“You’reweird,” Thad said but his tone was affectionate. “Your whole family is.”
Graham shrugged. “I suppose.”
“No, I kinda like it,” Thad said. “You’re less perfect than I thought at first. Less … cookie-cutter.”
Graham made a face. “I never claimed to be perfect.”
“I know. But you seemed so … you’re the fuckinggoldenboy, you know?”
“I am?”
“Oh, come on,” Thad said with a laugh. “Youare. You had a five-year plan and you and your parents have the perfect family look. The attractive, successful couple who had two attractive,successful kids. Hell, you probably had a golden retriever or a yellow lab namedBuddygrowing up.”
“She was a Chesapeake Bay retriever,” Graham protested, his tone almost prim. “And her name wasSassy.”
“And now you havethatmangy old thing.”
Graham glanced down at Murphy, who slept on the other end of the sectional. “He canhearyou, you know.”
“Can he?” Thad asked doubtfully. “I’m starting to think he’s going deaf.”
“Well, even if he is, I love him,” Graham said stubbornly. “And you should consider yourself lucky because that means I’ll loveyouwhen you’re a half-deaf, mangy old thing too.”
Thad snorted. “So, like … ten years from now?”
Graham rolled his eyes. “Sure. Says the guy who can out-bench me any day of the week.”
“That’s true. You are kind of a wuss though. I’m not sure that’s saying much.”
“Hey!” Graham protested, laughing. “Rude.”
Things devolved from there and it wasn’t long before Thad had rolled him over and pinned him to the couch cushions.
Graham hadn’t fought hard to get the upper hand. Or at least that’s what he was telling himself.
“I love you,” Thad said huskily, his tone turning serious. “I know I joke a lot, but I want you to know. You—you make me hopeful about the future. For the first time in my life, I feel like Ihavea future. And that’s because of you.”
“It’s not all because of me,” Graham protested, a little winded from the earlier wrestling and Thad’s weight crushing the air out of his lungs.
“Shut up and take the compliment, baby,” Thad muttered against his mouth and kissed him.
Graham smiled against his mouth and kissed him back.
They were a little late to the Thanksgiving celebration at the O’Shea house that afternoon.
Graham didn’t care.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Thad could think of a thousand things he’d rather do than be here tonight.
Pick up Murphy’s poop, scrub the toilet in his studio apartment, lick his second-hand hockey gear immediately after a hard practice …
But on Christmas Eve, he followed Gavin through a maze of tables in the upscale Pittsburgh restaurant anyway.
They were spending the holidays in Pittsburgh and had traveled ahead of the team.
Gavin and Thad were having dinner with their parents tonight while Dakota and Graham hung out.
