Page 117 of Bobby Green
“I think I’ll keep the money, move the couch, and have the contest in the gym with witnesses. Here, Dex—you get one side and I’ll get the other. Kane, squat so it’s in a good place.”
Kane crawled out from under the couch, crowing with pride. “Looked pretty good, right, Dexter?” He stepped up to Dex, who put the couch down so they could rub noses.
“Yeah, baby. Looked great. Maybe only do that where Frances can’t see, okay?”
“What’s she gonna bench?” Kane asked, entranced. “We could make her little barbells, with stuffed animals on each end, right? Like, buy her a baton and some duct tape and—”
They kept talking while Dex and Ethan lugged the couch out, and Bobby and Reg rounded up the last of the boxes. His mom and Jonah were walking across the meadow as he deposited them in Dex’s truck. Frances was sleeping in her arms. Bobby took in the way she held the little girl, tight and sweet, and thought sadly that she probably would have been a good mom with lots of kids, and a happier mom if she’d had a man she wanted to have those kids with.
“Here,” Kane was saying after Bobby slammed the tailgate shut. “I’ll take her. We’ll be leaving in a few, and we need to get her in the seat.” He gave Bobby’s mom an earnest look. “It’s hard getting her in there in the snowsuit, right? It’s all squishy. But once we bought it, she wanted to wear it up here. I swear, Dexter and I froze the whole way so she didn’t melt.”
“We had a snowball fight,” Isabelle said, keeping her hold still. “She had so much fun.”
Kane grinned, and Dex walked from the truck to lean over his shoulder to brush Frances’s cheek with his gloved fingers. “Aw, sleeping bunny. Did we pet the horses?”
“Forever,” Jonah complained good-naturedly. Ethan—per usual—was all over him as he walked up, hanging over his back, mauling him in hugs. Jonah turned around and hugged him, staying snug in his arms. “Seriously, Kane—she kept saying, ‘But they don’t have scales!’ You gotta get some normal animals, man!”
“Lizards are normal!” Kane defended. “It’s the furry things that’re weird.”
Bobby came over to his mom and put his arm around her shoulders. “You gotta give her back, Mom. We can stop for lunch in Auburn if you want—she should be awake then.”
His mom gave a small smile. “Well, I understand your friends are about to be neck-deep in babies. Maybe they’ll need a sitter.”
Kane took Frances this time, although Bobby’s mom’s eyes still looked pretty bright. “Are you kidding? Most of ourfriendsstill need a sitter. You guys get a decent apartment, you’ll be neck-deep in giant goombahs who need a mommy.”
Isabelle looked around at all of them, obviously surprised. “Vern,” she said faintly, “you haven’t introduced me to your friends.”
THEY ATEin Auburn, and Bobby and his mom treated because everybody else had put themselves out to help. After that Ethan led the way to the apartment, while Bobby and Reg unloaded the furniture into the storage unit. By the time they got to the apartment, everybody else had gone, and Isabelle was sitting at the little table, looking around bemusedly.
“Your friends are really nice,” she said, nursing a fresh mug of coffee. It was the only appliance Bobby had bought.
“They really are,” Bobby said, setting the pizza he’d bought on the table. Reg got some milk out of the refrigerator, and they sat down to eat. “Wan’som?” Bobby asked through a mouthful.
“God, Vern—we only ate about four hours ago. Give me some time. I’ve got a question, though,” she said, sipping her coffee again. She looked happy there, in front of the boxes of all her possessions.
“Yeah, sure.” Bobby swallowed and smiled invitingly. “Hit me.”
“How come none of your friends know you’re a couple?”
Reg choked on his pizza until Bobby had to thump him on the back.
HIS MOMinsisted he spend the night at Reg’s—told him frankly that she’d rather be alone with the strange night sounds in the cheap little apartment than see Bobby sleeping on the couch with his feet hanging off.
She also told him that she felt free there, and she wanted to see what that was like.
Bobby thought that was probably closer to the truth.
They walked into Reg’s house and turned on the lights and adjusted the thermostat, before hanging up their coats and pulling off their boots to shake off the cold. Bobby was standing, hand on the coat hook by the front entryway, when Reg walked in and wrapped his arms around Bobby’s waist. Bobby lowered his lips and kissed the top of his head, holding him close and enjoying the warmth of his body.
“Mm….” Bobby closed his eyes. “I needed this all day.”
“Me too.” Reg took a deep breath and let it out. “Why don’t we do this in front of other people?”
Bobby kept his eyes closed. He’d known this was coming as soon as his mom had asked the question. “I don’t know,” he said. He was picturing the thousand-and-one touches he’d seen that day. Dex, looking over Kane’s shoulder at the baby, close enough to rest his hand in the small of Kane’s back. The way they’d rubbed noses, like nobody else could see. Ethan, hanging on Jonah like a giant floppy spaniel who would need pets forever and ever, and Jonah turning around to pet him.
“It’s just… this thing… I mean, we can’t touch in front of V,” Reg said softly. “But it’s more than that. It’s private.”
Bobby didn’t want to say it. Didn’t want to think it. “I think it needs to become public before I move in.”