Occasionally, one of them would pause and jot something down on the back of their papers, while I was having too much fun observing them to make any notes of my own. I was listening enough to be able to make an educated, though likely incorrect, guess while we were enjoying dessert.
“Who do you think it is?” Murry asked as he pressed his head to my shoulder, keeping his voice low so folks at the tables beside us wouldn’t be privy to our conversations.
“Early guess, Donna Sue, after the way the judge reduced her to tears with his critique.”
“I think it was Martin,” Raleigh said. “Look at the way he stabbed his shears into the fabric after the critique the judges gave his garments.”
“But those were Donna Sue’s shears sticking out of the murdered judge’s chest.”
“They did an awesome job on the blood splatter; I loved the way it oozed through his clothes.”
“Right?” I said. “They go all out when it comes to props and effects.”
“The whole thing is amazing, the show and the food,” Murry declared, as he used a piece of bread to sop up the last traces of soup in his bowl. He even ran it around the inside, just to make sure he collected every drop.
“I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying yourselves,” I said. “Unless I’m out of town, I come to every murder mystery night they host. Speaking of trips out of town, one of the things I didn’t get to tell you about my day was that I received an invitation in the mail to be a vendor at a kink event out in Oregon that I hope you’ll be able to accompany me to. It would mean modeling the gear and showing it off over the course of the event, as well as helping to man the booth with me. You’d be compensated for your time, of course. It’s next month, so I hope that isn’t too last minute for you to arrange things at the club. It seems that they had a vendor forced to drop out, and my name was tossed into the mix by a member of the committee who’s purchased several pieces of gear from me.”
“Cool. So, we’d get to go on a road trip together?” Raleigh asked.
“We sure would, and if we are able to leave a couple days early, we could take our time and plan a few places to visit on the way there,” I explained. “I’d love to check out one of the spots from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives if we could and sample some of the food they featured on the show.”
“I love that show,” Raleigh declared.
“So do I, which was why I started searching to see if there was one we’d be able to hit along the way and came across some, so we could take our pick or hit more than one of them.”
“I’m in,” Raleigh said while Murry nodded in agreement.
“Same.”
“Alright, then we will put them on the list and see what else we can find as we plan our trip,” I said as our main courses were delivered to the table.
This time, even Raleigh didn’t hesitate to dig right in. The surprises on their faces when they saw large chunks of lobster and real lump and claw crab meat in the dish would be burned into my brain for some time. Tickets to the event were roughly the same as a night out at a fine dining establishment, with the added bonus of a show and a mystery to solve. It was a no-brainer that this had become my go-to place when I wanted to treat myself and now, treat my pets.
In just the short time they’d been with me, my workaholic tendencies had begun to ease up, balanced by the need to simply enjoy time with the two men who had already become a very special part of my life. It dawned on me, during the moments when we were apart and I realized I’d let the day slip past without any of the breaks that I insisted on them taking, that being perpetually alone in my workspace had led to me becoming obsessed with my work. It felt good to set a firm stopping time at the end of the day so that the three of us could enjoy relaxing time together.
Like with everything that had come before, they cleaned their plates while excitedly listening to the next part of the mystery unfold, but when the time came to order dessert, they admitted to being too full to order individual ones and opted for one they could split. After a short debate, they decided on the edible sequins mini-cake in the shape of a handbag and took several photos of it when it arrived before they asked me to please cut it in half for them.
I was happy to do so and happier still to kiss a smear of frosting off the corner of Murry’s lips after he dove in. Raleigh, on theother hand, took small bites, savoring his half while he filled in the form on the front of his paper. Every now and again I’d see his tongue poke out while he paused, occasionally nibbling on the end of his pen before scribbling more. Murry waited until he finished his dessert before filling his out, while I quickly worked on mine, choosing, as my suspect, a designer who’d seemed all too sure that she was going to win the competition through sheer talent alone and insisted that was the reason that she couldn’t possibly be the killer.
And now to settle in for the big reveal.
One by one, the actors made their final presentations, revealing that while they might have had motivation to kill the judge, they were, in fact, not the killer. Murry’s pick was the third reveal, and he fake-pouted for several seconds before shrugging and eagerly awaiting the final result.
By the time we were down to the last three, I was actually excited. My choice was still in the running, and so was Raleigh’s. He was squirming in his seat as one more was eliminated, neither of which had been one of our picks.
“Holy crap, one of us was right,” Raleigh muttered, leaning against my shoulder as he clutched my hand.
Seconds later he let out a little squeal. “Daddy, you were right!”
There were a few giggles around us, but no one stared or acted like there was something odd about what he’d called me. Many faces in the room were ones I was familiar with from Laces or the Lactin Brotherhood run club, and Murry and Raleigh certainly weren’t the only pets in the room.
“Finally!” I said, pumping my fist in the air. “I think you guys were my good luck charms tonight.”
I accepted my victory with them pressed against my side, and as an added bonus, Murry was the one to win the creative explanation for the night, which turned out to be a movie package for four to the local cinema complex. Depending on the movie, I was certain that either Aspen or Phoenix would be willing to join us for that one.
“Tonight was amazing,” Murry declared as we waited for the room to clear before we moved.
“Ditto, Daddy, thank you so much for bringing us,” Raleigh said, nuzzling against my neck while peppering it with several kisses too.
