10
Kit
“Doyou boys have anything planned for today?” Father asked, pouring tea for Andy like the world’s most affable host, a role he almost never took on.
Andy accepted the cup, yawned, and let his head fall against my shoulder.
Mother looked determinedly out the window behind us, on the other side of the table.
“Nothing in particular,” I said. “Andy?”
“Hmm?” he hummed through a mouthful of tea. I got the feeling he was developing a taste for it.
“You mustn’t forget that invitation to Will’s little get together tonight,” Mother said, buttering toast as though it was a delicate task on par with splitting the atom. “He would be so disappointed to miss you.”
Damn. I’d forgotten all about it until now.
“The guy you were talking to yesterday?” Andy asked.
“Oh yes,” Mother said, still without looking at him. “They’re very old friends. Joined at the hip when they were boys.”
That was a lie, but I hesitated to start an argument over the breakfast table. Mother’s fantasy had always been that we’d be the best of friends, but that wasn’t how it’d really gone.
“Is she talking about sex?” Andy stage-whispered beside me.
Father snorted, Mother glared at him, and it took all my willpower not to smirk.
“Really,” Mother said after a moment, still refusing to so much as look at Andy.
“Well,” Father spoke up. “The dogs are at your disposal, or you’re quite welcome to come into town with me today. I have some business to attend to.”
“No,” Mother said. “You’ll make them late for the party.”
Father gave me a look that saidI triedloud and clear.
I appreciated the attempt.
“I like Christmas parties,” Andy spoke up.
The look on Mother’s face was priceless, and if I thought Andy would appreciate it at all I could’ve kissed him.
... I shouldn’t have been thinking about kissing Andy.
Or about the sheer joy of waking up in the middle of the night with Andy snuggled up against my side, cuddling me like a favorite stuffed toy.
The embarrassment of this morning was a small price to pay for that memory. Even now it made my heart ache with tenderness at the thought of the tiny smile on his face, the way his fingers curled gently into my t-shirt.
I knew better than to think any of that was because ofme, specifically. I’d just been a warm body.
But I liked the way being a warm body for Andy felt.
“Well, there you have it,” Father said, smiling down at his eggs. “Andy coming to your defense, dear.”
There was nothing Andy could have done that would’ve upset mother more.
“Perhaps there’s hope for him.” Mother sniffed. “Robert plans to arrive tomorrow,” she added.
“Oh good,” Father said, by which he clearly meant he would have preferred to put his hand in the blender.
