“I went out to dinner. I made somebody else do the cooking.”
Mitch blinked a little bit trying to parse that. “You didn’t go see anybody?”
“No, I didn’t get an invitation to any stuff this year, and that doesn’t surprise me. They’re all pissed at me for one reason or another. You know, it is what it is.”
Mark sounded kind of down. “You should have come here, man. Trust me, one more person would not have been a problem. I still have leftovers.”
“Leftovers are good. They can be versatile. You know I love me a turkey stuffing cranberry gravy sandwich.”
“I do know that about you. You are changing the subject, though. What happened. Why were you uninvited? I thought you had a steady. Are they mad at you?”
“Buddy, I’d rather not talk about it.” Mark chuckled again. “I’d rather live vicariously through you.”
“Well, if you decide you need to talk about it, you let me know.”
“I will, man. I promise. I love you.”
Mitch frowned. “I love you too. I really do, and I need to tell you?—”
“Nope. If you thank me one more time, I’m going to bash you over the head with a bucket.”
Not at him grinning again. “A bucket?”
“That’s what’s closest to hand. I have one sitting in the kitchen waiting for me to mop, and I don’t feel like doing it.”
“Go sit down and have a beer. Is it too early to have a beer?” He shrugged. “Anyway, I was going to thank you but?—”
“Living well is the best thanks I can have. All right, I’m going to stop being maudlin and go wipe my floor. I’ll talk to you again soon, man.”
“Please do, and call me if you want to come for Christmas. Having someone else here would not be a problem for that either.”
“I’ll let you know. Bye, buddy.”
“Bye.” Mitch ended the call and then got the sink fitted even as he pondered all of that. He always figured Mark had such an amazing life, but maybe not.
God knew it wasn’t about the money. Happy was about the people that a man surrounded himself with.
Mitch didn’t like that Mark didn’t have a…a safety net surrounding him. He was going to have to get Mark to come visit. That was all there was to it.
He chewed on his bottom lip for a minute, and then got himself back to work.
He would talk to Cam when he got home about Mark. They could work it out together. That was one of the best parts about being part of a couple—there was another grown-up to talk to, to bounce ideas off.
He started cleaning up his mess, tickled as all get-out about the way the vanity looked. He liked the way it fit in the bathroom quite a bit, and his girls would be stuffing drawers happily for hours.
His phone rang again, and he groaned, but answered it because it was Lori. God knew, she’d done him enough solids that he couldn’t not answer.
“What do you need, lady?”
“Well, basically, I need you to pick up your children from school today. All of mine came home sick. In fact, Momma and Daddy are sick, Wilder’s sick… I think the only ones out of all of us that aren’t sick at this point are Kacey and me. They even sent Lizzie home from work at the hospital.”
“What kind of sick?” He immediately went to wash his hands.
“Stomach flu. Stay away. It’s brutal.”
Thank goodness his girls hadn’t been over to play in a day or two, but damn, if it was going through school… Hell, they were all exchanging presents and germs at an alarming rate. That norovirus thing was for the birds.
“Yeah, no problem, I’ll pick them up. Is there anything I can drop off for y’all? Sprites, chicken soup, toast, or bread for y’all to make toast? I can just leave it on your porches.”
