“You can still enjoy the stories,” I say.
He nods as Buckle settles into the couch.
“Come, my mates.” Buckle opens his arms.
Abel hesitates, so I take his hand and gently guide him to the couch. He sits on his own, then leans into Buckle. By the time I’m seated on Buckle’s other side, Abel is hugging him by the waist, face pressed to his chest. I can’t help but push my pheromones and smoothe Abel’s hair down. I wrap my arms around them both.
Abel sighs, then mumbles against Buckle. “Twenty minutes tops.”
“Thirty, and I’m not negotiating,” Buckle says. He grabs the blanket on the back of the couch and throws it over the three of us. I set a timer on my phone. We can’t break Abel’s trust in this.
For the next thirty minutes, we all soak up pheromones. Abel’s so calm he might have fallen asleep, and I hope he has. My phone vibrates and I rub his back.
“Abel, our thirty minutes are up,” I say softly.
He nods, but doesn’t move otherwise. “Five more minutes?”
“Gladly,” Buckle says and I restart the timer for five minutes.
Abel snuggles in closer into Buckle, and he reaches for me. I want him in my lap. I want to comfort him myself, but I’m also glad Buckle is here. It’s been years since I’ve been able to comfort anyone and the fact that I have two mates makes my heart so happy.
The five minutes are up, and I rub Abel’s back again. “Sweetness, do you want to finish getting ready for work?”
He shakes his head. “I want to stay here forever,” he whispers. “Feels too good.”
“I know, babe,” Buckle says. He drops a kiss to the top of Abel’s head and gives me the most satisfied look. “We can call Riley. I’m sure he’d understand.”
Abel pushes to sit up, and he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. He goes red when we all notice the drool spot on Buckle’s chest. “No. We have a meeting this afternoon for the Valentine’s Day festival and I need to be there. Aaron specifically asked me to help.”
“He did?” Buckle asks.
“Yeah. He’s been coming to the library as long as I’ve worked there, always requesting the maps of the town so he can decide where to best host the various festivities he likes to come up with. He wanted to have the Valentine’s Day festivalanddance by the lake until I pointed out that people might not want to freeze their tails off. We decided on the town hall for the dance and the events hall for the festival itself. There’ll be food trucks and carriage rides outside, but for the most part everything will be inside. He asked for my help with planning how to set up the vendors and how many to have. I told him he probably waited too long to get started, but that I’d do my best to help.”
Buckle and I are speechless.
“Most people don’t know I’m behind a lot of the events around here. I know Mink Hollow like the back of my hand with my eyes closed and Aaron knows it.” Abel chews on his bottom lip. “I think Aaron knows I like that kinda work, too. He and Riley have always been nice to me. It’s why I don’t want to disappoint either of them.” He picks at the cushion. “But I know you’re right. Riley won’t be mad at me for being late. I’m usually very responsible and I’m sorry for last night. I knew I wasn’t feeling right, but I kept drinking. I wanted to see what it felt like not to think for a moment, but all it did was make me thinkeven more. And my tummy didn’t like it. Or my head. My body felt weird and fuzzy, like it wasn’t mine. I don’t think I’m going to drink again anytime soon.” He hangs his head, but he’s not pouring out anxiety, which is a relief.
I resist a chuckle. “You’re not the first or last to be embarrassed about being drunk. You were safe, though.”
He nods. “But it’s not like me.” He pushes to his feet. “I should get ready. Thank you for spying on me and comforting me. I really do feel better.” He gives us the brightest smile. It’s like clouds parted in the sky and he’s the sun. He’s so radiant when he smiles. If only I could take pictures with my mind.
“Can I invite you both for dinner tonight? Or tomorrow?” Buckle asks. “My place. I want to make you something.”
“Tomorrow,” Abel says. “Sometime after six. We have another festival meeting at four that I can’t miss. We’ll be making a list of vendors we’d like to invite and cross-reference it with the vendors that have already applied in the short window of time we’ve been promoting. I’m still wondering how we’re going to pull this off with such short notice, but Aaron has given me shorter time periods before.”
Abel grins again when I open my mouth to say Aaron needs to wrangle expectations. Then he asks a question I hadn’t even thought of. “Would you like to be a vendor? I’m trying to convince Aaron that an adult’s only area could be a lot of fun. Something mysterious where people have to show their IDs. Or you could promote your pole dancing classes. But I was thinking more along the idea of toys or books or magazines.” I’m surprised he keeps eye contact.
“I’ll consider it. Send me the information when you get the chance.”
Abel sucks in a breath and nods.
“I’m happy to help somehow,” Buckle says. “Just let me know.” He scratches the back of his head.
“Will do. Aaron’s wanting it to be a big birthday bash, too. I’m excited even if I am spicy about him waiting until the first of the year to decide to do it. That’s just not a lot of time to set anything up. But we’re getting there. Riley lets me makecalls while I’m at the library because he knows it’s good for the community. I’m going to have a booth for my crochet stuff. I’ll have blankets and hats and stuffies. Nothing as nice as what Aaron does, but?—”
“Don’t put yourself down like that,” I say. I rub a finger along the blanket still on my lap. “You made this, didn’t you?”
He nods. “One sec.” He rushes out of the living room, and comes back clutching a small octopus with curly tentacles. “These are for premie babies and they’re so fun to make.” He clutches it close. “I made a big one for me and I plan on making more big ones to sell.”
