Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“Dad, is Uncle Brian gonna stay for Christmas?” Michael caught him right outside his studio, and when he looked at his son, Michael’s hands were in his pockets and his shoulders were up around his ears.
“It’s just that it’s a little weird. Like, I know Ellis’s daddy is coming, and we haven’t decorated everything yet. And Uncle Brian is kind of squirrely.”
“Brian’s a little worried about us, kiddo.
He thinks that we’re out in the middle of nowhere, and that some bear is going to eat us or something.
” Ichabod felt awful because he knew Brian had upset the boys.
Even though the girls were ecstatic to see him, and he brought them presents.
Zane and Michael both felt like Brian had totally disrupted their holiday season, and that things weren’t going well.
Ellis didn’t like him. Not that he could blame Ellis.
Brian had come in like a wrecking ball and made a mess, throwing accusations around and not giving Ellis a chance to even show what a neat man he was.
“Okay, I just wondered.”
“You look upset, Michael.” What the hell had Brian said now? Because Michael seemed more than worried about Christmas.
“He said that I shouldn’t mess with the animals that they were dangerous. Brian, I mean.”
Oh damn, that was going to be the worst thing Brian could say to Michael. That kid was wild about the horses and the cattle, and he wanted things for 4-H like goats and llamas.
“Well, you know I trust Ellis, and if Ellis says that you’re ready to be around the animals, then you are. And you know that you can’t go out there and do stuff with them without one of us. So, Brian can let it go, huh?” He ruffled Michael’s hair.
“Zane is worried this is going to ruin his Christmas parties.” Michael chewed on his lower lip. “You know I love Uncle Brian, but—”
“I do, kiddo. I get it, but this is our first year here, right? And we want to have our first Christmas here be all magical and stuff. Be us as a family. Brian won’t stay—not through the holiday. He’ll go home soon.”
“Promise?” That was Zane. He came sauntering up with something in his hand that looked like maybe a sub sandwich wrapped up in paper.
“What’s that?” Ichabod nodded to this wrapped hunk of whatever in Zane’s hand.
“It’s a sandwich. When Ellis went and picked me up today at Jason’s, we stopped and got subs on the way. I thought I’d bring you yours because I know you want to get to work.” Zane thrust the sandwich at him.
Ichabod frowned. “Did you get one for Brian, too? Please tell me you guys didn’t leave him out.”
“Dude, Dad, I’m not an asshole and neither is Ellis.”
Ichabod forced himself not to roll his eyes, and that was because it was all at himself. He didn’t want Zane to believe for a second it was at him. “You’re right. Gosh! Guys, I’m so stressed.”
He figured that was the best way to be. These kids were old enough to understand, especially Zane.
“Then, I think it’s time for you to tell Uncle Brian he needs to go.” Zane sounded so sure with all the confidence of a fifteen-year-old white boy. “Seriously, it’s time. We have crap to do. Plans. And we love him and stuff, but damn.”
He did chuckle then. “Okay. He’s seen enough to know none of us are in real distress, right?”
Michael brightened. “Right. And maybe he can come back later and come ski with us. After New Year’s.”
“Now, that’s a great idea.” Brian could bring his guy. They could stay at a resort in Snowmass.
“Cool, here’s your sandwich. We can go talk to him now. Then you can go to work later. Fair?” Zane offered him a tight smile.
“Okay, that’s more than fair. What kind of sandwich did y’all get me?”
“Turkey bacon club with avocado, no mayo.”
“Good job.” He high-fived Zane. “All right, come on. Let’s go. I’m gonna talk to Uncle Brian.”
He walked in to find Ellis sitting there, kind of staring at Brian, and the girls eating their sandwiches and jabbering at each other to fill the silence.
“Hey, thanks for the sandwiches!” He went for cheery, even though this was going to suck.
“You’re welcome, baby.” Ellis gave him a smile that only looked a little tense.
“Zane remembered my order,” Brian put in. “I’m impressed.”
“Hey, I’m a genius.” Zane plopped down to open his sammy.
“You are a genius.” Ichabod bumped shoulders with Zane. “So, I have to ask. How long do you intend to stay, Brian? I sort of need to make plans.” He might as well start out like he could hold out.
“Well, I wasn’t sure how long you’d need me…”
Ellis blinked and looked at him, and both boys looked at him.
Lord save him from being rescued.
Ichabod took a deep breath, “Honey, I love you dearly, and I love to see you. But we’re fine. It was incredibly sweet for you to come.”
“But…” Brian said.
“But we have company coming. The kids are meeting Ellis’s dad for the first time.
We’ve got a lot of decorating to do for the holidays, and I was thinking that you and Scott could come around the end of the year.
Maybe come out, stay at the lodge, go skiing at Snowmass or you could come and see Aspen Gay Days.
That would be fabulous! Something planned where everybody could have fun. ”
Please let him do this right.
Brian gave him a wry grin. “I’d love to come for Gay Ski Week. So, yeah, I can head out tomorrow. Scott would love for me to come back in time for all his work parties.”
“Excellent! I would love to have you for Gay Ski Week. I think we could have a ball. Is there anything that you would like to do tonight for supper?” Is there anything I can do to make it better?
I totally just asked my best friend to leave because he was disrupting my household, and I want to have a nice Christmas. Was there a gift for that?
“Real Mexican food. Atlanta has a dearth of the stuff I craved in college. Can I have Mexican food?”
“Dude, Ellis makes the best enchiladas. Like they have green chile and chicken and this sauce…” Michael was lit up again. “Ellis, could you please make enchiladas for dinner? Pretty please.”
“Sure, buddy, sounds good to me. We have all the stuff.” Ellis shot Brian a smile, and this one seemed much more natural. “I’m assuming that’s all right rather than going out.”
Brian snorted and threw his arms up, a piece of cheese from his sandwich going flying, dramatic as all get-out.
It was almost as entertaining as the way Mavis snatched the bite of cheddar out of the air.
“Are you kidding? Homemade food? That rocks. Thanks, and thank you all for letting me come and check on my favorite people. I know that you all think I’m dumb, but I needed to lay eyes on my folks.”
Ichabod reached across the table and took Brian’s hand. “Of course we’re not mad,” he said. “It’s incredibly dear. You’re good to me, and I appreciate you. And I think we’re going to have a ball at the gay days.”
Zane rolled his eyes. “I’m surrounded by rainbow-waving people.” Then Zane shot him a quick wink. “Did you know my girlfriend is bi?”
Ichabod didn’t need to hear this. He didn’t want to know, but he smiled because what else could he do? “Is she? Well, cool, I’m glad she knows that about herself.”
He was going to die. Just bang, right on the floor, dead.
He remembered when he came out to his folks, and he knew that it had to be the same where they were sitting there going, “We don’t want to know who you’re sleeping with or that you’re thinking about sleeping with anyone.
Or that there’s even attraction, because you’re our little boy and we don’t want to think of you as attracting or attractive or any of those things. ”
So that was where he was with Zane. But he hoped he was in a decent place with Brian, and Ellis was smiling. So, Ichabod breathed a sigh of relief.
“Cool. I’m going to eat lunch and then I really do have to go back out there and get some work done at the studio.” He offered an olive branch. “Bri, you want to come sit with me and chat?”
Bri nodded. “I do. I’ll have to make some calls first, get some stuff settled, talk to Scott, but I definitely want to come out and sit with you while you work for a while.”
“Maybe we can all hang out and watch a movie before you go tomorrow,” Zane said. For his teenager, that was quite an olive branch. Zane tended to disappear into his room to play video games, no matter what was going on out in the front room.
Bri gave his son a happy look. “I would love that too. You guys are being super cool about all this.”
“Michael, you want to go work those new cows with me after lunch?” Ellis smiled at Michael. “And there are two new horses, too.”
“Oh my God! I have to be the first one to meet them all!” Michael bounced in his chair, munching on a piece of some kind of crunchy vegetable.
Ichabod had to snort and shake his head, because things were already getting back to normal.
Just the idea of Bri leaving them before the holiday had made everybody so much happier.
Not that the girls noticed. He wasn’t even sure they’d been listening to the conversation.
They were singing some sort of song together and doing it with their mouths full, which was lovely.
But he did feel as though he had diffused a bad situation. So kudos to him. He got best friend points, he got parent points, and he got points with his lover. At least he hoped he did. If it didn’t do that, then he was going to be pissed.
But he had a feeling that it had worked, and now he could move on with all their plans for Christmas, which was exhausting, but that was okay, that was his job.