“I wish Jeff would talk to someone from my office. One of our grief counselors. They could help him move on.”
Colin heaved himself to his feet and held out his hand. “C’mon, darlin’. It’s time for bed. We can work on our friends’ relationships tomorrow. Tonight, I want to sleep.”
Chapter 5
Mapping the Journey
Colin stood in the doorway, eyeing the stacks of printed schedules, pamphlets, and rainbow flags that covered their bed while Joshua stood next to a nearly overflowing box of water bottles, scribbling on a legal pad. Colin looked down at the floor and smiled, then moved to his husband’s side. “Hey, bud.”
“Oh, hi, sweetie,” Joshua replied. “Are you done prepping your case?” He glanced at his watch. “Damn! Let me fix you some lunch.”
Colin smiled and waved away his suggestion. “I just ate a sandwich, and no, babe, not done yet. I still have a ton of forensic evidence to go through.” His handsome face twisted into an apologetic grimace. “Sorry. I know I haven’t been much help.”
“Don’t be sorry! I know it’s an important case.”
"Well, I don't know if it's important, but it's definitely high-profile. It's a fraud case that hurt a lot of people. Millions were siphoned off, and hundreds of innocent lives were ruined. And as if that weren’t enough, I’m up against a defense team renowned for overwhelming any prosecutor they meet with an avalanche of irrelevant legal details.”
“You’re not justanyprosecutor, my love,” Joshua assured him. “You thrive under pressure.” He slid his fingers beneath the sleeve of Colin’s snow-white T-shirt, caressing his skin, feeling his heart skip a beat as he stroked the warm, smooth muscles.
Colin leaned back and cocked an eye, drawing a quick laugh from Joshua. “NowI’msorry,” Joshua said, still chuckling. “I didn’t mean to um …distractyou.”
“Bullshit! Youloveto distract me!” Colin shot back, flashing his dimples. “Besides, my goal when I walked in here was to make you stop working for a few minutes and relax with me.” He leaned closer to Joshua and nuzzled against his hair. “Are you nearly done?”
Joshua gestured toward the piles of Camp Pride material. “Once these things are sorted into packets, I’m done, at least for today. Give me fifteen minutes to deal with this stuff, and then maybe we can grab a little Colin-and-Josh time.”
“Sounds great. D’you need any help?”
Joshua shoved a piece of paper into Colin’s hand. “Here’s the list for the counselors. They each get one of everything on that list, and there are six of us. So, you need six sets.” He pointed to the end of the bed. “You’ll find all their materials down there. That’s the counselor’s area. I’ll do the campers.”
As they both began to gather the items together for their respective groups, Joshua leaned against Colin’s arm. “I know I’m investing a lot of time in this.”
“And I get it. I understand how much Camp Pride means to you.” He turned and took Joshua’s hand in his. “It means a lot to me too.” He lifted Joshua’s hand and rubbed his lips across his knuckles. “However…”
Joshua bowed his head and gave a soft, knowing laugh.
“For over a month, you have been obsessively buried in this project ontopof maintaining an already-heavy patient load atthe clinic, doing group therapy on Thursday nights, and doing mental health assessments at the courthouse.”
“I know, babe.”
Colin shrugged and went back to sorting the various items into packets. “I’ve been too buried in this case to argue about it—but it’s on my radar now.”
“Scary!”
Colin shot him an irritated look.
“OK. OK. I get it. Help me finish this, and after that, I’m all yours. Do what you want with me.”
“You might want to reconsider giving me that kind of open-ended opportunity. You have no idea what I might want. I’m pretty inventive.”
He nudged Colin’s shoulder with his own. “I think I can handle you.”
Colin snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, you’ve proven that pretty conclusively during the past five years.” He handed Joshua the sorted material. “OK. What’s next?”
“I think we’re done. Hey! Have you spoken to Trent lately? Or Jeff?”
“I talked briefly to Jeff, and I mentioned what you said about the clinic.”
“And?”
