Page 6 of Starved Until Sunset

“I’m glad we still work together, but it’s not the same.”

“It’s nothing like what we had. What we built.”

“What you built.” Cody looked out his window. “You ran the whole business.”

“We’ve talked about this a million times, at least.”

“Slight exaggeration.”

“We came up with the idea, together. We signed paperwork, together. We ran our business and made decisions about the business, together.”

“Yeah, I know.” Cody tried for a smile, but in the red glow from the traffic light, it looked hard and hurt. “But you managed it.”

“I did most of the paperwork, yes. But you did the bulk of the client work and animal trapping.” The sigh came from somewhere deep inside Demetrius. He felt empty afterward. “We worked really, really well together.” The light changed, the green glow filling the interior of the cab, and he pulled ahead. “We still work really well together.”

“I’ll remind you about that tomorrow when we decorate the streetlights.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty interesting. Think it’ll make much difference?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Cody pushed himself up in the seat as Demetrius pulled into a spot right outside Margie’s Diner. “I’m just glad it’s not scraping up roadkill.”

“So awful.” Demetrius touched Cody’s arm, stopping him from getting out of the truck. “Are we good?”

Cody leaned over for a quick, soft kiss. “Always.”

The meatloaf was delicious, and it seemed to perk them both up a bit. When they stood to leave, Margie came out of the kitchen and handed Demetrius a plastic bag filled with cast off parts of vegetables. “For Trevor.”

“Thanks, Margie.”

“If I didn’t give it to you, it’d just go into the trash.”

“Trash or trash panda.” Cody mimed weighing the options with his hands. “It’s a toss-up.”

The drive home was quiet. Every so often the plastic bag would rustle in Cody’s hands, but that was all. Once Demetrius had pulled into the driveway, they both walked to the backyard.

“Trevor, dinner’s here,” Demetrius called.

Trevor’s masked face popped out of the door of the shelter Cody had built from scrap wood he’d found in the garage and an old animal carrier. Demetrius dumped the veggie haul into a big stainless-steel bowl he’d found a couple weeks ago on the side of the road while scooping up roadkill. He’d scrubbed it until it gleamed and put it in Trevor’s shelter.

“Eat up, Trev,” Cody said. “You’re living the life now.”

They left Trevor to his supper and entered the house. After almost two months of working at the DPW, they had a routine now. Demetrius usually showered first while Cody ran their coveralls through the washing machine. Once Demetrius finished his shower, Cody got in, and by the time he was through, Demetrius was in the basement moving the coveralls to the dryer. He heard the TV switch on upstairs and Cody running through the channels until he found a baseball game. The World Series was underway, and even though neither team from Pennsylvania had made it to the playoffs, Cody was going to watch. Demetrius didn’t mind. He’d probably be asleep in ten minutes anyway.

Cody was propped up in a corner of the couch, one leg extended along the cushions, and the opposite foot planted on the carpet. He was studying his phone but shifted position slightly to allow Demetrius to sit in the V of his legs and lean back against him.

This was Demetrius’s favorite part of the day. Cody big and warm and solid behind him, the television volume low, and only one lamp on across the room.

A gentle kiss on the top of his head helped Demetrius relax even more, and, in moments, the sound of the television and heat of Cody’s body lulled him into sleep.

CHAPTER TWO

The garland consisted of black and orange plastic strips tightly wrapped around flexible wire, with purple and orange twinkling lights twisted around it. At first look, Cody thought they were festive, and would be a nice touch to the downtown business district. But after wrapping two dozen streetlight poles, he was pretty much over them. They’d been provided a good number of black zip ties which they used to keep the garland evenly spaced along the poles, Cody securing the upper ones and Demmy the lower. By the time they’d tightened the last tie, the sun was already low in the sky, and Cody was tired of Halloween before the damn holiday had even come around.

“You were better with the bucket this time,” Cody said as he drove them back to the DPW garage. “Not as jerky.”

“Thanks.” Demmy rolled his head in a circle.

“Tired?”