5
It was dark before the pizza arrived, and they sat on the sofa with shrink wrap coiled around their feet; Tean had been too tired to do anything more than cut it off and let it fall.
The single lamp that had survived the move pushed weak yellow light into the gloom.
Scipio panted and paced the living room, pausing to peer out the window and growl at anyone—including neighbor children—who dared to make an appearance.
Jem sprawled with his feet on the coffee table, and when Scipio’s route took him behind the sofa, Jem stretched an arm back with a string of cheese, a slice of pepperoni, a crumb of sausage, which Scipio snapped up before continuing his guard duty.
Tean’s job, apparently, was not to notice.
“Why is he so worked up?” Jem asked as Scipio pressed up against the glass and made warning noises for a family walking by. “Scipio—Skip! Come here! Leave them alone!”
Scipio crouched lower, his growl growing louder, hackles stiff.
“He’s confused,” Tean said. “He doesn’t know why we’re here. It’s a new space, and it’s going to take him some time to get used to it.”
“Scipio!” Jem said.
The family passed out of sight, and Scipio—job done—slunk over to Jem to press a shoulder against his knee and accept a slice of pepperoni.
“That’s reinforcement,” Tean said. “You know that, right? Every time he gets a treat for barking at someone, he learns he should do it again.”
“The treat isn’t for barking at someone,” Jem said as he rubbed Scipio’s ears. It’s for being cute.”
“He doesn’t know the difference.”
Jem’s mouth opened into an O of outrage. “Uh, yeah, he does. He’s super smart, actually.”
That seemed like a good cue to pack up the leftovers.
Jem—and Scipio—followed him into the kitchen, though. Jem hopped up to sit on the counter, and Scipio squeezed between his legs.
“Did you think that was as good as Free Wheeler?” Jem asked as Tean transferred slices of pizza to a tupperware. Before Tean could answer, Jem said, “The sauce was different.”
“We can get Free Wheeler next time,” Tean said.
“But this place is closer,” Jem said.
Tean sealed the lid on the container and looked at Jem. The blond man wasn’t frowning, not exactly, but his mouth was tight.
“I’m sure Free Wheeler delivers here,” Tean said. “Or we can pick it up.” When Jem didn’t say anything, Tean added, “Ready to call it a night?”
Jem trailed after him into the bedroom. Scipio brought up the rear, nails clicking on the old floorboards.
No lamps here, but at least this room had a ceiling fixture.
Scipio inspected his bed, turning in place, sniffing and huffing, until Tean told him to lie down.
They undressed in silence and got into bed, and then Tean remembered he had to get up to turn off the light, and he added one more lamp to the tally for tomorrow.
The mattress pinged and shifted as they got settled.
A moment later, furious sniffing commenced again.
“Scipio, lie down,” Tean said.
Instead, the Scipio’s nails rasped against the dog bed’s upholstery.
“Scipio,” Tean said.
“He’s scared,” Jem said.
“He’s not scared,” Tean said. “He’s just not used to this place yet. It’ll take weeks, maybe months before he’ll feel at home here. It’s a big transition.”
Scipio was still trying to claw up his bed.
“Scipio—”
“Maybe he could sleep up here,” Jem said, and his voice was unexpectedly small. “Just for the first night.”
Tean opened his mouth to say no. But he said, “Only for tonight, unless you want to share the bed permanently.”
Jem, Tean was pretty sure, did want to share the bed permanently with Scipio, so that had probably been a mistake.
It took some shifting around before they were settled: Jem curled up against Tean, his head resting on Tean’s shoulder, his arm across Tean’s stomach, and Scipio stretched out on Jem’s other side.
In the morning, Tean was willing to bet, he’d find the two of them spooning.
Jem’s breath was soft against Tean’s collarbone, and he sounded miles away from sleep.
And maybe Tean, realized, he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was. But he did, eventually, figure things out.
Combing his fingers through Jem’s hair, he said, “What makes you think Scipio is scared?”
“I don’t know,” Jem said. “It’s a new place, like you said.”
Tean made a soft sound of assent.
“And it’s a lot of change.”
“Yeah, it is.
Jem was silent for long seconds before saying, “He’s never lived in a house before. Not his own house, you know?”
“I guess that’s true.”
“And he likes the yard, and he likes having more space in the house, and he likes that big window he can look out—”
“And bark at everyone who walks past,” Tean said.
“Well, yeah. That’s his job.” More of that silence, a deep-woods silence, full of the breaths of living things. “What if he’s afraid he starts to like it, and then he has to go back and live—” Whatever Jem had been about to say, he changed it. “—somewhere else?”
Tean’s fingers moved slowly through Jem’s thick hair. He scritched lightly at Jem’s scalp, letting the moment be about one body touching another, and the warmth of that contact, and the pleasure, after all those years of being alone, of being touched.
“Nobody’s going anywhere,” Tean said, and he kissed Jem’s temple. “We’re a family.”