Page 145 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Ben chuckled softly, but he waved a hand as if to dismiss the idea. “It’s all smoke and mirrors. Gavin secretly hates me.”

“Yeah, I can tell.” She laughed again, looking between the two of them as Gavin sat down at the table.

“Our efforts today weren’t for nothing.” Ben pulled out his phone and passed it to Tina, the pictures of the house already on the screen. “Looks like we settled on a house. If you like it when you check it out, we’ll put a bid in.”

Tina looked at the photos, but she said quietly, “Well, I mean. It’s your guys’ house. What I think shouldn’t matter, ya know?”

Gavin was about to butt in, but Ben beat him to it. “We’re not gonna force you to stay or anything, but it’ll be your home too, as long as you want it to be. You should make sure you like it before we commit.”

Well. Ben just earned himself another blowjob. And cake. Maybe two cakes. Two blowjobs too.

Tina sniffled but didn’t say anything for a beat. After a moment, she crinkled her nose and said, “That yard is really ugly.”

Ben laughed and looked at Gavin. “God, she really is your sister.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Ben

They’d decided on the house, put the bid in, and then Joe had pushed the sale through as quickly as possible. Ben had held his breath during the entire process, but they never hit a snag. He should have felt relieved when they got the keys, but there was so much work to be done, he didn’t know where to start. That’s where their network of friends who worked for beer and pizza came in. Together they pulled up carpets, sanded floors, scraped wallpaper, painted walls, and even hung a gorgeous stained glass window in the living room. He was amazed what a few leather daddies, their boyfriends, and a few of their friends could accomplish in a little over a month. He was even more amazed by what they were willing to do for next to nothing. Though, Joe reminded him that they’d all be buying houses of their own eventually. Ben would be paying back all those favors soon enough.

Ben left the yard to Gavin and Tina—and Tony. His landscaping skills were wasted at his job waiting tables.

Now, in early June, just a few days from Gavin’s birthday and a few weeks from Tina’s due date, they had almost finished. Coming from a one-bedroom apartment to a four-bedroom house, Ben thought the place would feel empty, but it had already started to feel like a home. He and Gavin had picked out new living room furniture, stuff that was comfortable but easy to clean baby puke off. They’d argued about the coffee table and end tables at first, but once Ben pointed out how much safer rounded corners would be for the baby, Gavin caved.

He and Gavin had lived together three years, but this new house was the first time they’d made a place together. When Gavin had moved in with him, he came with a bag of clothes and one box of odds and ends. He hadn’t accumulated much more over the years. Ben had never realized how much the old apartment had remained Ben’s apartment. At the time it hadn’t seemed practical to buy a bunch of new shit when his old shit was perfectly serviceable. Now, though, he felt like an asshole for it.

They had tried to get Tina to choose things for her room, but Ben noticed about halfway through the process she was picking out the cheapest stuff she could find. Gavin tried to talk her into a pretty bedframe with storage underneath, a nice rocking chair to match, but she’d shrugged and told them no. She thought a futon from a discount place might be better.

In the end, Ben pulled her aside and told her if she didn’t pick out what she really wanted, then he was going to decorate her room for her and neither of them wanted that.

“I just don’t want you guys spending so much money, ya know?”

Ben had rolled his eyes, counted to ten in his head, and said, “How about you pick what you like and if it’s too expensive, we’ll make Gavin get a job, okay?” She laughed but didn’t change her course until Gavin—Ben should’ve known Gavin would be able to balance pretty and cheap—found a little liquidation center on the edge of town. In the end, Tina ended up with a nice hardwood daybed with storage drawers underneath, a rocking chair like Gav had wanted, and a matching dresser. He even found a pretty lamp at a garage sale, painted it white, and fixed up a cute little pink lampshade for it. Ben thought it would be perfect for late-night feedings—not too bright, but just enough light so she wouldn’t trip over things on her way to get the baby from the frilly little basinet Anna had passed down to her.

Tina’s room was a very feminine oasis in a very masculine house. Ben liked it more than he thought he would and found himself lingering at the door whenever he walked past. It seemed inviting. Mostly, it seemed to suit Tina. He hated it, but he was getting attached to the kid, more than he’d admit to Gavin.

As he rounded the corner, shutting off lights and locking up for the night, he could hear Tina talking. “Dear God, thank you for the many blessings. Thank you for this home and for bringing me back to Gavin. Thank you for Ben too. Please forgive me for my sins, and please bless this baby with health and love, even though it was sin that made him.” Her words were clearer as he got closer, and he felt like an intruder even though he hadn’t meant to overhear. “Please watch over Ben and Gavin too and… please soften my parents’ hearts and help them to see… Well, please help us all to see the truth and understand your design. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

Her door was wide open, so he paused as he went past. “Night, kiddo,” he said with a soft knock to the doorframe.

She glanced over her shoulder and stood up from where she’d been kneeling. “Night, Ben.” Tina seemed embarrassed or… well, Ben didn’t know what. “Old habit, I guess.” She looked up and caught his eye. “Probably seems dumb to you, huh?”

“Not a bit,” he said. He couldn’t figure out why, but she looked relieved. “Get some rest,” he added as he pulled her door closed for her.

He wondered suddenly if Gavin still prayed, still bothered with any of it. He’d never mentioned it if he did, and Ben couldn’t remember the last time he decided to take a knee. He thought maybe it was when Jeremy was in the hospital that last time. Ben remembered praying with his whole heart, begging God to send a cure, to let the chemo do its job and work. The doctors had said Jeremy would need a miracle, and that’s what Ben had prayed for.

Ben still felt like God had some explaining to do, but for the most part, he and the man upstairs were okay now. He even went to Mass every now and again when his mother came to town or when he visited her in Maine. He and the pope didn’t see eye to eye on several issues, but Ben figured religion was just a channel for people who felt like they needed a formal connection, that no matter what name you used or what book you read, it was all the same God. And hey, it was no skin off his nose. Usually.

Still, though, praying felt pointless when so many of Ben’s had gone ignored.

He rounded the corner in the hall and found Gavin standing by a bookshelf in the guest room. He was flipping through an old Bible. Odd coincidence. “Where’d you find that?”

Gavin whipped his head around as if he’d just been caught looking at straight porn. “One of the boxes your mom sent with your old stuff.”

Looking closer, Ben realized it was his old Bible from when he was a kid. “I can’t believe she kept that.”

“Why are there little penises all over the inside covers?”

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