Page 16 of Love in Mission City

Chapter Five

Johnson

My visit with Wyatt and Tate Phelps had been a good one. We’d discussed farming, being gay in a small town, and how the two of them had wound up together. Quite a story, that one. High school boyfriends who’d taken an unintentional hiatus for fifteen years before reuniting. Two men completely happy and comfortable in their marriage.

I might’ve envied them.

And tried to push all thoughts of Mark from my mind. I was over him.

Or so I told myself.

I pulled up to the barn and glanced over to find Henry’s car sitting near the house. Oh no, the ambient temperature was just above freezing. I squinted in the waning light and found him sitting on my porch. At least I hadn’t brought in the cushions from the day we’d sat out here. I cut the engine and opened the door.

My not-so-well-trained pooch vaulted off me and took off at a run to Henry.

The tall man stood, then crouched down to receive a tongue bath.

I winced.

It’d been a whole day since we’d seen him. But to my pooch it’d been, like, a million years.

Goofball.

After exiting the pickup and shutting the door, I held up my hand in greeting. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Henry rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah? I just…I made some roast beef, and I’d promised Zeus he could have some.”

Okay, possibly the most transparent answer ever because, of course, Zeus would never know if Henry’d made beef and not shared.

“Well, Zeus will be thrilled.”

In fact, my dog was already trying to nose open the picnic basket.

“Zeus.”

The admonishment had him stepping back and giving me his innocent eyes.Me? I wasn’t doing anything…

I knew better. “Go pee.”

The dog darted off toward the orchard.

Henry chuckled. “Your dog pees on command?”

I shrugged. “He was a rescue. I had no idea where his abilities lay. I gave the command one day, and he did his business, and then the next day I asked again. He did it again. Now, ask him to lie down, and good luck.”

“Ah.” Henry picked up the basket just as Zeus darted back.

We hadn’t had rain for a couple of days, so Zeus wasn’t muddy, for which I expressed silent gratitude.

I held the door for Henry and, after a visible hesitation, he entered my house.

Did he think we were going to eat on the porch again?

Huh, maybe he did.

Quickly, I undid my boot laces. I yanked the boots off, threw my jacket on the coat rack, and snagged the basket from a bewildered-looking Henry. His eyes were, again, comically wide. “Why don’t you take your coat off? Boots are optional. My floor cleans easily.” It’d be a pain to do it, but if he needed the comfort of knowing he could easily bolt, I was okay with that.

He bent over and silently undid his laces as well.