Page 91 of The Bartender Special

And it was becoming a habit to think his presence was normal. Not stipulated.

Yet, Benny looked to the bartender, wondering if he’d accept the offer.

If maybe he’d want to watch one of Benny’s favorite movies with him and then maybe come back to his bedroom and they could talk about it and then maybe they could⁠—

Benny’s body took on another wave of heat as he stopped that train of thought.

It was almost cruel to be able to blush while sunburned.

Jack didn’t let him daydream long, no matter where that dream ended up.

He smiled, apologetic.

“As much as I'd enjoy seeing Benny yell at the TV, I have to work tonight,” he said. “I’d play hooky if Dixon hadn’t already agreed to cover for me while I work on all the festival stuff. I don’t want to mess him up any more than I already am.”

Benny tried to mask his immediate disappointment.

Callum saw the reasoning in that.

“I keep forgetting you two signed up for all of that. It’s a lot to watch as it is. I can’t believe you two signed up for nearly everything.” Callum shook his head. “Bless you, guys.”

The two men shared a laugh of understanding and the pain of social obligation before Callum went on his way. Benny looked anywhere other than Jack.

He knew it was silly to feel the twinge of rejection in his chest, but he did.

“Speaking of the festival, I don't think we actually landed on a plan for decorating for the party or the parade, or what we're doing for the pageant,” Jack said, unaware of his slight emotional spiral. “But Cassidy's is closed tomorrow. Maybe we can get some dinner and figure out a game plan then?”

Tires screeched to a halt in Benny’s head.

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, I figured I could pick something up from Crowley's and you could meet me at the bar.”

The image of them dining fancy in town changed to them in jeans with beers at the ready. It assuaged the slight hurt of a movie-night rejection.

Despite the embarrassing fact that he had just reminded himself that the two weren’t actually dating.

“I thought you said it was closed.”

Jack grinned.

“Lucky for us, I know a guy who has the keys.”

They agreed on a time and Benny walked him, stiffly and slowly, to the front door. Thoughts of movie watching, followed by bedroom-something became thoughts of where Benny could find some aloe for his sunburn. He was wondering if Ethan might come over to watch the movie while he salved it over his poor legs.

“So tomorrow at six-thirty,” he confirmed. “I'll bring my handy-dandy notebook of ideas. We can also do some social media stuff too for the bar.”

Jack nodded.

“Anything will work as long as the words 'juggling, singing, and dancing' aren't on it. That goes for the party and the parade too, not just the pageant.”

“Roger that.”

Before Benny could close the door behind him, since the conversation had clearly found its end, Jack did something that completely scrambled his thoughts all over again.

Jack bent low and kissed him.

Then he said goodnight and left.