by Sean Michael
“I’m sorry. I just….” Jeff shrugged. “I want to make this as easy as possible.”
“The kids and I could look for a house around here while you’re at work….” Donny suggested.
“We’re not in a hurry to kick you out.” Mike refilled Robin’s cup of milk.
“Thank you, Mike. If you want to, Don, sure.”
“We can see what’s out there, anyway.” He smiled at Jeff; he couldn’t seem to stop smiling today.
Jeff grinned back, winked. “Okay. Park, before I have to go.”
“I’ll do the dishes when we get home,” Donny promised.
“I don’t mind, boys. You go. Play. Enjoy the nice weather.”
“Thanks, Samantha.” He grabbed his and Robin’s dishes and stacked them next to the kitchen sink. “You gonna help me get Kimberley ready for a walk, Robin?”
“Yep-yep!” Robin bounced out of the kitchen, excited, ready.
Mike grinned. “There are going to be tears when you leave, Jeff.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“We have a date when you’re coming home for good, though. And we’ll make a couple of treks into the city between your weekends to spend mornings with you.” Donny wasn’t letting any of his family miss each other for too long.
Jeff nodded. “We’ll manage.”
He caught Jeff’s gaze. “Yeah, we will. Because we have each other.”
“Romantic.”
“Tell me I’m not right—you’ve smiled more in the last twelve hours than you did all week.” Jeff was letting go of that anger and sadness, embracing the joy of his kids, of their love.
“Yeah, yeah.” Jeff squeezed his fingers. “Let’s go.”
“Hurry up! I’m ready.” Robin called from the front hall, and Donny laughed.
Chapter Twenty
“LAST TICKET.” Fuck, he was tired.
The last two weeks had been brutal: training the new chef, trying to think, dealing with the fire inspector and the police. He knew Mitch had set the fire. Knew it, but there wasn’t any solid evidence, and Mitch was fucking gone. Gone. Like, disappeared.
The police were talking about searches and shit, but Jeff knew Mitch. He’d had his say. That would be the last of it.
Jeff helped Brianna get the last salmon out, then sighed.
Over. It was over. He could feel it in his soul. Mitch wouldn’t be back.
“You’ve got a visitor,” Martin told him as he entered the kitchen, Don trailing behind him. “Something about coming to take you home.”
“Well….” He looked over, beamed. “Don. Guys, this is my partner.” He loved the way Don’s face lit up when he said things like that.
Don waved. “Hey.”
They all waved, Ben coming up to shake Don’s hand. “I’m glad to see you. Sorry to see Jeff go.”
“I’m sure you are—he’s an amazing chef.” Don grinned at Ben, shook his hand.
“He is.”
Jeff grinned. “Shut up.” They’d already had his going-away party; it was time to leave.
“It’s the truth.” Don radiated happiness. “Come on. I’m not sure I’m legally parked.”
He nodded, gazed around the restaurant. He’d thought he was going to have this forever. Forever.
“You okay?” Don asked him softly.
“Yeah. How are the kids? Did you drive down?”
“The kids are great. And I did. I want to take you somewhere.” Don was parked in the alley behind the restaurant. “Although you can do the actual driving if you want.”
“That’s cool. Go ahead.”
Jeff had left the car with Don last weekend so he and the kids could drive around looking at houses, and Jilly had been dropping him at work. Then he’d taxied back to her place every night.
Don got them on the road and headed out of the city. “So, how does it feel?”
“Odd, but okay.” He probably wouldn’t process all of it ’til later. “Let me text Jillian and let her know you came in.”
“She knows.” Don threw him a grin. “I’ve got your bag in the trunk.”
“Yeah? Wow. Okay. Are the kids in there too?” he teased. Sometimes Don’s efficiency scared him.
Don laughed. “No. They’re safe with Mike and Samantha.”
They spent most of the drive in silence—a comfortable, companionable silence—but when they got to the turnoff, Don didn’t take it.
“Don? Love, you missed the turn.”
He got another grin. “I did if we were going to Mike and Samantha’s.”
“Where are we going?”
“To that bed and breakfast we stayed at. I thought it would be nice to have a night to ourselves, and we need to talk.”
“Oh.” How dear. He leaned over, kissed Don’s cheek. “Maybe this time will be less traumatic.” He loved that place, even with the bad memory of that phone call.
“God yes.” Don looked so happy as he turned off the highway. They’d be there soon—it wasn’t that far off the beaten track and yet still felt private.
“Did you and the kids see any good houses?”
“Yeah, we saw a few. There’s this one place, though….” Don shrugged. “It’s one of the things we need to talk about.”
They rounded a corner, and there the place was. It looked as good as he remembered.
“Good deal.” Jeff couldn’t help his smile. “Still a beautiful damn place.”
“And actually pretty close to everything, isn’t it?” Don pulled into a parking spot on the big round drive, turned off the engine.
“Yeah. Are they expecting us? I hate to wake them up.”
“Yeah. But I wanted to talk to you first. I talked to Ken for a while when I called him. I know you like this place a lot, especially the living and dining rooms downstairs. They’d convert into a manageable and lovely room for breakfast and lunch. And there’d be income from the rooms as well. So I called and asked if they’d be interested in selling, and they said they were. They want to retire, but they want the place to stay with family too, so they hadn’t just put it on the market or anything—” Don drew a breath.
“I…. Really? They…. Really?”
“Yeah. I hope you don’t mind, but every time the place got mentioned, you got this look on your face, and I didn’t want to suggest it if it wasn’t a possibility, so I called them to feel them out.”
“But… do we have enough? I mean to buy it and everything and try to make it work? Do you even want a bed and breakfast?” Oh God. Oh God.
“It’s a gorgeous place, and it would be a source of income even after the kids are older. We’ll have to talk price and stuff with Ken and Timmy, but if your check won’t cover it, I bet you can get a loan for the rest. And I’ve been putting my salary in the bank, so we’d have something to live on while we’re waiting for the place to start making money.” Don smiled warmly. “Just think—we’d be all together.”
“We have a… a lot. The house was well-insured.” Could they do it? He had the insurance from the house, and there was money from Beth’s insurance, so the kids would never want, no matter what else happened.
“So if you want to do it, we need to go talk to Ken and Timmy about it.”
Jeff turned, looked at Don. “Do you want to? It’s a ton of work for both of us, with the gardens, the kitchen, the rooms.” There were even barns for animals.
“It’s a lot of work, but we’d be working for ourselves, right? Making something good for our family.” Don touched his cheek. “I’ll support your decision—back you a hundred percent.”
“I love it here. Fell in love at first sight.”
“Then let’s go make your dream come true.”
“Yeah?”
Don nodded. “Yeah.”
Jeff took Don’s hand. “Okay.”
DONNY’S CHEEKS were hurting he was smiling so much. He and Jeff and Ken and Timmy had come to an agreement on price and on when they’d take possession of the rambling house that was their new home and business. O
h, nothing had been signed yet, but that was a formality. Jeff had cried a bit, hugged Timmy, and Don and Ken had sat and glowed.
Ken handed Jeff a bottle of champagne as Timmy passed around four flutes. Jeff got the champagne open with a pop, and they hardly lost any of the fizzy wine. Laughing, Donny held his glass out, waiting for Jeff to make their toast.
Jeff grinned. “To the future.”
Timmy nodded. “To retirement in Hawaii!”
“To both!” Donny clinked glasses with his lover and the two older men, then drank. It was a new beginning for all of them. A new dream they could share.
There were the public areas, the big kitchen, the private parts of the house, and they’d still have three lovely rooms to let.
They were going to have to put in more tables, but he had some ideas about that, about a collection of tables from antique shops and garage sales—restored and made beautiful—for the dining room.
Donny looked over at Jeff, met his lover’s—his partner’s—eyes.
Jeff was studying the space, excited, focused. This was it: Jeff’s dream. Fortunately, Donny had his dream too. A family. People to love and support and live with who loved and supported and wanted to be with him.
“Do you mind if I steal my man away for a private celebration?”
Ken laughed. “I was just about to ask the same thing.”
Timmy giggled happily, pushed into Ken’s arms. “Take the room you had before. Tomorrow we’ll talk to the lawyers and have papers drawn up.”
“Sounds perfect.” Donny smiled and waved, then grabbed Jeff’s hand, tugged him toward the stairs.
Jeff followed him, quiet, wide-eyed, and Donny could see Robin in that beloved face, see where the wonder and joy came from. He would spend the rest of his life helping both of them—and Kimberley too—keep that look on their faces.
“So you’re happy.”
“I’m stunned. I hadn’t even considered that this could be ours.”
“I could tell you wanted it to be, though.” He’d seen the look on Jeff’s face, had wanted to do this for his man.
“This place is amazing, Don. Everything I want in one place.”
“Like it was made for us, isn’t it?” He was totally in love with that look on Jeff’s face.
“Yes. A safe, homey place for the kids, a breakfast place, a hotel for you to put your mark on.”
“Yeah, I do have a few ideas.” He squeezed Jeff’s hand. “So will you hit me if I point out that this wonderful thing would never have happened if it wasn’t for that fire?”
“Probably, so don’t.”
Donny chuckled but didn’t push it. This was why he’d been able to look past the fire, though. Maybe not always, and maybe not obviously, but he really believed that you could turn things around, make something good out of the bad stuff. He didn’t need Jeff to acknowledge that to make it true.
Besides, they were at their room, and he could think of better things to do than talk or get thumped. He let them in and wrapped his arms around Jeff’s neck. Oh damn, he’d missed this. Missed it so much.
“Hey.” Jeff smiled for him. “We’re going to buy a bed and breakfast.”
“Yeah. We’re going to live together and work together and raise a beautiful family together.” He walked Jeff back toward the big bed.
“And we’re going to make amazing pastries and quiches and lunches and eat supper in the garden together.”
“It sounds like a dream.” It did too; he wasn’t being facetious. It sounded like a wonderful, amazing dream.
Jeff stopped, then nodded. “It does. It sounds like our dream, Don.”
“Yeah.” He swallowed and nodded. How had he gotten so lucky?
He pushed Jeff down onto the bed and crawled up after him. Jeff wrapped his hands around Donny’s waist, that happy smile waiting for him. Donny pressed kisses on Jeff’s lips, on his cheeks and his eyes, wanting to let Jeff know how good he felt, how happy.
This was it. His life.
He was going to hold on to it, forever.
Epilogue
“CHRISTINA! HERE’S the bacon quiche and that egg salad. The BLT is coming next.”
She waved at him. “Got it, boss. There’s a three-top coming up.”
Jeff looked up from the hot station. “Yeah?”
“Two orders of daddy pancakes and o’meal with sugar and no raisins.”
Jeff laughed happily. “Coming right up.”
Five pancakes for Don, five tiny ones for Robin—Robbie now, thank you very much—and a bowl of not-too-hot, sweet, raisinless oatmeal with cream for his Kimmie. When those plates were done, he took them out himself.
His family was sitting in their usual spot—in the nook looking out over the garden. Don was listening attentively to Robbie, Kimmie laughing in her high chair.
He delivered breakfast and kisses. “Good morning, my loves.”
“Daddy!” Kimmie banged her spoon on the table.
“I tied my shoes today,” Robin announced proudly.
Don just smiled at him, looking relaxed and happy in his skin.
“Good for you, son!” He gave Kimmie her breakfast. “Here you go, baby.”
It was amazing how much a year changed things.
“O’meal!” It was her favorite; she’d eat it for every meal if they’d let her.
“Can you sit with us for a bit?”
“For a couple minutes, yes.” He sat, brushing the hair out of his eyes. “We have a new couple coming this afternoon, love?”
“Yeah, from New York. They’ve got their six-year-old son with them.”
“Oh, how fun! Twenty bucks says they go out to Ritchie’s for supper.”
Don had made up sheets with different suggestions depending on the type of customer they had. They’d decided early on they wouldn’t provide any dinner service. That time was for family.
“That’s a sucker bet.” Don dug into his pancakes. “Have you eaten?”
“Hmm?” Don knew he usually waited until after lunch service. It was a constant push between them.
Don rolled his eyes and offered him a forkful of pancakes.
He opened up, humming over the pancakes. “I’ll be done here at two, then I’ll come up and give you a break.” Take his nap with the kids.
“Sounds good. We’re going to go work on the garden.” They were growing their own herbs and vegetables, which Robbie was taking very seriously.
Robbie nodded. “There’s going to be ’matoes, Daddy.”
“Excellent. I love tomatoes. What do you want for supper tonight, son?”
Robbie pondered while Jeff waited. Lasagna or pizza?
“Chickens with sauces.”
“What kind of sauces?” Don asked between mouthfuls.
“Yellow and red and brown.”
Jeff chuckled. Broiled chicken breast with honey mustard, cranberry, and gravy it was. “Can we have broccoli and rice too?”
“No. No rice. Noodles.”
“Noodles.”
“I like the three-colored springs,” Don noted.
Robin bounced. “Yes! Fancy noodles.”
Jeff could do that. “Fancy noodles it is.”
Christina waved a ticket at him.
“Gotta go make good food, guys.” He stood, kissed Kimberley, Robin, Don. “Have a good time in the garden.”
“Okay, Daddy Jeff. I’m gonna put Daddy Donny to work.”
Robin sounded so serious that Jeff cracked up, and the customers in the restaurant beamed at them.
“I guess I’ve got my marching orders.” Don leaned in and kissed him softly. “Don’t work too hard.”
“I won’t. Love you, babe.” More every day.
Don caught his gaze and nodded. “Yeah. Me too.”
“Good deal.” He winked at Robin. “Come see me for a late lunch, sir?”
“Yes, Daddy!”
Kimmie banged her spoon and crowed. “Da!”
He nodded and waved, heading back to his kitchen to
make pancakes and plan something fun for fancy noodles.
Noodles for his kids and their daddies.
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