Page 34 of Hearts of Fairlake

"Yes."

"Okay."

"And she doesn't want me to forget you love me."

"Ugh."

"And even if it doesn't seem like it, you want to be here."

"She's such an interfering busybody," I grumbled, pressing my nose into the side of his head and breathing deeply. "Good thing I know she means well...and she's pretty smart."

"She said much the same about you."

"Alright, I take it back, she can rot."

Grant laughed softly, pushing his hand into mine and curling our fingers together. "You love her."

"I do...and I love you."

"You do."

I chuckled, kissing him gently. "Why don't we get our butts in the shower before we curl up in bed."

"I would like that...quite a lot."

"Good, because so would I."

And we could do it knowing I wouldn't have to leave him again. We had the rest of our lives to be in each other's hair and drive one another crazy.

FELIX

"I simply do not understand why I cannot find the slightest bit of help around here," the old woman complained, her steely gaze locked onto mine. "My porch is preparing to collapse at a moment's notice, and you do not seem to consider that a priority."

"Ma'am," I said, taking a moment to breathe and remind myself I was on the clock and needed to remember some form of decorum. "We are currently booked to the gills with orders. We put out a statement in almost every form imaginable short of calling people individually to let them know our services would be severely limited for the couple of weeks leading up to the festival...which is four days away."

"And as I recall, emergencies were considered an exception," she spat back at me, clearly pleased with her thoroughly clever maneuvering.

"A rickety porch does not constitute an emergency," I told her, wishing anyone else had been put on the front desk today. With so many orders backing up our system, we needed all hands on deck. Except Adam seemed to think we should keep the front of the shop open for people to come in,rather than locking the door and posting that save for anactualemergency, our services were held up.

There was no doubt in my mind that the shop would end up profiting heavily from the festival. The city and those approved to have stalls and setups were given priority for any custom orders. Of course, the city had pretty much done Adam a solid because only stalls and setups that followed specific criteria would be allowed for the festivities, mostly because Fairlake's civic government wanted to make everything look as wonderful as possible. And if Adam's shop just so happened to be perfectly equipped with the supplies and knowledge to meet the criteria in time for the festival, well, all the better for him.

"Do I look fragile to you?" she asked.

I had the distinct feeling my answer wouldn't please her either way. “You certainly seem quite...active, ma'am."

"Of course I'm active. I keep myself that way to bolster my poor health," she said, almost puffing out her chest in indignation. "But that doesn't mean I'm not fragile. One good spill would send me to the ER, and if my son and hishusbandhad any say in the matter, I'm sure I would be quickly thrown into a home. Heaven forbid they would step up and help care for me."

It was a strange quirk of this little town that I realized Ishouldhave known which couple she was talking about. After all, how many gay couples could there be in Fairlake? The reality was...quite a few, enough to make me wonder if something was in the water or the air. Even the manIwas married to had once been straight, right up until he decided he wanted a crazy, unhinged disaster for a partner. Well, okay, maybe it wasn't fair to say he’d been straight because clearly there had been some bi in him that he hadn't known about until he met me.

Still, it was weird that this town had several gaycouples...and Luke was still weird for falling in love with me. I was happy about both, but it was still weird.

"Ma'am," I said with a sigh, wondering whose mother this was and thinking they had my sympathy. It wasn't often I found myself glad I’d killed my parents to prevent them from selling us to the highest bidder, but growing up with someone like her as a mother must have been one hell of a challenge. "Are there other entrances to the home?"

"Well, I don't see what that has to do with anything," she said, and I’d bet my next paycheck, she knew exactly where I was going.

"If you can leave your house without using the porch, then your order will be considered a priority but not an emergency," I said, turning the computer screen toward me and tapping away. "Which means we can be there...the morning of the sixteenth."

"The sixteenth?" she asked, her outrage more fitting for someone calling her an ugly witch, but I let it pass without comment.

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