Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
There was a narrow window of time between asleep and aware when Myles managed to live in the dream.
It came every morning, and he followed it back to when his sister was alive.
Healthy. Jet was happy. Shelly wasn’t manic.
He was sober. This time, the dream included Steven, pizza, and… deliciously sore muscles.
He didn’t follow the dream past the ache in his backside. That was no dream.
That was real.
He rolled over to an equally real, but empty, bed.
The house groaned like an old man. The bedroom door began to slowly swing shut, cutting him off from the rest of the house, but a voice admonished it from beyond.
“Don’t you dare, you miserable pile of ugly bricks.”
The door swung even more slowly back open, and Steven appeared, carrying a tray.
“Morning.” He came in and set the tray on the bed. “Didn’t mean to be gone so long, but it took some time to figure out your unnecessarily complicated coffee machine.” He handed Myles a mug. “Still not sure I got it right. I think it’s probably a little strong.”
Myles sipped and grimaced. “More cream, please.” He held the mug where Steven could reach to pour cream into it.
“As you wish.”
Myles stared at the mug for a heartbeat, then at Steven, who winked as he crawled onto the bed next to him.
“Any sign of Jet?” Myles asked.
“Not sure? The pizza we left him was gone, box and all, so either he came down to get it, or you have a concerning problem with ROUSs you should probably address before you sell this monstrosity.”
Myles stared at him some more.
“What did I say?”
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know. Except Natalie would approve of you if only because you just casually slid The Princess Bride into the conversation without a pause. Twice.”
“You noticed that.”
“I did.”
Steven grinned. “Our favourite family movie.”
“I read the book. Didn’t see the movie until Natalie left me alone with the kids the first time. It was Shelly’s go-to before she discovered Avatar.”
“Not as many good quotes from Avatar.”
“None, really.”
“No.”
They sat shoulder to shoulder for a few minutes sipping too-strong coffee.
“You know I don’t mean to pressure you, right?” Steven asked after a while.
“I do know that.”
“You have to do what’s best for you.”
“What’s best for the kids.”
“All of you.”
“What about you?”
Steven shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
For the first time, Myles believed his confident declaration.
“Although I will keep telling you to sell this heap. It isn’t you.”
“Pat said the same thing.”
“Pat’s wise.”
Myles set his mug on the bedside table. “She’s probably the only thing I’m going to miss about this place.”
Steven remained perfectly still next to him, mug raised to cover half his face.
“Does your house have a guest room?” Myles asked.
“It can.”
“You know why I got the complicated coffee maker? To get coffee as good as Kreed’s, but it never worked right. How do you think he does it? He must put something in it. A secret ingredient.”
“Probably.”
Myles nodded. “Probably.”
“Love, maybe,” Steven suggested, because of course he would go down the schmoopy route.
It did feel like the right answer, though, and Myles agreed. “That seems on point for him.”
“Myles.”
“Yes?”
“Did you just casually drop that you’ve decided to move back—”
“Home? Yes. I think I did.”
“Griffon’s Elbow is home now? You grew up here.”
“I grew up in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. My father helped to pave it over and build these monstrous houses on it that can never be happy.”
“Griffon’s Elbow was also built on farmland.”
“Next to farmland. I looked it up. The closest farm to the town was a horse farm across the street from where the Cabin is now. The soil the town is built on was never going to support thriving farms. The topsoil was too thin and rocky, and too acidic. So that’s where they decided to build the first school and church. After that—”
“Myles?”
“Yes?”
“I don’t care.”
“No. No, I guess it doesn’t matter.”
Steven put his coffee down and turned to face him. “You’re really moving there?”
“I’m really going to talk to the kids about it and make sure it’s what we all want. But yes. I’m really going to see if it’s viable. I don’t how fast it will happen or—”
Steven put a finger over his lips. “Stop. Talking.”
Myles nodded.
“I’m going to kiss you now.”
Myles nodded again.
“And probably make love to you again.”
“Yes, please,” he said around the finger.
“Sure you’re up for it?”
Myles nodded.
“Jet?”
“Can fend for himself. He’s a big boy.”
“Good deal. You’ll be busy for a while.”