Page 87 of Something Like Forever

“Erecting things soundsgood,” Tim said. “Uh oh!”

“What?” Ben said. Then hesaw for himself. William was shaking his head and backing up. Ben’sstomach dropped. Jason’s probably did too! Then William went downon one knee. “He’s asking again!”

“Smoothmove!” Tim said. “He must not have wanted to hear Jason’s answerbefore getting to ask again.”

“Quiet,”Ben said, tongue poking out one corner of his mouth as heslowly—and very carefully—lifted the window so they had a betterchance of hearing. Jason was talking, a hand extended that he usedto pull William to his feet, which must have taken some effort. Benstill couldn’t hear anything so he tried opening the window wider.It squeaked. Loudly.

The two heads below turnedat the noise. Tim fell backward to escape their sight. As for Ben,he lowered himself slowly, like they wouldn’t be able to detect theslower motion.

“Busted!” Tim said,hissing laughter as he pulled Ben back with him. “I hope we didn’truin anything.”

“Then we might want to getout of this room,” Ben said. “What if they want to—youknow.”

“You’re right,” Tim said.“Let’s go.”

Together they crawled onhands and knees to the door, Ben having to backtrack to shut thewindow. Chinchilla thought this was a game, which it sometimes wassince Tim would often crawl around to be on her level. The dog tookturns moving between them to lick their faces, Ben’s covered inslobber by the time he reached the hallway and could standagain.

“Yuck,”he said, hurrying to the master bathroom so he could wash off atthe sink.

“It’s just kisses,” Timsaid, following behind and showing no intention of washing hisface. “I think that went well.”

“Our spying or theproposal?”

“Definitely not thespying,” Tim said. “The rest, yeah. Looks like we have a wedding toplan! Or at least to help arrange.”

He sounded excited. Benturned off the water and grabbed the hand towel. “Romantic, isn’tit? Especially when it’s not your own.”

“Yeah,” Tim said with achuckle. “Although that doesn’t have to be true.”

“Hm?” Ben asked, foldingthe edges of the towel inward before hanging it again.

“We could get married,”Tim said. “For real this time.”

“We aremarried for real,” Ben said dismissively. He walked to the bedroomarea so he could close the door. The boys deserved their privacy.And he wanted an excuse to escape the conversation. His eyes dartedto the nightstand, the spot where Jace’s photo had oncesat.

“Whynot?” Tim said, standing in the middle of the room. “I keep asking,and you— I’m doing it wrong. You need something big and romantic,like those crazy proposal videos on YouTube. I could have all thekids at your work ask you in unison. Or maybe—never mind. You wantto be surprised.”

“Idon’t!” Ben said, trying to imagine how he would react if everyperson in the grocery store started dancing and Tim popped out ofone of the freezers with a ring. “Please. Nosurprises.”

Tim frowned and crossedhis arms over his chest. “Okay, then why not after Jason andWilliam’s wedding? If we’re going to set up everythinganyway—”

“This is about them!” Bensaid, moving past him to the bed. “Not us.”

“They’repart of us,” Tim said. “We’re about to become one family. We didn’tmind when William wanted to propose on our wedding day. We adoptedJason then too! They’ll be fine with it. We can get married the dayafter.”

Ben grabbed his side ofthe blankets and yanked them down. “We’re alreadymarried!”

“Notaccording to Uncle Sam, we’re not.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do!”Tim walked around the bed to reach him, taking hold of his arm andgently urging Ben to face him. “I agree that we’re married. All Iwant to do is make it official, so nobody can say we’re not. Yeah,we’ve got legal documents that make sure of visitation rights andstuff, but a marriage doesn’t have to be explained. A hospitallawyer won’t have to examine the papers before I can get to you orvice versa. You know all this, so why not? You must have a reason.Just tell me.”

Ben sighed. “I don’t wantto hurt your feelings.”

“Too late,” Tim said. “At least help meunderstand. It’s better than being hurtandclueless.”

“I’msorry.” Ben hugged his arms to himself. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.And you’re right, you deserve an explanation. The way I see it, Ihad a private ceremony to marry you, and I also had one tomarry—”