Page 90 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Bobby snorted a laugh. “I mean, honestly, I’d be less surprised if you wanted the dog to be your best man than I am about you wanting to invite your father, Tom.”

“I didn’t say I want to, but I wonder if I should.”

“I think it’s our day and you should only have to deal with people who don’t make you feel like you have to deal with them, know what I mean?”

“Yeah.” He got that. Got that only people who were easy and made him happy should be at their wedding. But for one flash of a second, while Carrie sat in the grass making a chain of tiny flowers and prattled on at Cal about the food and garden and the colors and all the shit she and Judy and Colleen were planning—most of which Tommy hadn’t even heard about—and Max climbed on Cal’s back and Zoe shared crackers with him and Collin rolled around with the damn dog and Davey and Mike showed Cal memes on their phones, Tommy wanted to knock the shit out of Cal. Wanted to tell him to get the fuck back out of their lives and take his chaos and his bullshit and his lies and whatever the fuck else and hit the goddamn street.

But he wasn’t bringing chaos. The kids were all safe from his drama. If there was any. If there were any lies. Because what he did to himself now didn’t affect any of them. They were safe to be around him and safe to care about him if they wanted to, safe to be kids in a way they never were before. Because for maybe the first time in his life, Cal O’Shea was doing the right thing.

And before Tommy could think about it or stop himself or change his mind, he said, “Yeah, you wanna come, Pop?”

Bobby nearly fell over, coughed as he choked on a hot dog, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t argue, didn’t ask Tommy if he was out of his damn mind—which, clearly, he was.

And Cal looked almost as surprised. “Are you sure about that, son?”

“No,” Tommy said honestly. “But if you wanna come, then you should.”

He didn’t wait for Cal’s response, just stood and walked away, distracted himself by helping with the grill and telling Collin to watch the dog and asking Colleen if she wanted another burger. Because he couldn’t think about it anymore.

Chapter Three

Tommy

“It’s been a while since you slept over here,” Gene said, laughing as he came into the living room where Tommy had crashed on the couch.

“Now that my life isn’t falling apart, I noticed how shitty your couch actually is.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll let you buy me a new one anytime, but until then, don’t be a choosy beggar.” He stood over Tommy with a fresh cup of coffee. “If you hadn’t invited Ben and Gavin to your wedding, you could’ve had the guest room.”

“Yeah, well, you three are the closest I’ve got to friends, so.” He’d only seen Ben a couple of times since meeting him on the worst night of Tommy’s life, not so long ago, and he’d only met Gavin once, but he liked them both, so good enough.

Gene laughed and shook his head. “So much sentiment so early in the morning.” He passed the coffee to Tommy before plopping down into his recliner. “Tell me again why two guys who live together decided they shouldn’t see each other before the wedding.”

“His mother insisted.” Tommy took a sip and rolled his eyes.

“Superstitious?”

“Or just wanted me out of her hair until it’s time to start.”

“That sounds more likely,” Ben said from behind Tommy. “No one in their right mind would want you around until the last possible second.”

Tommy flipped him off. “That why I wasn’t invited to your wedding?”

“Don’t blame me. Gavin was in charge of the guest list.”

Gavin walked in, put his arms around Ben from behind, and stood on his tiptoes, grinning at Tommy from over Ben’s shoulder. “I’ll invite you to my next wedding, Tommy.”

Ben reached around and slapped Gavin on the ass for that, but they both laughed.

“Should start introducing him as your first husband.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” Gavin said but pulled away too quickly for Ben to get revenge. “Breakfast? Or are you too nervous to eat?” he asked as he went into the little kitchen, already pulling things out of the fridge.

“Why should I be nervous?”

With a shrug, Ben said, “What if you fuck up your vows or your man changes his mind or it rains on everything or someone chokes and dies at your reception or there’s a freak earthquake?”

“Jesus, Ben,” Gavin said with a laugh.

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