Teinté de mystères, Tome 3 : Une coïncidence suspecte

Josh was already upstairs when I got home. “Honey, I’m home,” I called out. He came out of the bedroom chewing on his lip, looking like he had been beating himself up all day long. “What have you done?” I was certain to keep the scorn out of my voice because he wasn’t a child, he was my equal. “Kyle and Emory?”

“You know already?” Josh asked. I told him about running into Emory at the hardware store and Kyle and the diner. “And you still brought me home food?”

I set the bags of food and my purchases on the dining room table and opened my arms to him. “You shouldn’t feel guilty about extending an invitation to our home to enjoy a lovely dinner.”

“Yeah, but those nights are just supposed to be for the four of us,” he said.

“Sunshine, it can’t just be the four of us forever. Chaz and Meredith will find their soul mates like we found one another and they’ll be joining us. Families are made to expand, that’s just what they do.” I ran my thumbs over his cheeks, and I saw the tension drain from him. “As long as you extended the invitations for the right reasons and you don’t have Hallmark Movie Channel expectations, then I’m perfectly fine with what you did.”

Josh snorted and rolled his eyes. “I have yet to see an LGBTQ couple featured in one of their shows, nor many people of color for that matter.”

“I think you get my point, don’t you?” I asked.

“Yes, dear,” he said snarkily. I slapped his round bottom for his sass and began to unload the food and the loot. “What’s this?” he asked, holding up the bottle of oil from Marabeth’s. He read the ingredients and what it was intended to do then looked up at me. “Having trouble sleeping?”

“I thought we could both take a hot bath after dinner and the kids had a chance to play with their new toys,” I suggested. “So we both sleep well.”

Josh’s eyes softened like they did when we made love. “I love your considerate heart, Gabe.”

“I love you, Sunshine.”

The ballgame played in the background while we had fun playing with our critters. It didn’t hurt my feelings that Buddy wanted to play tug-of-war with Josh instead of me. I was busy splitting my attention between Jazzy and Diva while I tried not to regret getting Savage that ringing bell.

“Fucknugget!” Ding. Ding. Ding.

“Cumguzzler!” Ding. Ding. Ding.

“Dirty Bird!” Ding. Ding. Ding.

“Fire in the hole!” Ding. Ding. Ding.

“That’s new!” Josh and I both said at the same time, followed by, “I didn’t teach him that.”

“Roger’s boy!” Ding. Ding. Ding.

“That must be his previous owner,” Josh said. “He’s only said his name a few times in the few years that I’ve had him.”

“Big Daddy’s boy,” I said to Savage.

“Big Daddy,” Savage repeated back.

“Big Daddy’s boy,” I tried again.

It took several attempts, but he eventually said, “Big Daddy’s boy” to me. It made my entire night—well, that was until Josh pressed his wet, naked body against mine. As much as I loved the bird, it was nowhere close to the way I felt for his owner.