Page 67 of Tied Over

I shook my head. “You’re wrong.”

“We’ll see. The good news is, either way, I have your number.”

This was a surprise. “You’d still wanna be friends with me if—”

“Us has nothing to do with Bodhi and Hayden. Am I right?”

I nodded.

“Good. Let’s eat. You’re going to love this place.”

She was right, I loved it, since fried fish and clam chowder were two of my favorite things. I had Bodhi on one side, Angie on the other, and watching Stella in absolute heaven sitting between her parents, who were talking and laughing with her, made my day.

“You know,” said Josette, who was sitting across from me, “I love that ring of yours, Jed. It’s really beautiful.”

I looked at the octopus ring on the middle finger of my left hand. “Thanks, it’s actually Bodhi’s, but I stole it a long time ago.”

“It’s yours?” Angie asked, leaning forward so she could see around me to Bodhi.

“Yeah,” he said, smiling. “When he ran away from Vegas to Chicago—”

“I beg your pardon,” I grumbled. “Ran away?”

He scoffed. “Yeah. When you left me in Vegas to move to Chicago, I was really pissed, but then I realized that’s how you do things. You leap without looking.”

“I have never—”

“Did you have a place to live in Chicago?”

“I—no.”

He chuckled, patting my thigh. “Come on. Admit it, you ran. But it was a good thing for both of us, so I didn’t mind. Plus, when I got there and saw you were still wearing my ring, I thought, yeah, we’re gonna be okay.”

The kids were all eating, and Bodhi went back to dragging pieces of cod through cocktail sauce, but all the adults were staring at me.

“What?”

“You left Vegas and he followed you?” Josette asked.

“Yeah, but—”

“And you wear his ring?” Angie clarified.

“It’s not his. It’s mine now.”

“Of course it is,” Shae agreed, grinning at me. “Who wants another beer?”

I did. God. I needed, like, five.

EIGHT

We walked around downstairs afterward, looking at so much stuff, and I started collecting the crap you bring home for your annoying friends. I got Ian a lovely heavy beer stein for the freezer that had an etched design of an orca. Miro got a hoodie that said Papa Bear because he so was one. I got Wes a sweatshirt that said Official Search and Rescue, and Dorsey a huge bottle opener that he’d like because it was ridiculous. I’d have to be on the lookout for gifts for the others and was pleased that Bodhi was collecting items as well. Whenever anyone went on vacation, we all got various knickknacks and tchotchkes when they returned. It was just one of those things you did.

We stopped for oversize cookies to bring back to the house, got coffee and pastries, and while we were walking, I saw both men and women turn to look at my partner.

“That must always happen to him,” Angie said with a sigh.

“Yep. Always.”