Refuge

Chapter 2

Chapter 2It was Friday night, the week finally over, and at home, Henley was trying to unwind with a glass of red wine. It had been a particularly difficult week. Everyone at work now seemed to want to chat with him about his father, the PEF’s ridiculous demands, and what his thoughts were on all this. His thoughts? Since when did people care about what he thought about anything?

Because he’d chosen not to follow in his father’s footsteps, people generally assumed that he was a disappointment to the Attorney General and would usually ignore or pity him.

Henley gazed out at the quiet street. He was seated in his favorite chair in the parlor, by the window. As usual, all lights were off in the nineteen century mansions across his home. This street he lived on had been carved into the rock of Mount Royal more than a hundred years ago. How privileged he was to live on this summit towering over the city below. Privileged and isolated, was closer to the truth.

Henley looked into the bottom of his empty wine glass. Here he was, alone again on a Friday evening. During the pandemic, he’d lost contact with people. And now that everyone was free to go out after nearly two years, he never felt up to it anymore. Something inside him had fallen asleep and he didn’t know how to wake it up. He’d become morose and apathetic in the last months. When was the last time he’d connected with anyone, never mind a stranger?

He heard a car driving by in the deserted street, and Henley sat up, watching a blue Econoline van slowly roll by his home. He thought he saw a man with light hair behind the wheel…yes, a man looking directly at him through the window. But he couldn’t make out the man’s face in the shadowed street. Then the van was gone. Though his upscale Montreal neighborhood wasn’t gated yet, it was restricted to local circulation and everyone in the neighborhood watched out for any suspicious activity. Maybe the man was a curious tourist come to scope out the neighborhood full of century-old castles?

This house had been in the Fredrikson family for four generations. Built in the mid-1800s, it was an historical Victorian home with a slate-tiled mansard roof and central tower. It was way too big for him, yet Henley couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. He’d grown up here. He was profoundly attached to this house. This was where Lucy had lived. The troubled sister he’d lost too soon.

Unfortunately, the property taxes were too much for his parents to afford, so in the next months, Henley would have to pack his belongings and abandon this home and all the memories it held. The house would be sold and he would be forced to make some changes in his life.

Well, maybe it was time. Maybe he needed a kick in the right direction.

“More like a kick in your posh ass,” Henley muttered to himself, setting his empty glass down. As he did, his phone vibrated on the marble top couch table, and surprised, he glanced down at it. At the sight of the number, his pulse shot up. It had been weeks since he’d heard from Gabriel. Excited and a little apprehensive, he picked up the call. “Hey…”

“Your old man gained a lot of neck weight. You noticed? It’s stress fat. Too much salt, too. But he still has all his hair, so that’s a good sign for you, right? What are you up to, handsome? Riding your tricycle across the ballroom over there?”

Henley smiled, but kept quiet. Gabriel was a talker and he barely ever let him get a word in.

“Hey, so,” Gabriel went on in his is usual fast pace, “you folks freaking out yet? Is Johnny sending the goons to watch over you and your precious white Anglo-Saxon protestant ass?”

“No…”

“Yeah, well, maybe they should, you know?” Gabriel sounded serious. A rare thing. “Things are getting out of control. What does your old man say about it?”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk with him.”

“Right. Right. Of course not. He’s too busy making speeches. Hey, speaking of your WASP ass, I miss it. Seriously, uh, what are you doing right now? Busy or…?” There was the sound of a car engine spurring. “I thought maybe I’d stop by for a quick drink or something, before I head home. Yeah?”

Henley shut his eyes, rubbing the space above his nose. Hadn’t he promised himself he wouldn’t do this again? Gabriel only wanted one thing from him and one thing only. s*x. They never spent the whole night together. Never had breakfast the next day. Never went anywhere. Never did anything. He was so tired of it, and yet, the loneliness was worse.

“Are you there?” Gabriel asked in a low voice full of expectation. “Kinda miss you these days. Don’t ask me why.”

Henley opened his eyes. He was too weak to resist. Too lonely. He’d slept with Gabriel more than a thousand times in the last six years. Once more wouldn’t change anything. But he’d stop this affair. He would. Soon. Just one more time and then he’d tell Gabriel he couldn’t do this anymore. He would.