The Stars That Tremble by Kate McMurray Page B

outside, he slapped Mike’s back and signaled toward the corner. Gio understood then that the guys were a buffer. Gio had been invited into a social situation so that Mike could see him without being alone with him. It was a clever scheme given the circumstances, although Gio wished he had more time to talk with Mike.
    Gio let himself be swept up in conversation with these men as they walked. They made it easy, luckily. Angelo spoke pretty good, albeit accented, Italian; his family was from South Brooklyn and Naples before that and his grandmother had spoken Italian at home, he explained. He could speak both school Italian and some of the Neapolitan dialect his grandparents had spoken. Dave piped in to talk about the vacation they’d taken to Rome and Tuscany a few years before. Gio lamented that he hadn’t been home to Tuscany in a number of years. “I’m from Borgo San Lorenzo originally,” he explained. “It’s a large town a few miles from Florence.”
    “I loved Florence!” Dave gushed. “Such a beautiful city.”
    So that went pretty well.
    Mike spoke softly to James for a moment, so Gio turned to Sandy when Dave started asking Angelo what he remembered from the trip. Sandy smiled. “You should know, Mike is my brother. Not in the blood sense, obviously, but you work the trenches together, you see some of the shit we saw when we were in the Middle East? You’re brothers for life.”
    “You want to protect him,” Gio said. “I understand that.”
    “I was the one who suggested he invite you out this evening. Partly because he likes you and wants to spend time with you, but partly because I wanted to scope you out. Just so we’re clear.”
    “All right.”
    Sandy was a little intimidating. He wasn’t quite as big or bulky as Mike, but he had some of that same strength, the same wide shoulders that spoke of working out and lifting heavy things.
    “Is this where you give me the speech about how you’ll hurt me if I hurt him?” Gio asked.
    “No. No, Mike can take care of himself. I am a little curious about your intentions. I mean, if you just want to fuck around, that’s fine with me. But Mike’s last boyfriend left him because he couldn’t deal with the fact that Mike had a kid. So you should be clear on what you want, is all.”
    Gio hadn’t quite gotten past the simple fact that he liked Mike and that the attraction was mutual. He’d thought about sex with Mike—he’d have to be dead inside not to, he reasoned—but he hadn’t gotten as far in his thinking as a relationship. Because that was an issue, wasn’t it? Gio adored Emma, but as a teacher does a student. Mike was her father. And that added a whole layer of strange to the situation that Gio had been aware of but hadn’t quite wrapped his head around yet.
    “I don’t really know,” Gio said. “We just met.”
    Sandy nodded. “I know. No need to make a commitment right this minute. Just… things worth thinking about.”
    It was early enough in the evening that the club wasn’t quite hopping yet. There were a few people milling around, most of them clustered around the bar. Music was blaring. Angelo must have spotted someone he knew because he gestured and then he and Dave disappeared into the small crowd.
    “When you do go out, this your regular spot?” Gio asked Mike.
    “Yeah. We come here… well, not that often. How often do we go out, Sandy?”
    “Not like we used to. Once every other month, maybe.”
    “That’s sad,” said Mike.
    “We’re almost forty,” said Sandy.
    “That’s sadder.” Mike laughed.
    “What are you all drinking?” James asked.
    He took drink orders and vanished. Gio felt somewhat better now that he’d talked to everyone in the group. He fell into conversation with Mike and Sandy.
    “That seems to be going well,” Mike said, nodding toward James’s departing figure.
    “I know,” said Sandy. “He’s dreamy.”
    “I like him. Hang on to that.”
    Gio thought the dynamic between Mike