Chapter 27
Paul and Ethan both met him at the station.
There was a history here, and Darren felt it when he was pounced on by two full-grown men the minute he passed through the ticket barriers, had his hair pulled, and was instantly told he was late (Paul) and a massive ugly b***h (Ethan).
“Get off me, you f*****g lepers. I have a boyfriend already,” he said, shrugging them off, and Paul crowed with exuberant laughter, probably a pint or two down already.
This was their deference to their history: Darren’s early arrival, and the early afternoon being just for them. There was the odd chore to do—final fittings at the tailor’s, getting Darren to the church for the one and only piano rehearsal in the cavernous space (and Paul hounding Ethan out of the church again so that the music would
