August licked his lips, watching Steve and Dylan with an anticipatory gaze. “Very nice.”
He gave himself a small shake, stepping away from Ryker and walking out of the room.
“But seriously, dinner is ready. I’ve set the table and everything.”
“We’re coming,” Ryker promised. He gestured for Steve and Dylan to follow him into the hall, the three of them walking after August to the living room.
August’s assertion that he had set the table was a generous interpretation of the phrase. He had brought in a stack of four plates, with forks and knives balanced on top, along with four wine glasses and some napkins. The takeout containers were placed in the middle of the table, on top of the decorative tablecloth their interior designer had picked out for them when they furnished the place, with serving spoons laid out next to them.
There were no placemats.
“It looks so pretty,” Steve teased playfully, making August punch his arm.
“Shut up before I make you eat off the floor like a puppy,” August growled back, equally playful.
“I think that’s more Dylan’s thing,” Steve said, making Dylan look up from where he’d taken a seat and blink.
“What?”
Steve laughed. “Nothing. Here, have a plate.” He handed Dylan a plate, along with a knife and fork. He looked at the takeout containers. “This smells good.”
“It’s from our favorite Italian restaurant,” August said, handing out napkins and wine glasses. He’d taken the seat next to Dylan, leaving Ryker and Steve sitting across the table. “Hold on, I forgot the wine. Ryker, where is it?”
Ryker blinked, realizing that he’d completely forgotten to stop by the store on his way home.
“I forgot.” August rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything, Ryker added, “But we still have the bottle Dylan brought us. We can drink that. It’s in the wine fridge.”
It wasn’t a label they’d tried before, but it couldn’t be too bad.
“Sure,” August said, turning around to go get it. “I’ll get some water, too.”
“Help yourselves,” Ryker said, nodding to Steve and Dylan that they should start serving themselves. “We don’t want the food to get cold.”
“Thank you,” Dylan said, leaning forward and opening the container closest to him. “Oh! Lasagna, I love lasagna!”
Ryker leaned back and grinned. “Good.”
August came back with the wine, four glasses and a carafe of water.
“I’m so hungry,” he said, pouring everyone a glass of wine. “Cynthia moved five of the appointments that had to be rescheduled to today, and it was ridiculously hectic. How were things with you guys?”
“I got caught up on everything I missed,” Ryker said. “It was a pretty normal day, otherwise.”
He and August both looked at Steve and Dylan.
Steve swallowed a big mouthful of linguini and said, “I talked to my sergeant and explained why I’d been absent. He wasn’t happy, but it’s fine. I’m back on my usual schedule tomorrow. Other than that, I moved all my stuff over from my old apartment. I didn’t know where to put my clothes, so for now they’re in one of the guestrooms along with Dylan’s things.”
“We’ll figure out the closet situation,” Ryker promised, already planning out the solution in his mind. There was a walk-in closet in the guest bedroom next to theirs. They could knock down the wall to that and connect it to their bedroom and then just wall off the door to the guest bedroom. It wasn’t like they had guests who stayed long enough to need a walk-in closet when they stayed over. “I’ll get a contractor in by next week.”
Steve nodded like that was reasonable, but Dylan looked a little bamboozled. It was the same look he’d had on his face when he’d seen the cabin in the private plane – like he couldn’t quite believe that this was the world he lived in now.
“What about you, Dylan?” August asked. “How was your day?”
Dylan brightened. “I went to class, and then I met up with Annie and our friends. It was fun. Annie wants to meet you all.”
“Did you tell her about what happened?” Ryker asked.
Dylan wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “No, but I probably will when we have the chance to hang out just the two of us. Is that okay?”
