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“ S o, talk to me, man! What’s going on with Fox? Is he staying? Amelia sure seems to think so.”

Trent blinked at Rope, then rolled his eyes. “Dude, you’re a nosy bitch.”

“We got an hour-long drive to get your stitches out. What the fuck do we have to do but talk?” Rope put the pick-up on cruise. “Are y’all… fixin’ to be a thing?”

That he did know the answer to. “Shit no. He’s not into me. He just needs a friendly hand once in a while, and I’m not going to turn him down.”

If he was totally into Fox, that was on him. He wasn’t going to be a bitch about it.

He was good at being into men that weren’t into him. He didn’t mind.

Much.

Rope arched one eyebrow at him. “Lord, he’s a Yankee with a baby… Hell, he’s Jude’s friend. He don’t seem like a hand job friend type.”

“I think he’s still praying that his man pulls a Jesus or a Lazarus, you know?” There wasn’t a thing he could do about that. “He don’t talk about it much.”

“You gon’ let him stay?”

“I guess? He’s nice, and he cooks. Miss Amelia’s a sweetheart, and he’s good to cast eyes on. He can stay until he needs to do something else.” Trent didn’t know, and he didn’t want to talk about it, either. “You think I can get out of this thing yet, buddy?”

Rope snorted. “Do you plan to listen to the doc this time?”

“Excuse me? You been spending too much time with Jude. I’ve wrapped you and taped you all to hell.” It was a fond tease, a familiar one. He’d put Rope back together a ton of times.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Champs don’t get injured.” Rope grinned over. “And you’re changing the subject.”

“I got no answers. He’s not a talker, really. He spends a lot of time sitting outside and watching Amelia play and smiling.”

“That’s better than sitting and crying, I reckon.”

“Yeah. I think he was depressed as all get-out in New York.”

“I guess I should let him tell you about New York. But I know he wasn’t happy.” Rope shrugged. “I don’t know why he came here, or why he felt like he wanted to move out of our place, or why he is still here, but it’s about something even bigger than his husband I think.”

“Yeah? Well, if he tells me, he does. That’s not the sort of thing a guy demands to know, right?” Besides, he liked Fox. He didn’t want to be an asshole.

“Yep.” Rope shifted, stretching his back. “So, he cooks? I wondered why you looked like you were starting to fit back into your jeans again.”

“Shut up. But he does, and he’s good. Better than Ensure any day.” And one-handed spaghetti night was becoming a thing.

“We offered—” Rope raised a hand before he could protest. “I know, I know. You were fine, you didn’t need help, you had everything under control.”

Rope coughed, and he was pretty sure he heard “bullshit.”

“Be good. Y’all have a brand-new baby. My godgirl. Y’all have a full house.” And he knew it.

He wanted to hold that baby for real.

“I’m not going to argue with you. You have Fox and Amelia to help out now. I hear she loves chickens?”

“Between the chickens and the kittens, she’s over the moon.”

“Have you considered goats?”

He shook his head at Rope. “Nah, but I’m thinking about getting a couple of them miniature horses. If I got a breeding pair, I could sell the babies for a nice profit.”

“You don’t have your hands—or, hand —full with the yaks?” Rope’s grin was toothy this time.

“Shut up, man. You know you love our yaks.” They were cute as fuck, and they were new. Different. He was into them.

“I do. I do love our yaks. They’re going to pay for college. I’m a fucking genius.”

“Shit, Silas is going to invent a way to beam horses into space or some shit and pay his own way.” They all knew it too. Silas was a brilliant little shit.

“Right? He’s scary smart. It’s wild that Jude just acts like it’s no big thing.” Rope glanced at him. “It’s a big thing, Trent. You know it is.”

Rope’s phone rang, and he tapped the display on his dashboard. “Hey, baby.”

“Hello. Is Trent getting unstitched?”

“Not yet. We’re almost there.”

“Bring him over after, and we can have dinner. There’s a baby here wanting god-daddy snuggles. I’ll tell Fox. Sound good?”

“Yessir. Are you cooking?”

“I am. I’ll even have dessert.”

“Good deal, baby. See you later.”

“Good luck, Trent! Bye.” Jude hung up.

“We have supper plans.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Fox and Ames will love that. They’re missing the pool a little.”

“Ames?” Rope chuckled. “If they stay, you’ll put in a pool.”

“Shit, if they stay, I’ll put in a protected bike lane between our houses and a big-assed trampoline.” Rope had a pool.

Rope nodded, eyes on the road. “You want them to stay! I knew it.”

Like it mattered one way or the other what he wanted. He wasn’t going anywhere. Fox would stay, or he would go.

He didn’t have any say in it.

“I’m just getting through, bud, day by day.”

Rope pulled into the parking lot. “Okay. Okay, man. Day by day, it is. Today is about your stitches.”

And then dinner with my godbaby Faith. Let’s get it done, buddy. I’m ready to be in something softer, swear to God.”

They headed in, and he reminded himself to live in the moment, act like the dogs and not think too much.

That got men like him in trouble.