Bittersweet Irish Cream Ch. 01

He also spent a considerable amount of time with BJ and Brayden, both the same age as him at 26, talking business ideas. Brayden's father Brian and Jack's uncle Henry are business partners and Brayden works for the company as the Senior Marketing and Sales Operations Manager. Ethan, Brayden and BJ discussed marketing and budgeting for the Red Rock, and how to enhance his profit margin until Jack came over with shots for the three of them and told them to stop being nerds.

Winter got him up and dancing, and flirted with him heavily. He didn't have the heart to tell her the only woman he has ever been with was his wife. Ex-wife, he had to keep reminding himself. Ethan was pretty much gay. And before the night was out Liam was offered a second shift desk clerk position that Ethan didn't even know he needed. "So on nights like tonight, you don't have to carry around a work phone for emergencies or pay Stacy overtime, because I'll be there!"

They ate wings of every flavor, sang happy birthday badly, ate cake, and drank Jack Daniel's whiskey, all in honor of Jack. Oddly enough, Ethan and Jack barely spoke to each other, but instead stole glances at each other when the other wasn't looking. Jack was pleased to see Ethan was loosening up. He decided he had a boy next door look about him but a slightly more ruggish facial features, with a head full of brown hair, square jaw, thin top lip, fuller bottom lip, light brown eyes. Very easy on the eyes. Not that Jack was looking, of course. Just that he is actually a pretty nice guy when he wasn't being an asshole, Jack thought to himself.

He watched Winter push herself on him unapologetically and he was polite about it, but there was something in the way he averted her advances, like he didn't find her attractive at all. And Winter was definitely attractive, half Brazilian, bronzed skin, wavy hair, hazel eyes, curves in all the right places and a lot of sex appeal. His gaydar was going off a bit as he watched him. Ethan just got 100 times more interesting to him.

At 11:30pm, people started filtering out one by one. Ethan rose as well to leave and Winter approached him. "If you aren't busy this weekend, we could go out. I actually live in Providence and I know some great places."

"I'm sorry, I have to pick up my son this weekend. Maybe another time." He smiled politely.

Winter feigned disappointment. "Well," she said, "In case you make time..."

She slid a piece of paper with her number on it to him and kissed him on the cheek, then she left with Afia and Connor. Jack watched Ethan put the paper in his pocket but not before he crumpled it up. He is never going to call her, Jack thought.

Ethan caught Jack watching him and walked over. "Thanks for inviting me, this was fun."

Jack said, "Thanks for celebrating my 23rd with me." He reached out to shake his hand which Ethan took and held. "Now walk safe out there, it may be a little dark for someone like you."

Jack smiled that dimpled smile. He's so fucking cute, Ethan thought. Feeling tipsy and with a loose tongue, and still holding Jack's hand, Ethan said, "I don't mind things going bump in the night."

He winked and squeezed his hand. Then walked out leaving a stunned Jack standing there. Jack's insides were screaming two things: One, Ethan was definitely gay; and two, he just flirted with him.

~~~~~

The next day was Friday. Ethan stood at the window and waited for Jack's truck. He didn't know why, he just wanted to see him. It might have something to do with the unwarranted dream he had about him last night.

As he heard the truck turn the corner, he pretended to be busy cleaning the huge bay window. Jack came by and waved at Ethan through the window. Ethan waved back. He emptied the trash, placed the containers back neatly in a row, and hopped on the back of the truck and rode off, without a glance back at the window.

Well that was...anticlimactic. He didn't know what he expected, but he was disappointed with how typical it all was.

The next couple of Fridays were more of the same. Jack went back to calling him Not Mr. McKinley but with less insults, and giving EJ presents. Ethan found himself thinking about Jack on the other days of the week. But he was also busy training Stacy's brother Liam whom he almost forgotten that he had given him a job, which Stacy made clear she was not happy about.

"Get your own fucking job," she told Liam the first day he showed up. "Stop trying to steal mine."

To appease her, he changed her title to Front Desk Manager and offered her her own daytime schedule. She choose 6am to 2:30pm, and to be off Mondays and Tuesdays. Ethan gave Liam a 1:30pm to 10pm schedule, him being off Wednesdays and Thursdays, so they only saw each other for about an hour a day, outside of living in the same house, and that suited them just fine.

~~~~~

The Wednesday before Ethan had to take EJ to Connecticut in that last week in May, he came upstairs with EJ on his heels, and Jack was in the vestibule talking with Liam. He wore a pair of light colored jeans that hung right at his hips and showed the curve of his ass, a white long sleeved Nike t-shirt and blue and white Nike sneakers. Again Ethan's stomach jolted, he looked good in regular clothes. Stop it, he told himself.

"Jack," he greeted.

"Not Mr. McKinley," Jack replied coolly. Ethan despite himself smiled and Jack found himself smiling back.

"Ethan have you heard of the Pawtucket Red Sox?" Liam asked.

Ethan looked at Liam willing himself not to look back at Jack. "Can't say that I have."

"They aren't half bad, won a couple of league titles recently. You should check them out. Opening Day is this weekend," Liam said.

"Yeah? I think I will."

EJ who was between Ethan's legs said "Truck!"

Jack knelt down and held up his hand. EJ walked over and gave him a high five, which Jack encouraged three more times. "EJ, you're the best," he said.

EJ gave him a hug, which was sweet and surprising. Jack hugged him back and then looked at Ethan who was watching the exchange. He stood up quickly, "Sorry. He just-"

Ethan cut him off. "No, it's fine, he sees you once a week and it's like he knows you. So it's OK."

"You have a great kid there."

"Thanks."

A moment passed and Jack realized he was staring at Ethan a little too long. His tight black t-shirt showed off the muscles in his arms and he had a fleeting thought of being held by him. He quickly turned back to Liam. "I'll pick you up on Sunday. I'll drive." He nodded back at Ethan and headed out.

Liam watched Ethan watch Jack walk out. Well this is interesting, he thought. He said, "You're welcomed to join us if you want."

Ethan tore his eyes away from the closed door and looked at Liam. "Sorry, I have to bring my son down to his grandparents for the week."

~~~~~

The following Friday afternoon, Jack walked into the Inn, said hi to Liam and asked, "Where's Ethan?"

He had caught Ethan staring at him earlier in the day as he was taking out the trash. Jack likewise thought too much about Ethan in the last few weeks and needed the awkwardness to end when they were around each other.

Liam answered him,"In the backyard installing a new fence. Why?"

Jack didn't respond, just went through the dinning room out the double french doors to find Ethan in a tank top and jeans in the late may sun. Jack liked what he saw but pushed those feelings down. Ethan who was nailing fence plants to posts looked up surprised to see Jack coming toward him.

"Hey," he said first.

"Hey, what are you doing tonight?"

"Um...this." Ethan pointed to the unfinished fence.

"Dude, you cant put up a fence in the dark," Jack said.

Ethan shrugged. "What's up?"

"Come out with me tonight. At Red Rock."

"Why?" Ethan asked, before he could stop himself.

"Because it's Friday. You're kid-less. And you look like you could use some friends."

"Is that what we are now? Friends?"

"We don't have to be friends if you don't want to be. I just figured you would want to make a friend in this town. Someone who doesn't have to follow your orders, work for you or live in your B&B." Ethan stared at him in silence, expression unreadable. Jack let a moment pass, then said, "Okay." He nodded and turned around to walk away.

Ethan blurted out, "What time?" a little louder than what he intended.

Jack smiled, then turned around with a straight face. "8 o'clock. I'll meet you here." He left before Ethan could change his mind.

Ethan was stunned and confused. It felt like he was being asked out on a date, but Jack specifically said "friends." He walked back inside and said to Liam, "Hey, do you mind working an extra hour tonight? I'm going to head to the bar tonight."

"Hell yeah I'll work overtime. Stay until midnight!" Liam said. Ethan went downstairs to pick out what he was going to wear to this...friendship outing.

Jack came into the Inn promptly at 8pm. He wore dark blue jeans, a light green polo shirt that bought out his eyes, and gray and light green Air Max sneakers. Ethan came upstairs in blue jeans, a black button down short sleeved shirt, black boots. Jack noticed he shaved, no light brown scuff on his face and he combed his hair. He actually looked handsome. And smelled even better when he got close, a light musk.

Jack as usual pushed down his thoughts of Ethan in a sexy way and asked, "You ready?"

"Yeah." Ethan followed Jack out and they walked in silence the two blocks down and two blocks over to the Red Rock. It was more crowded today, so crowded that their were no tables available and they had to sit at the bar. They ordered beers and watched the baseball game on TV.

Jack started, "So you're from the Bronx."

"Born and raised."

"Yankees fan?"

"You can't be from the Bronx and not be a Yankee fan, Even if you don't follow the sport, it's like a blood rite."

Jack laughed. "Well I guess that makes us mortal enemies."

Ethan looked at him sadly. "No. Tell me you aren't a Red Sox fan?"

"My uncle originally settled in Boston when he came over, and he kind of raised us to love them." Jack said. They talked about the Yankees win over the Red Sox in 2003 while the Red Sox won in 2004. "When did you move to Connecticut?"

Ethan told him, "At 16. My dad got a promotion that relocated him to the Hartford office. I hated being there. As soon as I turned 17 and got my license, I would drive down to Riverdale as much as I could."

"Why did you hate it so much?"

"It's so....white up there."

Jack laughed. "You know you're white, right? Like Irish cream pastry white."

"Yea, I'm white but I'm New York City white, not old money, yacht club, look at these good liberals helping poor brown folks by donating to charities, kind of white. Those people are sickening." Jack laughed heartily. "Plus, I missed my friends, my black and brown friends. I had just started a relationship too..." He trailed off.

"Was it Ethan's mother?"

"God no. I met Patricia, Trish, in college. We were friends who ran in the same circles and partied together. One night we partied a little too hard, ended up in bed together."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "And when you say partied..."

"Way too much Tequila, weed and molly."

"Wow. I can't picture it, you on molly."

Ethan laughed. "And you'll never get a chance to. I'll never touch that stuff again."

Jack laughed with him. "So what happened? You just kept sleeping together?"

Ethan scoffed. "No. It was a one night stand. Then she disappeared. Three months later she shows at my place, tells me she is 12 weeks pregnant, it's a boy and she's keeping it. I was 23, just starting out and scared shitless. But what's a good Irish Catholic boy to do when you knock a girl up?"              

Jack chided, "You marry her."

"And so I did," Ethan said bitterly. He took a sip of his beer as if he was trying to wash the taste out of his mouth.

Jack let a moment pass, then asked, "Did you ever love her?"

"Yes. But not in romantic way. I loved her as a person. And I love that she gave me EJ. She could have aborted him and I would have never known. But she didn't. I will always love her for that."

"So what happened to your marriage?" Jack kept asking questions because it was interesting getting to know Ethan personally. And Ethan kept talking.

"We were good for a moment, until she actually had EJ. It was like a light switch went off and she spiraled into a major depression. I was working long hours, making a shit load of money to provide for us, bought us a condo in Co-Op City. All she had to do was stay home and raise the baby and she just couldn't do it. By 6 months she was using again, weed, pills. She would be strung out and my kid is crying in the fucking crib. I blame myself really, for not being there. I should have seen the signs. But I didn't want to be there, and that's the worse feeling ever, being in a marriage that you didn't want in the first place.

"We fought all the time and when we weren't fighting we weren't speaking. I was miserable, and I started seeing...someone at work to feel better by the time EJ was 1. I told her I wanted a divorce, she told me no. I filed papers and everything and she refused to sign. So we were legally separated living in the same house for another six months until she caught me in the act with...with my....with someone else." Jack raised his eyebrows again but didn't say anything, let Ethan continue.

"She called me all kinds of names, then left, but she left EJ there. I had to take a few days off from work to figure out childcare which was basically my parents in Greenwich and working from home. Apparently she moved back to Greenwich as well with her parents so we tried to co-parent, a week with them, a week with us, until one day I come to pick him up and she is in her parent's bed getting fucked while some methhead is literally trying to breastfeed my son, and EJ is screaming bloody murder. I could have killed her and everyone in that house.

"Instead I took my son, told her that if she ever wanted to see EJ again she needed to take me to court. So she did, although I'm pretty sure her parents put her up to that, she had zero interest in being a mom. We fought for another three months nastily, but by Thanksgiving it was done, my divorce was final and we had a visitation schedule. I had already decided I was moving away from all of it. After what he had been through in his short life I needed some place safe, calm and loving to raise him.

"I was driving back from Maine after visiting a few places and stopped here on December 6 because the ice storm and snow blocked the roads. I ended up at the Inn, talked a while with McKinley, found out he was looking for someone to buy him out so he could move in with his daughter and son in law in Tampa. I spent one night here, then gave him a cash offer and he took it. We closed on January 2^nd, EJ's birthday."

"Wow. Just...wow." Jack was stunned hearing Ethan's story.

"I know."

"So does EJ actually see his mom or does he spend the whole time with his grandparents?"

"I honestly do not know. And I don't really care. I'm fulfilling my agreement by bringing him down once a month. I know he is safe with them. But for EJ's sake, I just wish she would commit, just a little bit more, to being a presence in his life. At some point that kid is going to have a lot of questions, and I don't know how I'm going to answer them."

Jack didn't know what to say at first, but then said sincerely, "EJ is lucky to have you as a father. You're a really good dad."

Ethan smiled. "Thanks." He decided he liked talking to Jack. Then said, "You're turn. I heard you were born in Ireland. You dip in and out of that accent pretty well."

Jack smiled and said in his Irish accent, "How's da craic?"

Ethan laughed. "That's amazing." They laughed together. "So what happened? Why did you come over?"

Jack took a sip of beer and a couple of seconds to answer. "My parents died leaving us orphans." He still spoke in an Irish accent. "My uncle Henry, my mum's older brother, took us in, raised us as his own. I was six, Junie was two. She doesn't remember a thing about Dublin obviously, but I do. I remember it all."

Ethan had never seen Jack so gloomy and serious, almost ominous. His dark green eyes were almost black. He touched Jack's arm. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

Jack turned to him. "Thanks. Because I don't want to talk about it. Ireland that is." Ethan noticed his accent stopped.

Ethan switched gears. "OK, tell me what it was like growing up here?"

"You mean in my lily-white town of good liberals?" They laughed. He continued, "It's like...having extended family everywhere you go. There is a lot of love and community. But everyone is in everyone's business. If I threw a rock at Mr. Pearson's car, my uncle would hear about it by the time I got home."

"Did you throw a rock at Mr. Pearson's car?"

Jack laughed. "I was aiming for the bird!" They laughed again.

"So anyway I went from being an angry kid to a quiet and angry one by middle school. Practiced my American accent in the mirror every day but was afraid to talk to others and be made fun of, but if I ever was I would be ready to throw a punch, so the other kids pretty much left me alone. I barely had friends that weren't tied to Etta and I was fine with that, which is why all my friends are older than me except Liam and Stacy. I focused on school and reading for fun, and stayed in my apple tree.

"Then one summer, BJ and Sam's cousin came over to visit from Albania for the summer, Chris. He was biracial, Irish dad, Mr Jennings's younger brother, and African mom. He spoke three languages fluently, worldly, smart, just an amazing guy. He loved life and having fun and naturally everyone wanted to be around him, including me. Even though I was about two years younger, he took a liking to me and.... it changed my life. We started hanging out more with the twins Stacy and Liam -- by the way they hate being called that."

Ethan laughed. "I know, trust me."

Jack continued, "He just walked right up them in the park, me trailing behind him and offered a game of soccer that he called football. And that was that. He also pulled me along to whatever he and his cousins were doing. By the end of the summer Connor and Sam became my closest friends and Liam became my best friend.

"And then he left. I wish we had remained friends but we didn't, I haven't seen or heard from him since I was 15 years old. Hanging with him gave me the confidence I needed to know that I am...ok. That I'm an interesting person that people would actually like to get to know. And if they didn't like me, fuck 'em. Someone else would. Honestly I think he started hanging out with me to get into Henrietta's pants but still all worth it in the end." He laughed and Ethan joined him.

Then Ethan asked, "You never thought of leaving?"

Jack, shrugged. "One time or another. I always wanted to go to college. I got into UPenn, NYU and Stanford. I thought I would become a child psychologist, focused on children with trauma. But I couldn't decide if that's what I really wanted to do, plus I didn't want to leave Junie just yet, so I decided to take a gap year, work and stuff, then revisit it. That was four years ago. No, five years ago now. Huh."

Ethan was astonished he had gotten into such great schools. "Wow. That's impressive. What was your GPA?"

"4.0. 1450 on my SAT's. But again, I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to waste my time or my uncle's money. He had already done more than enough."

Ethan nodded. "You are a lot smarter than I though. I'm really sorry about that." Jack smiled at him. He liked Ethan. Liked that he is honest and sincere, an easy to talk to. This friendship thing could work.

They talked about other random stuff, ate wings, tacos and mozzarella sticks. They drank more beer but nothing harder than that. Ethan learned that Jack is an early riser, runs a 5k every morning before his shift. He likes to eat healthy most of the time, and stay fit, but doesn't like to cook. He is also a skilled marksman with any firearm you put in his hand. He works in the warehouse where apples are stored, packaged and distributed.