“You okay?” Theo asks me sometime later. I am actually inside my moms’ house, just taking a moment to clear my head away from the rest of the group.
“Yeah. Can you believe it? Jack and Perrin.”
Theo smiles. “Not sure if kids are in the future for me and Matt, but I do know I love being an uncle. And a baby!” He smiles and gives me a little hug.
While Jack and I have always been close, Theo is becoming a great friend. He walks over to my house often and we hang out.
“So,” he hands me a cookie he made, knowing it is my weakness. Chocolate chip cookies. “Tell me what’s going on with you, Bee.” He sits up on the counter, getting to my height.
I chew the cookie.
“Damn, that’s good.”
He rolls his eyes. “Tell me. What were you in here thinking about?”
“I was thinking how happy I am for Jack. You know, when we were younger we dreamed of this. All of us living close in Bear Valley, family dinner, partners who fit in our lives and our brothers. And here we are. . .living that.”
“But?” Theo asks. He’s not pushy, but he certainly doesn’t let up.
“I think that maybe I need to get over myself a little bit. Maybe I haven’t been working toward the things I want in my life as hard as I think I have been. As hard as I’d like to believe.”
Theo crosses his legs on the counter, resting his chin on his hands.
“And all this future-building, it brings that into focus?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
Theo smiles at me, and then his attention is caught behind my shoulder. I know that dreamy look. Turning around, I see Matt resting against the doorframe to the kitchen, his attention on Theo.
“Even though it’s Sunday night, we were all talking about going out. Maybe dancing. Wanna go, Bee?”
I nod, although I haven’t been to a bar that isn’t Black Diamond, Quinn’s bar, in years. It’s Sunday night, an odd time to go out, but during ski season in Bear Valley time stops making a whole lot of sense.
“Alright. I’m in.”
Three hours into the outing with my brothers and maybe I had a bit too much to drink.
“I sent Matt to the bar for refills, so quick, who has caught your eye?” Theo asks. His own big brown eyes are luminous under the lights of the bar, and his face flushed from dancing with Matt. Pretty sure he is more drunk than I am. He doesn’t bother to even hide his ogling of my brother, unlike what I usually see in his shy smiles and lingering looks.
“What about that guy?” Theo points over to a guy I noticed a few times. He even danced toward me a bit, but there are a lot of people in this bar tonight.
I give Theo a look, and he just shrugs a slim shoulder at me. “Come on, he could be the love of your life.”
I doubt that. The love of my life is a rockstar who is unlikely to ever find his way willingly to Bear Valley.
Except, I’m here to move on from that line of thinking.
I turn my head, giving the guy another look.
Matt joins us, leaning in to whisper something I’m pretty sure must be dirty as hell, given Theo’s face. I leave them to it, and return to the dance floor.
Dancing by myself isn’t my favorite thing, but Matt and Theo get a lot of attention. Their size difference coupled with their combined attractiveness and Matt’s focus on Theo gets noticed.
Still, I find myself with Theo on the dance floor. I guess he followed me. Matt is right there, never letting Theo get too far from him. Theo, the little shit, manages to keep dancing in a way that moves us over to the guy he pointed out earlier.
“Theo. . .” I warn, but he just gives me a sweet smile and turns his head toward Matt, and they get lost in each other. Matt’s big hands keep his much smaller boyfriend pressed close. No one is going to mistake either of them for looking for someone else or mistake us as somehow being together. I’m clearly here to be single and mingle.
I feel someone dancing close to my other side, and sure enough it’s the guy who was trying to get my attention earlier. He gives me a shy smile, and combined with his very un-shy dance moves, I feel my body start to respond.
