Izzy frowned. He couldn’t understand why people would do that sort of stuff to helpless animals.
“Hey, there you are,” a new voice said, and Izzy saw a tall man embrace Justin and then kiss him with the kind of familiarity that only came from a long relationship. Not that Izzy knew anything about that personally, but…still.
“Izzy’s car won’t start, so he’s joining us for dinner,” Justin said, and then turned so he could see Izzy and the teens as they came up to the edge of the yard. “Izzy, this is my husband, Del Abbot. Del, this is Izzy Kostas, my newest employee.”
Izzy felt Del’s gaze measure him, but he had a significantly more relaxed and friendly way of doing it than Justin had when they’d first met. There wasn’t that hard, suspicious edge in Del’s friendly eyes.
“Hi, nice to meet you, Mr. Abbot,” Izzy said politely, shaking his hand.
“It’s Del, and it’s good to meet you too. We’re not having lasagna tonight, by the way,” Del said as he let go of Izzy’s hand and they all turned to walk toward the house together. “I might’ve made some spaghetti and meatballs instead.”
“What happened to the rest of the lasagna?” Wyatt piped up, having been quiet until then.
“I’ll put it in the freezer. Some for family dinners and some for lunches. You know how that goes.” Del chuckled.
“Must be nice to have a chef—” Izzy started, then glanced at Wyatt and corrected himself “—chefs in the family.” Wyatt blushed deep crimson and almost stumbled as he walked on even ground.
“Yes, we’re very proud of Wyatt. He’s going to come with me in a few months when I go shoot a new show around the world. He also has a really good apprenticeship lined up in France,” Del said, his voice filled with so much pride. Izzy had never heard such thing aimed at himself.
He glanced at Wyatt, whose expression had shifted just a little bit. Interesting.
They got inside and ended up at the dinner table in no time flat. The dogs were left in the living room and they happily congregated on an assigned couch and some dog beds, which again, was impressive as fuck. Had Izzy been a dog, he would’ve gone to one of the humans-only couches just out of spite.
As they filled their plates, nobody really talked a lot which suited Izzy just fine. He wasn’t much of a talker and this kind of being the fifth wheel of his boss’s family dinner shit wasn’t in his wheelhouse.Wheel in a wheelhouse, hah.
“You got some calls today?” Justin asked his husband when they all started to eat.
Izzy was happy to listen to them and carefully observe their interactions. Del was handsome as fuck, even Izzy could tell that. He had crow’s feet and most of his beard was gray, as was his hair he had up in a bun. Izzy wondered if the chopstick poking out of the bun was something holding it together or if he’d just put it there and forgot its existence.
Lettie seemed to be in her own world, as she very neatly ate her food, but something about Wyatt felt a little off. Not that Izzy knew enough of him to be sure, but there was something different about the kid now.
Wyatt ate in a weird, almost jerky way, like his concentration wasn’t there and he snapped into action, remembered he was supposed to be having dinner, every now and then.
Izzy’s phone beeped, and he dug it out, frowning apologetically. They all knew it was about his ride, but still.
“He’s going to be at the greenhouses in about an hour and a half,” Izzy informed them.
“Good, you have plenty of time to eat and you’re welcome to hang out here if you want to,” Justin said, and Del echoed his sentiment with his own.
“Thanks, it’s—” Izzy wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say. He went with the truth. “It’s been a long time since I was at a family dinner table. Or any dinner table, really. Not with…not with friends, anyway.” He felt awkward and ducked his head, then dug into his spaghetti. “This is probably the best meal I’ve ever had, by the way,” he added, glancing at Del who beamed at him.
“Thank you! When I first met these guys and Harper, she’s off to college now, I realized there were a lot of things I could do to modernize some old home recipes and make them healthier and still affordable at the same time.”
“Don’t get him started,” Lettie murmured under her breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear.
Her delivery was so deadpan, Izzy got worried for two seconds, until the corner of her mouth lifted slightly and Del laughed out loud, with both Justin and Wyatt snickering quietly.
“Okay, okay, I’ve taken the subtle hint,” Del said in a mockingly put off tone.
“So, traveling around the world? What’s that like?” Izzy asked, because he genuinely wanted to know and not concentrate on himself.
Del started to talk about his travels back with his first husband—Izzy felt dumb about realizing that gay people could have whole past lives and be in their second marriages too—and then the few trips they’d all taken as a family since they came to California fifteen years ago.
“And now I’ll be going on an extended trip with Wyatt and my film crew,” Del concluded happily.
From the corner of his eye, Izzy saw Wyatt shrink in his seat.
“Is Wyatt going to be in the show too?” he asked and watched as Wyatt got even smaller.
