September 19, 2008

This is an excerpt from the Wedding Sip “First, A Dance” by Dakota Flint.

 “Say you’ll have dinner with me tonight.” Tyler thought that was more reasonable than asking Rory if to say he still loved Tyler, too.

“I can’t.” The look on Rory's face as he refused was pained.

“Tomorrow.” Maybe Rory already had plans. In fact, he looked like he might have been going somewhere tonight.

“No, I can’t.” Then Rory wouldn’t meet his eyes as he said, “I spent a long time wishing you would come find me and say all those things to me. When you first started calling, I knew I couldn’t handle it. I had spent so long picking up the pieces, and I was scared that you wouldn't say what I wanted to hear. And then…I’m sorry, I should have talked to you after that, at least explained things, but I guess I was a coward.”

“I don’t understand.” What did Rory mean; he was a coward?

“Tyler, I started seeing someone. We got pretty serious pretty quickly. I’m…well, I’m actually getting married tomorrow.”

“Married?” Tyler asked, dumbly.

“Yeah. As close to it as two guys can here. A commitment ceremony,” Rory said. The smile he offered was weak.

“You’re getting married. Tomorrow.” Tyler couldn't have heard that right.

“Yes. Here, actually. In the back yard. Caleb and I wanted something simple.” There was that weak smile again, this time accompanied by a shrug.

“Caleb? Not --” No, he couldn't possibly mean...

“Yes, Caleb Maonaigh.” Rory’s eyes met Tyler’s, and Tyler saw some emotion in them he couldn’t identify.

“Seriously? He was the dullest kid we knew back in high school. Rocks were more interesting than that kid.”

Rory’s cheeks turned bright red. “That’s not fair. He just appreciates simple things. He’s a homebody, like me. We like the same things, want the same things in life. We --” Rory looked away again. “We love each other.”

Hearing Rory say he loved another man brought white, blinding pain with it. Tyler struggled to drag air into his lungs as he tried to think what he should do next. He couldn’t get past the idea that Rory was ready to promise to spend a lifetime with another man. Not Tyler. He was too late; he’d waited too long. He could feel his eyes burning, the sobs building in his throat and a thought finally penetrated his swirl of thoughts: he had to get out of there.

“I gotta go.” Tyler looked at Rory one more, not caring if Rory saw the tears in his eyes, and then he fumbled with the doorknob, desperate to get out. He ignored Rory calling his name and he raced to his cheap rental car, wanting to get away from the old colonial houses on the tree-lined street with neighbors working in their gardens, and dogs running in the yards, and kids playing in the driveways, and everything that suited Rory so well. Everything Tyler had not given him and everything Rory thought Caleb could.

Tyler only stopped once on his way to the drab chain hotel near the airport that he was staying at, but he figured he was going to need the Southern Comfort. Probably the whole bottle.

***

Today's clue:See how Dakota works!