Major lifted his head, and his eyes widened as he sent me a broad smile. “Skylar? Good God, it’s been ages. How the hell are you?” he said, opening his arms to me.
Unlike Rich, Major and I had parted amicably after he realized he had serious feelings for a friend. We’d caught up a while back, and it’d been one helluva an update. He’d married the friend, Ren, an older man who was both the widower of Major’s high school shop teacherandthe father of a man older than Major.
Scandalous, as Sam would say.
Ren was Japanese American, and Major was super cute when he’d talked about how Ren’s son and son-in-law had adopted a little boy who’d come to the States from Japan. The kid loved talking to his “jiji Ren” in their mother tongue and got a kick out of helping Major learn the language.
“Oh my God—you are the youngest grandpa I’ve ever met!”
“Never call me that.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I walked into Major’s warm embrace.
“I’m . . . I’m good. Well. Good-ish,” I said, sniffling.
“Hey,” he said, releasing me to dip down and look into my eyes. “Are you in trouble?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. Just still out here getting my heart broken.”
He looked at his iPad, then back at me. “I’m about to finish up here and head over to Gruene Hall to meet up with my husband and our friends. Do you need to be alone, or would you like to join us?”
I ran my hand through my hair, balancing the need to sleep with the need to get out of my own head. In the end, curiosity won over sleep. I had to meet this friend group Major loved so much.
“Um, sure. Let me see if I can book a room first.”
“Perfect. I need to finalize this invoice and then was gonna change. See you in a few?”
“Yeah. That sounds good.”
I stepped up to the gal with the teal hair and the tattoos—surprising, in a town like this—and apologized for not having a reservation.
“No worries, hon. We do have one tiny house left, but it’s the smallest one.”
“If you knew where I was living, you’d know how little that means to me.”
She laughed and took my credit card, then gave me the code to my place. Major waved as I left to re-park and put my things away.
The tiny house in question was a little bigger than the cabin and had a beautiful, eclectic vibe with high ceilings and a lovely fireplace. Also, the bathroom was enormous. After setting my things out, I realized that, while Woody’s old cabin was a good place to stay in the interim, I definitely needed to move on as soon as my business was solvent.
By the time I made it back to the office, Major had changed and was standing there, towering over a trim, strikingly handsome man with intelligent eyes, gorgeous cheek bones, and lush black and silver hair.
“Skylar, this is my husband, Ren. Don’t worry, he knows all about our history.”
I grimaced, not sure how to take that, but Ren sent me a warm smile. “None of the specific details, though I believe there was something about a widow’s robe?”
Major went red, and I laughed, draping my manicure across my chest. “I do love a dramatic moment.”
Ren held his hand out to me. “Then I think we’ll get along just fine.”
I squeezed his hand and joined them on the short walk over to Gruene Hall.
“Is that a priest’s collar?” I asked Ren, pointing to the heavily tattooed guy Major was hugging.
Ren laughed. “It is. And that handsome man standing next to him is my son.”
“Oh. They got married in a big group wedding thing with you and Major, right?”
His proud smile could light up this small town. “Yep.”
