“I don’t appreciate your attitude,” he said through clenched teeth.
“And I don’t appreciate yours.” Luke stood up, the empty mug of coffee hanging through one of his fingers. “I know how you’ve spoken to Cameron since you’ve been home, I know how you’ve treated Theo, and I’ve seen how chilly you are with everyone else. I don’t remember you being that way before your dad died, so if that’s the reason for the change, I’m truly sorry, but you’re not really fun to be around anymore, Andy.”
“I’m not fun,” he repeated, a little in shock over the tone Luke had taken with him.
“You’re not,” Luke confirmed with a helpless shrug. “But someone followed you here from the other side of the globe, so maybe you want to work on that.”
Luke bent over the table and collected Andy’s coffee, which was probably now cold.
“Are you done with this?” he asked.
“Uhm. Yeah.”
“Alright. Take care, Andy.” Luke walked away from him, pushing though the back door into the kitchen without another word.
Andy watched Luke retreat, then shoved up from the couch and stretched his arms above his head. Since he’d finished his trip and shown up in Cherry Creek, his days had been aimless. He wasn’t responsible for the operations like Charlie and Brad were, and he didn’t have a boyfriend to dote on the way James and Cameron did. He often didn’t know what to do with his days, which was one of the reasons it had been so hard to push Leonidas out of his mind.
And now Leonidas was here.
Andy needed to figure out what that meant for both of them.
He’d been home for longer than a month and he hadn’t done much to get to know anyone in the town. His brothers had somehow endeared themselves in less than a year, but everyone held Andy at arm’s length and watched him with curious and nervous eyes.
He wasn’t a bad person. He knew that much. He was maybe a little lost and misguided, and maybe Luke was right. Maybe he’d come off too strong since he’d been back, but he’d also felt helpless. Everyone had moved on and he hadn’t been needed, and then Brad had confessed what happened when he was eighteen and Andy, even still, had been powerless. He couldn’tdoanything for anyone.
He knew he wanted to do something that mattered, something that counted, but there was no way he was going to seek out another corporate job. With a tense sigh, he adjusted Leonidas’s beanie on his head and walked to his car. He drove into town and parked in front of the coffee shop, grabbing himself an iced blended before wandering down the street. He found himself in front of Spencer’s Cat Cafe, which was still in the middle of its soft opening. He saw Spencer inside, looking flustered and flitting around, and two other men leaning against the counter, watching him move. Andy had heard about Spencer’s two husbands since he’d gotten to town, but he’d only seen Collin at the farmer’s market. Spencer’s second husband, Max, had remained elusive.
For reasons he couldn’t make sense of, Andy knocked on the glass door. Spencer looked up at him with a scrunched nose that turned into a bright smile when he recognized Andy. The expression twisted something inside of him, and he smiled back, offering a nervous wave.
Spencer ran over and twisted the lock from the inside and opened the door, saying, “Come in. Come in.”
“Hey,” he said, now feeling nervous and tense with the door closed behind him. He was painfully aware of three sets of human eyes and lord knew how many feline eyes upon him.
“Andy, right?” The man he knew to be Collin said, stepping toward him with an outstretched hand.
“Yeah.” He nodded. “That’s me.”
They shook hands, and Collin tipped his head toward the other man in the room. He was tall and broad, with a thick brown beard and a deep scowl on his face, but when Spencer came alongside him, his eyes softened, and he looked toward Andy.
“This is my other husband, Max,” Spencer introduced.
Andy shook Max’s hand. “Good to meet you,” he said.
“Same.” Max gave him a jerky nod and pulled his hand back.
“What brings you through, mate?” Collin asked, bending over and ruffling the head of one of the cats that winded its way around his ankles.
“I was just out,” he said, hoping he didn’t come off sounding completely desperate. “Walking, and saw you here.”
“Nowhere to be?” Spencer asked.
Andy let out an audible breath. “I didn’t have anything to do,” he admitted. “I’m just looking for something to take up my time.”
“You can come to the farm and shovel shit anytime.” Collin laughed.
A cat jumped off one of the cat trees, knocking the entire fixture down to the ground with a bang.
“Shit!” Spencer fumbled around, trying to make sure no one and no cats were hurt. “We need to brace that one better.”
