All Through the Night: A Troubleshooter Christmas Read Free Page B

affection for Jules—considering they were well outside of the South End, Boston’s gay neighborhood. “The unscrewed thing was just a joke. You know that, right? Sweetie, I love making love to you, but…right now I’m just ecstatic we’re in the same city. We can go have dinner and…It’ll be tomorrow before we know it.”
    And it wouldn’t be the first time they’d talked through the entire night.
    Mrs. H. had come back to the desk. She was hovering uncertainly, desperate but powerless to help.
    â€œHey, Mrs. H.,” Robin said, his eyes never leaving Jules’s. “My life partner’s a little shy, but I’m feeling a righteous need to kiss him. Do you mind if we step into your office for, oh, two minutes?”
    Mrs. H. was silent, and he finally turned to look at her. She was obviously thinking…
    â€œMind out of the gutter,” he chastised her, laughing. “Two minutes? I’m good, but I’m not that good.”
    Jules was laughing, too, but he leaned forward and kissed Robin. Right there in the lobby. His mouth was soft and warm and so, so sweet…
    â€œCome on,” Jules said, with so much love in his eyes that Robin’s heart nearly burst. “Let’s check our bags and find someplace quiet to have dinner.”

    â€œWe could get take-out,” Robin suggested, his hands jammed into the pockets of his jeans as if it were cold out. With the wind sweeping in off Boston Harbor, it
was
a little nippy, but Jules was warm. Maybe too warm.
    â€œAnd take it where?” Jules asked.
Find someplace quiet to have dinner—
hah. The city was overrun with students and their parents, all dining out. They’d walked all the way down to the waterfront, by the Aquarium. And now they couldn’t even find an empty cab to take them…Where indeed? Was there really any point going back to the hotel, where they didn’t even have a room?
    God, he needed to sit down.
    Somehow Robin knew that, and was there, helping him toward a bench.
    â€œLet’s just get in line at the Union Oyster House,” Jules said. The wait there was over ninety minutes, but the food and ambiance would be worth it. Besides, it wasn’t as if they were rushing to get anywhere else.
    â€œYou’re sweating.” Robin’s tone was accusatory. He’d been asking Jules if he was okay ever since they’d left the hotel. “You’ve been lying to me, haven’t you?”
    â€œI’m fine,” Jules lied yet again. But it wasn’t just to Robin, it was to himself, too. He didn’t want to be sick. He couldn’t be sick. Not this weekend. He’d wanted this to be special…
    â€œJesus, Jules, you’re burning up.” Robin’s hands felt like ice against Jules’s forehead.
    â€œI’m just a little…uncomfortable. Gastronomically. I had this taco as sort of a pseudo lunch,” he tried to explain. “I think it was bad.”
    â€œYou think you have food poisoning?” Robin’s eyes were filled with such concern.
    â€œNo,” Jules said. Please, God, no. “It’s just indigestion.”
    â€œMaybe we should go to the hospital.”
    â€œFor indigestion?”
    â€œFor food poisoning.” Robin was exasperated. “Just because you don’t want to call it what it is, babe, doesn’t mean you get to change the facts.”
    The wind blew, and suddenly Jules was freezing. “Oh, shit,” he said as he started to shiver violently. Just as suddenly, the taco made its play for escape. Jules barely managed to turn away from Robin as he got fiercely sick, right there on the sidewalk.
    But Robin didn’t recoil. In fact, he got closer, putting his arms around Jules, trying to stop his shaking. “All right,” he said. “Okay.” He took out his cell phone. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
    â€œNo,” Jules managed to