A Little Side of Geek

by Marguerite Labbe

  “Did you see the basketball hoop outside your uncle’s house?” Theo asked, and Laila nodded eagerly. “What do you say tomorrow morning we have a scrimmage, me and you against my brother and your uncle?”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Morris cut in with a laugh, “that’s hardly fair unless Lincoln has some skills I don’t know about.”

  “We can be the awesome shorties against the tall geeks.” Theo smirked at Morris. “We will trounce you.”

  “Yes!” Laila pumped her fist.

  “I have no doubt.” Morris saw Lincoln and waved him over. “Please tell me you’re a match for your brother in basketball.”

  Lincoln snorted. “Not likely. I mean, I can play, mostly because he makes me when he’s bored, but I can’t play like he can. Now our other brother, Dustin, plays for Georgetown. That’s who you want.”

  Morris’s heart gave a little twist in empathy. He wouldn’t tease Theo about his Hoya T-shirts now. It was sad his brother was so close and yet still didn’t come home. Maybe that’s how his family felt about him sometimes. Like Morris was never there. He’d have to do better.

  Theo had leaned over and was whispering something in Laila’s ear, and she laughed as she shot Morris a wicked glance. “You realize they are conspiring to embarrass us,” Morris said to Lincoln. It was really gratifying to see Theo and Laila hitting it off.

  “Wear a kilt,” Lincoln said with a shrug, “and go shirtless. He’ll be too distracted to play at his best.”

  Theo turned toward him, his mouth dropping open. “I am shocked. Shocked, Lincoln, you would suggest such underhanded tactics.”

  Lincoln blushed but met Theo’s gaze. “It would work.”

  “Laila, this is Lincoln, Theo’s brother.” Morris pointed toward the table inside, where Theo’s sister was still entertaining. “See that lady with the brown wispy hair in a braid? That’s his sister Jill. She owns the place too. How’s she feeling? I thought she was stuck at home.”

  “She’s allowed to move around, just not do any physical labor. She was driving Craig nuts, so he figured getting to hang out and see the place for a bit will relax her.” Theo turned to Laila. “Some people always have to be moving about. I bet you’re like that. Morris also tells me you beat him at swimming.”

  “I like swimming. But Uncle Morris swims good too.” Laila pushed her empty dessert plate away. “Do you cook all the food by yourself? There’s lots of people here.”

  “No, I have a team of awesome people to help me, but I did personally cook everything for this table.” He squeezed Morris’s hand in an affectionate gesture. “I have to make sure this guy stays fed. Did you like it?”

  “I loved it.” Then Laila shot him a guilty look. “Except for the vegetables.”

  “Did you try them?” Theo asked, and she nodded. “That’s all I ask for. To be honest, and don’t tell anyone, but I don’t like carrots, not raw, not roasted, not any way.”

  “That might make it hard to live on your farm in Montana,” Laila said with an impish smile at Morris.

  “What’s this?” Theo gave him a puzzled look.

  “Never mind.” Morris leaned forward and shook a quelling finger at Laila. “Troublemaker.”

  “I can definitely see how you based your character off of her,” Theo said with a laugh. “You always have an answer, don’t you, Laila?”

  “You read the book?” Morris asked, immediately feeling bad for his thoughts earlier. Theo could’ve said something before now. “You never mentioned it before.”

  Theo looked down in embarrassment. “I’d forgotten I bought it, but after you hung the picture up for me, I remembered. I was curious, so I pulled it out. It’s really good. I need the next compilation.” He winked at Laila. “Then I’ll know what you and his cat have been up to.”

  A warm glow filled Morris. He knew many of his colleagues whose significant others never read their work, and except for his mom, he was used to his family looking at it like it was more of a hobby than a job, so it meant something to him that Theo had taken the time to read it. “What do you think?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Other than liking it, I mean.”

  “I like the theme, the idea that obstacles can be overcome.” He grinned at Laila. “I like someone’s optimism. The mysteries are smart, not dumbed down, which to me gives credit to kids’ intelligence. Lincoln was far smarter than me at a younger age. Still is.”

  “I knew you drew comics. I didn’t know you write them too. That’s cool,” Lincoln cut in. “I like writing and drawing, but I’d really rather design video games.”

  “What do you want to do, Laila?” Theo asked. “You thinking of being a private detective?”

  “Nope. That’s boring. There’s a lot of sitting around waiting and watching.” Laila shook her head. “I wouldn’t be good at that.”

  “Tell me about it.” Morris tapped her nose and she giggled. “You can’t keep a good woman down.”

  “For real,” Theo said fervently. “God knows you can’t get Jill to stop. So what do you want to do?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m not grown up yet.” Laila frowned thoughtfully. “I think I want to do sports. Maybe something with swimming. I really love swimming.”

  “Hey, Theo.”

  Morris glanced over at the waitress standing at the entrance to the deck. Theo shot her a warning frown. “Jesse needs you and Lincoln in the kitchen. It’s an emergency.”

  “Thanks, Erin,” Theo said, his frown deepening. He waved to Lincoln to sit back down. “You’re off the clock now. It’s probably just them getting busy again. We can handle it.”

  Morris caught his hand and kissed the back of it. “Don’t work too hard.”

  Theo chuckled, a smile coming back to his face. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Laila. Tomorrow morning, you and me, okay?”

  “Jill says you shouldn’t be sitting down and hanging out with your boyfriend on a busy night,” Erin announced from the doorway in a prim voice.

  Theo’s mouth hardened into a thin line, and his eyes flashed. Morris had only ever seen him angry once and quite frankly, he really didn’t want to see it again. All traces of the affable, easygoing man he knew disappeared.

  “Uh-oh,” Lincoln said under his breath.

  Theo stalked toward the door as Erin took one look at his face and wisely disappeared. Morris exchanged glances with Lincoln. “He’s not going to make a scene, is he?” He remembered all too well how Theo called out Lincoln in front of all the party guests.

  Lincoln shook his head. “She got out of his line of fire, and he’ll want to check in on the kitchen. If she stays out of his way for the rest of the night, he’ll probably leave it in Rose’s hands.”

  “Is it because he’s gay?” Southern Maryland was more open-minded than other rural parts of the state. But there was usually someone who couldn’t help saying something because they disapproved.

  Lincoln shook his head again. “No, she’s upset by the new dynamic with Jill gone, and she blames Theo for it. Anytime something changes, she starts acting like a passive-aggressive twit. She thinks she should’ve been made manager with Jill out, and she sometimes forgets Theo is half-owner and tries to treat him like one of the staff.”

  “Is somebody in trouble?” Laila asked.

  “Not you and not me,” Morris assured her. “And that’s all we need to worry about.”

  “And definitely not me this time.” Lincoln got up and waved to Laila. “I’m going to go sit with Jill in case Erin tries to mitigate the damage by talking to her. Erin is not a fan of Rose.” Lincoln rolled his eyes. “And Theo doesn’t want Jill worrying about staff drama right now.”

  Morris hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to Jill, but from everything he’d heard from Theo and Lincoln, he thought Theo might want to stop trying to shield Jill from work matters. She might make him eat his spleen.

  Morris laid his elbow on the table and propped his chin on his fist as he eyed his niece. “So, what did you think about T
heo and Lincoln?”

  “They like you,” Laila announced. “And I like anybody who likes you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  THEO WOKE up suddenly out of a sound sleep and reached for the empty side of his bed. The image of Morris nuzzling at his ear and whispering erotic words lingered in his thoughts. He opened his eyes as his groping hand found only the pillow. His dream had been wrong. Morris wasn’t beside him.

  Well fuck, that’s disappointing. Grumpily, he rolled over and eyed his clock. It was too fucking early to rise, and his brain was evil. He really wanted Morris in his bed and not downstairs in another apartment. Theo punched his pillow into more a more comfortable lump and started to close his eyes again.

  There was a reason why he’d been thinking of Morris. Or maybe it was the bistro. Was it his day to go to the market?

  Theo opened bleary eyes. He wouldn’t get any more sleep until he figured it out. Then his gaze fell on the basketball and he woke up entirely. He had a game to play. With a grin Theo threw back the sheet and tugged on a pair of mostly clean shorts. He sniffed his underarm as he headed toward the bathroom. Okay, a quick cleanup was in order. No sense in knocking Laila out of her chair.

  As he got out of the shower, he felt more awake. He paused in the hallway at the sound of someone in the kitchen and grabbed a tighter hold of his towel. “Lincoln, is that you?”

  “Yeah,” his brother called back.

  “You’re home early.” Theo had expected him to show up at work and not before then. “Did you have fun?”

  Lincoln poked his head into the hallway, half a croissant shoved in his mouth. He held up a thumb. Theo glanced at his watch. Okay, he definitely had not expected his brother to be up before 10:00 a.m. Much less home from his friend’s house.

  When he returned to the kitchen, dressed, with his basketball tucked under his arm, Lincoln already had coffee brewing and another croissant stuffed with ham and cheese waiting on a plate for Theo. Theo lifted a brow as he grabbed a mug. “What do you want?”

  “Who says I want anything?”

  Theo almost laughed at the insulted look on Lincoln’s face, but he tossed Lincoln the basketball instead and poured himself a cup of coffee. “I was a teenager once too,” he said, holding up the sandwich. “I recognize bribery when I see it. Does it have anything to do with why you’re home early?”

  “Maybe.” Lincoln idly passed the ball from hand to hand as he eyed Theo. “I was wondering if I could get my video games back today.” He tried to keep his voice level, as if it were no big deal, but Theo heard that hopeful note anyway.

  Theo pulled out his phone and texted Morris as he considered it. You ready for the can of whoop ass Laila and I are going to bring?

  “What’s going on today?” he asked Lincoln, though he’d already made up his mind. Lincoln had been busting his ass at the bistro, and he hadn’t complained or tried to wheedle his way out of his grounding once. He knew his brother well enough to recognize Lincoln wouldn’t have snuck online anyway when Theo was at work. He couldn’t say he would’ve shown the same restraint as a teenager. Besides, he had said a week.

  “So a bunch of us talked last night about maybe hooking up online today and playing some Star Trek.” Lincoln shot Theo a hopeful look. “They need an extra ship to take on the Borg Invasion.”

  “So you mean to tell me, you left hanging out with your friends in person so you can hang out with them online?” Theo asked and took a sip of his coffee. He was head over heels in love with a geek who was perfectly comfortable spending days on end alone. He had a brother who was a geek, but there were times when Theo didn’t understand them.

  He paused, pressing a fist to his heart as his thoughts registered with a skip in his pulse. Damn, he really was in love with Morris.

  “What’s wrong with that?” Lincoln bristled.

  Everything, in Theo’s mind, but to each his own. “How’s this? You help Morris in his match against me and Laila, and I’ll let you have your video games back again right after the game.”

  Lincoln’s eyes widened. “For realsies?”

  Theo laughed as his phone pinged. “For realsies. I actually have a few hours I can spend with you and Morris outside of work. You can spare some of that time out of a chair in front of a screen.”

  He glanced at his phone as it dinged. I cry foul. You and Laila against me is not fair.

  “You don’t really expect to play for hours, do you?” Lincoln asked with an alarmed look.

  Theo laughed and finished his coffee. “No, best two out of three. You can’t leave Morris hanging. He’s already crying over it not being fair, and we haven’t even started yet.”

  Big baby, Theo texted back.

  “Okay, but I want to make one thing clear—I’m doing this for Morris, and video games, not out of any desire to make a dunk on you.” Lincoln grabbed the ball and held it high out of Theo’s reach.

  “Big words, brother mine, big words.” Theo checked his phone as it dinged again. You realize Laila is already waiting outside?

  “Come on. Morris and Laila are waiting on us.”

  “Wait, before we go….” Lincoln paused, his expression worried. “Laila’s in a wheelchair. What if I hurt her or trip over her or something? Won’t it be hard to play against her?”

  “I get the impression from Morris she’s tougher than both of us. It’s a friendly game of basketball. You block, pass, dribble, and shoot. You don’t have to tackle her. Your and Morris’s advantage is your size, and you’re going to need that advantage. She’s been playing on a team all summer.”

  “Well, if you’re sure.” Lincoln started to turn away, his arms lowering as he stopped paying attention. Then Theo rushed forward and snatched his basketball out of Lincoln’s hands.

  “Hey!” Lincoln raced after him out the door. “No stealing until the game starts.”

  Theo dribbled the ball down the long, sloping hill to the driveway, angling his body to keep Lincoln away from it. Laila was wheeling in circles on the blacktop with a happy grin on her face. “Hey, Theo,” she called, waving her hand. “Hey, Lincoln.”

  “Hey there, sunshine. Catch.” Theo lightly tossed her the ball. He paused beside her chair and glanced up at the portable hoop. “How high is the hoop you practice on at camp?”

  “It’s not as high as that one.” Laila eyeballed the hoop and lined up a shot that fell short. “The older kids have one like that.”

  “Let’s bring it down a bit, then.” Theo reached for the handle to adjust the height and cranked it. “Morris and Lincoln could use the extra help. The only way Lincoln will land a shot is by dunking it.”

  “I heard that.” Theo glanced over at Morris as he came around the corner, tying his hair back. Theo stifled a groan. Morris had followed Lincoln’s suggestion, and Theo got a sweet eyeful of Morris’s broad naked chest and sexy legs. “It’s not our fault you two are shrimps,” Morris said with a grin as he stretched.

  Theo shook his head at the tactic. Morris was deliberately using his sexiness, and Theo couldn’t even call him out on it in front of his niece.

  “Yeah, you lost out on the tall gene.” Lincoln reached up on his toes and touched the rim of the hoop.

  “That’s because you stop growing when you reach perfection. Obviously, it’s taking you longer than it took me,” Theo said with a superior sniff as he cranked the hoop down a few inches and eyeballed it.

  “It took Uncle Morris forever,” Laila said with an impish grin, and he shook a mock fist at her.

  “You save that sass for your Aunt Makayla, girl.”

  Theo cranked the hoop down a bit more as Laila watched intently. “How’s that?”

  She rolled over and scooped up the ball. Theo watched how she maneuvered her chair and dribbled. The driveway had been repaved a couple years ago and there were no dips or cracks to throw her off, and she moved with the ease of long practice. She paused in front of the hoop and took aim. She made a face as it bounced off the rim. “I coul
d’ve gotten that. Watch this.”

  Laila zipped after Lincoln as he went for the ball. He turned with it in his hands and let out a shout of surprise as she closed in on him. He stumbled back, launching the ball toward her, and she caught it neatly and spun her chair back around.

  Morris shook his head at Lincoln as she headed back toward the basket. “She played you. She was trying to intimidate you and you fell for it.”

  “Believe me, I was intimidated,” Lincoln said with a rueful expression. “She came after me like a rabid Jawa.”

  This time Laila sank the shot and lifted her arms in victory. “See, I said I could get it.”

  Theo high-fived her with a grin. “That was beautifully done.”

  “Thanks.” Laila looked at Morris and Lincoln. “First to get to ten points wins? Best two games out of three?”

  Morris shot Lincoln a questioning look and he nodded. “I think we can hang with that.”

  “Flip a coin to see who starts with the ball?” Lincoln suggested.

  “We could do that. Anybody have a coin?” Morris asked. “I don’t have any pockets.”

  “I didn’t know skirts were standard basketball sportswear.” Theo eyed Morris’s knees again. He knew Morris wasn’t showing any more leg in the kilt than he did in a pair of shorts, but damn, the sight always made him hot and bothered, and the man knew it. He flaunted those kilts.

  “It gives me freedom of movement,” Morris said loftily.

  Freedom of movement my ass. However, Theo appreciated the strategy even if it was against him. And if Laila and Lincoln weren’t around to witness it, Theo would make Morris understand the consequences of using sex as a distraction. Theo dug into his pocket and tossed a quarter to Lincoln. “Why don’t you call it, Laila?”

  “Tails!” Laila called as the quarter sailed up. Lincoln caught it deftly and slapped it down on the back of his hand to reveal heads.

  “It’s okay,” Theo said as he passed the ball to Morris. “They need the head start anyway.”