Page 154 of String Boys

“Well, remember I’m going to Walmart while you’re talking to my useless brother, because you can’t stay here with one pair of old jeans and three pairs of holey underwear.”

Seth met his eyes and smiled slightly. “And a black T-shirt.”

Kelly got a good look at what he was wearing and covered his eyes. “And now I’m even more horny. And embarrassed. How do you even have that?”

“I never gave it back.”Because duh!

Kelly uncovered his eyes and kissed Seth on the cheek again. “Like my heart. Now here. You take the baby. I’ll take the dishes, and I’m going to change and shower, because Ihaveclothes. I’ll take you upstairs before I go get you some shit to wear. Your dad is gonnacrapwhen he finds out you left all your new stuff in New York.”

He paused and frowned.

“When are you going back?”

“After Christmas. With you.”

Kelly raised his eyebrows. “I thought you just said you were gonna go get us a house and—”

“I changed my mind. I’m bringing you with me. We’ll sleep in my bunk until we can find a place. I’m not leaving you again. It would kill me.”

Kelly traced his cheek with gentle fingertips. “It won’t kill you if you know I’m coming soon,” he said softly. “I like your plan. Let’s follow that. I promise, I’m not letting the dream of us go again.”

“I’ll think about it.” Seth really didn’t want to get on another plane without Kelly by his side.

“You do that. And you sound all growly and possessive and weird. I like it, but don’t be dumb. We know how to be grown-ups.”

“Says you,” Seth muttered, but Kelly was giving him the baby and kissing him brusquely on the cheek, and it was time to table this discussion for later.

Xavier Cruz settled into the crook of Seth’s arm and looked tranquilly up at him for a minute. Seth tried another smile.

Finally, he got one back.

Yeah, fine. He could wait. He had a family coming to live with him, where he was doing the thing he was best at in the world.

What was another month?

KELLY CLEANEDup and walked Seth upstairs, Xavier still in his arms. “The hospice nurse is here,” he explained, opening the door. “So I’m going to take X-man—”

Seth grunted and pulled the baby tighter.

“Yes, I’m taking him. We’re going shopping at Walmart, and there’s X-man things he needs. He’s growing out of his one-piece pajamas, and you need to talk to my brother without him as a buffer.”

“Damn.”

Kelly laughed, and something about the laugh made Seth remember when he’d been fifteen and nothing had hurt him.

“It won’t be as bad as you think,” Kelly promised softly. He paused in the middle of the living room and looked around. “You know, if you and me and the babies move to New York, and Lily and Lulu take over yours and your dad’s apartment and pay rent, and there’s only Agnes living here, in her own damned room, do you think we can get them more furniture?”

Seth looked at the tapestry couches and stuffed chairs, the peeling laminate on the bookshelves and TV stand, the curtains that Linda had probably gotten when Kelly was a baby because they were all Seth could remember.

“Maybe they can get a house,” he said thoughtfully. “Or move. After Agnes graduates, you know? Maybe our folks can take a trip, get an RV.”

He and Kelly met eyes, apparently on the exact same page. “Something, anything, but here,” Kelly agreed. And his smile, when it came, was shining. “I should have been patient, Seth. I should have had faith.”

Seth shrugged, feeling heat in his face. “It’s been almost nine years. Only losing faith for a few months? Coulda been worse.”

His heart was still raw and sore. He knew it would take longer than that before he stopped rubbing his chest when he thought of April. But faith—he had it now.

Kelly’s mouth on his was sweet but brief.