Page 27 of A Case of You

Emma noticed and handed him the keys. “You sit in there with the air on. We’ll handle this.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” He collapsed into the passenger seat and cranked the engine, pointing one of the dash vents at his face. Today it was in the mid-eighties out, and humid, whereas this time last week, it’d been cold and drizzling.

Welcome to Florida winters.

At least he wasn’t in massive pain on top of exhaustion. Not pain any worse than he dealt with on a daily basis, at least.

When they arrived home, Emma and Grace shooed him inside, ordering him to the couch under threat of calling Brandon and snitching on him.

Jeff complied after taking his meds.

Including a Xanax.

What felt like minutes later, he heard Stuart talking with Emma in the kitchen, the smell of burgers on the grill, and realized nearly two hours had passed.

Shit.

Stuart had already showered and everything, and Jeff had slept right through his arrival. Through the sliders, he spotted Grace out on the lanai, manning the grill—their designated expert on everything cooked outdoors—poking at a burger with the barbecue fork they kept hanging out there on the side of the grill, along with the grill spatula.

He walked into the kitchen and kissed Stuart. “Sorry I crapped out on you guys. Is Brandon home yet?”

“Will be shortly. Got caught at work with a personnel situation. He told us to go ahead and eat.” He pulled out a chair at the table with a smile. “Sit.”

“Yes,Sir.”

Stuart grinned, shaking his head after tossing him an adorable little eye roll.

Grace stuck her head inside. “Jeff, you want yours rare or medium rare?”

“Rare, please.”

She gave him a thumbs-up before closing the sliders again.

Emma and Stuart set the table and had everything ready when Brandon managed to walk in just as they were starting to eat.

“Couldn’t have timed that any better if you tried,” Jeff told him.

Brandon leaned in and kissed him, then Stuart. “How’d shopping go?”

“We are happy to report that he obeyed us, sir,” Grace said.

Jeff had been taking a drink of water and nearly choked on it.

Grace continued, clueless. “He let us get stuff for him at the store, we loaded everything into the car, and back here he came inside, took his meds, and fell asleep on the couch while we unloaded everything and put it away.”

“Yeah,” Emma said. “He didn’t even try to argue with us.”

“Good.” Brandon dropped him a playful wink. “See? When you listen to us and don’t overdo things, you spend more time vertical.”

Later, cuddled in bed, Jeff had to say it. “Either Grace has really freaky luck at what she says, or she damn well knows what kind of dynamic we have and is a sadist in training.”

Brandon nodded. “I already thought of that. But is that really a conversation you want to have with her right now?”

“Not particularly, no.”

“Question answered.”

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