“So,”Rob said with a sly grin. “You and Deacon Clark were having a cozy little conversation earlier.”
Rob and Gunter had been standing outside and watched us leave. Then, of course, they noticed me walk back alone. Ro and I had decided to have our pastries at one of the tables in the sunshine, and of course they took it upon themselves to come over and get their fill of gossip.
“He’s cute,” Gunter said. “Don’t you think?”
I’m surprised he didn’t nudge-nudge or wink-wink me.
They’d both acted a bit weird about little old gay me turning up in this town at the beginning of the holidays. They’d assured me it wasn’t some sex-cult thing like I’d first assumed, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced.
“He stopped by to check on the kittens,” I explained.
“Heiscute,” Ro added, giving my foot a nudge, which of course made me blush, and Rob and Gunter both thought that was funny.
“He’s...” I wasn’t sure if I should tell them, but I figured I may as well throw myself into the fire. “He’s coming back later tonight to help me with the inventory.”
The three of them were intensely interested in this development.
“Ooh,” Ro said. “I will make myself very scarce.”
“Or you could stay and help,” I added. “More hands, the more we get done.”
I ignored the way the three of them were looking at me until I relented. “Yes, okay. He’s very nice, very cute. He’s very smart, and I do like my guys quirky. Let’s be real. Give me a quirky book nerd over a gym-bro any day. But,” I said, holding up a finger. “And this is the most important part. I’m not looking. I’m not interested. I’m too busy, especially now I have two kittens who demand feeds every five hours.”
Rob sighed. “I said the same thing last year.”
“And me three years before that,” Gunter added. “And Braithe and Colson two years ago, and then there’s Jayden and Cas. And Hamish and Ren.” He sighed. “And I don’t know how to break it to you, but you probably won’t have much say in it. I mean, you can try and refuse, but there’s totally a Christmas Cupid thing that goes on in this town every year, and I’m pretty sure you’re it this year.”
I stared at him.
“I’m sorry, what? I won’t have much say in what?” I repeated. “So this is a cult thing! And you told me it wasn’t. You know, for inductees, you seemed normal. Is there an initiation ceremony? Please tell me it involves cake. If it involves going into the woods for some hazing ritual, well, I can just stop you right there because I don’t do the outdoors so much. So good luck with that.”
They all laughed.
Which was weird because I wasn’t joking. “So there is cake?”
Rob snorted. “It’s not a cult. But it’s totally a thing. I didn’t believe it either.”
“Neither did I,” Gunter added.
“But here we are. New to town, some kind of shade of queer, and bam! Unsuspecting, then meet the guy of your dreams.”
“That sounds ridiculous,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“It’s true,” Rob said. “I moved in next door to Soren and went out to yell at him for starting his Harley Davidson so early. He took one look at my flamingo pajamas and it was love at first sight.”
“Flamingo pajamas?” I asked.
“Harley Davidson?” Ro asked. “You mean to tell me that fireman who came to rescue the kittens rides a Harley Davidson?”
Rob grinned. “Oh, he certainly does.”
“Yeah, cool,” I said. “Can we get back to the flamingo pajamas for a second?”
Gunter laughed. “And I moved here, and the sexiest lumberjack I’d ever seen delivered a load of wood.”
“I bet he did,” Rob said.
Gunter snorted. “And he also checked my chimney.”
