Chapter 22
Izzy was so fucking in love with his boyfriend who was occasionally his girlfriend and sometimes somewhere in between.
He’d realized that being with Wyatt made him a better person, and Wyatt had told him being with Izzy made him a braver one. He couldn’t fault either of them for that, now could he.
Since he was making money and not using much of it, Izzy went online to find something nice to get for Wyatt. He’d always been like that, getting his loved ones presents, because for him, it was a way to show how much he cared and paid attention. He’d bought his mom and dad things with his allowance back when he was little, and sometimes he got candy for a friend instead of himself.
Now that he had a new family—of sorts, Justin was still…Justin, the others were more welcoming though—his brain was getting to that mindset again.
Naturally, he’d started with Wyatt. He’d been online for a while before he caved and sent Harper a text.
I want to buy something special for Wyatt. Thoughts?
It took her a few minutes to reply, and when she did, the message made him frown.
Yes. But what level are we talking? Because I have some good ones, but they might be too much.
Money-wise?
No. Getting the idea from his sister-wise. Before Izzy could ask what she meant, she sent another message: I’m talking sexy things, Izzy.
Oh. Oh. Well…Izzy swallowed hard and thought for a bit. Then he texted Harper back and got a few links in return. After he’d opened the first one, she sent a text:With his skin tone, I recommend the blue one.
Half an hour later, Izzy had a virtual shopping basket filled with stuff he needed to weed out before he ordered anything and a very inconvenient erection he didn’t want to think about, mostly because this was all Harper’s doing. Damn it.
* * * *
The next week was busy, and somehow Izzy forgot all about his order. They had so much to do with Del making preparations to leave within a few weeks’ time, and Justin wanting to go over all possible disaster scenarios for his business so he could go with him.
The whole family—Izzy included—were very accommodating and trying to make sure all of Justin’s worries would be assuaged before he had to leave. The workers stepped up too—again, Izzy included—and they had a good tentative system going for all sorts of things.
Wyatt and Izzy would move to the Abbots’ house for the duration of Justin’s absence so that there were adults around for Lettie and her dogs’ needs.
One Sunday, Izzy came to the house to find Del in the kitchen with none of the other family around.
“Hey, Izzy, can you hand me those mushrooms?” he asked over his shoulders and pointed with a large knife toward the island.
“Hi, sure,” Izzy went to pick up the container and brought it to Del’s cutting board. “What are you making?”
“Oh, just pizza. It’s easy and everyone can fill their own as they wish. I’m just prepping everything so it’s easiest.”
“Can I help with anything?” Izzy asked automatically, like he always did, no matter who was cooking.
“Do you mind grating cheese?”
“Depends on how stinky it is,” he replied in a teasing tone, which made Del chuckle.
“Not too stinky.”
Once Izzy had washed his hands and was sitting by the island grating cheese, Del cleared his throat.
“When we leave, you know Justin is going to be a wreck, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Izzy admitted. He’d seen the tension around Justin’s eyes and mouth every time he tried to enjoy making plans for Del and his trip.
“So here’s the thing. You’ll be the adult in charge here while we’re gone.”
Izzy nearly grated his fingertip off. “What?”
