Moments later, a door clanged open. Footsteps echoed.
Four people turned the corner, and the crowd erupted in shouts of “Surprise!” and “Happy anniversary!” The room buzzed with cheers and applause.
Dominic and Percell both rushed forward to embrace their flabbergasted parents. Zelda’s cheeks were streaming with tears, and even Robert seemed overwhelmed. Joshua could imagine their reaction once Roxy and Starr arrived. Joshua didn’t know how long it had been since all five of the Bounds children were in one room together. Probably last Christmas, when Percell had managed a quick visit home.
Benji leaned in to Joshua and whispered, “Bobby saw me and Van in the car. Kissing. He looked pissed.”
Joshua squeezed Benji’s waist. “We’ll deal with it, okay?” He glanced at Van, who was keeping a respectable distance, smiling at the family gathering several yards away. “It’ll be fine.”
“I need a drink.”
“This is a dry party.”
Benji laughed with no humor. “I like how you think. Water is fine. I just . . . my mouth is dry.”
“Be right back then.” And because he couldn’t be a dick, no matter what Bobby had or hadn’t seen, he said, “Van? You want anything to drink?”
“Water,” Van replied. “Thank you.”
“Sure.”
Joshua didn’t like leaving Benji when he was upset, but the drinks table wasn’t that far away. It had been set with a giant bowl of ice, scoops, cups, and a wide assortment of two-liter soft drinks. Another tub of ice had small bottles of water, so he plucked out three of those, shook off the excess water, and brought them back to his boyfriends.
Bobby tracked the whole thing with his eyes. Joshua resisted the urge to glare at him, to press the issue and make Bobbytalk, instead of assaulting them all with the stink eye. He didn’t, though, because the Boundses were making their way over, pausing to hug and chat with their guests as they went.
Zelda hugged him and Benji both, then clasped Van’s hand tight when Benji introduced him as “a really close friend” of theirs. “A friend of theirs is a friend of mine,” she said. “Benji’s been family for years, ever since he took up with Dominic and Lincoln.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Van replied. “Happy anniversary to you both.”
The paired moved onward, and then was gone.
“Does Joshua know how close a friend he is?” Bobby asked, the words soft but sharp.
Benji glared at him over his shoulder and shut him up with a terse, “Yes.”
Bobby grunted then walked away.
Danielle took his place. “Okay, what was that all about?”
“Your brother being a nosy bastard,” Joshua said. “Seriously, though, when was the last time he got laid?”
“Don’t know, don’t want to know.” With an exaggerated shudder, she grabbed Andy’s hand and pulled him toward the food buffet.
Others had started going down the line, piling the offerings onto paper plates from dishes manned by volunteers in black shirts and pants. “You guys hungry?” Joshua asked.
“I could eat,” Van said. “Ben?”
Benji shrugged. “Yeah, okay.”
So much enthusiasm.
Stress over Bobby’s discovery had turned his normally high-energy boyfriend into a morose shadow of his usual self, and Joshua hated it. Van kept giving him curious looks, but Benji wouldn’t relax until he could confront Bobby about it all—and this party wasn’t the time or place.
Benji selected from the buffet without really looking. Joshua knew Benji hated meatloaf, but he requested a slab of it along with a healthy scoop of scalloped potatoes. Joshua filled his own plate with amazing smelling food. Van was pickier. Without his usual supply of healthy food, Van was stuck with a sautéed greens, a piece of salmon, and a giant scoop from a fresh fruit salad at the end of the line.
Despite Bobby’s scowl, they settled at the same table as him, Danielle, and Andy, because not sitting with them would look weird. Dominic, Trey, and Lincoln had seats at another table marked “Reserved,” where the Boundses would all eventually settle. Roxy and Starr had appeared, to the excitement of their parents. With Roxy attending college in Florida, she rarely got home to visit except for long holidays. All around them, friends and extended family members chatted and laughed.
Joshua had never been to a family gathering this big, and he found himself studying the room’s dynamics as much as the people at his own table. Several recognized one or more members of Fading Daze and came over to chat. Dominic and Trey got a lot of extra attention, too.
