Chapter 5 – Chapter 5

Mike scanned the edges of the field over to where the three-tiered section of bleachers was positioned next to the little league baseball field. He wasn't there. And he certainly wasn't over to Mike's right where the dog owners had gathered this Saturday morning to sip their coffee and chat while they kept one eye on their dogs cavorting out in the center of the Penn Park field.

It had been two Saturdays since he'd met Rick at the vet's and Rick had come to him at his apartment. Rick hadn't called him, and Mike didn't think he should push it. He could completely understand if Mike wanted it to be a single encounter. It hadn't been the best of circumstances—most certainly not from Rick's perspective—and Mike hoped that hadn't blotted out his chances altogether. He'd been attracted to Rick. Rick's display of emotion over the loss of his dog might have been a turn off for most guys, but it had been a turn on for Mike. Anyone who could feel that way about his dog was OK with Mike. More than OK.

And he was such a good fuck.

Mike wondered, not for the first time in those two weeks, if Rick was actively gay—or whether he had just been overwhelmed by circumstances. It wasn't usually this hard for Mike to figure out what another guy wanted. But he hadn't been in a relationship since Eddie. And that hadn't ended well. Mike had almost given up hope of finding someone else—someone sensitive and giving. Someone who could feel about his dog the way Rick showed that he felt about his Pete. Someone who could be vulnerable and open up with another man the way Rick had been with him.

Mike just didn't know how to approach this with Rick. Of course, if Rick just didn't show up—as clearly as Mike had tried to extend the invitation to visit the park on Saturday mornings—the opportunity wouldn't even come up.

Mike looked out over the field, searching for and finding, in turn, his golden retrievers, Rusty and Nail. Ah, if only life was as simple for him as it was for them.

* * * *

"Peggy, Peggy Collins. Certainly, Mike told me about you—and about your dog. I'm so sorry."

Rick was standing at the door to Mike's neat little house, with the large fenced yard behind it—nearly a twin of his just eight blocks away. He almost didn't recognize it when he pulled up to the front. He'd just been here, of course, but it was dark then and he had been confused. He hadn't even known why he was there—until Mike's body showed him in no uncertain terms why he had sought him out.

He was trying not to show his disappointment. Not because Mike Collins hadn't come to his door. But because Peggy Collins had. Rick thought he had gotten a clear demonstration of how Mike was and what he wanted. But here he was, standing at Mike's door. And there was a Peggy Collins.

He fumbled around, not knowing now whether to hold the boxes out—one of chocolates and the other of gourmet dog biscuits—or hide them behind his back.

"I'm sorry. Mike's not here. He's off with the dogs somewhere. But would you like to come in and wait for him?"

She was a nice looking woman. Maybe a little younger than Mike appeared to be—but also a little older than Rick. She had a pleasant smile. They probably were great together. Mike was a lucky guy, Rick thought. So, why did he feel a little deflated with a touch of miserable? It must be Pete. It had been two weeks and he still got weepy over the loss of Pete.

"No, it's fine, I just stopped by to give him these," Rick said, holding the two boxes out to Peggy, who was standing in the door. He was on the second step of the stoop leading up to the square of concrete at the door. He had to hand the boxes up to her. "It's just a gesture of thanks—for what he did for me a couple of weeks ago . . . at the vet's. He went way out of his way for me. Just a box of chocolates for you two and some biscuits for the dogs. He told me about the dogs. Two golden retrievers. Not anything like he deserves, of course, but I did want to say thanks somehow. No, not the retrievers being what he didn't deserve. The . . . um, sorry."

Rick could kick himself. He was standing there and babbling. Suddenly embarrassed. He hadn't thought it out. He let hope push away common sense. Of course Mike was married and had a regular life. Oh, god, wouldn't it have been awkward if she'd been home or had walked in on them the other night. Mike was that sort of nice guy who certainly would be married. Rick just wasn't thinking straight—hadn't thought straight since he no longer could deny that Pete was sinking fast.

"He'll be pleased," Peggy said, with a smile. "And I'm sure he would tell you that he didn't do anything special, that anyone would offer the help he did. I wouldn't say that about him, of course, but I know that's what he would say."

"Yes, he did say that," Rick answered. "He's really a nice guy."

"Yes, yes, he is. I'll be sure to tell him that you dropped by."

"Thanks," Rick said as he backed down the steps. "And it sure was nice meeting you." He could say it was nice meeting her, Rick was thinking as he retreated to his car—but he couldn't say it was all the nice knowing about her.

The phone rang as Peggy closed the door, thinking that Rick looked like a very nice guy—and then laughing at how many times she'd heard the word "nice" in the last five minutes. Kind of goofy, but in a nice way. She laughed again. Whatever. She liked Rick. She hoped he and Mike would become friends. Then the telephone rang again, insistently. Peggy put the two boxes down on the table next to the door, where they slid toward the wall as she hurried for the telephone in the kitchen and where they promptly disappeared into the space between the table and the wall with a clatter that Peggy couldn't heard from the kitchen.

The telephone call sent her to the hospital to meet one of her girlfriends who had gone into labor prematurely and who wanted someone there for support. Her husband was off in Iraq and she'd lost her first baby by not carrying it full term and she was scared and panicked. It was a long, but successful delivery, and Peggy was at the hospital into the next day. And the trauma of this pushed all thoughts of Rick's visit out of her mind.

When Mike returned home, he found her message and went into his bedroom to change his clothes and call Peggy at the hospital on his cell phone.

When he came back into the living room from a long discussion on the phone with Peggy, he found Rusty and Nail sitting in the middle of the living room, two boxes of messily unwrapped and half-eaten chocolates and dog biscuits strewn about them. They had the good sense to give him apologetic stares, and he stared hard back to the them and stooped to gather up the debris.

"Now, where did you two find this stuff?" he scolded. "Can't leave you two alone for three minutes."