Thwarted - 31. Chapter Thirty-One

“I wish you boys didn’t have to leave tomorrow.” Diane slid the plate of roast on the table before slipping into her seat. “What time did you say you had to go?”

Mark kept quiet. He knew Trey had already told them they’d be leaving after breakfast. He’d actually been surprised himself at the timetable, but Trey had been adamant when they’d talked about it. He’d told him point blank that he wanted them to have some one-on-one time before he had to report back to base.

“We’ll head out after breakfast.” Trey speared a slice of roast with his fork and flopped it onto his plate before adding some potatoes and carrots. He held his hand out for Mark’s plate.

Mark handed it over and waited. He’d gotten used to not serving himself while he’d been at Trey’s parents. Either Trey or Diane was always dishing up his plate before he had a chance to. He’d finally given up and just let them. It was easier.

“So, we’ll eat around ten or so?”

“Mom….”

“Diane….” Gary shook his head at her. “You know the boys need to get a decent start.”

“I know.” Diane sighed and reached for Gary’s plate. “I just don’t want them to go.”

Mark didn’t want them to leave either. He didn’t mind the going home so much as what it meant. Once they went home, Trey would leave. He wasn’t sure he was ready for it, but he didn’t have a choice.

“Just keep reminding yourself, once this tour of duty is over, I’m coming home for good.” Trey picked at the food on his plate.

“And there’s always email, phone calls, and web chats.” It wasn’t the same, but Mark knew that without those, he’d go insane. When he was overseas they had that accessibility so he assumed that the same would be true for Trey.

“Yeah, by doing the web chats you’ll even get to see me.” Trey smiled at Mark and took a bite of roast. He ate for a minute before focusing on his dad. “You’re still using that old computer, right?”

“Yeah, it’s a little slow, but it works fine.”

Mark bit back a chuckle as Trey rolled his eyes.

“Seriously, that thing is so out of date. You really should think about upgrading it. At the very least you need to get a webcam and a microphone for it. Honestly, you’d be better off to upgrade and get a laptop. Then if you and mom decided to go on vacation or something you could take it with you and the webcam and microphone would be built in.” He bit his lip. “It’s too late to go tonight and we won’t have time tomorrow.”

Mark knew what he needed to do. His bank account was going to hate him, but he’d already planned to make the offer that if they needed help while Trey was gone that they could call him and he’d do what he could.

“If you guys wouldn’t mind a house guest for a weekend, I could come back up weekend after next and go with you to get what you need.” He shrugged. “Whether you decide to upgrade to a laptop or just get the webcam and microphone, I could help you get it all set up and show you how it works.”

“Oh, we can’t ask you to do that.” Diane shook her head. “It’s too much.”

“You didn’t ask, I offered.” Mark hoped his smile was encouraging and they’d accept his offer. The next year wasn’t going to be easy on anyone, but being able to see Trey on a regular basis through the computer would hopefully help.

“If you’re sure it’s not too much trouble—“ Gary glanced uncertainly at Diane.

“Not at all.” Mark looked over at Trey and smiled as his lover mouthed ‘thank you’ to him. He nodded.

Mark stayed quiet the rest of dinner and listened to Trey try and talk his dad into replacing the aging desktop with a new laptop. By the time they were done eating, he thought Trey had just about talked his dad into it.

“What about the records and programs already on the computer?”

Trey looked at Mark.

“As long as you have the discs for the programs, I can easily load them onto a new computer and transferring the files over is a piece of cake.” Mark shrugged. “It’s a bit time consuming, but that’s why I said I’d come for the weekend. If I needed to stay an extra day or so, it’s not a big deal.”

“I’ll think about it.” Trey started to say something else and Gary silenced him with a look. “I said I’d think about it and I will. Your mother and I will talk it over and make a decision before Mark comes back up here.”

Mark grinned and pushed his chair back.

“Thank you for dinner Diane. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’m going to go make sure everything is packed and then I should probably give my sister a call.”

He gave everyone a smile before heading upstairs. He didn’t really need to call Jackie, but he probably would anyways. He was determined to make himself scarce for the majority of the evening to give Trey time alone with his parents.

It wasn’t that he thought any of them minded having him around, but he was sure they could use the time alone. He’d still have a day with Trey once they left in the morning, but Trey’s time with his parents was down to a few more hours. He refused to be selfish and intrude on it, no matter how much he wanted to spend every minute possible with the man he’d fallen for.

Now he had to just hope Trey would go along with it. The sound of Trey excusing himself followed by footsteps trailing him didn’t bode well for his plan.

“Mark, wait up!”

Mark sighed and waited.