Carol Lynne Seasons of Love 2 Summer

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.”In Sidney’s opinion, the integrity of the columns would be compromised.The last thing he wanted was to attach his name to a building that was structurally unsound.“I don’t agree.”“Call your boss and get him out here,” Bruce instructed.“Maybe I can have an intelligent conversation with someone over the age of thirty,” Bruce mumbled under his breath.Sidney strode back to the trailer, cussing Bruce the entire way.He smiled as he passed a few men who were part of the foundation crew, and received disgusted sneers from all five men in return.“Go back to your cushy office, fairy boy,” one of the men yelled to his back.Sidney felt like taking off at a run, but tried to play it cool.He climbed the steps and shut himself in the relative safety of the ten by forty foot trailer.Ripping off the hard hat, he threw it across the small office and picked up the phone.They were in the beginning stages of the project.How in the hell was Sidney going to put up with the abuse for another year?* * * *By the time Sidney dragged his leather messenger bag up the front steps, he was beyond grouchy.Not only had he been talked down to by Bruce, but Harold Armstrong, Sidney’s boss, had actually questioned Sidney on whether or not he was up to the challenge of working with real men.Not knowing if the question had been in reference to his sexuality, Sidney had done the only thing he’d thought he could.He’d assured his boss he could handle Bruce and the other men on the construction site.Sidney had hoped to make a few friends at work like Nash had done, but all the guys on the building site seemed to see was his slight frame and long hair.They knew nothing of his sexual preference but had taken to using the word ‘fairy’ to describe him.He ran his hand over his newly-shorn head of hair.Telling Nash he’d done it so the other guys would stop giving him a hard time wouldn’t work.No doubt Nash would storm down to the building site and try to take care of it, making Sidney look like even more of a kid.Before he could come up with a way to explain his new haircut, the front door opened and Nash emerged.“What’re you doing standing…?” Nash stopped and stared at Sidney for several moments.“What the fuck happened to your hair?”Sidney fingered the buzzed sides of his head.He’d left the top a little longer to help hide his scars, but he had no doubt it was an abrupt change for Nash.“I need people to take me seriously.” Where the hell did that come from? Sidney bit his tongue at the admission.Nash pulled Sidney inside the town house and slammed the door.He set the puzzle book on the table.“Did something happen today, or have you been thinking about this for a while and just forgot to mention it to me?”“It’s my hair,” Sidney said in a defensive tone.“If I want to cut it, I’ll cut it.”Instead of firing back at him like Sidney expected, Nash pulled him into a hug.“Of course it is.” He kissed the top of Sidney’s head.“Just surprised me.”Understanding Nash was a hell of a lot harder to take than pissed off Nash at times.“It makes me look older,” Sidney mumbled against Nash’s shoulder.“You’re right.I was being selfish.I’m sorry.” Nash continued to hold Sidney.“Hungry?”“Starving.”“I bought stuff for chicken fried steak.Sound okay?”Sidney nodded.“Sounds wonderful.” The longer Sidney stayed in Nash’s arms, the better he felt.What did he care if Bruce didn’t respect him? In the end Sidney had won the argument about the footings.Isn’t that all that should matter?“Why don’t you go take a shower while I start dinner?”“It’s my night to cook,” Sidney reminded him.“Just give me a few minutes to wash my face and change my clothes.”Sidney started to pull away, but Nash held him in place.“I had a relatively easy day, but something tells me you didn’t.I’ll take care of dinner.You go get that shower.”Sidney smiled up at Nash.“You just want me to save my energy for after dinner.”“You bet your sweet ass I do.”Nash watched Sidney climb the steps and disappear from view.“Damn it,” he said under his breath.He’d known it would make or break Sidney when he was told the company wanted him to oversee his award winning project, but Nash had hoped it wouldn’t happen so fast.He strode into the kitchen to start dinner, trying to control his anger.The architectural company had no business thrusting a recent graduate into a position like that, but when he’d raised his objections Sidney had assured him it would be good experience.Nash had seen Sidney’s point at the time, but that was before the man he loved walked through the door with short hair.It wasn’t the length of Sidney’s hair that pissed Nash off.Sidney was right, it was his hair, but Nash knew how much Sidney had loved it.Something major must have happened to make Sidney feel he needed to cut it.Nash pulled the cube steak out of the refrigerator.He poured a good amount of flour on to a plate and seasoned it with salt and pepper before covering the steak in the mixture.As the shortening melted in the frying pan, Nash started on the potatoes.Normally he’d make real mashed potatoes but he went with the instant this time.Once they were covered with good milk gravy made from the steak drippings Sidney probably wouldn’t recognise the difference anyway.He heard the shower shut off while he was in the middle of preparing frozen corn.Maybe he could get Sidney to open up about work.He doubted he could solve Sidney’s problems at the building site, but at least he could try to be supportive.A thought suddenly hit him.What if the men from the construction site were responding to the obvious scar on Sidney’s face and not his hair? He hated to think grown men could be that cruel, but he’d seen the way strangers tended to stare at Sidney when they were in public.Nash grabbed a beer and the half gallon of milk out of the fridge.He drank close to a third of the bottle in one long gulp.Nash reckoned he deserved a beer since he’d declined Butch’s offer to join a few of the guys at Wally’s after work.Instead he’d gone grocery shopping to fill the void until Sidney got home.One thing Nash still couldn’t adjust to was all the downtime in his day [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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