“Like otters?” I asked.
“Like otters,” he confirmed. “Also I want you to move in here, please say yes, I’ll literally die of embarrassment if you don’t.”
I laughed, but only because the joy welling up in my chest couldn’t be contained and had to escape somehow.
“Is there a strongeryesthanhell yes?” I asked, grinning up at the ceiling.
Becausehell yes, I wanted to move in here. Much as I loved my dad, the one part of my plan I hadn’t been sure about was living with him until I figured something else out.
But if Wes wanted mehere, then I wasn’t moving ever again.
“Fuck yes?” Wes suggested.
I gathered all the strength I had left to turn onto my side and look at him, still grinning like an idiot.
“Fuck yes, then.”
Wes grinned back at me, glowing with happiness. I wasn’t sure what I’d done to deserve him, but whatever it was, I was planning on doing it for the rest of my life.
He got as far as opening his mouth when there was a knock on the door.
Dad.
Holy shit.
He had to know how bad his timing was, right? He had to. There was no way he couldn’t realize that we’d run off after a dinner as fast as politeness allowed to tear each other’s clothes off.
“We’re having sex,” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
I’d meant to whisper it, as a joke, to Wes, but my frustration had gotten the better of me.
“Still?” Dad’s voice called back, and then a softer, “well, they are thirty years younger than you, Phil.”
Beside me, Wes snorted, and then burst into giggles, rolling over to bury his face in my shoulder as I bit my lip and blushed down to my goddamn elbows.
“It can wait,” Dad called. “Happy for you.”
Wes was still giggling against me as I strained to listen to Dad’s footsteps on the gravel path outside, until they got too quiet to hear.
“Tomorrow, we’re setting ground rules,” I said. “To stop him doing that.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Wes responded, peeking up at me, face still flushed from laughing, eyes glittering with happiness. “I’m not sure I could even get it up anymore without wondering when your dad’s gonna interrupt.”
I didn’twantto laugh at that—it wasn’t funny, itreallywasn’t, I didn’t want to spend a lifetime having my sex life interrupted by my own father—but I couldn’t help it.
We dissolved into a giggling pile of limbs, clinging to each other as we laughed, still holding hands.
Like otters.
Who were never going to lose each other again.
33
Wes
It was just as wellHayden had decided to buy this place at the end of the summer, because even now that September had hit, I was still sweating through my shirt as I worked on sanding down the old weatherboards.
He’d said there was no rush—we could take our time and opennextsummer, which gave us a solid nine months to renovate—but also, like his dad, his idea ofrenovatingwas a complete remodel.
