No Sacrifice Read online

  “Well, are ya gonna let us in?” Marcy demanded. “Or are ya gonna make us stand in the hall?”

  Pablo put a hand over her mouth. “Meu Deus, woman,” he grumbled, and the chuckles broke Patrick’s trance.

  “Oh! I’m sorry!” He stepped back, and they all filed into what now felt like a very tiny room.

  “Geez, you ain’t got much, ’specially for an actor,” Marcy observed, popping her gum.

  Pablo rolled his eyes.

  Sebastian and Angelo chuckled. “I was the same way when I started here,” Angelo said, shaking his head. “It won’t take long, trust us.” He put an arm around Sebastian. “So, what goes first?”

  Patrick turned to Chance. “Did you do this?”

  Chance whistled innocently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  One of the two men Patrick didn’t recognize snorted. “Darlin’ you are so full of shit.” He shook his head—capped with a short crop of dark hair—and smiled at Patrick. And the voice clicked the pieces together.

  “Sophia?” Patrick asked, blinking up at… him.

  He laughed. “Right now, I think ‘Tom’ might be more appropriate.”

  “Oh… okay, uh, Tom.” Patrick shook his head, completely confused.

  “And this is Andy,” Tom said, pointing a thumb at the tall sandy-haired and very thin man next to him. “My partner. He’s usually hiding behind the bar or at home on Wednesday nights, so you haven’t met him yet.”

  “Oh!” Patrick said, feeling silly. He held a hand out, and Andy shook it.

  “Nice to finally meet you. Tom’s told me all about you.”

  “I’m sorry,” Patrick said, bringing chuckles. He looked down when he felt a small hand on his leg. He lifted Avery into his arms and turned to the others. “Avery, you know Marcy and Pablo. This is Angelo and Sebastian—they’re on the same show as me. And that is Tom and Andy,” he finished, pointing to each man in turn.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Avery said properly, bringing grins and chuckles.

  Patrick ruffled Avery’s hair. “Finish packing your toys?” Avery nodded, wiggled, and Patrick set him down to run back to his box, then turned back to the others. “I just got a small truck since I don’t have much. I’d figured on doing a couple of trips since the new place is so close.”

  “We’ve got, uh, four cars, so I think we can load it up in one trip. Is the furniture yours?” Sebastian asked.

  Patrick nodded. “Yeah, what there is of it. Uh, sofa’s probably the heaviest, and the mattress.” He glanced around. “Marcy… maybe you could just get Avery out of the way?”

  “Love to, sweetie,” she said, popping her gum. She hurried over to Avery, helped him pack his toys again, and led him over to the one corner clear of boxes.

  “Okay, uh…,” Patrick said, looking around.

  “Pack up anythin’ you’ve got left, darlin’, and we’ll handle the rest,” Tom said, turning to the others. He ran a practiced eye over Sebastian and Angelo, then pointed at Angelo. “You and Andy can get the sofa. You,” he said, turning to Pablo, “can take Chance and start on the mattress.” He glanced at Sebastian. “You and I will do the rest of the bed.” Tom winked, and Sebastian laughed.

  Patrick watched in bemusement as the male version of Sophia ordered everyone around as if they were troops on a battlefield. But no one seemed even remotely interested in arguing, and within a couple of minutes, his sofa was being wiggled through the doorway by Angelo and Andy, Pablo and Chance were waiting with the mattress, and Sebastian and Tom were working on the box springs. Patrick shook his head and went into the bathroom to finish packing the last-minute stuff.

  He and Emily had moved a couple of times during their short married lives. Once had been a full-house move with all of the things she’d accumulated over the years, and he remembered how it had taken them weeks to get everything packed, moved, and unpacked. Emily had been very tired by then because she’d been pregnant with Avery. He’d sworn then and there he wasn’t going to move a lot.

  This move was nothing like that. In less than three hours, everything was emptied from the old place and stacked in the proper rooms in the new one. Tom had Pablo and Andy assembling Avery’s car bed. Chance had roped Sebastian into helping put together Patrick’s bed.

  Marcy set to work on the kitchen, complaining loudly about how little there was for it. She marched over to Pablo, demanded something in Portuguese, and Pablo looked surprised but nodded.

  The exchange made Patrick realize something. “Hey, Marcy… if you and Pablo are both here… who’s watching the café?”

  “No one,” Pablo answered for her. “I closed for ‘family business.’” He smiled. “You are close to being Marcy’s family, right?”

  Patrick nodded a little numbly and turned to see Marcy blushing and very focused on assembling the coffeemaker and filling it with water. “Who wants coffee?” she called, ignoring him. Several voices answered “Me!” and she picked up a bag off the floor and pulled out K-Cups and other things with which to make the brew.

  Patrick turned to go unpack the bathroom boxes, at a loss for what else to do, when Emily called. “Hi—” He almost said baby and had to remind himself she wasn’t his baby anymore. “—Em,” he continued. “How’s it going? Are you on break?”

  “Yeah, got a few hours free. Thought I’d call and check on Avery.”

  “Do you want to talk to him? He’s in his new room ‘helping’ a couple of my friends assemble his bed.” Patrick stood in the doorway, watching as Avery held a few screwdrivers and pretended to read the instructions.

  Emily chuckled. “I don’t want to interrupt him. I’m glad you found a good place.”

  “I’ll send you a pic when we hang up.”

  “Deal. So… how’s Chance?” she asked, and there was a little too much evil in her voice for his liking.

  “Em,” he groaned. “I told you I haven’t asked him out or anything yet. I’m still not sure he even wants me,” he said, frowning.

  Emily snorted. “Puh-lease. I saw the look in his eyes in those pictures. If that man isn’t in love with you, my name isn’t Emily.”

  Patrick rolled his eyes, glad she couldn’t see it. “Fine, whatever. He organized our friends to help me move. Remember Sophia?” he asked, and Emily made an affirmative noise. “Well, she showed up as Tom with his partner, Andy, along with Marcy, Pablo, Angelo, and Sebastian. I can’t believe it. We were moved in a few hours.”

  “That’s awesome. You need to move in and snatch him up before someone else does,” Emily warned. “He sounds like a great guy. Oh, we’re going to have a very short break this fall sometime. I’m thinking of coming to LA to see Avery.”

  “He’ll love that,” Patrick said, grinning. “And… assuming Chance is still around and interested, we’ll all have dinner, okay?”

  “Deal.”

  “How’s Sara?” he asked.

  “She… I think she wants to propose,” Emily said softly. “But… I’m not sure I want to jump into that right away.”

  “I can appreciate that. Listen, though… if you want to, we’ll get on the phone, figure things out, and get the rest of the paperwork taken care of, okay?”

  “Thanks. That… that makes me feel better, just knowing you’re okay with it.”

  “Look, we may only be friends now,” Patrick said. “But I still want you to be happy. If she makes you happy… I’m glad for it.”

  Emily was quiet for a moment. “Okay, good. Thanks. Uh… I have a few errands and such to run, since I have some time. When does Avery go to bed?”

  “That’s still up in the air with the move. I’ve been aiming for eight, but he’s been resisting. I think it’s just all the change.”

  “Undoubtedly. He’ll settle down. I’m going to try to call once a day while he’s still up. I don’t know if I’ll get to—you know how filming goes.”

  “Oh yeah,” Patrick said. “Quite well. I’m not looking forward to the weird schedules with
him.”

  “He’ll get used to it. He did with me.” She sighed. “Okay, well… send pics of the apartment when it’s done.”

  “I will. Take care, okay?” Patrick said.

  “Yeah, you too. And ask him out,” she said and, cackling, hung up.

  Patrick wanted to bang his head against the doorway. He managed to refrain, only because he was laughing too hard at the scene in front of him. Avery was trying to direct Pablo to do something backward, and Pablo wasn’t quite understanding, but Andy was laughing too hard to clear things up. Patrick held up the phone, snapped a few pictures, and sent them off to Emily.

  Then he headed to the kitchen. As soon as he stepped into it, Marcy handed him a cup of coffee. “There’s fresh creamer in the fridge, though that’s all. You gotta go shoppin’ for that baby,” she said, shaking her head.

  “I don’t have the first clue how to cook,” he admitted.

  She looked up at him, gaping. “Oh darlin’, that ain’t gonna work. I’ll make a list of easy stuff that he’ll eat, at least. Then you gotta learn.”

  Patrick chuckled. “I tried. But when I actually set fire to water, Mama gave up and kicked me out.”

  She stared for a long moment. “You… set fire… to water?”

  Patrick nodded. “Yes. Though, to be fair, I think there was oil in it or something. ’Cause you can’t set fire to water.”

  “You are in so much trouble,” Marcy muttered, shaking her head. She snatched her purse off the doorknob and dug out a notepad and pen. “Buy a microwave,” she ordered, and Patrick, smart enough to not argue with her, nodded. “Good. It’s not great, but it’s better than nothing.” She shook her head again and started writing. Patrick, a little afraid of further orders, escaped the kitchen.

  Tom had most of his books unpacked and on the bookshelves, Sebastian had organized most of his movies, and Angelo had set up his TV. Patrick stopped next to Tom. “Um… what can I do?”

  Tom looked up and tilted his head. “Figure out how to feed this bunch,” he said. “We’re gonna be hungry soon. Then you can start on your clothes.”

  Patrick nodded, chuckling to himself at taking orders in his own apartment. He was grateful, frankly. The whole thing was a little overwhelming.

  After consulting with the different groups, everyone settled on pizza, Patrick ordered, and then he made his way into the bedroom to find Chance already working on his clothes. “Hi.”

  Chance turned around. “Hi yourself. Are… are you mad?” he asked, not looking directly at Patrick.

  “Hell no. I’d have never thought to ask them. I’d have just… done it myself. Though I have no idea how I’d have gotten the sofa or bed out of the old place, much less in here.” He chuckled.

  Chance smiled. “I’d have at least helped. But… I figured you’ve got enough to think about with Avery that help moving was something I could do.” He pulled out a shirt and tucked it into the drawer. “I meant to ask. Have you talked to Rhys? I actually tried to call him, see if he’d help, but he wouldn’t answer his phone.”

  Patrick shook his head. “No, but I need to. I figured when I had the apartment set up, I’d call.” He frowned. “I guess with Emily not… not my wife anymore, the whole rehearsal thing isn’t such a big deal.” Patrick saw Chance frown, and there was something in the blue depths of Chance’s eyes that made him think Chance didn’t like the idea, but Patrick couldn’t quite make it out. “I’m still not sure what I’ll do yet. I guess, though, that if Rhys really thinks we should….” He shrugged. “Anyway, I still have to call him. He might have changed his mind.” Patrick chuckled.

  Chance snorted. “Not a snowball’s chance in hell of that,” he said, pulling a box of shoes toward the closet. Patrick knelt next to him, and they started unpacking. “That man wants in your ass. That’s all there is to it,” Chance said, nearly growling it. “If he doesn’t push you to outright fuck, I’ll eat my shoe.”

  Patrick raised his eyebrows. “You really think so?”

  “Oh yeah,” Chance said, lining up sneakers, hikers, and dress shoes.

  Patrick pulled a pair of boots out and set them in the back. “Huh. Well, I told him I’d call.” He sighed. “So I’ll call. The script showed up the other day for the first few episodes. Our first major nude scene is pretty early in the season.”

  “Guess you better practice soon, then, huh?” Chance asked.

  Patrick shrugged again. “We’ll see. Filming doesn’t start until late August. We’ve got time.”

  Chance didn’t answer. He simply focused on shoes, and Patrick watched Chance’s face for a moment, wondering. Is he… jealous? Patrick found himself hoping that was true.

  Angelo and Sebastian were the first to decide Patrick probably needed quiet time, though they insisted it would be with Chance. They helped him clean up from dinner, hugged him tight, took his pizza garbage to the dumpster, and left. Tom and Marcy were both trying to clean Avery, who wasn’t even remotely interested in that. It wasn’t until Patrick told him he couldn’t sleep in his new bed without a bath that he went peacefully.

  To Patrick’s amusement, Avery took to Tom almost as much as he had Marcy. He tried to imagine Avery’s reaction to seeing Tom as Sophia but couldn’t quite figure out what to expect. He figured he’d take Avery to see Chance play at least once, and Avery would get a chance to meet Sophia then.

  After handing Patrick a three-page list of things to buy at the store—some Patrick expected, quite a bit he didn’t—Marcy told him she and Pablo would be giving Patrick and Chance cooking lessons as soon as she could manage it and before Patrick started on the next season, so he couldn’t claim he didn’t have time. Chance seemed a little taken aback to be included, but Patrick suspected it was because Marcy assumed that, before long, he’d be just as responsible for Avery’s meals as Patrick was. Patrick enjoyed the look on Chance’s face a little too much to back him up. He grinned at Chance, who narrowed his eyes at Patrick. Patrick just laughed that much harder.

  “Besides,” she said, pulling their attention back to her and pointing a bright red fingernail at him, “that baby needs more to eat than chicken nuggets and ramen.”

  Patrick blushed but agreed, too happy to have someone willing to try. He really did need to learn, and while he could afford lessons or a class, he’d much prefer Marcy’s patience to a stranger. After an embarrassing kiss to both his and Chance’s cheeks, she led the last four out of the apartment, chattering with Tom the whole way down the hall about him and Chance, both of whom suddenly seemed to have gone deaf.

  They settled Avery into his car bed, but he was still a little too wound up. Chance retrieved a book while Patrick found his new “froggy”—this one from Marcy—and they took turns reading to him. It only took two small books before he was finally drifting off. They crept from the room but stopped in the doorway to look at him.

  “He’s so gorgeous,” Chance whispered.

  Patrick glanced over his shoulder, then back to Avery. “Thanks. He really is. And good. Em did a hell of a job with him, so far.”

  They headed out to the kitchen, and Patrick started brewing fresh coffee.

  “You didn’t exactly ignore him, Patrick.”

  Patrick frowned at Chance. “No, I guess not.” He pulled a coffee mug out that he didn’t recognize, then looked up and realized there was a whole set, and they looked like the ones from Pablo’s. “Uh…,” he stammered.

  “Marcy got frustrated because she didn’t have enough cups to go around. I think you were helping Tom with the new bookshelves when she did it. She sent Pablo to the café for more cups.”

  Patrick shook his head, grinning. “They didn’t have to do that. I’m not broke. I can buy cups.”

  Chance shrugged. “It’s Marcy’s way, and Pablo just wants to make her happy. If it makes her happy to give you some coffee cups, he’ll do it.”

  With a chuckle Patrick nodded. “Yeah, you know, we might have to give them a push,” he said, handing a hot cup to Chan
ce.

  He took a sip before answering. “Be damn fair to turn the tables, wouldn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Patrick said firmly. “She’s on us enough, isn’t she?”

  “It got worse when you showed up. I mean, it was pretty bad before—asking me when I was going to ask someone out. But now? Every time I’m in there.” He shook his head. “So, uh, yeah, we need to do something about those two.”

  “I agree.” Patrick dumped some cream into his coffee and stirred it, then waved a hand toward the living room. They headed to the sofa that had been set up in front of the fireplace. “I can’t thank you enough,” Patrick said to Chance as they settled on the couch. A new coffee table sat in front of it and held a few magazines along with a few children’s books, and he grinned at the crooked stack, sure it was Avery’s work.

  Chance shrugged. “Nah, I’m glad it worked out. I know you’re used to doing things on your own here, so I really didn’t know if you’d appreciate it. I just… you seemed kind of overwhelmed, and who wouldn’t be? Suddenly finding themselves a single parent….”

  Patrick chuckled. “With you, Marcy, and Tom, it hardly feels like I’m a single dad.”

  Chance’s smile was huge, but he tried to bury it in his coffee cup. Patrick didn’t push, but he was glad Chance seemed to like the idea. They sat in the blessed quiet, sipping their cups in companionable silence.

  “I should leave you alone,” Chance said as he finished his coffee. “You’ve been stuck with people all day.”

  Patrick shrugged. “Remember, I come from a big family. I’m used to it. In fact, not having anyone around gets weird after a while. But it is getting late, and you have to be on set tomorrow, right?”

  Chance sighed. “Yeah.” He made a face. “Not that I want to. The sound mixer’s an ass on this one. But it’s supposed to be wrapping up in another week. I am so looking forward to finishing with it. I have another one lined up a few days after that, so I really hope it doesn’t run over. I’m going to need the days off.”