Page 7
CHAPTER 7
ETNA
We finally get home on December eighth, and I’m so damn thankful I could kiss the Arizona desert sand. The constant flying back and forth between hot and cold was hell on my sinuses. Even with the supplements I take to boost my immune system. Fortunately, I’ve been doing this for a few years and my body has mostly figured it out. Still sucks at the time, though.
Keno and I divide and conquer the immediate chores as soon as we walk into his house. I take the suitcases and garment bags, and he takes the gear bags. Time for a good soaking, and not gonna lie, but he does it best. That man is anal about clean gear, so sign me up for that.
We did laundry on the road a couple times via the hotels we stayed in, and we’re pretty good about keeping clean clothes in one suitcase and using the other for dirty once we get to a point where that makes sense in our laundry cycles. We managed to time it right that we were going to need to do laundry again in the next couple of days.
It’s not often we travel for an entire month. I can count on one hand how often it’s happened to me. Fifteen or so days is usually the limit. We traveled for two weeks at the start of this season, stayed home for a week, and then traveled for a month. Luckily, our longest away streak coming up is only for a week. Otherwise, it’s one to three day trips here and there.
Once I have the washer started, I turn in the small area as best I can and open the steam closet, where I begin loading in half of our suits that can’t be run through the washing machine. Keno saw mine when he was traded to Arizona and immediately bought one, too. The only problem is his laundry room is a fraction the size of mine. We’re talking barely bigger than a linen closet.
Which makes perfect sense. I don’t think this house was truly meant to be a full-time residence. It’s not built like one. It’s a vacation house on the lake for a small family.
With laundry done, I decide I’ll tackle the kitchen. We didn’t leave it messy, but we also didn’t throw out what we should have before leaving. There’s a basket of rotted gooey fruit-turned-sludge on the counter surrounded by fruit flies.
Cringing and holding my breath, I drag the trash bin from under the sink and slide the entire basket off the counter into the trash. Then I cover the counter with disinfectant, and spray the air, trying to poison the flies in toxic death. I let the spray sit unnecessarily while I brave opening the fridge. It isn’t too bad, but why would we have saved the milk? Ew.
Then there’s a glass container filled with fuzzy mold. Both go straight into the trash. I throw out slimy lunch meat, squishy vegetables, and something unidentifiable in a grocery bag. One last examination of the kitchen and I pull out the garbage bag to toss into the bin outside. That thing isn’t waiting until it’s full. Gross.
With another trash bag in the can and a wipe down of the newly disinfected counter, I pull up our grocery shopping app and start filling the cart with fresh shit. With thirty-six items and $214 in my cart, Keno joins me in the small kitchen.
“Where’s the fruit basket?” he asks, looking at the counter as he opens the fridge.
“In the trash. As is the glass food storage container from the fridge. They were disgusting.”
He chuckles. “Both are washable, believe it or not.”
“Their smell alone will never leave my nostrils. I’m good.”
Keno shakes his head. “You ordering food?”
“I am. Any requests?”
“Nope. I imagine we’ll probably put in two orders this week since we’ve already forgotten where we were in our cycles of shit. You get the list on the fridge?”
I nod then hand him my phone. “Here. See if I missed anything or if you want something I didn’t think of.”
While he’s busy with my phone, I open the tiny-ass pantry to take inventory. It’s so small that if we’re out of something, it’s glaringly obvious because there will be a hole in our puzzle. Everything looks filled, so I open the overhead cabinets on either side of the stove where we also keep things like spices, baking shit, and pasta. Still no holes.
Turning back to Keno, he’s watching me. “What?”
There’s an indiscernible expression on his face. He shakes his head. “Nothing. I just placed the order. It’ll be here in a couple hours.”
“Cool. Enough time to put on clean bedding, dump the towels in the wash too, and take showers and shit,” I say, and head for the bedrooms.
Keno catches me on the way by, grabbing my arm to stop me in my tracks. There’s that look again. “Okay, so… let’s get married.”
I’m a little surprised at the way my breath whooshes out of me and my heart gives a little patter. “Yeah?”
He nods, all serious and nervous.
I turn to face him fully and pull him into my arms. I can hug him now, right? That’s allowed between fiancés. Keno’s holding his breath as his arms come awkwardly around me. We’ve hugged before, but it’s always been… quick. Bro-like. Usually after one of us spends a few days away with their family or something.
“This is a little…”
“Just hold through the awkward,” I say. “We’re going to force it to pass.”
Keno laughs quietly and that does the trick. I feel my shoulders relaxing and Keno leans a little more of his weight into me.
“You sure?” I ask.
He takes a breath. “I wasn’t ever unsure about marrying you. I really admire the practice of marrying your best friend over fickle love. My concern is the obvious.”
“My dick.”
Keno snorts. “Yeah. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was nervous . Not that I was being dissuaded by your dick, but I still have the same concerns.”
“That we’re not going to like it.”
He nods. “Yes. Then what?”
“Do you trust me?”
Keno turns his face into my neck, and I feel him smile. “Yes, stupid head.”
“Then trust me when I say we will figure it out. We’ll have a happy sex life just as we already have a happy life.”
“That’s why I’m agreeing. I think we’ll figure it out.” Keno takes a step back and again, my heart does something I don’t expect when I see his cheeks are flushed. It skips around like we’re being electrocuted.
Is it just because we’re going to get married that my body is suddenly having reactions like this? Maybe it’s always been going on and I never realized it until now. I’m much more aware.
Leaning in, I press my mouth to his. Our noses collide like jousting sticks, making us laugh. Which means our teeth end up smacking together more than our lips do.
“Okay, so we need to work on that,” I say, backing away.
Keno rolls his eyes. “We’re probably putting too much pressure on the simple things. Far too aware of what we’re doing.”
“Probably.” I grab his arm and pull him to the peninsula counter to sit on the stools so we can talk about this comfortably.
“So, what do we do first?” Keno asks.
The enormity of this decision suddenly feels like a damn mountain, and I don’t see anywhere to begin scaling. “Uh…” Shaking the thought away, I say, “Let’s start with something that’s not everything all at once. So, you pick one thing you think we should do first, and I’ll pick one thing. Okay?”
Keno nods.
It’s a fine suggestion and all, but as I look around, my brain is completely blank. That’s not true, actually. It’s a whirling hurricane of thoughts and things we need to try. They’re spinning around in a cyclone until they’re all bleeding together into a gray mass.
But as I look around, what I think we should address first reveals itself to me everywhere I look. “Okay, I got mine.”
“Same.”
“You go first,” I say, looking back at Keno.
“I think we should get STI tested.”
“You been sneaking around fucking randos while I’m asleep?” I tease. I know how long this man has been hooking up with his hand. It’s been a long time.
Keno rolls his eyes, fighting a smile. “No, jackass. I just think… we should be clean going in.”
“So we don’t have to worry about condoms?”
He sighs. “No. Well… it’ll make them an option as opposed to a necessity, but I just think we should have a clean slate without question. Do you disagree?”
“Not at all. I’m a little surprised.”
Keno huffs. “I’ve obviously been a little stuck on the sex thing, so it can’t really come as that much of a surprise.”
“Yeah, fair.”
“What’s yours?”
“We need to choose which house to live in and sell the other. You know, officially move in together and shit. It’s definitely more financially responsible, anyway. We’re literally throwing away money every month to keep a house we’re not even living in comfortable for us should we decide to spend some nights there.”
“Yep, I agree.” Keno nods. “Seriously, we should have done that a long time ago.”
“Maybe we’ve been waiting for something to give us that push.”
“Like getting married.” He smirks. “How do we decide?”
“I bought practically. A family house I did some work on to make it super nice but not pricing it so far out of the neighborhood that it actually takes away from its value. I thought about resale more than anything since we know our positions aren’t permanent.”
“Or a choice,” Keno adds.
I nod. “You bought for pleasure.”
“With kind of the same reasons in mind. I knew I wouldn’t likely take all the toys I knew I’d buy for this place, which meant the same thing. The stuff adds to resale value, and I get to have a blast while I’m here.”
“Maybe we should just stay here. We spend far more time here and we invest in all our free-time activities here… It makes the most sense.”
“Yes, but it’s tiny. Your house has space. And you have a pool. It’s not like we don’t have outdoor space there, too.”
“I’m surprised you disagree,” I say.
Keno stares at me and then laughs. “I have no idea why I’m disagreeing. This feels like a bachelor pad that I’m just hanging out with my friend in. Not a home for me and my… husband.”
There goes my heart again. Fuck.
“Okay, let’s do this. We have some things left to do before the groceries get here and we can make dinner. Let’s think about it then we’ll come back and see where we’re at in half an hour, okay?”
He sighs. “Yeah.”
“I’m going to change the bedding.” I get to my feet and grip his arm for a minute. He laughs quietly. “What?” I ask before letting him go.
Keno meets my eyes, both cheeks pink and amused. “I think the guys might have been on to something. We’re already married. Just without our knowledge or fucking each other. We’ve even been monogamous to each other, Etna.” He shakes his head. “You’re going to change our bedding; bedding we picked out and bought together on a bed we also picked out and bought together because the other one was too small.”
“When we tell them, we’re going to hear ‘ I told you they were fucking, ’ aren’t we?”
“Just like Horny and Hilt knew about Lo and Caulder. And we were giving far more obvious signs.”
I sigh. “Whatever. I’m still going to change our bedding.”
Keno grins. “The counter smells like window cleaner. I’m going to bleach it.”
Grinning, I shrug. “I just wanted to deliver the fruit flies a nasty death for infecting our home.”
“Bleach is toxic to every living thing. You’d have skipped a step by using the bleach wipes.”
“Not on the air,” I point out and head down the hall before he can answer. His quiet laughter follows me, and my grin doesn’t fade while I make the bed.
I also strip the bathroom of the dirty towels we left behind and grab the laundry basket from the closet to drag to the laundry room. Then I swap the laundry and shift the home dry-cleaning loads as well. I love how fresh everything smells. Keno might be on top of the kitchen and hockey gear, but laundry is totally my domain. I love anything freshly laundered.
However, I do as I suggested and consider our options. By the time we’re sitting at the counter again, I have two.
“I don’t have any other ideas except selling my house,” Keno says. “It just feels like the better decision. Even though we spend most of our time here and buy all the toys for the lake.”
“I have a counterproposal. We sell both of our houses and find a bigger house made for permanent family living on the lake or another lake close by.”
Keno grins. “Yes. I like that idea.”
“Just like that? You agree?”
He nods. “Definitely.”
“Okay, then I’ll start looking for realtors and you start looking for houses for sale. Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Next… just a quick question about getting married. You want to do a shotgun wedding? Like courthouse or Vegas?” I can already tell by the way Keno’s face is scrunched that his answer is absolutely not. I laugh. “Okay, then I think I have something else we can divide and conquer on, too. I think we have a lot of planning to do?—”
“Wait,” he interrupts. “Is that what you want? To elope?”
I shake my head, shrugging. “I could argue for both, honestly. Really, I don’t think I feel strongly one way or another.”
He nods. “What tasks do you suggest I do?”
“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all,” I say, laughing. “I think initial research for two different things is where we should divide our time. I’ll make a list of everything we have to do to make a wedding happen. Since sex is a concern for you, how about you make a list of… all the gay sex stuff. I think part of your concern is the unknown, which is why I think you need to do that particular research.”
Keno gives me a dubious look. “Dick in ass. Is that not how it works?”
I laugh. “You really think that’s all there is to it?”
He chews the inside of his lip for a minute. “No.”
“I don’t either. So you look up gay stuff, and I’ll look up wedding stuff. Then we’ll share our lists.”
The soft, happy smile he gives me makes my stomach flutter. “Sounds good.”
Yes. It really does.