You Belong to Me – 52

 

 

“There you have it,” Scott said twenty minutes later. “The story of how I ended up in the middle of corn country.”

 

“Good grief, Reed,” Corey said when he stopped laughing. “Only you.”

 

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Scott smiled at him, but Corey noted that seconds later he was back to scanning the people in the restaurant.

 

Corey did the same, trying to be as subtle are Scott was. It has to be someone I’ve seen before… somewhere. But would I recognize him? I’ve seen dozens—hundreds—of men at the clubs. If it’s one of them and he fixated on me for whatever reason, would I actually remember him now?

 

“Earth to Corey,” Scott said. “You were off in the ether from the look on your face.”

 

“I was.” Corey tried to come up with a relevant response that would fit the roles they were playing. “I was just thinking about the last time we were here.”

 

Scott sobered. “It was a couple of weeks before we broke up. I should have chosen a different place for dinner tonight.”

 

“No. This was our place, and we had some good times here, even at the end.” Corey smiled. “That last time you had, umm….”

 

“The salmon fillet. And you decided on your usual grilled chicken breast.” Scott snickered. “Just like tonight.”

 

“So I’m predictable. Shoot me.”

 

They continued bantering throughout the meal but with more attention paid to the people around them than what they were actually talking about. By the time they finished and Scott had paid the bill despite Corey’s protests that they should split it, Corey was tenser than when they came in.

 

Scott obviously picked up on that, because he suggested as they left the restaurant that rather than taking Corey directly back home they should walk for a while. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in this neighborhood. I want to see how it’s changed” was his excuse in his Reed persona.

 

Corey wasn’t certain that was a good idea and said so, moving close enough to Scott that no passersby could hear him. “What if he was in the restaurant and decided to follow us and do something?”

 

“I hardly think he’s going to attack either of us with all these people around.”

 

“I suppose.”

 

“So just relax and quit checking out every man in the vicinity.” The corners of Scott’s mouth tilted up. “I might start getting jealous.”

 

“I’m only….”

 

“Doing the same thing both of us were at dinner. I know. It’s time to stop, relax, and enjoy our nice, if cold, evening walk.”