Yeah, he had to agree. This place was much nicer.

“Bring them to dinner. Promise me.”

“Of course I’ll bring them to dinner.”

Both men smiled at him. No doubt that was exactly what Alexei had planned when he’d called out a hello to his mother.

He ended the call.

“Well, that’s tomorrow night’s dinner taken care of,” Alexei said. “Now all we need is dinner for tonight.”

“I’ll cook,” he offered.

Mainly because he was the only one who could cook.

“Good. I’ll get back to work,” Roman said.

“Wait. Seriously, Roman, when was the last time you stepped outside?” he asked.

Roman frowned. “I’m not sure. Tuesday?”

“Of which week?” Alexei asked dryly.

“Last week?” Roman guessed.

“You need to go for a walk,” Salem bossed.

“I do? Why would I need to do that?”

“Um, to get some fresh air, some sunshine.” The sun was actually out today. “Some Vitamin D. If you don’t get enough of that you could get rickets or something.”

Rickets?

Was that still a thing?

Alexei just shook his head.

“Isn’t rickets a disease that children get?” Roman asked.

Maybe. Probably.

“Do you really want to take that risk?” he asked.

“I guess not.”

“But, uh, you might want to shower first. Change your clothes,” Salem added as nicely as he could.

Roman sniffed at his sweater which had a large Christmas tree on it. Strange choice of outfit . . . but Salem didn’t comment on it.

“I’ll go shower now.”

One problem down . . . now to tackle the next one.

Naked Alexei.

Alexei grabbed the grapes that Roman had left and started to munch on them. “You gonna fix me too, Daddy?”

Actually, screw it.