Closer by Morning by Thom Collins

don’t think there’s any chance of me making it.”
    â€œGood.” Dale looked at the menu. “Any preference?”
    â€œRed,” Matt answered. “After the champagne, I feel like something deep and rich.”
    Dale ordered a bottle of Amarone.
    Two bottles of wine on a weeknight. There was no way Matt would rise for boot camp after that. He’d have to be careful driving to work in the morning too. Maybe he should call Annabel and get her to pick him up. She owed him a favor after today’s police station stunt.
    They took their time over the menu. Matt wasn’t in the mood for anything heavy. He chose pan-fried scallops with chorizo and black pudding to start and sea bass with potato croquets and crushed peas for his main course.
    â€œWhat’s black pudding?” Dale asked.
    â€œIt’s kind of a sausage made from pig’s blood and oatmeal. It sounds disgusting when described like that but trust me, it’s absolutely delicious.”
    â€œOkay,” Dale said warily. “I’ll take your word for that but all the same, I’ll pass.” He ordered the same starter minus the black pudding and a medium steak for his main course. “It’s not adventurous, I know, but if steak is an option I can never resist. I hear they’re great here too. From a butcher’s right across the street.”
    It was a fantastic meal in wonderful company. As the plates came and went, they gently quizzed each other, opening up about their pasts. Matt had never met a real celebrity before, but there was no ego to Dale. He was as normal and down to earth as any guy he knew.
    He talked about growing up in Pennsylvania and the importance of family and his son.
    â€œHow long were you married?” Matt asked.
    â€œEight years.” Dale took a sip of wine before saying, “I don’t regret it. Not a bit. But I do regret staying married to Laura for so long. I held her back. If we’d got divorced sooner she could have got on with her life. Ours was a marriage in name only most of the time. We have a great relationship now and if we hadn’t been together I wouldn’t have such a fantastic son.”
    Matt nodded thoughtfully. “I never had that doubt. You know, about sex. I only ever liked other boys. The notion of getting together with a girl… It was never a possibility.”
    Dale shrugged. “I always knew I liked guys but it took me a long time to accept it. I was in my late twenties before I realized this wasn’t just a phase. That I wasn’t going to grow out of it.”
    â€œBeing in the public eye can’t have helped.”
    â€œNo. Not when your career amounts to playing the boyfriend of the hot chick. Those roles didn’t amount to much but they were all I had. If word got out that I liked dick, those one-dimensional parts would be passed to the next pretty boy. In order to keep working, I had to keep quiet about all that.”
    â€œIsn’t it different now? There are so many openly gay actors. They all get work.”
    Dale rolled his eyes. “And what work do they get? The gay kids in Glee . The gay men in HBO comedies and dramas. I’m not putting that down, it’s just not for me. Besides, it’s not only my career I have to think about. I don’t want my son to grow up being bullied as the kid with the fag dad on TV. Maybe when he’s older it won’t be such a big deal. But I can’t do that to him. Not yet.”
    The waiter returned to ask if they wanted dessert. They were both too full but ordered liqueur coffees to finish the meal. Matt couldn’t stop looking at Dale the whole time. The color of his eyes looked deeper than the Atlantic in the soft light of the restaurant. Dale looked right back at him, a sexy smile on his lips.
    â€œSo… What now?”
    Matt’s spine prickled. “Well… What do you suggest?”
    â€œWe’re taking it as a given