Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 14:19:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Mickey S <njmcmick@yahoo.com>
Subject: Second Wind, Chapter 28

If you are under age, or live in an area where reading stories that include
sex between males is illegal, or if you're not into this type of story,
please leave. This is a story of love between two men. As such there is
some sex but it is really more about their relationship.  If you're into
romance, I hope this story pleases you.

I'd like to thank my friends in the Nifty Six for their support and
encouragement, especially Tim for his advice and his editing
assistance. The author retains all rights.  No reproductions are allowed
without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at
NJMcMick@yahoo.com.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Joey

James' second week with us was a lot more relaxed than the first. He was
settling in, getting more comfortable being with us, and was actually
beginning to talk to Ben. He didn't talk much, but then, he'd always been
shy. At least he didn't seem afraid of Ben or distrust him the way he had
in the beginning. I think Ben's confrontation with Vinnie was the reason
for that. I knew that James was more than a little intimidated by his
father and having Ben get in between them and defend James must have made
him feel better.

I knew I was pretty proud of Ben for standing up to Vinnie. A little
concerned, too. While Ben was pretty much on the money in his assessment of
Vinnie's personality, that is, he wouldn't deliberately set out to fight
someone, he did have a quick temper and might have attacked Ben in a burst
of anger. He'd already proved that with his brief attacks on both of
us. But Ben had handled him just right, standing up to him, and then making
a quick getaway before Vinnie could respond. I knew the way Vinnie's mind
worked and I was pretty sure that, in spite of everything else he felt
about Ben, he probably now had a grudging respect for him.

After several tense conversations with Ben about money and shared
responsibilities we had finally settled on an arrangement that we both
thought was fair. Ben continued to pay the household bills, the mortgage
and utilities, and I took care of the groceries. Since I did most of the
cooking and Ben had never been into the kitchen and shopping, that worked
out fine. And now with a teenager in the house the food bill was right up
there with the big bills so I felt I was contributing a fair
share. Although Rita had promised that she and Vinnie would be providing
money for James' keep, we hadn't seen any yet and I wasn't holding my
breath.

After taking James to school on Wednesday, Connor and I went to Trader
Joe's to do some shopping. They didn't have everything I needed there but
what they did have was good and their specials were fantastic. I usually
did about half my shopping there and then finished up at Kings. Connor and
I were taking our time and the cart was about half full as I turned a
corner and saw Angie. She came over and kissed us both on the cheek.

"Hey Ange, not working today?"

"I don't have to be at the salon until one. Your mother is my first
appointment today." She rolled her eyes. "She's always such a joy."

"So she decided to swallow her pride and go back to the salon?"

"Yeah, she only skipped that one week. I guess she decided that facing the
women who'd heard Barbara's story about you and Ben wasn't as bad as being
seen all over town with bad hair."

"She's had that same hairstyle all my life and God knows how many years
before I was born. She's pretty attached to it."

"Lately, I think she's going to the salon as much to make sure everyone
knows how much she disapproves of your lifestyle as to get her hair done. I
wish I had your father's knack for tuning her out."

"Is she still on your case about me?"

"No, she's given up on me. It's all about you. The first few weeks she was
just on and on about how wrong you were and how sooner or later you'd wake
up and realize she was right. But she really went off last week when your
nephew moved in with you guys."

"Yeah, Pop told me she thought James should have gone to stay with them if
he couldn't be with his parents. But her attitude isn't very different from
Vinnie's, just without the cursing, so I don't think James would have done
well there."

"Well, she made it clear to everyone what a mistake she thought it was. She
says that James is just confused and that living with you and Ben is going
to be a bad influence on his impressionable young mind. And then she had a
bit to say about having a mentally unbalanced teen in the same house as a
baby. There seems to be no end to her criticism of you." She looked around
the store. "I'm thinking about getting some cotton to put in my ears
today."

"I feel bad for Pop having to listen to her all the time. He doesn't say
much to me about it but I know she must drive him crazy. Enough about her,
though. How are things going with Ethan this time around?"

"So far, so good. I think a big part of the problem before was that I
didn't like living on Long Island. All of my friends and relatives were
here. And Ethan's main reason for being there is his family, so that was a
problem. Except now his parents are retiring and moving to Florida, so he's
thinking about moving to Jersey. Since he works in the city he can commute
from here just as easily."

"So you're going to look for a place together? Do I hear wedding bells?"

"Yes and no, at least not right now. We want to live together again and I
think we're heading for marriage but we want to take our time and make
sure."

"What about your parents?"

"I think you were their last hope for an Italian boy. Ethan came out for a
weekend recently and met them and they all seemed to get along. I think if
I'm happy they'll be okay with him."

"Well, I wish you the best of luck. And next time Ethan's here give us a
call. I'd like to meet him."

"I'll do that Joey. We could double-date."

I chuckled. "Yeah, we'd finally be out on a real date together, only not
with each other."

As I finished my shopping, I thought about what Angie had said about
Mom. The more I thought, the angrier I got. I'd been hoping that as time
passed she'd calm down and be more reasonable. But she was obviously going
in the opposite direction. I decided it was time for us to have another
talk.

I picked up James after school and took him to his parents' house. Vinnie
would be at the nursery until at least five so James could spend a little
time with his mother, brother and sisters. I decided to leave Connor there
with them as well. I knew Mom would love to see him and he'd love to see
her, but I was afraid the discussion would get loud and angry and I didn't
want him exposed to that.

Instead of letting myself in the back door as I had my whole life, I parked
on the street, walked up the steps to the front porch and rang the
doorbell. Since I was an uninvited guest I thought I'd at least start off
right. Mom was surprised to see me and looked a bit concerned.

"What are you doing here? Is Connor all right?"

"Connor is fine, Ma. And before you ask, so is James. He's doing really
well." Mom frowned. "And though I'm sure you wouldn't ask, Ben and I are
fine, too." The frown turned into a scowl.

"So what brings you here?" Now that her concerns had been allayed, she
sounded annoyed to have to deal with me.

"I thought that maybe now that some time has passed, we could talk."

She hesitated and then turned and headed back into the house. "Come in and
close the door. All of the heat is getting out."

I followed her down the hall past the stairs to the kitchen. We sat across
from each other at the table.

"Unless you're ready to admit that you've made a mistake, I don't see what
there is to say."

"You know that's not what I'm here to say, Mom. And I'm not expecting you
to say that either, at least not yet. But word has gotten back to me that
you're still very upset with me, and I wanted to talk to you about that."

"Of course I'm upset. You're living a sinful life and you've taken my
grandson away from me. And now you've got another grandson you're
influencing."

"I know I'm not going to convince you of this right now, but being in love
with a good person and having a solid relationship with that person is not
a sin. As far as Connor goes, I feel bad keeping the two of you apart, but
as long as we're not getting along I don't want him exposed to your
antagonism. And with James, I'm just providing him with love and support
while he tries to get his head together and work things out with his
parents. I would hope that if anyone has any influence on him it would be
his therapist."

"Since we still disagree on everything what's the point of you coming
here?"

"I have a couple of things to say to you. One, if you have a problem with
me, and obviously you do, talk to me about it. Don't be badmouthing me all
over town. As you're so fond of saying, there's no need to share our
business with the whole town."

"Well, I just want everyone to know that this choice you've made doesn't
sit well with me."

"We're not politicians stumping for votes here, Ma. This is a family matter
and it doesn't matter what other people think. Now I may be asking you to
stop talking about me, but I'm telling you to leave James out of it. He's
just a kid and he's going through a horrible time and the last thing he
needs is his grandmother blabbing his business all over the place."

"You know that's not what I mean to do."

"Look, I know you love us and you think you're doing what's in our best
interests, but James has to go to school here. Not all of his classmates
know the details of his life, or at least they didn't before you started
talking. Do him a favor and keep his private life private, okay?"

"I didn't mean to be spreading news about James. I just assumed everyone
already knew everything. But I'll keep quiet from now on if it will help
him. Don't think that means I like what's going on, though."

"I know you don't, Ma. And if you feel the need to tell me about it, come
over to the nursery or pick up the phone. But let's leave the rest of
Madison out of it, okay?"

Ben

It was an odd feeling to come home from work to an empty house. Lately it
felt like we had a full house all of the time. My first impulse was to take
advantage of having the place to myself by stripping down and dancing naked
from room to room, but the grown-up in me won out. After changing I went
into my office to work on tax returns. Yeah, boring, but I'd rather get
stuff like that done when no one was around and then I could enjoy my
little family when they got home.

Since I got my work done early James decided to use the office to do his
homework after supper. Joey and I played with Connor for a while but mostly
just cuddled on the couch. He told me about bumping into Angie and his
subsequent visit to his mother.

"James knew I was going to see Mom but I didn't tell him it was partially
about him. He's got enough on his mind."

"Do you think your talk with her will do any good?"

"I hope so, at least as far as he's concerned. She's been taking all of
this so personally, like we were doing all of it just to ruin her life,
that I don't think she even realized what effect her talking would have on
others."

"So it doesn't sound like she's adjusting at all."

"No, I just don't know how to get through to her."

"Just give her time, babe. You said she's stubborn so maybe that's what she
needs, time."

"Maybe I'll talk to Pop at work tomorrow. He's already stuck in the middle
and I hate to put any more on him, but if anyone has any influence on her,
he does."

Joey was quiet for several minutes and I pulled him into my arms holding
him close.

"Why does this all have to be so hard?" He sounded like he was about to
cry. "I'm a good person so why can't my mother see that? Why can't she just
love me?"

He'd been holding up well but the stress had to be taking a toll on him. I
held him tighter and kissed him on the cheek. "She does love you, Joey. You
know that. But she's been fed all this garbage her whole life and she can't
find her way through it. Eventually her love for you will win out. Love
always does."

"You're a hopeless idealist, Ben."

"And what's wrong with that? I'll admit that optimists get disappointed
more often than pessimists, but the key here is the hopeless part. As long
as you don't let it get to you and don't give up, my philosophy works."

"Well, I may need a little help holding onto that optimism now and then."

"That's what I'm here for. Just lean on me whenever you need to. God knows
I depend on you all the time."

I lay back against the arm of the couch and Joey leaned back into me and
sighed. A few seconds later I heard the low sound of a throat clearing and
looked up. James was standing in the kitchen, looking over the counter.

"Sorry guys, I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I finished my homework
and wanted to say goodnight."

Joey craned his neck around to look up at him. "Isn't it a little early for
bed?"

"Yeah, but since you brought your old TV back from Grandma's today I
thought I'd hook it up and watch in my room for a while. Then I won't
disturb you guys."

"Okay, good night then. But I don't want you hiding in your room all the
time now that you've got the TV. You're part of a family out here, you
know."

James looked at Joey and me and smiled. "Yeah, I'm beginning to believe
that. G'night Uncle Joey, g'night Ben."

He turned and went down the hall. I gave Joey a squeeze.

"You see, things are getting better... As long as he doesn't start calling
me Uncle Ben."

Joey

On my way to work on Thursday I couldn't make up my mind whether or not to
talk to Pop about Mom. I finally decided that there was a good chance she
had talked to him about my visit, so maybe he'd bring up the subject
himself. I decided to wait and see.

When I walked into the office he was sitting at Margaret's desk going
through a pile of papers. My first thought was that Margaret would be
really annoyed when she came in and saw the mess.

"Hey, Pop, where's Margaret?"

"Her sister had a stroke over the weekend. Margaret flew down to Florida to
be with her."

"Damn, she's not doing well at all. She was in the hospital in January when
you and Mom were in Italy."

"Yes, and it looks like she may have some permanent damage now from the
stroke. Margaret said she may be away for a while, so I'm trying to tackle
the paperwork. It's a nightmare. I've been at it all week and I can't make
heads nor tails out of it."

"I thought you pretty much knew everything about it. You used to do the
books yourself when I was a kid."

"Things were much simpler then and there were no computers. I don't even
know where to start with all of this now. Usually when Margaret was away I
just tried to keep everything organized for when she returned, but it
doesn't look like she ever really got caught up from the last time she was
out. I knew she been preoccupied with her sister but this is a mess."

"How about Phil?" Phil Russo had been Pop's accountant for as long as I
could remember. "Can't he help out?"

"I called him Monday morning. It's getting close to the peak of tax season
and he said he's already working practically round the clock. I tried a
temp agency and they said the same thing. All of their bookkeepers and
accountants are busy. I just don't know what we're going to do."

"Maybe between us we can figure it out, Pop. You know a little about the
books and I know a little about the computer. Let's see what we can do."

Pop and I worked all morning trying to make sense out of what was on
Margaret's desk. We tried to separate the paperwork into piles that made
sense to us, knowing that what was logical to us wasn't necessarily the way
it was supposed to be. It was nearly lunchtime when I opened the accounting
program on the computer and tried to figure out what entries went into what
fields. In no time at all we were both lost and I was totally frustrated.

"Why don't computer programs put anything in English? I mean, the words
they use are all English, but the way they're using them doesn't
communicate anything to me at all. They might as well be in another
language."

"That's our problem, Joey. We don't understand the accounting terms and we
don't understand how the programmers are using them. Why don't we take a
break for lunch and try again when our brains have had a chance to cool
off?"

Pop went out to the shop to see what Anthony and John wanted for lunch and
then I called the order in to the deli down the street. I tried to catch up
on some of my work while we waited for the delivery. Pop made a few phone
calls from his desk. We both avoided looking at the piles of papers on
Margaret's desk. When we'd finished our sandwiches we both stalled to avoid
going back to the problem. I was considering talking to Pop about Mom when
he interrupted my thought.

"I was thinking, Joey, isn't this the kind of work Ben does, accounting for
small businesses? Do you think maybe he could help us with this?"

I'd thought of Ben several times as we struggled through the morning. This
probably was exactly what he did at work, but I wouldn't even consider
asking him to help us out. This was a Napoli family problem and there was
no way we could ask him for a favor.

"You can't be serious, Pop. After the way several members of this family
have treated Ben, you want me to ask him for help?"

"I know we have no right to ask, but I don't know what else we can do. I'm
not suggesting that he do the work for us, but maybe he can show us what to
do."

"You're damn straight we have no right to ask. Besides, he already works
full time and he spends an hour or two every night working on tax returns
for his friends, people who are nice to him and appreciate him. All this
family has ever done is attack him and treat him like dirt. He's turned his
life upside down taking Connor, James and me in. I won't ask him for
anything else."

"I agree with you one hundred percent, but we need help. Can't you ask him
to consider it? I'll pay him whatever he wants. I'm not asking for
charity."

"I don't think money is what concerns Ben, but I won't do it. If you want
him you'll have to ask him yourself. On second thought, please don't ask
him. He's too kind to say no and I don't want him put in a position like
that. He really doesn't have the time and he doesn't owe us anything."

Pop dropped the matter and we went back to work. Over the course of the
afternoon we made a little headway, figuring out how to record some
figures, but we were still lost as to how to deal with others. I suggested
that maybe the next time Margaret called we could get her to give us a
quick lesson over the phone. If we made up a list of questions we had maybe
that would help. In the meantime, we'd try to keep up with what we had
figured out and keep the rest organized. That would have to be enough for
now.

Ben

Joey was in a pretty cranky mood when he got home from work Thursday. That
was very rare for him. Lately he'd been down quite a bit as a result of his
family problems, but it wasn't often he was in an out-and-out bad
mood. James was at his therapy session so I left Joey alone to make dinner
while I did some tax work. His mood had improved a bit by the time we ate,
though he seemed a bit distracted. I wondered if he'd had another run-in
with one of his brothers but I didn't ask. He'd tell me when he was ready.

We were cleaning up from the meal and I noticed James was acting a little
strange. He usually helped a bit and then went off on his own either to the
family room or his bedroom. Instead, he was hanging around the kitchen,
acting a little antsy.

"Something on your mind, James?"

"Um, yeah, Ben. I was, uh, wondering if maybe you could help me with my
algebra homework. Math isn't my best subject and I know that's kinda what
you do so I thought that maybe you could help me."

I knew how hard it had been for him to ask me for help. It was another step
toward building some kind of relationship with him and I was pleased.

"Sure, I'd like that. Algebra and accounting aren't exactly the same thing,
but it's all about numbers and I'm pretty good with them. You want to work
on it now?"

"Yeah, that would be good, that is, if you don't have anything else
planned."

I didn't and Joey urged us to go ahead. He didn't want us to miss an
opportunity to bond. So James got out his books and we sat at the dining
room table and went to work while Joey curled up with a book on the couch
in the family room. It was just a quiet evening at home with the family.

Friday afternoon James was playing with Connor and Lula while I was once
again doing some tax work. I was getting tired of it but I was nearly
done. All of my nagging my friends about getting their stuff to me early
had paid off. I had three or four tax returns left to do and only about
half a dozen guys hadn't given me anything yet, so I was in good
shape. Excellent shape considering what our home life had been like the
past month or so.

I'd barely gotten started when the doorbell rang. That was an unusual
occurrence. I had a friendly nodding acquaintance with my neighbors but we
rarely visited with one another. Whenever Becky came over she just let
herself in. I got up, went out to the living room and opened the front
door. I was shocked to see Joey's father standing there.

"Mr. Napoli! This is a surprise. Is everything all right? Is Joey okay?" I
had a momentary panic that something had happened to Joey.

He smiled, a bit nervously. "Joey's fine, Ben. He's at the nursery but I
wanted to talk to you about something."

"Pop-pop!!!" I turned at the sound of Connor's shriek. He was charging
across the room toward us, his arms outstretched.

Mr. Napoli's smiled broadened as he bent down and scooped up his
grandson. He kissed him on both cheeks and hugged him to his chest.

"How're you doin', boy? You're bigger every time I see you. Heavier, too."

Connor stretched his neck and looked over Mr. Napoli's shoulder. "Gamma?"

"Sorry son, you're grandmother isn't with me today. You'll have to settle
for just Pop-pop."

I closed the door and led the way to the family room. James got up and
greeted us. Mr. Napoli hugged him and gave him a kiss on the mouth.

"Hey, Pop-pop, how's it going?"

"As good as you can expect at my age." He looked into James eyes. "How are
you, son? Feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling lots better. Uncle Joey and Ben are taking good care of
me."

"Good, I just want everything to be okay for you."

After a few minutes of chatting about family matters James went to his room
to give his grandfather and me a chance to talk. Mr. Napoli sat on the
couch with Connor on his lap. He started acting nervous again.

"So what can I do for you, sir? Is there something new happening in the
family that involves me somehow?"

"Didn't Joey tell you about our problem at work?"

"No, he hasn't said anything about a problem at the nursery, just a casual
comment about work now and then."

Mr. Napoli sighed. "I was hoping he would have said something, but then, he
said he wasn't going to."

Mr. Napoli took a deep breath and launched into the situation with Margaret
and her sister and the resulting problem at the nursery. I remembered Joey
talking about when the bookkeeper had been out in January and the way the
paperwork had piled up. I'd given him some advice on how to organize it
then.

"So I was wondering if maybe you could help us out, Ben. I know you're very
busy. Joey told me I shouldn't bother you, that you already had too much
work. This family has treated you pretty badly and you sure don't owe us
anything, but I'd really appreciate any help you could give us. We all
would." He'd relaxed a bit while talking about Margaret but once he got to
asking me for help he was tense and unsure again. His eyes showed the
strain he was under, adding to the tension that had been there since Joey
had come out.

"Give me a minute to think about it, sir. Would you like some coffee?"

He nodded and I got up and went into the kitchen. Connor had started
squirming so I sent him down the hall to James' room. I thought about the
situation while I set up the coffeemaker and got out a couple of mugs. He
was right that I didn't owe this family anything. In fact, they owed me for
taking James in, though I was sure some of them didn't see it that way. I
didn't either, now that I was getting to know James. But how much more did
I want to get involved with them, given their feelings about me? I had to
remind myself that the nursery was more than just John and Vinnie. Anthony
and Sal had been pretty supportive. And of course there was Joey. I wasn't
sure if he would want me to get involved in this. He'd asked his father not
to bother me about it.

I took the coffee out to the family room and made a tentative decision.

"If Margaret's only been out a week you shouldn't be in very bad shape
yet. As Joey said, I don't have a lot of spare time so I can't do her job
for you, but maybe I can give you some pointers and get you organized."

"That's all I'm asking. We can do the work if we just know what to do."

"What software are you using?"

"Software?"

"Your computer program. Which one do you have?"

He shook his head. "You'll have to ask Joey. I don't have any idea about
those things."

"I'll have to talk to Joey about all of this when he gets home. I don't
want to get involved with this unless he's okay with it. Assuming he
doesn't have a problem, how about us meeting at the nursery tomorrow
afternoon? Joey will be working anyway."

"It would have to be after closing at three. John is working tomorrow."
Mr. Napoli caught my look of exasperation. "I know, it's ridiculous. You're
doing us all this huge favor and you still have to avoid some family
members. Believe me, I'm going to make sure they all know how much we owe
you on this, Ben."

"I've reached the point where I don't really care what John and Vinnie
think of me. I have my own negative opinion of them. But I do wish they'd
treat Joey and James better."

"You and me both. By the way, I'm going to pay you whatever you normally
make for this kind of work. If my accountant or a temp were doing the job
I'd pay them. You're doing a big enough favor to me just agreeing to help."

I thought about all of the free work I was doing for my friends with their
taxes and wasn't sure I liked the idea of taking money from Joey's
family. I voiced my concerns to Mr. Napoli.

"You're a very generous man, Ben. Joey told me you didn't charge your
friends for what you do. Personally, I think you should. You're performing
a very valuable service for them and I'm sure they would be glad to pay
you. I own the nursery but all of my sons get a paycheck at the end of the
week for the work they do. If you're working for me you're going to be
paid."

"Okay, Mr. Napoli, I'll talk to Joey about it when he gets home. If it's
okay with him we'll work out something for tomorrow afternoon."

We got up and I walked him to the door, stopping by James' room so he could
say goodbye to his grandsons. When we got to the door I held out my
hand. He took it and pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you, Ben. The more I get to know you, the more I like and respect
you. I shouldn't be surprised, Joey's always been a pretty good judge of
character. And let's drop the Mr. Napoli, shall we? My other son-in-law
calls me Pop. So should you."

I waited until we were fixing dinner to tell Joey about his father's
visit. He was more than a little displeased.

"I told him not to do that. You're way too good-hearted. You've given so
much to us we don't deserve any more."

"I really don't mind, babe. And it's not like I'm going to be doing lots of
work. I'll just show you and your father how to keep track of everything
and then it's up to you to do the day-to-day stuff. I'll check up on you
and make sure everything is going all right but that shouldn't take more
than a couple of hours a week."

"As long as you're sure about this. I don't want you doing it just because
of me."

"Well, of course I wouldn't be doing it if it weren't for you, but I don't
mind. I want to help and I can, so it's not a problem."

I'd saved the best part for last. I told him what his father had said on
his way out the door. His eyes glistened with emotion.

"I know, babe. I got a lump in my throat that made it hard for me to say
goodbye to him. I guess this means I'm really part of the family now."

"Yeah, I've always thought of you that way but Pop's the head of the
family. I know he's been working on Mom and my brothers to be more
accepting about us but now I'm sure he'll really put some pressure on. He's
accepted you into the family and that's no small thing. It looks like
you're stuck with us now."

"There's no place I'd rather be stuck."

I took Joey into my arms and pushed him back against the counter, pressing
my body up against his. I kissed him lightly on the lips, then pressed
harder and opened my mouth a bit, running my tongue along his lips. As they
parted I slipped into his mouth, our tongues passionately wrestling. I
immediately began to get hard and I could feel Joey's excitement pressing
against me. James voice from the doorway interrupted us.

"Don't you guys ever get enough? Do I have to remind you that there are
impressionable kids in the house?" We looked over and he was standing there
holding Connor on his hip, grinning at us. "I'm gonna have to start sending
you to your room if you can't behave."

"You're just going to have to put up with us. Who would fix your dinner if
Ben and I went to our room?"

Our budding erections had gone down at the first sound of James' voice and
the gentle teasing had dispelled the sexual atmosphere. Joey and I
separated and he reached out and grabbed James by the shoulder, drawing him
in to us. We had a brief group hug and as I pulled back I looked at my
three Napolis. This was my family and they were all I wanted.


To be continued.