Snow on the Roof

by Sean Ashcroft

  Oz hovered beside the table he’d been sent over to by his new sister-in-law, hesitating. The man sitting at it was staring intently at his phone, in the normal way people did when they were at an event they felt out of place at, or weren’t interested in.

  Based on the two empty beer bottles at his elbow, Oz guessed he felt out of place.

  Before Oz could make the decision to walk away, the other man looked up at him, taking him in with wide, but sharp eyes.

  Oz licked his lips nervously. “Hey, uh. You’re Seth, right?”

  The man nodded, but didn’t otherwise react. He was waiting for Oz to say something, but Oz was suddenly tongue-tied.

  Seth was exactly his type. A little on the short side, delicate, but still masculine, his artful stubble highlighting a strong jaw. He was pretty, like his sister, but in a decidedly male way.

  He and Mason had always had similar tastes.

  “Do you mind if I, uh…?” He indicated the seat across from Seth. The table was big enough for eight people, but the other seven who’d been sitting with Seth had obviously chosen to mingle instead of sitting the festivities out.

  Oz had only been mingling this long because he hadn’t been able to get away. Normally, he didn’t mind going to weddings, but being forced to play the part of dutiful son was wearing on him.

  “It’s a free country,” Seth said.

  Oz’s heart sank. A little enthusiasm would have been appreciated. He didn’t expect Seth to be his instant best friend, but it would have been nice to feel wanted.

  Even as he was thinking that—still hesitating to sit—Seth’s face softened. “Jesus, you look like a kicked puppy. Join me, we can both be miserable together,” he said, waving to the seat Oz had been hovering next to.

  Oz sat, feeling a little better about the whole situation. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

  Seth sighed a heavy, tired sigh. “I was actually getting incredibly self-conscious about sitting here alone, so your timing is perfect. I’m sorry. I’m just exhausted.”

  “I know how you feel.” Oz smiled wryly. “I’m Mason’s brother, by the way.”

  Seth nodded. “I figured you had to be part of the family. Nice hat.”

  Oz cleared his throat, blushing. “Thanks.”

  “I didn’t realize they were going to be part of the dress code,” Seth said, looking around. “I am into the whole cowboy vibe, though. Are you an actual real-life cowboy?”

  Oz chuckled at that. “I’m a lawyer.”

  “Huh.” Seth looked Oz up and down again. “You’re way too hot to be a lawyer.”

  Oz blushed again. “Well, I am one, but the light in here is very flattering,” he said.

  “What kind of law? Please say criminal.”

  For a moment, Oz almost wished he could have. Impressing Seth was quickly moving up his list of priorities. “Sorry to disappoint. I actually specialize in elder law.”

  Seth raised an eyebrow. So did most people.

  “Wills, power of attorney, end of life care, retirement and pension advocacy… if you need legal advice after you turn sixty, I’m probably your guy.”

  “It’s never occurred to me that there’d be lawyers for that, but I guess they’d need to exist. Cool. Do you like it?”

  Oz shrugged. “I think it’s a good use of my time. I like being the guy people can rely on to speak for them when they maybe can’t speak for themselves anymore, though obviously that’s a lot of pressure. And the way some people fight over wills, man. Sometimes grandpa’s body isn’t even cold and they’re carving up the estate already. It’s hard to know that a lot of your clients are gonna die on you, too. You become a part of their life. I go to a lot of funerals.”

  “Explains the black,” Seth said, nodding to Oz’s suit. Even the shirt he was wearing today was black, which seemed fitting. He was the black sheep, after all.

  Oz felt as though he was talking too much, but Seth didn’t seem to be bored. He’d been listening the whole time. Not politely or passively, but with obvious, genuine interest.

  It was nice to be listened to once in a while. Oz wasn’t the kind of man who had a lot of friends, and none of them close enough to talk to about stuff like his job.

  “It’s a very practical color,” Oz said.

  “How’s the pay?” Seth asked.

  “Keeps me in nice hats.” Oz grinned. He was starting to relax now. He knew he’d been sent over to talk to Seth because they were both gay, like he was at every other family event where there was another gay man present, but he was actually enjoying himself this time.

  “What I’m hearing so far is that you’re both rich and handsome,” Seth said. He sounded more relaxed, too. Or at least more willing to talk to Oz.

  “Gay, too,” Oz responded. “That’s why I was sent over here.”

  “So this is the gay table now?” Seth asked.

  “Looks like,” Oz agreed.

  “I was instructed not to mention that I was gay to anyone,” Seth said. “By my sister.”

  “Well, it was your sister who sent me over.” Oz shrugged again. “Maybe she’s mellowed.”

  “She just thought it was better if I didn’t start a fight with her new in-laws. I was going along with it, because I figure it’s her wedding.”

  “Yeah, well… they tolerate me, but don’t let them fool you into thinking they like it. There’s a reason Mason is being groomed to run the family empire and I’m a lawyer running a one-man show.”

  “They want to be able to say you’re a lawyer, but they don’t want your gay hands touching their money,” Seth said. He was turning out to be surprisingly perceptive.

  “Right. So if you were hoping to marry into all this yourself, you might wanna look elsewhere,” Oz said, indicating the ridiculous wedding venue. He hadn’t asked how much this had cost, and he really never wanted to know.

  When he’d started his practice, his father had given him ten thousand dollars as start-up money. That sounded like a lot when he told people, but the family business was worth close to a billion. It had been an attempt to preserve appearances and get Oz to go away quietly.

  He was glad he’d made it mostly on his own, but he wasn’t about to pretend that he wasn’t a little bitter about being forced to.

  On the other hand, this way, he didn’t have to rely on his parents’ good will.

  “I’m not a huge fan of weddings,” Seth said. “This one has been surprisingly okay. Weird, but okay.”

  “Welcome to Texas, I guess.” Oz laughed. “So, what do you do? Emma didn’t say.”

  Seth snorted. “I’m actually not sure what I do. I have a really nice office in a really nice office building in New York, but honestly, I work for my dad and I don’t think I have an actual job. I feel like every few weeks someone remembers I’m sitting around doing nothing and tries to find something for me. It’s usually, like, site tours or business lunches or something like that. Sorry, this is a long answer to a simple question.”

  “Obviously not so simple for you,” Oz said. “You want another beer?”

  “If you’re going for one, sure. I finished my last one almost an hour ago.”

  Oz pushed his chair back and stood. “I’ll be back in a minute. Have you eaten? Because there’s a ton of food left.”

  Seth wet his lips. “Well, if there are leftovers…”

  “I’ll bring you a plate. You might as well benefit from being part of the family now as much as possible.”

  “I like you already,” Seth said.

  Oz smiled at him, pleased with himself, and went to grab more beer and food. If the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach…

  Well, Oz didn’t necessarily want to get to his heart. But Seth was cute, and he wouldn’t have hated getting to know him a little better.

  Everyone else was getting laid tonight, why shouldn’t they?

  “If you’re trying to impress me, it’s working,” Seth said as Oz got back to the table with two beers and a plate pile
d high with food.

  “Good, because this is the only way I know of impressing people.” Oz sat down opposite Seth again, passing his beer across to him and putting the plate of finger food between them. “Hospitality is in my DNA.”

  “Do you think they’re in love?” Seth asked, cracking his beer open and grabbing a sandwich.

  “Mason and Emma?” Oz asked. He’d wondered himself. Their relationship had seemed to progress quickly. One minute Mason had mentioned meeting someone, the next he was sending out wedding invitations.

  That didn’t mean they weren’t in love, but he could see some family pressure in there, too.

  Maybe it really was a beautiful story of two people finding their soulmates.

  Oz wasn’t inclined to believe in that kind of thing, though.

  “Yeah. I feel as though I heard about Mason for the first time when I was being invited to the wedding. I mean, me and Emma aren’t the closest siblings, but…”

  “Yeah, gotta wonder,” Oz agreed. “But it’s their lives, and they can run them however they want.”

  Seth nodded, grabbing another canape from the plate. “Your family doesn’t believe in moderation, do they?” he asked as he bit into it.

  “They believe in moderating their moderation.” Oz smiled to himself. His mother’s stamp was all over this wedding, and he already felt sorry for Emma. She had no idea what she’d married into.

  “I’m noticing that you have a way with words.”

  Oz snorted. He’d never thought of himself as particularly gifted with words, but he’d definitely come up with a good phrase or two in his time. “I am good with my mouth.”

  This time, Seth blushed. Oz was starting to think his interest wasn’t one-sided. Which was just as well, because that would have been embarrassing.

  Disappointing, too. It had been a while since he’d had the chance to have some good, simple fun. Especially with someone as cute as Seth.

  It couldn’t hurt to make a move and see where it took them.

  “So are we, uh, stepbrothers now?” he asked, picking at the plate in front of him.

  “Brothers-in-law,” Seth corrected.

  “Either way, there’s brothers in the title.”

  Seth hummed in agreement. “On a scale of one to ten, how indecent would it be if I invited you back to my hotel room tonight?”

  Oz grinned. Seth was interested, after all. He’d even beaten Oz to making that clear. “At least a six,” he responded.

  “In that case,” Seth said, taking another canape from the plate. “Wanna come back to my room?”

  “I’d like that a whole lot,” Oz agreed.

  Grab your copy of Wedding Season to keep reading!

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  Love,

  Sean <3