Where Nerves End

workaholic. Especially after I lost…after the club became my sole responsibility. And, I mean, he was probably right. I neglected the shit out of our relationship because I was trying to keep my business from going under.” Bitterness seeped into my voice as I said, “So he found someone with enough money that neither of them have to work at all, never mind long hours.”
“Ouch,” Michael said.
“Yeah.”
“I can relate to the workaholic thing,” he said. “Thats what my exwife thought about me too.”
“She thought it?” I asked. “Or you are one?”
“Maybe a little of both. But I was throwing myself into my work, spending way too long at the clinic every day—like, every day—instead of spending time with her.” He sighed. “She thought I was obsessed with my work and didnt care about her. Truth was, I was throwing myself into my work to avoid her.”
“Really?”
He nodded slowly, looking out at the dark mountains. “Looking back, I was a jerk to her, and I know that. At the time, I was just afraid to face her or all the reasons we hadnt been getting along.” He laughed humorlessly, shaking his head. “Guess it was just easier to avoid our problems, even if that made things exponentially worse.”
“Making your own hours is convenient for that, isnt it?” I asked dryly.
“Very.” He looked up at the sky again. “So how long has it been? Since you and your ex split?”
“Six months. Seems like longer sometimes, though.”
“Miss him?”
“Not really.” I paused. “Okay, that sounded a bit bitchier than it should have. Sometimes, yes, but most of the time?” I brought my water bottle up. “Its just as well hes gone.”
Michael released an amused huff of breath. “I know how that goes.”
“Things didnt end so well with your ex-wife?”
“Oh, it wasnt that bad,” he said. “We get along pretty well, all things considered. But…wed been disconnected for so long, and neither of us was ever even sure why. Still arent. So, Id say the divorce was long overdue.”
“Seems like most breakups are.”
“Now that you mention it, thats a pretty good point.”
We both laughed softly, and then fell silent. The stars and mountains alternately gave me something to focus on, but my mind concentrated solely on the man standing beside me. I swore my left side, the side closest to him, tingled, while my right side was cool from the conspicuously empty air beside me. Three weeks living together, and I still couldnt keep my blood pressure in check when I was around him.
“My folks called earlier today,” he said out of the blue. “You know, checking in, wanting to talk to Dylan.” He drummed his fingers on the railing, and that was when I realized his posture had changed from casual and relaxed to that of a man wound up and bordering on agitated.
“Oh?” I said. “How um…how did that go?”
“It was interesting,” he said, more to himself than to me. “They werent too sure about me moving their grandson in with „some man.”
I swallowed. “Because they dont know me? Or because Im…”
“I didnt tell them youre gay.” His fingers tapped even more rapidly. “They, um, assumed you were. Because Im living with you.”
My heart stopped. “I beg your pardon?”
He kept his eyes fixed on the mountains. “My folks are convinced Im gay.”
Good thing I wasnt taking a drink just then or Id have choked on it.
“They are?” I asked. “Seriously?”
Michael nodded.
“What gave them that idea?”
“I guess theyre…I mean, they…I dont know,” he said, his voice as unsteady as it was quiet. Nervousness and Michael were such abizarre combination, two incongruous things that shouldnt have existed on the same plane, and yet, here they were.
He took a deep breath and pressed his hands down on the railing like he needed its support to stay upright. “Seths parents and mine were really close when we were kids, and his folks, for whatever reason, were convinced I was gay. Maybe because Seth and I hung out so much. Something. Guess they thought it was catching and assumed I had it, so they were worried about me being around their son.”
“Even though you hadnt given them any reason to believe you were actually gay.”
“Thats how scared his parents were of him turning out to be gay.” Michael sighed. “You know, a lot of people thought it was poetic justice that parents like his wound up with a gay kid after all. I just think its fucked up Seth ended up with jerks like them for