Page 42 of Grant’s Blaze

Chapter Ten

Grant

Perspective had always been a key thing for me, but it felt more important now than ever. It always gave me the ability to appreciate what I had because I knew what it was like to have things taken away. I knew how to be a good companion because I knew what it was like to be lonely. Lately, it was reminding me about the importance of family and friends, having to face the despair of thinking they’d been taken from me.

All right…the other way around.

Which was worse.

Much fucking worse.

With that thought still in the front of my mind, I watched Elijah shuffle to answer the doorbell. I heard Bas’s low voice blending with Elijah’s in conversation, so I sat up and tried to smooth out my shirt a bit. We were all in casual clothes since it was well past business hours, but that didn’t give me permission to be a slob.

Our host beckoned us toward the breakfast nook in his kitchen. “You guys want some coffee? Tea? Something stronger?”

“Coffee sounds great,” I replied. “But you don’t have to wait on me. I can make a cup of coffee for myself. Point me toward the Keurig, man.”

Elijah laughed and steered me in the direction of the round wooden table and matching chairs where Sebastian was getting comfortable. “I don’t do that coffee grounds in a plastic pod crap around here.” He shook his head with a disgusted frown on his face.

Sebastian and I just looked at each other.

“Who is this guy?” Bas asked me under his breath.

“Betty fucking Crocker, apparently.”

Bas snorted an unrefined sound at my comment, but then we got serious.

“How’s the boy?” I asked him, figuring the subject of Kaisan would be a good icebreaker. I was right. The smile that spread across his face…well, it was priceless. A truly unprecedented expression for my longtime friend. Pure joy was the only way to describe it.

“He’s good,” Sebastian murmured. “I think he grew while I was at work today. Abbi says he sleeps most of the day and just wakes up to eat, so it would make sense if he did.”

“But he’s so young. Can you tell that stuff already?” I asked. “I mean, is there a pattern or a schedule or whatever? Man, I know jack shit about babies.”

“I was saying the exact same thing a year ago,” Bas stated. “And even now, man, I just go along with what the mama says most of the time.”

I laughed. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he assured. “When Abbigail was pregnant, I was all into it, you know? Every doctor’s appointment, every detail, every decision. Now, everything is constantly changing on the fly. So much happens in a day. I can’t possibly be consulted on everything. I would never get anything done at work.”

Elijah joined us at the table with a serving tray. He had coffee mugs, spoons, a French press that was filled to the top, and an assortment of creams and sugars. The coffee smelled so good, I perked up and my mouth watered just from the aroma. Still, I had to bust his balls a little.

“Are you wearing an apron?” I made a show of looking down his body like I expected to find some frilly protective wear tied behind his back.

“You’re a real comedian today, Twombley,” our host said while narrowing his glare in my direction.

“Yeah, you won’t be saying that for too much longer.” I busied myself with making a cup of coffee after making that remark.

Bas sat forward like an eager student. “Well, let’s get down to it. I’m guessing you two didn’t call me here at this hour so Banks could show off his Sur La Table purchases.”

At least a dozen quips evoking inspiration from Giada De Laurentiis to all the British baking shows bombarded my brain, but Bas had taken time to leave his life and haul his ass over here for me. The man made that allowance for very few people in his world. He deserved more than continuing wisecracks about coffee foam and proper meringue.

“I saw a neurologist this afternoon, as you probably already know,” I told him. “That’s why I left work early.”

“Right.” Bas took a sip of his coffee. “Shit, Martha Stewart. This is really good coffee. I’m not joking.”

Elijah narrowed his eyes and flipped him off.

Completely unfazed, Bas chuckled and then bade me, “Okay. Go on.”