Perhaps a road not tried

"OK, I..I know..you don't know me..and, I would have called. I should have called." Leo looked blankly at Garvin now, thinking he should probably be at school, but he decided to stop here. Of course, he'd sat in his pickup truck a good hour or more, thinking it over.

Thinking about his last conversation with Essie and about what Garvin had said about him. Evidently, Essie never liked Henry in the first place.

"You, should have never gotten involved with him." She'd fretted. "I thought you were stronger than that."

He was still rolling around her words in his mind. What did she mean? Stronger? Were they really talking about him or her?

They'd talked right before the Christmas ball. She'd been in a tizzy. Didn't have time to make him up. Still, she sounded as if she wanted to run away to New York City, she would have done so that moment.

"If you want to get out of this place, you have to take some chances." She finally stopped talking about Henry and how Leo should have thought harder about his relationships. She knew Henry had cheated on him, and she kept harping on him that he'd let Henry off too easy. "You're letting him ruin your life. You, let him tell you what to do."

Naturally, he argued that she didn't know the first thing about Henry. And Chandler was only an accident. Henry didn't mean to do it. After all, it was only a kiss.

Of course, Leo didn't want Essie thinking it was just a physical relationship with Henry, either. He would always be there for Henry. Always.

But here he was, doing something without Henry's consent.

He handed over the business card to Garvin now.

"How did you get this?" Garvin winced.

"You, gave it to me," Leo said.

Garvin squinted harder as he studied Leo's face.

"At the library." Leo sighed.

Garvin scrunched a face that he didn't want to believe Leo had fooled him, while in drag.