. "My name is also Simon," he explained.
"Ah, that is, indeed, uncanny," Carter shook his head and tried to pry his hand away from Simon's now.
"What's your name?" the guy let go, albeit a tad reluctant.
"Ahem, it's Carter," he said after a short moment of hesitation.
"Nice meeting you, Carter," Simon smiled again. "Do you run here often?"
"No, I just took up the habit lately. And the dog," he gestured towards Taz.
The dog had assumed a good pet position, and his tongue was hanging out.
"Well, see you around, then, Carter," Simon winked at him, giving him a short once over and began jogging away.
He winked. Why did he wink?
Do you think he likes us?
Why? What makes you say that?
The wink.
No, that was just totally random.
Well, that's what you get for bumping into people.
Why do you mean by that?
I mean complications. You're an expert in that.
Ugh, shut up. It was just a small ... incident.
Yeah, and he winked.
Just stop it already.
Carter shook his head, and began running, as well, but he didn't take two steps that his phone started ringing. He was so fast to answer it that he almost dropped it.
"Hey, Aron, hi," he said breathlessly.
"Hey, buddy, how are you?"
"Just trying to get back in shape, running and stuff," he replied.
And bumping into your husband's lover.
"That's great to hear. Hey, what do you say about hanging out tonight? For drinks?"
"Great!" he exclaimed.
Oh, damn, he must have sounded desperate.
"Ah, wait, there's something," he added, looking at Taz.
How was he going to get a dog-sitter until tonight? It was unlikely that he could book someone so fast. Also, the idea of leaving Taz alone ... He still cared for his ugly curtains and he had never left Taz alone before. Three days were too short a time to decide whether his dog was all right with being on his own.
"Yes?" Aron encouraged him to speak from the other end.
"Can we go somewhere where they accept dogs?" he asked.
"Yeah, sure, I suppose. But why?" Aron questioned. "Do you have a dog? But when ..."
"Yeah, I have a dog," Carter said brightly. "His name is Taz."
"Ah, just like the dog you wanted to have when we were kids, right? Funny thing," Aron said.
"What is?" Carter asked.
"Alex's former assistant has a dog named Taz. I just happened to hear about the guy's pet one day, when I was at Alex's workplace to take him out."
Okay, he could do this, he could do this.
Try hard not to remember what happened later that night ... Aron is married.
To the wrong person.
Delusional much?
"Former assistant?" his words came out unnaturally bold.
"Yes. The guy just dropped off, just like that. It was quite strange as he seemed to get along with Alex like a charm. Which was a bit of a surprise since ... Well, you decide the place and let me know," Aron seemed to have just noticed he had a bit of a loose tongue, too.
Well, they had used to tell each other everything, and that kind of habit did die hard.
Except for a little detail, like the fact that he liked men. How could he keep that away from us?
"Yeah, sure, and I also want to sort out the money thing, too," Carter spoke.
"Don't worry about it," Aron cut him short. "The least I could do for you. After all these years as friends."
C'mon, c'mon, don't get emotional, man, don't ...
"Thanks a lot, man," Carter mumbled. "For everything."
Aron could not know what that meant. Was he ever to know? Carter had to admit, all stupid hopes aside, that even without Alex, Aron could do much better than him, a homophobic ex-friend who ...
