Bowling for Turkeys

Beautiful Torture

MILO’S BODY seemed unbearably far away and far too masked in a hooded sweatshirt and reasonably fitted jeans as they walked side by side, their dogs leading the way and Milo’s voice confiding his evening’s activity in a breathy whisper.

“And then,” he said, pitch rising, “I fell asleep , and nobody told me there was a wet spot, and I left the lights on and… and I was all by myself .”

Garth wanted to hug him, to whirl him up in the air and celebrate, but he wasn’t sure what the dogs would do.

“That’s awesome,” he said, and Milo gave him a guarded look.

“You’re not being snarky?” he asked, uncertainty suddenly lacing his voice, and Garth stopped, turned toward Milo, and held his shoulder with his free hand.

“I’m proud of you,” Garth said softly, and at Milo’s blatantly hopeful expression, he smiled and lowered his head to brush their lips together. “That was outside of your comfort zone, and you—”

Milo snickered. “Made myself damned comfortable.”

Garth had to chuckle too. “Perfect,” he said, meaning it. And then he had to kiss Milo again. This time Milo opened his mouth and answered the kiss, happy and anticipatory and greedy. They kissed hard, steaming the frosty November air around them, until Julia made a whine and tugged at the leash in Milo’s hand.

Milo broke away and giggled before resuming their walk. But he kept his arm wrapped around Garth’s waist and Garth kept his free arm slung over Milo’s shoulder, and no, they didn’t go very fast.

“So,” Garth said, feeling warm and happy and really good about the decision to give Milo some space, “do you want me to bring dinner tonight, or are you cooking?”

“Oh my God!” Milo burst out, but not in a bad way. “You’re coming over tonight! I’d almost forgotten. I’m so happy !”

Garth tried not to stare at him. “Uhm… yay?”

Milo shook his head. “No. I mean yay, because yes, you’re coming over, but I’d forgotten that Mari’s coming over too. And I know this is….” His voice dropped with a tinge of disappointment. “I was looking forward to more kissing,” he admitted, “but Mari’s coming over, and—” He shot Garth a sideways glance. “—you’re getting important to me, and I wanted her to meet you.”

Garth’s heart sped up, and he almost jumped for joy. “Yeah?” he asked. He got how important this was.

“Oh yes.” Milo nodded and gave him an adoring smile. “I-I mean, I hope you get along. I don’t know why Stuart hated her so much, but she’s coming over, and she’s going to bring her new boyfriend, and I haven’t met him yet. So you can meet them both, but mostly her, and….” He gave Garth another sideways glance. “I really want you to like her. I really, really do.”

Garth let out a breath. “Listen,” he said soberly, “I want to like her too. Because she’s important to you. But you need to remember—even if we take one look at each other and growl and raise our hackles like Julia and Chad, we can learn to sit in the same room and behave. Do you know why?”

“No,” Milo said, terribly concerned. “And why would you even suggest that?”

“Because I don’t want you to panic,” Garth said patiently. “Mari is your friend. She’s your sister . Whether or not I like her, that doesn’t mean you ever have to give up something you love for me. So I hope I adore her. But if I don’t, remember that what matters is you adore her, okay?”

Milo scowled. “I’d rather you got along,” he said darkly.

Garth crossed quiet fingers in the back of his mind.

“I’m sure we will,” he said, hoping, hoping, hoping it was true.

“SO IT’S like a job interview,” Misty said to him the next day as he and Doug paused to hydrate as they worked on their respective tasks. Misty’s patio office was taking shape nicely, and the drywall and wiring would be done within the week. Garth had been working on the small pond in the other corner of the yard, and while the chase games of three giant, rambunctious dogs might not have made the work go faster , it most definitely made it more entertaining.

Misty and Doug, after picking up on Garth’s protectiveness over Milo on that first day nearly three weeks earlier, had been trying to gently poke him about their, in Doug’s words, “January molasses romance” ever since.

They’d both cheered when Garth had admitted—with heated cheeks—that there had been kissing. They’d booed when Garth had told them that Milo had moved back to his duplex. Garth had given them both scowls.

“He’s got a stalky douchebag of an ex-boyfriend,” he said. “Milo needs to feel powerful, and he needs to be able to do that alone, and I’d be a terrible person if I got in the way of that.”

“Well, yeah,” Doug said, undeterred. “But don’t you like him?”

Garth’s grunt of frustration had pretty much said everything, and Doug had stopped giving him shit.

So now, when Garth told them that Milo wanted Garth and Mari to meet, there were opinions. Very strong opinions.

“Mm… no,” Doug said in answer to Misty’s “job interview” analogy. “This is more important. When I met my wife’s bestie, I brought her flowers, paid for dinner, and volunteered to watch her dog when she was on vacation. I mean, Garth and I had already scared off her stalker, and she told me repeatedly that I got the job, but this—this was the ultimate test. It’s like, ‘Hello, this person is going to either be a part of your family or your greatest enemy. It all depends on the next three hours.’”

Garth stared at him, his stomach fluttering. “I hate you,” he said. “Have I told you lately how much I hate you? Because if I wasn’t godfather to your children, I would smother you in your sleep.”

All the good feelings left over from Milo’s ecstatic, sexy confession that morning had dissipated with Doug’s words. He was a landscaping manwhore whose only character reference was his dog!

Doug gave him a sympathetic shoulder squeeze. “And I have probably done something in our past to deserve it,” he said magnanimously. “But right now you need to plan to stop for flowers on your way to Milo’s house tonight, and you’d better clean under your nails.”

Garth grunted, and Misty regarded them both with puzzlement.

“That’s so odd,” she said softly. “I… I never put Jonathan through any of that. He was so handsome! So dashing! I guess I assumed he was too good for me as it was. My family lived in another state, and he just, you know, became my world.” Her gaze drifted off, and she toyed with the diamond solitaire pendant at her throat. “I wonder….”

Doug and Garth exchanged glances. “Wonder what, Misty?” Garth asked delicately.

What he wanted to say was, “No, your husband is unworthy of you, and you deserve much better, and I bet you could get this house in the divorce,” but the woman obviously enjoyed a comfortable life, and she hadn’t let the money make her mean, so he was just going to keep his opinions to himself.

She shook her head. “Nothing,” she answered absently and then seemed to focus. “You’re a very sweet boy, and while you may have had your wild days, I’m certain you’ve put them behind you. You stop and get that young woman some flowers, make sure she knows you plan to treat her best friend like gold, and I’m certain you’ll have zero problems.” A smile flitted over the corners of her mouth. She wore a trace of colored gloss on casual days, and Garth wished there was somebody there who would appreciate her the way he, Doug, and Michael did.

Class A dame, all the way.

“I appreciate that,” he said. “It had better go well. Milo’s planning on inviting us all to Thanksgiving.”

“Oh, that’s lovely,” Misty said. She started to gather up the empty water bottles and stuff them in a waiting recycling bag, but her voice had obviously dropped, and she didn’t sound as though anything was lovely, anything at all.

“Misty?” Doug asked, just as Michael came out to take the bag from her and set a tray of sandwiches down on the patio table that had been set up for refreshments.

“It’s nothing,” she said, fanning her face. She gave Michael an apologetic smile and excused herself to go wash up, leaving Doug and Garth to continue eating as they stood, hopefully before the dogs caught on to any human food being shared at this end of the yard.

“Michael?” Garth asked discreetly as she disappeared through the vinyl doorway of the office/patio. “What’s wrong? We mentioned Thanksgiving—”

“Her children won’t be coming home for the holidays this year,” Michael said softly. “Her two married daughters are visiting their partners’ families, and her son is going to school across country and saving his air miles for Christmas. He’s got friends, but….”

“But it’s just her and Mr. Parcival,” Doug said, and Garth could hear the sympathetic platitude coming, but Michael shook his head.

“I’m going to gossip here,” he confessed. “Mr. Parcival has been on business trips or working late for the past week. I don’t believe she’s had a chance to tell him there won’t be any children for the holiday, and she’s―”

“Oh no.” Alone, Garth thought. Like Milo would have been if he’d let Stuart talk him out of having Mari in his life.

Michael nodded. “My own husband is going to be gone. He’s an attending physician, and they volunteer one holiday a year to the residents so the residents aren’t working every holiday. I’m quite used to Black Friday Thanksgiving, but this is the first time since coming to work here that she hasn’t had at least a small dinner party for the holiday.”

Garth said it before he had a chance to second-guess himself. “You know what?” he said. “Let me talk to Milo. I know he and Misty got along on that first day and”—he grimaced—“I hate to think of the two of you alone on the holidays. I’ll talk to you tomorrow and set it in stone.”

Michael’s smile was amazingly warm. “That’s very kind of you,” he said. “I promise I can bring the most exquisite pies if Milo doesn’t mind.”

“Well, fine,” Doug said. “Make me feel like an asshole because I’ve already got plans.”

“We’d invite you too if you ever lost your mind and alienated your perfect family,” Garth teased.

Doug grinned. “Well, yeah. I do have a pretty good thing going. That’s fine,” he said loftily through a mouthful of a homemade cheesesteak sandwich. “You all go do what you do. I’m gonna play with the girls while my wife and her bestie and her sister create magic in the kitchen. I’ll be fine.”

“I have zero sympathy for him,” Michael said, eyes twinkling.

“He’s even got dogs,” Garth agreed. “It’s disgusting.”

“Hey,” Doug said with a swallow. “I don’t get any of Michael’s pies. I think that gets me a little slack, right?”

Garth shook his head while Michael held his hand out in a “maybe/maybe not” gesture, and the three of them laughed.

And Garth made a mental note to get Mari flowers and to ask Milo if he could invite friends to their already tenuous Thanksgiving.

MARI TOOK one glance at the flowers from him in Milo’s foyer and winced. “Lilies,” she said in dismay.

“Oh no!” Garth said, catching her tone. “Are you allergic? Do you hate them? Did somebody in your family die?”

She peered up, her strong-featured face caught by surprise. “Oh no!” she said. “I personally love them, but I’m afraid they’re going to have to live here at Milo’s. They’re toxic for cats. Milo, where’s your vase?”

Milo looked up from the cutting board where he was mincing garlic. “Vase?” he asked, as though it was a foreign word. His glasses were steamed up, and his hair—as always—stuck out like a bird’s nest in all directions, but the lines by his eyes, by his mouth, were relaxed.

He and Mari had cooked before, probably in this kitchen.

“Yes, Milo,” Mari said patiently. “You remember—that pottery vase with the really neat blue glaze?”

Milo’s relaxed, happy expression went carefully blank. “No,” he said. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened to it.”

Mari cocked her head, and Garth sucked in a furious breath. “That’s okay,” he said. “I see a plastic pitcher on top of the fridge. Let’s put them in there.”

Stuart. Of course. Garth wondered how many of Mari’s gifts Stuart had broken or disposed of while Milo ran interference.

What. A. Douche.

“Oh my God,” Mari muttered, like she’d put two and two together. “Yeah, fine, the pitcher’s a good idea.” Obviously embarrassed, she set about putting the lilies in the pitcher and put them on the table. She also took Garth’s side dish of pan-fried brussels sprouts and put it in a corner of the stove, probably to keep the heat from seeping out.

Garth felt the melancholy funk that had settled in the kitchen at the invisible presence of Milo’s ex and wished Chad was the growly sort of nightmare who would eat Stuart’s face.

Unfortunately, he’d left Chad in front of the television that night, figuring the big guy had about worn himself out with Misty’s dogs.

Which reminded him!

“Oh wow.” He smiled apologetically at Mari. “I’m sorry—both of you, I’m so sorry. But I was hoping I could invite Misty Parcival and her assistant, Michael, to Thanksgiving. I feel so forward. I mean, it’s here in your house, Milo, but poor Misty, her kids all deserted her, and her husband has sort of forgotten to help with the planning, and Michael’s husband is taking a resident’s shift so the residents don’t all have the holidays, and—”

Milo set the knife down and beamed at him. “Do you think they’d come?” he asked. “She was so nice to me. Mariana, she was so nice to me. That day, you know, the day they discovered the cameras? I’ve never had so many people over, and that Rick guy from work might come—his parents live down south—but I feel sort of grateful, you know? It was a shitty time, and everybody was… you know. Good people.” He bit his lip. “We’d have to cook a lot of food, wouldn’t we?”

“Nonsense,” Mari said with a shrug. “We do turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and gravy, and everybody else brings something else.” She glanced across the kitchen and the hallway to where an angular man with a ponytail, a wispy beard, and Birkenstocks, in camo shorts and a frayed T-shirt, was playing with Julia. “Isn’t that right, Georgie? That way you can make some vegan dishes, and everybody gets to eat!”

Georgie gave a vague smile. “I’ve got a lentil bean/vegan cheese thing that’s pretty yummy,” he said and went back to rubbing Julia’s belly.

“I can make my mom’s bacon green beans,” Garth said, happy to contribute.

“Awesome!” Mari grinned. “So yeah, Milo says they’re good people. Ask them over. It’ll be fun, right, Milo?”

Milo gave her a look of absolutely happy/stupid adoration. “Sure, Mari,” he said. “We’ve never done anything this big before.”

“Well, yeah,” she said. “I mean, last two years, you came over to my place, right?”

Milo shrugged. “Well, it’s always been you and me.”

Garth saw it then, the sadness that crossed Mari’s face as he went back to chopping vegetables—now it was onions—and he thought, She knows. She’s probably always known. But she hasn’t wanted to give Milo up any more than Milo would have given her up.

“Mariana,” he said, feeling a little bit of wonder in his voice, “would you want to take a walk outside with me? I’ll put Julia on the leash, and Milo can finish up here.”

“Sure,” she said, appearing relieved. “Milo’s doing something secret with lemon, Dijon, garlic, and wine with this pasta, so let’s let him be secret.”

“It’s the chicken, Mari,” Milo said patiently. “It’s called scampi.” He glanced up at Garth and gave a tenuous smile. “Just because I’ve got a knife in my hand doesn’t mean you can’t—” His eyes darted toward Mari, and he blushed. “—you know.”

Garth chuckled, moved in to kiss his cheek and brush his waist with a tender hand, and then moved back into the hallway for the peg where he’d hung his jacket after Mari had rushed in and grabbed the food and flowers.

In a few moments, they were outside in the brisk November dark, and Julia was giving a passable representation of a dog who might know how to walk with a leash.

“You knew,” Garth said.

“That Milo was paying for my sister?” Mari denied. “Absolutely not.” Some of her energy softened. “Although now that I’ve had a chance to get over not knowing, you know, it really was a nice thing to do.”

“No, not that,” Garth said. “Except yeah, Milo’s possibly the sweetest guy in the world. But you knew Stuart was trying to get him to ghost you.”

Her strong features—bold nose, square chin, full lips—settled into a scowl. “Oh yeah. I knew from the very beginning. And if Milo had started to fade away, I would have stepped in. But….” She gave him a helpless expression that Garth could tell cost her a lot. “You have to understand,” she said. “He’s always been so… so Milo . And his first boyfriend was a douchebag, and this guy at least, you know, called him back. Made him feel important. I thought, ‘Hey, if Milo still stays my friend, then fuck Stuart’s feelings.’ I didn’t expect to be the reason they broke up.”

Garth grunted. “Mari,” he said not sure how to say this right. “You weren’t the reason they broke up. You’re the reason Milo stayed Milo . The things Stuart was doing—the cameras, the coming by to fuck with Milo’s mail, the trying to isolate Milo—those are abusive things. Toxic things. He… he didn’t just try to isolate Milo, he tried to make him feel worthless . About everything. About his art on the walls, his choice in houses, his furniture, his body . You can’t blame yourself for their breakup. Be glad there was anything left of Milo for Stuart to break up with.”

Mari stopped short, much like Julia did, and stared at him. “What do you mean, his body .”

Garth’s cheeks heated. “Do you guys…? I mean, do you talk about sex?”

She shrugged. “I know Milo doesn’t like it much, but you know, that’s about all… he…. Oh God.”

She swayed a little on her feet, and Garth put his hand on her shoulder and urged her on. “You can’t pass out on me,” he said, “because then we have to tell Milo we’re having this conversation, and he’ll be mortified.”

“But I’m his best friend,” she said, her feet moving seemingly on automatic. “How could I not know?”

“I think he was working super hard to not let you know how hard Stuart was working to break you guys up,” Garth said. “So he wasn’t going to complain about the sex thing, because that would give you a reason to―”

“Kill him,” Mari said, obviously furious. “Oh God. Oh my God . What did that fucker say to my poor Milo? He’s….” She turned a tearstained face toward Garth, and he thought, Way to go , buddy . Way to ingratiate yourself to the best friend. You’re traumatizing her! “Fragile,” Mari finished, breaking into his thoughts. “He’s always been so fragile.”

Garth thought about it. “Naw,” he said, and she stared at him.

“What?”

“Look at him. He kept you as a friend. He kept your sister safe. He’s been taking care of Julia like a champion. I know he doesn’t always people well, but he’s inviting lots of people to Thanksgiving. I mean, we left him alone with Georgie, whom I know he’s never met before, and he’s okay with it. He’s tougher than you think. He just needs… you know. Room to grow. Like Julia. He takes her to the park so she can stretch her legs a little. He needs some time without an overbearing boyfriend so he knows who he is first.”

“But….” She bit her lip. “Aren’t you, like, in love with him?”

Garth held his finger to his lips, although her saying the words made his chest hurt. It would figure, wouldn’t it? This was the first time since college that he decided to venture outside the realm of boom-chicka-wow-wow, and he was falling for a guy who couldn’t be his boyfriend, at least not yet?

“I can wait,” he said softly. “Like I said, he’s sort of fearless. But right now, he’s drawing cartoons of his dog, and he’s afraid to show them to me because he’s afraid I’ll laugh the wrong way.”

Mari chuckled wetly. “There’s a right way to laugh at them, you know,” she said seriously.

“His sense of humor is amazing,” Garth agreed, missing Milo in his house, and the way Milo would sit with his tablet and work on his imaginative comics featuring Julia and Chad, and sometimes Daisy and Bruce, and sometimes an amazingly fat, fluffy cat apparently named Chrysanthemum, whom Milo still missed.

“And you care about him a lot already,” Mari murmured.

“I do,” Garth agreed. “Which is why I absolutely need you on my side. You understand that, right? You hold oodles of power over my head right now, because on your say-so alone, Milo will banish me forever, and….” He let out a breath. “And that would suck.”

He was walking Julia with his outside hand, and to his surprise, he felt Mari’s inside hand slip inside his. “I wouldn’t get between him and Stuart,” she said, “because I thought Stuart was what he wanted. But the more I think about it, the more I realize Stuart was all he thought he could have.”

“He deserves so much better,” Garth said fervently.

“I know he does,” Mari said, nodding. “You just keep giving him space. You keep thinking he’s strong but giving him help when he needs it. You keep treating my boy right and I’ll be your biggest cheerleader. I’ll buy pom-poms and a sweater that says Team Garth and I’ll do the goddamned splits in Milo’s living room whenever we end up in the same room together. Stuart was a douche. I’m mad at myself for not knowing how big a douche until…. God. What he’s put Milo through. But he’s a douche, and I hate him. You and me can be partners in hating Stuart, then, and we can take care of Milo.”

“We won’t tell him for a little while,” Garth said.

“Nope.” She leaned her head against his arm. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being a good guy. For talking to me like I matter in Milo’s life. Milo’s parents are assholes. I mean, my parents are assholes, and together we held hands and endured, you know? I know that’s why all my choices have mostly been the horrible kind. And I figure that’s why Milo just buckled down with Stuart to endure. But suddenly you’re bringing me flowers and talking like Milo is important to both of us, and, well, you could have let Chad eat this weird little dog I brought him, and you didn’t. Why didn’t you bring Chad, by the way?”

Garth had to smile, because he suddenly understood why Mari and Milo probably spoke their own language. He bet Milo could have followed that ramble easily.

“Because he’s a little bit larger than life,” Garth admitted. “And I wanted tonight to be about meeting you and getting you to like me. It’s hard to do when Julia keeps growling at him.”

“Does she do that?” Mari asked in surprise.

“Sometimes,” Garth said. “She’s… I don’t know where you got that dog, but she’s sort of a misanthropic little asshole herself sometimes. She has definite likes and dislikes. And sometimes poor Chad falls on the wrong side of that line.”

Mari laughed. “Milo thinks she walks on water.”

And seeing that he was surprised Mari wasn’t gliding on a six-inch cushion of air, given how much Milo adored Mariana, Garth could see how that worked.

“Well, seeing how Milo dotes on her, maybe someday she will,” he said loyally. “I think in the hands of a meaner owner, she could have been a demon. But in Milo’s hands?”

“Someday she’ll be an angel,” Mari said with satisfaction. “And someday you two will be married and run a dog shelter and make my heart beat faster because not all people are assholes and my friend Milo and his husband, Garth, are living proof.”

Garth was torn between laughter and horror, but eventually he settled on acceptance. “That’ll give us something to shoot for,” he told her, and she seemed to think that was fine.

DINNER WAS easy after that. The conversation was mostly pet centered, which was great—pets were neutral and they didn’t care if people gossiped about them or told their worst moments for a laugh. Apparently Mari’s eight cats were forming a witches coven, and Mari would wake up sometimes staring into a circle of little furry faces casting a spell.

Georgie said—very seriously—that they controlled forces in the universe, and Milo and Garth met startled eyes over the table while Mari patted Georgie’s knee indulgently and said of course they did.

After dinner, Garth and Georgie did dishes while Mari and Milo talked in the living room (and Milo muttered, “Garth and Georgie, Mari and Milo, Garth and Georgie, Mari and Milo,” to himself as though he’d only now discovered alliteration), and for a few blissful moments, Garth got to catch his breath.

Georgie didn’t say much, and when he did, he was sort of dreamy and unfocused—at least that was Garth’s first impression.

Right up until Garth started drying the first round of dishes to put away in the cupboards.

“They’re soulmates,” Georgie said, his smile apparent under his scruff. “I’ve never heard soulmates talk until I heard them—even one side of their conversation.”

Garth thought about it, and surprisingly enough he agreed. “I’ve never heard people fit so well,” he said.

“Mari…. Mari talks about how lost she’d be without him. And I thought, at first, he didn’t appreciate it. But then I found out about how he took care of her sister, and how it cost him a relationship, even with a douchebag.”

“He’d be lost without her too,” Garth said, surprised.

George nodded. “Soulmates,” he said simply, with a sweet smile. “I’m so glad they have each other.” Suddenly his eyes focused on Garth. “You understand, right? That they don’t threaten us?”

Garth found himself smiling gently as he turned from stacking the plates in the cupboard. “Of course not,” he said. “No more than the pets do. If Milo can love Mari or Julia or that cat he’s so worried about, he might be able to love me.”

Georgie nodded soberly. “Yes. Yes, exactly. Good. I was afraid that you’d be another Stuart. But you’re an anti-Stuart, and we needed one of those.”

Garth chuckled. “Or maybe I’m a dog owner,” he said. “I wouldn’t be happy at all if a lover got between me and my Chad.”

Georgie’s laugh was pleasant and reassuring, and at that moment, Mari called out, “Hurry up, you guys! We’re going to do party games!”

“Party games?” Georgie murmured. “Like Trivial Pursuit?”

But Garth had heard Milo talking about a game system on his Xbox. “I think it’s called Jackbox,” he said. “And it’s fun. Here, you wipe down the sink, and I’ll wipe down the tables, and let’s go see!”

THE GAMES were a blast; trivia, one-liner games, the program Milo had bought ran the gamut. Garth couldn’t remember having such a good evening—or such a good date—in a very long time.

Finally Georgie yawned, and Mari took him by the hand and pulled him away, and Garth thought wistfully of Chad, who needed to be let out in an hour or so or the poor guy couldn’t be held responsible for baying at the moon.

He sighed and stood and stretched, and Milo gave him an unhappy glance as he was putting away the game system.

“Oh no,” he said. “You’ve got Chad at home, and….” He sighed. “I wanted some time alone with you. We didn’t even get to plan Thanksgiving, and I guess it’s grown!”

Garth chuckled. “Tomorrow?” he asked, and Milo grimaced.

“I go into the office tomorrow. Rick and Angela have instituted a ‘go out for a drink’ policy at a place that lets dogs sit on the heated patio, and my ad group is all in. I think it was in response to when I disappeared off the radar—a sort of, ‘Let’s make our group close so this doesn’t happen again!’ so I….”

“Have to go,” Garth said, getting it. Relieved in fact. “Look at you, Milo. You have all these people in your life who want to be a part of it.”

Milo gave him a shy smile. “You know… Julia helps, but so did you. I told you that, didn’t I? Sit down! For a minute? I want to touch you.”

Garth couldn’t help smiling. This was the Milo he’d loved getting to know. “Sure,” he said, parking himself in the corner of Milo’s comfortable couch and extending one leg along the back of the cushions. He and Mari had taken their shoes off after their little walk, so he fisted his sock-covered toes in invitation, and Milo turned a shining smile toward him.

“I love how easy this is,” he said, backing into Garth’s arms with a sigh. “You never make me feel awkward about touching, and you never ask for more than I’m comfortable with, and you always make me feel like I have power. How are you so good at this?”

“Dog ownership,” Garth told him dryly, although there was a kernel of truth to it. “You learn nonverbal communication, and you learn to give the dog some room to be a dog. It’s the same with people. Give people the room to be themselves, and if they’re going to be your friend, they’ll find reasons to be close to you.” He said this while pulling Milo against his chest and nuzzling Milo’s ear.

Milo let out the slightest of satisfied whimpers, and Garth savored.

“I didn’t tell you how you helped,” Milo murmured, rubbing his cheek against Garth’s shoulder.

“Nope.”

“You… you forgave me. Julia was awful to Chad because I let her be, and you forgave me.”

“You were a mess that day,” Garth said, remembering it so clearly. “And your heart was in the right place.”

“But I was a mess,” Milo murmured. “And you were still kind. And it helped me realize that even though I was a mess and I made mistakes, I wasn’t worthless. I was still a person. Still human. It made it so easy to trust you. To kiss you. To need to be held.” He sighed and burrowed closer. “Do you think if we had dinner this weekend, and I brought Julia over, she would need her dog crate?”

“Absolutely,” Garth murmured, something loosening in his chest that he hadn’t known was tight. “But only for an hour or two. Then she could sleep on the bed if she promised to be nice to Chad.”

Milo chuckled weakly. “An hour or two?” he asked.

“Or three,” Garth said, moving his lips along the back of Milo’s ear, wanting him so badly he wasn’t sure if he could wait until the weekend but hoping it would be worth it.

“What’re we doing while she’s in her crate?” Milo asked suspiciously.

Garth chuckled. “Planning Thanksgiving,” he lied.

Milo chuckled back and wriggled against Garth’s swollen, aching groin. “That’s not a turkey baster,” he said cheekily.

Garth slid his hand under Milo’s shirt and kneaded his chest. “And these aren’t mashed potatoes,” he teased, brushing his thumb along Milo’s nipples. Milo made a helpless little squeak and wriggled some more before capturing Garth’s hands under his.

“This weekend,” he gasped, and Garth moved his hand back to the flat of Milo’s stomach.

“Sure?” he taunted.

But Milo turned very serious eyes toward him. “I feel like I’ve waited my whole life to have sex that feels good,” he said earnestly. “I don’t want to rush it.”

Garth nodded and felt very virtuous as he ordered his libido down. “Then maybe we can discuss Thanksgiving over text for the next two days,” he said. “But I think Mari’s right. Michael said he’d bring pies, Misty probably has a side dish she makes—a Thanksgiving potluck. People have been doing it for ages.” His parents used to, he remembered. In fact, he was pretty sure they were having one down south this year since he’d told them to hold off on traveling back to Fair Oaks, and his sister, who lived closer, was coming to them, as were some of their new friends.

“My parents always had a formal dinner,” Milo murmured. “And we had to dress up in suits. And my stepdad invited his business friends, and my mom always told me to be seen and not heard. Until Mari and I bought a chicken at the grocery store and microwavable sides our first year at college, I had no idea you could have Thanksgiving and not hate it.”

Garth’s heart gave a painful throb in his chest. “I want good things for you, Milo,” he said. “I want a dog who doesn’t hate other dogs, I want you to have friends who care about you, lots of them, even work friends named Rick who sound like they’re flirting with you—”

Milo snorted, and Garth kept going.

“I want you to have your art on the walls and a house you feel comfortable to live in.” He felt a droplet, hot and thick, on the back of his hand, but his heart was full to overflowing, and he had to keep talking. “And I want you to have Thanksgivings and birthdays and Christmases where all your family and friends mix and mingle in a big loud noisy forgivable mess.”

Milo’s shoulders were shaking now, but Garth needed to say one last thing.

“But mostly I want you to spend day in, day out, comfortable in your own skin and knowing that the people who love you love you for exactly who is in that skin and don’t need a different person or a better person or a perfect person to love the person you are. If me and Mari and Georgie and Misty and Michael and Rick and all the people in our world right now can help you feel that way, it’s going to be a good Thanksgiving. What do you think?”

“I have no idea why I’m crying,” Milo moaned against his shirt, following it up with a hiccup. “But don’t leave until I’m done, okay?”

“Yeah, baby,” Garth said, holding him tighter, nuzzling his temple as he sobbed against Garth’s shoulder. “I don’t have anywhere else to be.”