by Brandon Witt
“Is that him?” Collin rushed into the living room. “Did he get a limo?”
“He ain’t here yet,” Tommy answered over his shoulder before looking back at Bobby. Dressed in a tight black T-shirt and even tighter black jeans, Bobby looked so good Tommy wanted to reach out and touch him. Instead he asked, “What’s up?”
With a lopsided grin, Bobby said, “I was just in the neighborhood.”
“You’re always in the neighborhood,” Tommy pointed out, not stepping aside to let him in.
“True. Gonna let me through the door? This bag is kinda heavy….”
“What’re you doing here?” Confused, Tommy still didn’t move out of Bobby’s way.
Bobby lifted the two movies up. “It’s Friday night and I heard you were on kid patrol, figured we could watch a movie and maybe have a couple beers.”
“Where’d you hear that from?” Tommy finally moved to let Bobby in.
Bobby grinned as he stepped inside. “I have my sources.”
When Colleen bounded down the stairs in her bathrobe, Tommy guessed who the ‘sources’ were. “Hi, Bobby,” she said breathlessly as she ran past them both into the kitchen.
“Hi, Col,” Bobby called out after her, but she was already gone.
“C’mon in.” Tommy ushered him through and closed the door, nearly tripping over an abandoned backpack. “Davey, get your gear up outta the floor. You’re supposed to be doing your homework!”
“I am!” Davey shot back from somewhere upstairs.
Tommy bent down to get the backpack and looked inside. “Without your books?” he shouted up the stairs. “Get your ass down here!” Seconds later, Davey was pounding down the steps. He tried to grab his backpack from Tommy’s hand, but Tommy held on tighter so he couldn’t take it. “I mean it. I want all your math done tonight and get a start on that English paper.”
Davey slumped. “It’s Friday night!”
“Yeah, so get your shit done or you’re grounded for the weekend.” Tommy was stern—he knew Davey needed a kick in the ass sometimes. His brother huffed out a frustrated breath, but he didn’t argue.
Bobby was still standing near the door, watching with an amused look on his face as Tommy and Davey had their argument. Colleen breezed past them again as she ran back up the stairs without saying a word.
“It’s a zoo here tonight,” Tommy told him as they walked into the living room. Max and Zoe were sitting on the couch between Collin and Mike, watching a cartoon, while Carrie glued small pieces of smooth glass onto a piece of cardboard.
Squatting down next to Carrie, Bobby asked, “Whatcha working on?”
She beamed at him, tilting the cardboard so he could see better. “It’s a mosaic,” she told him before turning her attention back to the project, sorting through a dish for another piece of glass. “The green is water, see? And I’m using the brown rocks for the sand, and then I’ll do the sky.”
“That’s gonna be really nice when you’re done.” Bobby ran his hand down her dark hair before he stood up again.
“Remember to keep those pieces outta the floor so the babies don’t choke on ’em, all right?” Tommy reminded her as he made his way into the kitchen.
Bobby followed him, still carrying his bag and the DVDs. “Can I stick the beer in the fridge?” He had already opened the door and set the six-pack inside. Tommy wondered why Bobby bothered to ask. “I brought some snacks and stuff too.”
Giving him a withering look, Tommy decided it wasn’t worth arguing. “Just set your stuff on the counter for now. You can pass out your treats after dinner, candy man.”
Grinning in response, Bobby did what he was told, but he came close to Tommy and leaned in. “The treats are for us.”
Something about the tone of Bobby’s voice made Tommy’s heart kick against his chest. His mouth went dry suddenly as he felt his cock stir in his jeans. All he could do was nod and try to pretend he wasn’t standing so close to Bobby he could feel heat coming off him. He turned away, opening the oven door and pulling out a pan of baked ravioli. He had to clear his throat with a small cough before he could speak. “Make yourself useful and set the table. Dinner’s in ten minutes.”
He couldn’t bring himself to look, but he was sure Bobby was grinning as he started to gather plates and forks.
TOMMY WAS passing the salad down the line, telling Mike he was going to eat it or wear it, when the doorbell rang. All the kids looked like they were about to jump from their seats, but Tommy stood up first. “Eat your dinner,” he told them. “No need for all of us to come in and crowd him.”
Bobby was still cutting up the ravioli for Zoe on her high chair tray as Tommy walked past him. “Don’t scare him too bad,” Bobby whispered, a teasing look lighting up his face.
“There’s no such thing as scaring a guy too bad,” Tommy countered as he walked into the living room. As soon as he was over the threshold, he could hear chairs clattering and knew all of them were lining up to watch from around the corner. He couldn’t help but laugh.
When he opened the door, he found a tall, skinny kid in a suit at least a size too big for him.
“Uh, hi. Is Colleen here? I’m Wyatt.”
He stuck his hand out so fast Tommy nearly jumped back until he realized Wyatt was attempting a formal handshake. Tommy felt an urge to narrow his eyes, but he shook Wyatt’s hand.
“Like as in Earp?” Tommy asked without meaning to.
“As in my mother’s favorite uncle coupled with her severe lack of foresight,” Wyatt said with a nervous laugh. “I think by the time she had me, she’d forgotten what kids were like in school.”
Tommy stared at him for a few seconds before he stepped back and let Wyatt inside. “Colleen’s still getting ready.”
He watched as Wyatt shifted his weight restlessly from one foot to the other. He looked fidgety holding the clear plastic box with a flower in it. “Are you driving tonight?” Tommy didn’t like the idea of his sister in a car alone with a boy or out on the road with a guarantee of drunken teenagers driving around.
“Uh, no, sir. My, uh, dad’s friend’s brother has a limo service, and he gave us a really good deal for the night. Colleen and I are doubling with two of our friends, so….”
Tommy had to fight a smirk when Wyatt called him sir. There was something almost endearing about how hard he was trying. It didn’t stop Tommy from leaning in and whispering against Wyatt’s ear, “Here’s the thing. I’m sure you’ve heard the lectures about how to treat a girl and what to do and what not to do.” Tommy waited for a nod from Wyatt before going on. “The thing you gotta remember tonight, Wyatt, is that Colleen isn’t just any girl and we’re not just any family. You feel me?” Wyatt nodded again. “I know where you live, I know where you go to school, I know where you work. I even know your dog’s name. If you do anything to Colleen, you so much as look at her in a way she doesn’t like, I’ll make you hurt so bad your mother’ll feel it.”
“Tommy!”
Colleen glared at him from the foot of the stairs. He didn’t jump, but he did pull back to look at her.
“We were just….” He couldn’t finish his thought because his sister was standing there in a wispy, sheer little dress cut on an angle, high on one side and ending in a fluttery point at her other ankle. Her auburn hair was curled and done up with rhinestone clips, and tendrils were falling around her face. Every hair on her head, every eyelash, every fingernail was perfect. He didn’t even know she could look like that. “Jesus, Col, you look incredible.” She reminded him of a fairy out of one Max and Zoe’s storybooks.
Her expression changed from homicidal to flattered in less than a second. “Thanks, Tommy.”
Wyatt looked like he couldn’t breathe. “Hi, Colleen, you, um…. You look amazing.” He let out another nervous laugh. “I got you….” Rather than finish his sentence, Wyatt held up the box and started to open it. “I got you one of those wrist ones so it wouldn’t snag your dress or anything.”
He bl
ushed furiously as he pulled the little floral spray out, his hands shaking. Tommy thought maybe Colleen would be all right tonight. Wyatt was the least threatening teenager he’d ever met. He thought Carrie could take him in a fight.
“It’s beautiful,” Colleen said as she took the last step. “I got you one too.”
Tommy hadn’t noticed she was holding a small box, a simple pink rose in it to match her dress and Wyatt’s tie.
Tommy took a step back and bumped into Bobby. “Jesus, copper, you’re a sneaky little bastard, you know that?”
Bobby didn’t pull back when Tommy brushed against him. Instead he laughed softly in Tommy’s ear and reached around to show his phone in his hand. “Thought you might want a couple pictures.”
It hadn’t even occurred to Tommy, and he felt like an idiot for it. “Thanks,” he muttered, stepping out of the way as Wyatt and Colleen fussed with their flowers and got into position. Bobby snapped a few shots with his phone. Before they finished, Tommy leaned close to Bobby and whispered, “Get one of just Colleen too.” Bobby nodded and adjusted his angle to crop Wyatt out of the last shot.
When they were done, Colleen reached for her shoulder wrap on the coat hook by the door. Tommy looked at Wyatt. “Remember what we talked about, all right?” Wyatt nodded and Tommy added, “I want her home by midnight.”
Colleen shot a glare at Tommy as she told Wyatt, “Don’t listen to him. I can come home whenever I want.”
Wyatt looked relieved, smiling as he asked, “Oh, is his bark worse than his bite?”
It might have been the loud “ha!” from Bobby or the sharp look on Tommy’s face. Maybe it was the way Colleen grabbed Wyatt’s arm and started to pull him out the door. But when they left, Tommy felt sure Colleen would be coming home safe and sound long before dawn.
Tommy watched out the window as Colleen and Wyatt went down the shabby walkway and ducked into the limo together.
Bobby’s voice sounded over his shoulder. “You remind me of an overprotective father cleaning his shotgun in front of his daughter’s date.”
“If he hurts her, I’m not gonna shoot him. That’d be over too quick.”
“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”
“You should probably do that more often than not around here.”
BY TEN o’clock, the house was clean, the kids were all in their rooms, and the twins were sound asleep. The evening had been nice, though Tommy hated to admit it. They finished dinner as a family after Colleen left. Bobby was the star of the show, talking to the kids and helping Max and Zoe with their food. They all did the dishes together, laughing and telling stories, making the job take a lot longer than necessary. But every time Bobby picked up one of the twins or helped Davey with his homework, Tommy was flooded with a number of emotions, some of which he didn’t even want to name. A twinge of jealousy itched inside him, as he wasn’t used to other people butting in when it came to the kids. He felt traces of contentment, too, which he didn’t want to look at. There was even a little longing as they played house together.
Tommy found it harder and harder to remind himself that Bobby wasn’t just a friend, but a cop. Even if he were gay—which Tommy was starting to wonder about—Bobby was off-limits in more ways than one.
Now with the house so quiet it almost felt empty, the lights dimmed, and the soft glow of the television keeping them company, Tommy and Bobby relaxed on the couch together. One of the action movies Bobby had brought over played in the background as they talked.
“Where’s your folks?” Bobby stretched out a little more, his arm on the back of the couch nearly wrapping around Tommy’s shoulders.
Tommy snorted a laugh, willing himself not to lean closer to Bobby. “Who the hell knows? They haven’t been around for a couple days.”
“Did you file a missing persons?” When Tommy cut an incredulous look in his direction, Bobby laughed. “Never mind, stupid question.”
“It’s always nice when they take off for a while,” Tommy said slowly, holding a bottle of imported beer in his hand, picking at the label. “But it’s like…. I get everything all set up and on track and we’re doing good, ya know? Then they come back, and it’s a fuckin’ disaster again.”
Bobby took a long pull off his own beer before setting it down on the table. When he shifted to do that, Tommy couldn’t help but notice they were closer on the couch than they had been.
“Your situation is unfair on a lot of levels, Tom.”
Breathing a soft laugh, Tommy took a swig then said, “You’re tellin’ me. But no one ever said life was fair, right?”
“True,” Bobby whispered, looking at him again. “Do you have any other family? Aunts or uncles or anyone that might be able to… help?”
Tommy laughed again, loving and hating at the same time the way Bobby always wanted to fix things, fix them. “Between Pop and my mom, there’s about a dozen aunts and uncles all over the country, and believe it or not, Cal and my mom, at least before she died, are the best of all of them.”
Bobby seemed like he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “How is that even possible?”
Tommy laughed loudly then. “Your guess is as good as mine.” He went on to explain, “There’s at least two on sex-offender registries, couple more serving time for petty shit. Oh, except for my uncle on my mother’s side—he’s doing four life sentences for killing a family for twenty-seven dollars. My grandma on my mother’s side has been dead for over a decade, and the best thing I can say about her is that we’re not homeless.” He lifted his hand and waved vaguely around the room. “I come from a long line of users and abusers, Bobby. You should run now while you still can.”
Bobby’s expression was unreadable, and Tommy wasn’t sure what to say after that. They sat in silence for a moment before Bobby spoke again.
“That might be where you came from, Tom, but it’s not where you’re gonna end up.”
His voice was rough and quiet, sounding to Tommy like he was overwhelmed with emotion, though it didn’t show on Bobby’s face.
“I’m not a betting man, but if I were, I’d put every dime on you and those kids.”
Before Tommy could respond to that, Bobby stood abruptly and went into the kitchen.
BY THE time Bobby came back, Tommy had switched movies. His beer was warm in his hand and his pulse thrummed through his veins like a freight train. He couldn’t figure out why being around Bobby was such a mix of terror and comfort. He couldn’t deny being attracted to Bobby, but he was attracted to a lot of guys. He couldn’t deny being a little cautious too, considering what Bobby did for a living. But hearing from someone like Bobby that he and the kids were worth betting on, worth taking a chance on, did things to Tommy, and he hated it.
“Did I miss the end?” Bobby asked, standing over Tommy and passing him a fresh beer and a bag of chips.
Confused at the question, Tommy glanced up at him as he took the offered beer. “Huh?” Bobby quirked another one of those half smiles and nodded at the television. “Oh yeah, figured I’d put in the other one,” Tommy said, reaching for the remote and hitting the play button.
When Bobby sat down again, he didn’t settle on the opposite side of the couch as he had earlier. Instead he was close to Tommy, not quite touching, but within reach. Tommy felt a surge of panic rise in him and grabbed a handful of chips. “I’m gonna get a gut if I keep hanging out with you.” He was trying to joke, trying to find his footing again, but it wasn’t working very well.
Bobby glanced over at him, his blue eyes seeming bright in the dim light as his gaze washed over Tommy. For one second Tommy thought he was going to say something dirty, some cheap come-on that would have them both reaching for each other, pulling each other into a hard kiss, but Bobby laughed after a long pause and said, “I’ll bring trail mix next time, okay?”
“I’ll settle for popcorn.”
“Deal.”
THE TELEVISION was back on the DVD main screen when Colleen let herself in. When the
door creaked, Tommy stirred and looked over at Bobby. He was sound asleep, his arm over his head, feet on the coffee table. They’d ended up sharing the throw blanket and both dozed off before the movie ended. Not for the first time that night, Tommy wanted to lean over and kiss him.
“Did I wake you?” Colleen asked after she closed the door behind her.
Tommy rubbed his eyes with both hands, trying to chase away the crazy thoughts he was having about Bobby. “Nah, I was just getting up.” He stood and took a good look at his sister. “Did you have fun?”
Colleen nodded, looking tired and excited and maybe a little confused. “I did, yeah. Wyatt is really nice.” All of a sudden, she bit her lip and looked like she was about to cry.
Tommy clenched his hands into fists and was about to run after Wyatt, but first he asked, “What happened, Col?”
She shook her head and sniffled. “Nothing,” she whispered, glancing at Bobby asleep on the couch and then back at Tommy. “It was just so… nice. I can’t explain it, Tommy. It just felt so good to go out with him and dance and have fun and not…. He was so great. When we were dancing and his hand was on my waist, I told him I didn’t like to be touched there and he just moved his hand up, didn’t ask why or say anything, just made sure I was comfortable, ya know? The whole night he just made sure I was happy and that I felt good and that I was having fun and…. I didn’t know guys could be like that.”
Tommy reached for her and wrapped his arms around her thin shoulders. His voice was soft as he whispered against the top of her head, “That’s how they all should be, sis. Especially with you.”
He kissed her hair, thankful it had gone well and she’d had a nice time. He’d been dreading her coming home, afraid she’d be in tears, telling him some horror story about what happened. He’d seen too many prom-gone-wrong movies.
Colleen nodded and sniffled against his chest before she pulled back with a smile. “Wyatt’s always like that.”