Even though I’d begun sobering up, I was still confused. “But you went to community college and state school like me.”
“Yep,” he grumbled.
“So the guy’s coworkers were asshole snobs. So?”
Jack’s fingers moved absently through my hair. “So, not only was I not a Columbia grad, I also wasn’t a United captain at the time. This was years before I even came anywhere close. I was lucky to have the job flying regional jets. Honestly, I just assumed it was a misunderstanding until I mentioned it to Rico and he freaked out about it. He asked if I’d told them the truth, and when I said they hadn’t known I was even in there at the time, he’d let out a breath of relief. That’s when I realized that he’d spun this big story about me that was all bullshit. And he’d done it because he was embarrassed by my real situation.”
I turned around in Jack’s lap and hugged him tightly. “Fucking asshole,” I muttered into his warm neck. “I want to punch him for you.”
“After that, I had trouble trusting anyone. I gave up for a while until I met a guy named Ty. Are you bored yet?”
“No. I like learning about your past. I want to go back and hug past Jack.” I squeezed him again and kissed the side of his neck, taking the opportunity again to lick him a little. God, he tasted amazing. Like Mother Nature had sprinkled in some gourmet shit when she finished putting him together.
“You’ll like this one, actually. Ty was awesome. Is awesome. Cute, smart, funny, kind. We met on a ski trip that a pilot buddy of mine had invited me on. The trip had started as this annual trip to Sugarloaf in Maine with his college friends and had grown into a big free-for-all where they rented out this cheap-ass hotel and invited everyone they knew to make it a big party week. It was so much fun. I hadn’t done something like that in ages, so I had a blast. Ty was part of the original group of college friends, and he’d brought his two brothers along on the trip too.”
For some reason, I didn’t like hearing about this perfect man and his fancy ski trips. But I liked feeling like a jealous asshole even less. “Go on.”
“We totally hit it off. Flirted all week and finally made out on the last night.” He chuckled. “You would have appreciated the moment. It was all snowy and romantic. We were sitting on a bench late at night at the bottom of the slopes.”
I put my hands over my face. “I don’t need the details.”
He laughed again and kissed my temple. “He lived in Manhattan, thank god. So when we got back home, we started dating. We did everything together, and I appreciated his great group of friends. About six months into our relationship, we hosted a dinner party at his place and I brought my sister, who was visiting from Indiana. She totally hit it off with Ty’s brother, and the two of them started dating long-distance. Ty’s brother is a pilot too, so we hit it off. After that, the four of us got together regularly and had lots of fun. I used my flight benefits to bring Millie to New York as often as we could manage, and the four of us would see shows, go out to eat, or just hang out at Ty’s apartment with takeout and a movie. It was the closest thing I’ve ever had to feeling permanent.”
“Did you love him?” I asked.
“Definitely. And his job was in travel too. He was a corporate event planner, so he traveled all over, putting on events or checking out venues for future ones. He loved to travel, so once we’d been together a little longer, we started traveling together. We went to Italy and Hawaii, Banff and Vancouver. I finally got to enjoy some of those places with a boyfriend instead of just wandering around on my own between flights.”
It all sounded so perfect, I started to feel a little uneasy, like I was the “other man” or something. How could they not still be together if it was that good? “Did you catch him cheating or something?” I asked.
He grinned. “No. Ty is definitely not the cheating type. It was the opposite actually.”
“What’s the opposite of cheating?” I wondered out loud.
Jack looked down at me. “Proposing.”
“Oh,” I squeaked, feeling even more intensely jealous than before. “Oh.”
He pressed a kiss to my lips and lingered there for a moment before pulling back. “Yeah, oh. But I wasn’t ready. I… I didn’t have the same kind of dream of settling down that he did. He wanted us to move in together and play happy gays. Ty loved nothing more than us spending all day Saturday shopping, cooking, and decorating for a dinner party with friends or putting on an elaborate Sunday brunch.”