“Harvey,my friend, I gotta thank you,” Reggie said the moment I answered his call. “You’ve sent me the man of my dreams.”
“Liam?” I asked.
Iggy looked over at me from the kitchen, eyebrow raised.
“It’s Reggie,” I mouthed at him, covering the phone with my hand.
“Yeah, Liam!” Reggie enthused. “Not only is he hard working and smarter than he looks—not a high bar to jump over, but you know what I mean—he also beats the shit out of your skinny ass in terms of being able to just haul crap around when we need to. I think I’m in love, Harv,” Reggie joked.
I laughed, thrilled that Reggie was happy. The guilt of leaving him to fend for himself paled in comparison to the joy of being with Iggy, but I was glad I’d found him a good replacement.
I was happy for Liam, too. He didn’t get Iggy, but maybe he’d find someone better for him.
Probably not Reggie, but you never knew.
“So he’s settling in okay?”
“Are you kidding?” Reggie asked. “He was born for this. Apparently he used to work for a guy called Big Dick, which I love, by the way. He’s promised to hook me up with one of the company shirts.”
I laughed. Liam and Reggie were made for each other. I’d had an inkling they’d get along, and it was nice to hear I’d been right.
“Yeah, that’s… a thing, here,” I said. “Big Dick’s Lube and Service is an institution in these parts. We used to steal the apostrophe off the sign. Remind me to send you a picture of the new one they’ve got on the road into town.”
“So how are things in… Ocelot Ranch or whatever?” Reggie asked.
“Otter Bay,” I corrected, moving to the couch, since this obviously wasn’t going to be a two-minute conversation.
“That’s what I said.” Reggie sniffed. “You building a little love nest, or what?”
“You should see this cabin, Reg,” I said as Iggy came to join me, snuggling up against my side.
Theo hopped up onto his lap a second later—he was growing so fast I’d started taking daily pictures of him just so we’d have proof that he used to be a lot smaller.
“Please send me cabin pictures,” Reggie said. “You know I love cabin porn.”
“Will do,” I said. “I wanted to thank you, actually. For giving me the push I needed to do this. I’m… I’m really happy.”
Iggy took my free hand, looping it around his waist and linking our fingers together, snuggling just a little closer.
Yeah.Thiswas what happiness looked like.
“Good,” Reggie said. “You deserve it. Tell me to butt out if it’s none of my business, but what’re you doing with yourself out there? Aside from the obvious.”
I wasn’t sure whatthe obviouswas, but I also wasn’t brave enough to ask.
“It just so happens that my fiancé runs a very successful coffee shop,” I said, grinning at Iggy. “He’s graciously letting me do the baking.”
“You bake?” Reggie asked. “You never baked for me!”
“It’s been a while, but I think it’s going okay,” I said, thinking of the long,longlines we were still seeing when word got around that I’d just taken a fresh batch of brownies out of the oven. I’d started out doubling the batter, now I was quadrupling it and still running out.
I’d created a monster.
It was nice to make people happy for a change, though. Fixing computers didn’t make people happy the way a still-warm chocolate brownie did.
“I’m signing a deal for my brownie recipe with the guy who runs the local ice cream parlor,” I added. “Look out for Harvey’s chocolate brownie chunk ice cream in the freezer aisle next summer.”
“Seriously?” Reggie asked. “You’ve got it made. Are they gonna put your picture on it?”
