Page 107 of Only You

I soothed him with a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. Just tell me.”

“Well, you know Bobby left ARK everything in his will.”

“Yes.”

“And ARK’s already arranged for the disposal of all of his belongings. Kerri saved me a few of his things that I asked for: the hunting cap he sometimes wore to keep his ears warm and the red socks he liked best.”

“Those socks,” I said, laughing, but my eyes stung with tears. I missed Bobby, and I knew Daniel must miss him even more. And yet our lives kept pushing us on, moving us forward, filling our days with so much more than thoughts of our loss of him. It was the prerogative of youth to be so caught up in ourselves.

“But the rest of his stuff will be taken by an estate auction house by the end of next week. Which means they just need to dispose of the house itself. And, well, I’m going to need a place to live pretty soon,” he pointed out. “The movers will be here in three weeks to put our stuff in storage for my mom to sort out later, and the other things will be going to another estate auction house. I’ll be homeless.”

I took hold of his hand and squeezed it, dropping it when a drunk and oblivious frat guy bustled by us, knocking me aside.

“Watch it,” Daniel called.

“Sorry, buddy,” the guy said, bleary-eyed with drink. “Sorry.”

Daniel lifted a hand, waving it off, and then we continued our walk. We were almost to Hanna’s when I realized. “You’re thinking of buying his house?”

Daniel smiled. “Yeah. It’s a great old bungalow. Just needs a little loving care. The neighborhood’s good if I’m going to start at nursing school. It’s a much shorter drive to say the least, and it’d be a fresh start for me. Plus, I’d feel like I was honoring Bobby’s memory, you know?” His voice grew tight. “Besides, I think Milky Way wants to go home. She’s not accustomed to all the space. She prefers suburbia.”

“Does she?”

“She does.”

“I think that’d be amazing.”

“And…” Daniel stopped walking to take my hand and swing me around to face him. “If you wanted…no pressure. I know it’s early to even think about this kind of thing, but…if you wanted, you could move in with me, and we could start some kind of life together. Like what Barry and Robert have.” He grinned. “Except with monogamy.”

I laughed, my heart rising so fast I felt like it’d lifted up into the sky, fluttering like a bird. “I think that sounds amazing.”

“Yeah?”

“I mean,yeah.”

He threw his arm over my shoulder and drew me in, kissing my forehead and then my lips.

“Gross. Fags.”

The comment was tossed out without any real heat, and it said something about how happy Daniel’s offer had made me that the nastiness didn’t even dent my soaring spirit.

“Ignore them,” I whispered.

We walked on, and I couldn’t stop smiling. Daniel talked about all the ways we could fix up Bobby’s house, and I laughed just imagining it all. We stopped at the door for Hanna’s, and Daniel opened it for me. I stepped inside, feeling like a star, shining with joy.

“Two please. A booth if possible?” Daniel said to the hostess.

“Sure.” She gathered two menus. “This way.”

Daniel grinned at me, plucking one of my curls. “Boing,” he whispered, and I rolled my eyes, smiling even as I did.

I turned to follow Daniel and the hostess to our booth.

Hazel eyes in a stricken face framed by dark hair and red highlights. I froze.

Adam.

With his arm around Leslie.

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