He did chuckle then. “Okay. He’s seen enough to know none of us are in real distress, right?”
Michael brightened. “Right. And maybe he can come back later and come ski with us. After New Year’s.”
“Now, that’s a great idea.” Brian could bring his guy. They could stay at a resort in Snowmass.
“Cool, here’s your sandwich. We can go talk to him now. Then you can go to work later. Fair?” Zane offered him a tight smile.
“Okay, that’s more than fair. What kind of sandwich did y’all get me?”
“Turkey bacon club with avocado, no mayo.”
“Good job.” He high-fived Zane. “All right, come on. Let’s go. I’m gonna talk to Uncle Brian.”
He walked in to find Ellis sitting there, kind of staring at Brian, and the girls eating their sandwiches and jabbering at each other to fill the silence.
“Hey, thanks for the sandwiches!” He went for cheery, even though this was going to suck.
“You’re welcome, baby.” Ellis gave him a smile that only looked a little tense.
“Zane remembered my order,” Brian put in. “I’m impressed.”
“Hey, I’m a genius.” Zane plopped down to open his sammy.
“You are a genius.” Ichabod bumped shoulders with Zane. “So, I have to ask. How long do you intend to stay, Brian? I sort of need to make plans.” He might as well start out like he could hold out.
“Well, I wasn’t sure how long you’d need me…”
Ellis blinked and looked at him, and both boys looked at him.
Lord save him from being rescued.
Ichabod took a deep breath, “Honey, I love you dearly, and I love to see you. But we’re fine. It was incredibly sweet for you to come.”
“But…” Brian said.
“But we have company coming. The kids are meeting Ellis’s dad for the first time. We’ve got a lot of decorating to do for the holidays, and I was thinking that you and Scott could come around the end of the year. Maybe come out, stay at the lodge, go skiing at Snowmass or you could come and see Aspen Gay Days. That would be fabulous! Something planned where everybody could have fun.”
Please let him do this right.
Brian gave him a wry grin. “I’d love to come for Gay Ski Week. So, yeah, I can head out tomorrow. Scott would love for me to come back in time for all his work parties.”
“Excellent! I would love to have you for Gay Ski Week. I think we could have a ball. Is there anything that you would like to do tonight for supper?”Is there anything I can do to make it better? I totally just asked my best friend to leave because he was disrupting my household, and I want to have a nice Christmas.Was there a gift for that?
“Real Mexican food. Atlanta has a dearth of the stuff I craved in college. Can I have Mexican food?”
“Dude, Ellis makes the best enchiladas. Like they have green chile and chicken and this sauce…” Michael was lit up again. “Ellis, could you please make enchiladas for dinner? Pretty please.”
“Sure, buddy, sounds good to me. We have all the stuff.” Ellis shot Brian a smile, and this one seemed much more natural. “I’m assuming that’s all right rather than going out.”
Brian snorted and threw his arms up, a piece of cheese from his sandwich going flying, dramatic as all get-out.
It was almost as entertaining as the way Mavis snatched the bite of cheddar out of the air.
“Are you kidding? Homemade food? That rocks. Thanks, and thank you all for letting me come and check on my favorite people. I know that you all think I’m dumb, but I needed to lay eyes on my folks.”
Ichabod reached across the table and took Brian’s hand. “Of course we’re not mad,” he said. “It’s incredibly dear. You’re good to me, and I appreciate you. And I think we’re going to have a ball at the gay days.”
Zane rolled his eyes. “I’m surrounded by rainbow-waving people.” Then Zane shot him a quick wink. “Did you know my girlfriend is bi?”
